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Re: AI Script
Posted By: Gravemind <kuukan_no_kage@yahoo.com>	Date: 8/8/11 3:29 p.m.
In Response To: Re: AI Script (dmiller) : Dan is correct- although some people at Bungie only know me by dmiller. : btw- I'm up for any other questions/comments about how we did Halo levels- I : figure since I'm not working on this stuff anymore I can answer the : technical/design stuff. I can't however, talk about fiction or other : details pertaining to it- because I didn't write it! In terms of overall design, Halo 1 had some large, open stage designs, with some levels having non-linear components. Examples of the latter include the second of the level "Halo" with the three areas that can be tackled in any order, and most notably The Silent Cartographer, which is probably the most non-linear level in the series. While Halo 2 & 3 (2 especially) were overall much more linear, there have been instances of non-linearity in more recent Halo games. ODST has the Mombasa Streets "hub" level, and Reach has Winter Contingency and ONI Sword Base, which are both reminiscent of the latter half of the level Halo by giving players a choice on the sequence of objectives, as well as New Alexandria, which randomizes the sequence of the three primary objectives and randomly selects two secondary objectives (escort Buck, rescue troopers on a rooftop, destroy a fourth jammer, etc.). Was the move back towards offering more nonlinearity in the vein of Halo 1 a conscious decision? Related to the issue of linearity is the on-rails sequences introduced in Reach. In Winter Contingency, we are simply flown to the Visegrad relay instead of having to fight our way to it (perhaps by crossing the bridge and fighting a Covenant roadblock to enter the facility). Tip of the Spear and Exodus both have rail shooter sequences, which are heavily scripted, have no variation, and offer no player choice. Why were these added into the game? In terms of overall scale, though, Halo 1 still offers the largest levels on average. Even the largest levels in Halo 2, Halo 3, ODST, and Reach don't offer the same amount of playable real estate. Assault on the Control Room still eclipses the likes of The Ark, The Covenant, Uplift Reserve, and Tip of the Spear in terms of overall size. Not only are the levels overall smaller, but they're more constrained as well. Halo 2 was the worst offender in this regard, but even the relatively more open and spacious Reach still falls short of the wide-open areas from the first game. The only play spaces equal to or greater in size than AotCR are dedicated vehicle sequences: Halo 3's Warthog run, New Alexandria's Banshee-filled airspace, and of course the space battle sequences of Long Night of Solace. Of course, to use those sections as points of comparison when discussing stage sizes would be unfair, a sentiment shared by your colleague Chris Opdahl (source: 7/23/10 Bungie Weekly Update). After all, vehicle-mandatory sections like those must by necessity be large in order to properly encompass that type of gameplay. You’re going to need a lot of space when you have a vehicle like the Saber that has a coasting speed of around 200 kph. So, why hasn't there been any attempts at making levels (and by that I mean regular levels) that equal or exceed AotCR in terms of size and openness? Firefight-type scenarios have been somewhat common in Campaign since that mode's introduction. There are several each in both ODST and Reach. While I have mixed feelings about these defensive-style encounters, they do offer a change of pace from the usual "Get from Point A to Point B. Kill everything along the way." Was it decided from the get-go to have these kind of encounters in Campaign in order to complement Firefight? Or did these encounters come first and in turn inspired Firefight? Finally, what's the deal with all the invisible walls and kill barriers in Campaign? This has been getting progressively worse as time goes by. In Halo 1 you could go just about anywhere, there were only a handful of obstructions to backtracking, and the opportunities for exploration and sequence-breaking add to the replay value of the game. Halo 2 started adding some invisible walls and kill barriers, but there was plenty of places where you could go off the rails. Halo 3, ODST, and Reach, however, made it feel like Bungie was basically telling us "You're going to go where we tell you. Don't even think of trying to get out of the level." Even if it looks like some place you can get to or through, if it isn’t part of the intended play space you’ll either be stopped by an invisible force field, die from passing a kill barrier, or (in Reach) get a “Return to Battlefield” message, the latter of which comes with a handy-dandy countdown that gives wannabe explorers 10 seconds to get back in bounds OR ELSE (backtracking is regularly nipped in the bud as well; sometimes the terrain itself even changes to accomplish this, as seen in Sierra 117)! I can understand these barriers being in place in multiplayer or even Firefight, but not in Campaign where I’m on my own time. Some people have said that if Halo 1 and 2 were released by the 360-era Bungie crew, they'd be filled to the brim with invisible walls and other abitrary obstacles to exploration, thus keeping us from getting to the bottom of the security substation on Silent Cartographer, the bottom of the shaft at the beginning of AotCR, the rooftops on Outskirts, and the mountaintops of Delta Halo. And there's good reason to think that they'd be right, considering the apparent obsession Bungie has for invisible walls. These barriers, or at least how frequently and egregiously they're used, are bad design, plain and simple, regardless of the rationale is. At the very least, we should have the option to disable them. If you're going to railroad players, it should be done in a far less obtrusive manner and only when necessary, like in Halo 1.

