Halo: Reach Beta -- Making Multiplayer

April 22, 2010 -
The Halo: Reach
beta launches on May 3, and gamers with a copy of Halo 3: ODST will get
first crack at Bungie's latest multiplayer effort. Yesterday we gave our
early Halo:
Reach beta impressions, and we'll be bring you more in the
lead-up to launch. But first, let's take a step back. Reach brings a ton
of new elements to the Halo multiplayer experience, so we sat down with
Bungie's Multiplayer Design Lead, Chris Carney, to get some answers. So
read on to find out what's different, why Reach works the way it does,
and what's coming after the beta wraps up.

IGN: So Armor
Abilities are a big change from the item pickups most Halo players
are used to. What made you decide to change things up?


CC: What always bugged me playing Halo 3 is, equipment is
awesome, but the way we placed it in multiplayer maps was kind of like a
powerup. You're playing High Ground, and half the time you get there
and the Bubble Shield is gone because someone already grabbed it. And
then I think more aggravating to me is, I have the Bubble Shield and I'm
waiting for the perfect moment to throw it, and I die. And I see it
rolling down the hill, and I'm like, 'Oh, awesome.'


The idea is, we have these cool pieces of equipment and ways that change
the game, or at least the combat cycle, in a fundamental way. How can
we make that part of the game but in a way that doesn't dominate those
fundamental things that are so awesome about Halo?


IGN: Will the addition of Armor Abilities still allow some of the
magic randomness that powerups brought to the Halo multiplayer
experience, though?


CC: Definitely. If you play a hardcore four-on-four competitive
match, what Armor Abilities are they picking? Like, if you see a new
guy, he usually gravitates toward Jet Pack. And then he rockets up in
the middle of the level and everyone starts team shooting him. So
there's definitely some strategy built into the team dynamic. I agree
with you. It was cool to be like, 'Oh my god, there's the bubble shield
and no one's picked it up yet. But we still have all the power weapons
placed on the map. Those are not loadouts. So there's a Rocket Launcher
in the spillway on Powerhouse. You really have to commit to running down
there and grabbing that thing. Powerups are a big part of map control.
So now we're using health packs to do that. Arena or any of our standard
game types are always Spartan-on-Spartan now, so you want to own the
top of Powerhouse because that's where the health pack is. You can't
just huddle out by the rocks where, if we're taking damage there's
nothing we can do about it.


Armor Abilities -- one
of Reach's biggest changes.



IGN: During our preview session, I was definitely not using health
packs as I should. I kept running by and missing them. I was so trained
from Halo 3 to just listen to the sound of my shield regenerating.


CC: In Halo 2 and 3 we actually had health, but we hid it. It was
on a separate system. I think it took about 15 seconds to come all the
way back. And so it was actually a decision we made that if you just
[got] shot, you've got damage and you're going to be down health. And
then I spawn and I run at you, and we both look like we're at full
health because our meters are full, but you're actually down health, so
if we exchange the exact same amount of fire I win. Just because your
health hasn't come all the way back. So we want to strip that back off.
Health is there, [and the player needs] to understand that it's
something to think about.


IGN: What were some of the ideas you wanted to bring to Halo: Reach
that you hadn't been able to do in previous Halo games?


CC: I think the biggest one was Spartans vs. Elites. We tried to
do Spartans vs. Elites – I started working at Bungie probably six months
before Halo 1 shipped. And even at that point, like, the early versions
of Halo on the PC had Spartans vs. Elites. So it's always been sort of
this drumbeat that's gone through our development cycle. For Halo 2 we
had a Spartan vs. Elite objective game and that didn't work out. So, you
could pick an Elite, but he was kind of the same size, and the
collision model was the same. That's the exact same thing that happened
with Halo 3. We also tried an objective game in Halo 3, but it didn't
head in a direction that we believed in. So we went back to, hey, the
Elites and Spartans are similar and you can pick them in custom games.
So it's like, OK let's get this right [in Reach]. And the way we did
that is we said, hey, the Elite is a big, badass dude. And he has more
shields, more health. He can move faster, and he's scary, and it's
awesome to play him. So if you're an Elite you're not like, meh, I'm
playing as an Elite. You're like 'Yes, I'm an elite!'


Spartan's vs. Elites. A
rivalry as old as time.



IGN: So what's the counterbalance on the Spartan side for the Elite
being stronger and healthier?


CC: They're little guys. They're like me. They're more
maneuverable. They're a smaller target. If you see a Spartan sprinting,
it's impossible to get shots on him. Whereas the Elite, although he can
dive-roll, he's a big dude who eats a lot of damage. So that's the main
balancing factor between the two. And then I think trying to push that
in a way we believed in – but not too extreme – they each have their own
unique Armor Ability: Sprint vs. Evade. But that's it. There's not a
whole selection the Spartans have that the Elites don't have.


IGN: The character progression stuff we've seen is all Spartan-based.
Is there a way to carry that over into your Elite character as well?


CC: The Elite's going to have armor sets. So he's not going to be
tweakable like the Spartan where there's going to be helmets and
everything else. There will be armor sets you can unlock for the Elite.


IGN: So it doesn't make it like, I spent all this time upgrading my
Spartan and now I'm in an Elites-vs.-Spartans match and I'm stuck with
this cookie-cutter character.


CC: Yeah. Your emblem, your color and everything else will be
there. And actually, Spartans vs. Elites only happens in Invasion and
Network Test 1 [Generator Defense]. So your standard, traditional
multiplayer, like Slayer and stuff on Swordbase and Powerhouse will all
be Spartan-on-Spartan.