Microsoft Halo Infinite - Information Thread, update (01/15/24): Certain Affinity's battle royale project reportedly cancelled, UE5-based campaign project in development since 2022

[Brian]

 

[Keyser_Soze]

 

[BloodyHell]

On 9/12/2022 at 2:40 PM, JPDunks4 said:

 

I think the community will be pretty happy about his, but I had heard from some ex 343 people that streamed, that she wasn't the issue with the studio.

 

Sure, maybe not THE problem  but she's the leader, and was responsible for for fixing whatever the real problems were. It's clear she wasn't capable of doing so. This isn't the first screw up she (her as the leader, not necessarily that she screwed it up) has on her resume. Halo 4 had a lot of problems  Halo 5 was extremely disliked for a bunch of reasons, and the MCC was a broken mess for years. At some point, someone else needs to be brought in to see if they can improve the situation. 

 

I definitely don't think this is a bad thing. Theres no acceptable excuse for Infinite online still being a hollow experience. I really can't wait for Forge and split screen coop. 

[legend]

2 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

Sure, maybe not THE problem  but she's the leader, and was responsible for for fixing whatever the real problems were. It's clear she wasn't capable of doing so. This isn't the first screw up she (her as the leader, not necessarily that she screwed it up) has on her resume. Halo 4 had a lot of problems  Halo 5 was extremely disliked for a bunch of reasons, and the MCC was a broken mess for years. At some point, someone else needs to be brought in to see if they can improve the situation. 

 

I definitely don't think this is a bad thing. Theres no acceptable excuse for Infinite online still being a hollow experience. I really can't wait for Forge and split screen coop. 

 

 

There is a good chance that is true, but if there are people from the team saying otherwise it's probably worth taking their word for it. Companies can have systemic issues that tie the hands of leads.

[The def star]

12 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

Sure, maybe not THE problem  but she's the leader, and was responsible for for fixing whatever the real problems were. It's clear she wasn't capable of doing so. This isn't the first screw up she (her as the leader, not necessarily that she screwed it up) has on her resume. Halo 4 had a lot of problems  Halo 5 was extremely disliked for a bunch of reasons, and the MCC was a broken mess for years. At some point, someone else needs to be brought in to see if they can improve the situation. 

 

I definitely don't think this is a bad thing. Theres no acceptable excuse for Infinite online still being a hollow experience. I really can't wait for Forge and split screen coop. 

Yeah about that split screen co op...

[Stickey]

It's been beaten to death already, but 343 should just be dissolved. Loss after loss can't be good on the team moral. And hosnesty 343 was built around making halo special, when it already was. They took the focus of fun game play and put it towards "story telling" that just turned halo fans off. I'm pretty sure Bonnie Ross Green lit the Halo TV show AND the MC face reveal, which again slapped fans in the face. It's been bad buisness from day one. 

[JPDunks4]

On 9/18/2022 at 8:34 AM, BloodyHell said:

Sure, maybe not THE problem  but she's the leader, and was responsible for for fixing whatever the real problems were. It's clear she wasn't capable of doing so. This isn't the first screw up she (her as the leader, not necessarily that she screwed it up) has on her resume. Halo 4 had a lot of problems  Halo 5 was extremely disliked for a bunch of reasons, and the MCC was a broken mess for years. At some point, someone else needs to be brought in to see if they can improve the situation. 

 

I definitely don't think this is a bad thing. Theres no acceptable excuse for Infinite online still being a hollow experience. I really can't wait for Forge and split screen coop. 

 

I don't disagree at all.  I personally think a shake up is very welcome at this point.  Just watched some people that were a part of the team Stream, and when people brought up Bonnie Ross needing to go, they were pretty adament about her actually being a positive at the studio, and not the issue.

 

With a company the size of Microsoft, there can be plenty of other factors at play when it comes to the Halo IP.  Phil and Matt Booty seem to be hands off when it comes to a lot of aspects of the studios, but if they have business side people looking at numbers and forcing them to do certain things that maybe the studio would rather not do, like the move to F2P and moving unlockable cosmetics instead to the a Store and Battle Pass, that could have been out of 343 hands, and one of the biggest core issues with Halo Infinite. 

 

The progression feels terrible now you have nothing but the challenges and Battle Pass to work towards.  And the Challenges largely make the game feel worse cause you are trying to do stuff you'd probably rather not do.

[silentbob]

I think the progression on Infinite is what keeps me from playing it more. They should of ripped off Call of Duty and use their system for progression. If anything at the very least, give you certain progression points for each medal you unlock in a multiplayer battle. Oh wait, I already said they should rip off of CoD 

[JPDunks4]

6 hours ago, silentbob said:

I think the progression on Infinite is what keeps me from playing it more. They should of ripped off Call of Duty and use their system for progression. If anything at the very least, give you certain progression points for each medal you unlock in a multiplayer battle. Oh wait, I already said they should rip off of CoD 

 

Agreed.

