While Halo Infinite is still sitting in its extended development period aimed to deliver later this fall, 343 Industries continues to silently work on the project with the extra leg room from delay that took place this past August. One of the largest criticisms directed towards Halo Infinite happened to be the graphical realm of its appearance from the demo that was featured back in July this past summer.
However, the game’s monthly ‘Inside Infinite’ installments provide that Halo Infinite is adopting a well needed makeover in anticipation for its release set for this coming autumn. In the first periodic blog post from 343 Industries, the Halo developer issued proactive testing has already commenced for preparation layer this year. Even more, the studio shared to build a PC control figuration from the ground up to make keyboard & mouse users experience Halo in an organic fashion as you would with a regular Xbox controller.
On Thursday, 343 Industries issued its February ‘Inside Infinite’ which offers even more screenshots and this month surely steals the cake so far. The team in the post elaborates on the creation of Zeta Halo – the main setting for the approaching title and its inspirations to the thriving world players will explore in the full game.
The world we have created for Halo Infinite is very large and with a finite team size to create it all we must be strategic in how we build each experience – there’s no one size fits all method for this project. So, in some cases it makes sense for design to go first and layout a space that’s fun for combat with an artist following to ensure visual qualities are being met.
In other cases, it might mostly be an artistic endeavor that has a world artist creating the space with a designer following afterwards to place any gameplay aspects on top. And sometimes it’s a very tight collaboration between a designer and artist to make the best experience possible. At the end of the day each experience we create is a collaboration between many disciplines trying to make the best game that we can.
Justin Dinges, Halo Infinite Campaign Art Lead
While only so many developers work at 343 Industries, the team still faces limitations – even with its budget Microsoft handled for the game. Best explained by Halo Infinite World Design Lead John Mulkey, he reiterates on Dinges statement on the team’s combined creative flows to find the Zeta Halo that is being manifested for Halo Infinite.
“The best results always come from collaboration and as we move forward collaboration will be a core aspect of processes we continue to iterate and hone.” Alongside the impressive progress that 343 Industries made on the detailed world Zeta Halo is evolving into, the context in the core of the setting is just as rich, the team shares.
“Zeta Halo is very much a character in and of itself. The landscape, the mysterious structures, the surrounding vistas and even the wildlife found on it act as unique characteristics of the ring – we want Zeta to feel like a real and living place regardless of whether the player is present or not.” Dinges continues indicating the ambitions on 343 Industries behalf to truly grasp the audience with its setting.
So, from an artist’s perspective, we have had two main goals with bringing Zeta to life: First, to visually show what is happening in current times with the violent occupation of the Banished forces and how it has shaped the landscape of the ring. And second, to create mystery and intrigue around Zeta’s past and ultimate purpose. Intertwining these two major story characteristics of Zeta has been an awesome and rewarding challenge. Players will not only experience the immediate story of Chief’s reawakening to confront the Banished and Cortana but if they look around, they may find glimpses of the future as well.
Troy Mashburn, Halo Infinite Sandbox Lead continues by adding, “the Ring definitely has its own story to tell, and the environment artists have done an amazing job bringing this to life. Memories of past battles scars the surface, and evidence of bigger events can be seen in the fractured chunks of the Ring floating in the sky.”
Additionally, the team goes on to disclose how gear like the Grappleshot will directly impact the flow of Halo Infinite on Zeta Halo and create experiences that stand unique to each player. Even more, the trio also expands on co-op by explaining that certain playstyles that you can pursue in a solo run can also be applied when running the campaign with a group of friends just as easily.
Most noted is the concluding statement from Halo Infinite Head of Creative Joseph Staten who offers more reassurance on the state of the storyline being rafted for the upcoming release.
A strong narrative remains at the heart of the Master Chief’s adventure, and your journey between story missions is entirely up to you. So then, what kind of game is Halo Infinite? It’s the most open and adventure-filled Halo game ever. It’s the Halo game we could only dream about making 20 years ago. And we can’t wait for you to explore it.
With a lot to read over, there is new information on Halo Infinite’s development outside of the recent ‘Inside Infinite’. In that, a LinkedIn account for a former The Coalition developer reveals that the Gears of War studio offered aide for work towards Halo Infinite. You can read the full report by heading here.
Are you satisfied with February’s ‘Inside Infinite’?
Halo Infinite is scheduled to arrive sometime in fall 2021 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Source: Halo Waypoint
