From today’s Halo Community Update, we’ve got more details on Raid on Apex 7, highlights from last week’s San Diego Comic Con, and concerns addressed by 343 industries on the Limited Collectors Edition of Halo 5: Guardians.  First off, the update starts off on the response regarding the concerns for fans who have pre-ordered the Limited Collectors Edition and prefer to own physical version instead of digital will have the option to exchange the digital version for a physical version with out extra cost.  More details will be revealed as we get closer to launch.

Next up, team has briefly informed they’re currently working on the final touches on Action Sack Playlist, which will be the next game type to be available in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, but there’s currently no schedule for it’s release.  For those who will like to contribute and sound off your feedback, then feel free to join the discussion laid out by 343 in the following link https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/58b8518e005f432381ab99fbcaf931e0/topics.

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2014

It may not be that much of a surprise to see Halo appearing at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego, but it did deliver quite enough content to keep the fanbase quench.  Of course Comic-con isn’t just about new content, it’s also a good time to express your fandom by usually showing off your cosplay like the members of the 405th at this year’s Comic-Con (shown below).

Also we may not have gotten what the newly announced Warzone Map Raid on Apex 7 would look like in-game, but with 343 industries partnering with Megablox, we were provided a glimpse of the map actually looks like with a piece by piece diorama shown below.

The Creation of Raid on Apex 7

When creating maps that are as massive as Raid on Apex 7, they don’t always turn out like they originally appear.  Since it was first revealed, it was considered to be the spiritual successor of Halo: Combat Evolve’s Silent Cartographer mission.  Of course, it does contain some of those elements, and some it is shown in these paper prototypes by 343’s Multiplayer Level Designer, Jeremy Raymond.

As seen here, this first version of Raid of Apex 7 apparently was going to turn out to be a combination of classic Halo maps such as Highland, Longest, Cold Storage, and Zanzibar.  Looking at this right now, it does look like an interesting map to play on, but it hard to imagine to see if enemy AI’s in Warzone could fully work on it, since maps like Cold Storage works well for PvP.  Who knows, this idea might not be fully scrapped and could potentially be used for as a forge map instead.

Seen in this version, the overall size of the original concept was cut off, and we now see islands that are separate from each other to where locations of the bases can easily be traversed by the players.

With the previous version “not feeling right” for the designer, it was scrapped and we now have a version that was smaller than the previous versions.  As shown here, it appears to be more well designed and more balance than previous versions.

Right here is now the finalized version, and as stated by the designer “It clearly messages the overall layout, theme, base locations, and encounters” he has used to the first playable version.

From early on in development, Raid on Apex 7 is team’s largest and most ambitious Warzone maps they have created to date and below are what will be featured on this map.

Epic Scale – Apex 7 is among the largest of all of our Warzone Maps

• Island Paradise – We were heavily inspired by The Silent Cartographer, AI beach assault at the beginning of each game is a great example of this. The art team has done an amazing job of creating this beautiful battleground.
• Opposing Bases – Apex 7 has a unique layout as the team home bases face away from each other.
• BTB Style Vehicle Combat – We drew quite a bit of inspiration from vehicle combat and battles on BTB experiences like Valhalla and Paradiso.
• Mystery – Fitting with a remote Installation on a Halo Ring, we ensured there were many hidden areas to engage bosses in, the home bases also feature passageways to the center. I expect it will take many playtests for players to find and hunt down all of the bosses in Raid Apex 7.
• Massive Forerunner landmark – Our environment artist Chin Fong really knocked this out of the park with this one – it also serves as the central base and main contest point of the map.

Halo 5: Guardians is set to release October 27th of this year, and in case you’ve missed it, here’s the Hero Reborn Vidoc shown below.