 

Have an overall Progression system that just levels you up, maybe unlocks different nameplates and stuff as you get higher level.

 

Then each weapon should have a mastery or something, where the more kills you get with them, you unlock some basic skins, and other goodies.

 

I'd even have a different challenge list for each playlist, so that way there is something to go for in each playlists, that encourages the objectives of each playlist. 

 

So many better ways to handle it, than how its handled now.

 

Then on top of that, you have the Season Pass with some very easy challenges that you get naturally while playing most any mode.

[AlwaysDyingX]

Did they ever release this game? 

[BloodyHell]

15 hours ago, BasemntDweller2 said:

Did they ever release this game? 

it's been out almost a year. And it plays amazingly well, but the online is empty.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Halo’s developer is reportedly switching to Unreal Engine | VGC

WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM

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Halo Infinite has suffered numerous delays and cuts, which are potentially partly due to its tech…

 

Quote

 

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries is reportedly planning to ditch its proprietary Slipspace Engine for Unreal.

 

That’s according to journalist Jeremy Penter, who wrote on Sunday: “I can only confirm that many sources are saying this and very clear that it’s already been decided and Halo is for sure switching to Unreal.”

 

If accurate, it’s not clear what this decision would mean for Halo Infinite itself, which 343 has publicly committed to supporting for a decade.

 

A game engine is a framework used for the development of games, often incorporating tools and systems for elements such as graphics, physics, networking and more.

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

I wonder how that will affect the physics of the game. All Halos have a certain feel switching to unreal might make it feel very not Halo.

[best3444]

Very interesting. The graphics whore in me is happy but like Keyser said, I wonder if this will change the physics and gameplay overall. Infinite played so fuckin nice so I'm interested in how this turns out.

[silentbob]

The new engine (if it happens) Would this just be for the newer Series S/X and PC? I think the One S/X systems will finally be abandoned, in favour of focusing squarely on the new systems.

 

 

Maybe my fucking hit to the back of the head will finally register in multiplayer online battles. 

[Keyser_Soze]

26 minutes ago, silentbob said:

 I think the One S/X systems will finally be abandoned, in favour of focusing squarely on the new systems.

 

They've been abandoned for a while. They don't even make them anymore.

[silentbob]

35 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

They've been abandoned for a while. They don't even make them anymore.

I meant for the game. My buddy plays Infinite multiplayer on his One S and I on my Series X. Wondering if they would abandoned work on the past system (maybe minus multiplayer) with the change in engines. 

[Keyser_Soze]

17 minutes ago, silentbob said:

I meant for the game. My buddy plays Infinite multiplayer on his One S and I on my Series X. Wondering if they would abandoned work on the past system (maybe minus multiplayer) with the change in engines. 

 

The story doesn't make it clear but I think we are assuming future halo games will be with unreal engine. I don't think they will be switching Infinite's engine.

[DarkStar189]

2 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

The story doesn't make it clear but I think we are assuming future halo games will be with unreal engine. I don't think they will be switching Infinite's engine.

"If accurate, it’s not clear what this decision would mean for Halo Infinite itself, which 343 has publicly committed to supporting for a decade."

 

For a decade.......haha.  I remember articles saying Rocket League is moving to Unreal Engine but it will be a "long term project". So maybe not impossible but who knows.

[legend]

6 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

I wonder how that will affect the physics of the game. All Halos have a certain feel switching to unreal might make it feel very not Halo.

 

Did 343 roll their own physics engine? Very often custom game engines will still use standard physics middleware and game engines like UE are often agnostic to the physics engine choice with multiple common ones supported.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Is Halo switching to Unreal Engine? Here's what we know. | Windows Central

WWW.WINDOWSCENTRAL.COM

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Slipspaced.

 

Quote

 

It seems that indeed, Halo may be gearing up for a wider switch to the Unreal Engine, known for games like Gears of War, Fortnite, and many others. Sean W's report was also corroborated by ACG's Jeremy Penter, as well as some of our own sources. I wanted to gather more details in an attempt to paint a more complete picture of what's going on with Halo right now before creating a report, but here's what we know so far. 

 

Some details on the concrete plan remain vague, we have some tentative indication that this change potentially extends across the whole franchise too, not just Tatanka, with 343i getting ready to explore the future of the franchise. With 343i founder Bonnie Ross and Slipspace architect David Berger no longer with the company, it seems the studio is eager to explore new ways to adapt to the fast pace of development in the shooter service game world. Moving to a more popular engine that has mature tools, and perhaps more crucially, high levels of experience from the game developer workforce, may be key to figuring out Halo's future. 

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

1 hour ago, legend said:

 

Did 343 roll their own physics engine? Very often custom game engines will still use standard physics middleware and game engines like UE are often agnostic to the physics engine choice with multiple common ones supported.

 

I've been poking around and I really can't find any information as to whether Infinite uses a modified version of a physics middleware solution or its own built-from-the-ground-up proprietary solution.

 

Edit: Ah there we go!  Looking at the end credits, Havok is listed as one of the Middleware Partners as it should be considering that Microsoft bought them in October 2015

[TwinIon]

Yikes. It's a pretty big failure to build a new engine for a game and end up ditching that engine so early on in the potential life cycle of the game.

 

Infinite is already a fractured game, both an incomplete narrative adventure and a live service game without sufficient content to really earn the title. To fracture it further by putting out a new game mode in an entirely different engine is a significant defeat.

 

While we've seen how delayed 343 was to launch Infinite and how slow they've been to put out more content for it, if the engine is such a big issue, it doesn't bode well for the fate of the game. Maybe the battle royale mode is fun and becomes popular, but if it's build separately in Unreal it probably wouldn't end up helping the state of Infinite along.

 

It's a shame, because I think the core gameplay of Infinite is excellent. If they'd kept putting more into it, I could well have spent a ton of time into the game.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

6 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

Yikes. It's a pretty big failure to build a new engine for a game and end up ditching that engine so early on in the potential life cycle of the game.

 

Just to clarify, Slipspace is not a completely built from scratch engine as it is very much a derivative of the original Blam! Engine that's been around since Combat Evolved.

[legend]

1 minute ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Just to clarify, Slipspace is not a completely built from scratch engine as it is very much a derivative of the original Blam! Engine that's been around since Combat Evolved.

 

I wonder if they still use the same texture loader from the Myth and possibly Marathon days since the original Halo had a lot of earlier Bungie code built into it!

[silentbob]

Just a reminder for those who still play. Winter update is out today and yeah we have hiccups. Took me forever to load a multiplayer game or Forge. Forge is laggy and a little broken feeling with me unable to exit simple menus. The beat downs are still off a bit but still seems like an improvement. Battle Pass almost seems to be no more, as everything is free to earn. Progression system also better but would still like to see more rewards for medals earn in game. Can’t wait and figure out Forge with all the early releases videos out there, and the new gravity bomb thing looks awesome. 

[legend]

Coop finally!

[best3444]

11 hours ago, legend said:

Coop finally!

 

Where did you hear this? I didn't watch the vid linked so maybe in there?

[silentbob]

2 hours ago, best3444 said:

 

Where did you hear this? I didn't watch the vid linked so maybe in there?

I believe they meant it for online co-op up to 4 players, but I think you gotta do it via your friends list. They also hope to bring back Firefight via Forge map made by the public themselves. 
 

I really wanna figure out Forge and do an American Gladiators/Crystal Skull like level of just grapple and hanging rocks in the sky. Make a warp underneath if they fall and respawn above the field. I’ll create a couple points of rest but I wanna see random sky battles with rockets/hammers and people just monkeying around.

[best3444]

2 hours ago, silentbob said:

I believe they meant it for online co-op up to 4 players, but I think you gotta do it via your friends list.

 

Ouch. I don't even have 4 friends on my list. I beat the campaign twice so I'm good with this game anyway. Thanks for the information. 

[legend]

8 hours ago, best3444 said:

 

Where did you hear this? I didn't watch the vid linked so maybe in there?

 

They've announced it previously, but yes, they show it at the end of the video.

[JPDunks4]

A 1 v 1 Smash bros type Forge map.

 

I knew the Grapplewas going to allow for some crazy fun Forge modes 

 

https://forge.xboxera.com/content/16/final-destination-20xx

[BloodyHell]

On 11/11/2022 at 8:46 AM, JPDunks4 said:

A 1 v 1 Smash bros type Forge map.

 

I knew the Grapplewas going to allow for some crazy fun Forge modes 

 

https://forge.xboxera.com/content/16/final-destination-20xx

I don't have time at this moment, but I can't wait to jump in and see whaylt Forge brings. Previous stuff I saw was unbelievable.

[silentbob]

I think Forge will be what the series needed for new life and to bring people back to the series. I can’t wait to figure it out for myself

 

 

Someone did Bloodgulch, but they won’t let you use/save the name. 

 

Coagulation - UGC - Halo Infinite

WWW.HALOWAYPOINT.COM

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The Quick and the Dead. Works with CTF and Team Slayer.

 

[The def star]

I've been having a blast messing around in Forge. I made a BTB map set around two carriers fighting over an asteroid field in Forge. Anyone interested in play testing it? Trying to get a full lobby going.

 

https://youtu.be/WyOQA5YlTUw