The Dark Sangheili

Message Index

AI Script	scarab	8/5/11 4:50 a.m.
Re: AI Script	scarab	8/5/11 5:00 a.m.
Fixed: AI Script	scarab	8/5/11 5:26 a.m.
Re: Fixed: AI Script	Moorpheusl9	8/5/11 6:07 a.m.
Re: Fixed: AI Script	scarab	8/5/11 7:20 a.m.
Should've used Python *NM*	JDQuackers	8/5/11 7:30 a.m.
Re: AI Script	General Vagueness	8/5/11 12:30 p.m.
HaloScript	kornman00	8/5/11 3:17 p.m.
Re: HaloScript	scarab	8/7/11 9:06 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 1:17 a.m.
Re: AI Script	scarab	8/7/11 8:54 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 9:29 a.m.
Re: AI Script	Moorpheusl9	8/7/11 9:33 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 9:35 a.m.
Re: AI Script	scarab	8/7/11 10:12 a.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/7/11 2:40 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 5:02 p.m.
Re: AI Script	Louis Wu	8/7/11 5:15 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 5:23 p.m.
Re: AI Script	scarab	8/8/11 3:34 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/8/11 9:51 p.m.
Re: AI Script	JonnyOThan	8/11/11 12:42 p.m.
Re: AI Script	scarab	8/11/11 4:32 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/13/11 2:21 p.m.
Re: AI Script	scarab	8/13/11 5:27 p.m.
Re: AI Script	RC Master	8/7/11 7:41 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/7/11 8:30 p.m.
Re: AI Script	General Vagueness	8/7/11 8:36 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/7/11 8:42 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 8:57 p.m.
Re: AI Script	Hyokin	8/7/11 9:21 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 11:03 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/7/11 11:19 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 11:23 p.m.
Re: AI Script	Hyokin	8/7/11 11:20 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/7/11 11:22 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 11:26 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/7/11 11:27 p.m.
Welcome to the forums, Dan!	Hyokin	8/7/11 11:34 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 11:44 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/7/11 11:45 p.m.
Re: AI Script	RC Master	8/8/11 7:10 a.m.
Re: AI Script	Avateur	8/7/11 11:50 p.m.
Re: AI Script	Hyokin	8/7/11 11:57 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/8/11 1:17 a.m.
Re: AI Script	SonofMacPhisto	8/8/11 6:11 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/8/11 9:54 p.m.
Seriously dude, you're awesome *NM*	ZackDark	8/8/11 10:46 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/7/11 11:50 p.m.
Re: AI Script	Leviathan	8/8/11 12:11 a.m.
I also share this question *NM*	ZackDark	8/8/11 12:13 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/8/11 1:21 a.m.
Re: AI Script	General Vagueness	8/8/11 1:34 p.m.
Re: AI Script	FyreWulff	8/8/11 12:41 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/8/11 10:54 a.m.
Re: AI Script	bluerunner	8/8/11 11:04 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/8/11 8:54 p.m.
Re: AI Script	FyreWulff	8/9/11 4:56 p.m.
Re: AI Script	Hyokin	8/8/11 11:09 a.m.
Re: AI Script	RC Master	8/8/11 1:40 p.m.
Re: Thanks.	Joe Duplessie (SNIPE 316)	8/8/11 2:44 p.m.
Re: Thanks.	General Vagueness	8/8/11 5:25 p.m.
x3 thanks for awesome	SonofMacPhisto	8/8/11 6:06 p.m.
Combat sandbox and mission design	GhaleonEB	8/8/11 1:10 a.m.
Re: Combat sandbox and mission design	dmiller	8/8/11 1:26 a.m.
Re: Combat sandbox and mission design	dmiller	8/8/11 1:29 a.m.
Re: AI Script	Lord Friendship	8/8/11 12:33 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/8/11 8:55 p.m.
Re: AI Script	Gravemind	8/8/11 3:29 p.m.
Re: AI Script	scarab	8/8/11 3:49 p.m.
Re: AI Script	Lurono	8/8/11 6:52 p.m.
Re: AI Script	SonofMacPhisto	8/8/11 7:00 p.m.
Yes to both *NM*	Lurono	8/8/11 7:15 p.m.
Ok, I'm not nuts. Well, I am... but... n/m :) *NM*	SonofMacPhisto	8/8/11 7:22 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/8/11 9:42 p.m.
Re: AI Script	RC Master	8/9/11 9:34 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/9/11 9:47 p.m.
Re: AI Script	JonnyOThan	8/10/11 3:27 p.m.
Re: AI Script	RC Master	8/10/11 7:21 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/10/11 10:37 p.m.
Re: AI Script	Hyokin	8/10/11 11:36 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/10/11 11:59 p.m.
Re: AI Script	RC Master	8/11/11 8:30 p.m.
343i, hire him too! *NM*	Hyokin	8/11/11 10:02 p.m.
Re: 343i, hire him too!	RC Master	8/13/11 10:34 a.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/11/11 11:02 p.m.
Re: AI Script	RC Master	8/12/11 7:28 a.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/12/11 6:26 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/13/11 2:39 p.m.
Re: AI Script	FyreWulff	8/9/11 5:23 p.m.
Re: AI Script	Lurono	8/9/11 8:07 p.m.
The worst kind *NM*	scarab	8/10/11 1:03 a.m.
And a serious answer...	Lurono	8/9/11 8:13 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/9/11 9:39 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/9/11 10:37 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/9/11 10:41 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/9/11 10:45 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/9/11 10:47 p.m.
Re: AI Script	ZackDark	8/9/11 10:52 p.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/9/11 11:13 p.m.
Re: AI Script	scarab	8/10/11 1:28 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/10/11 9:18 a.m.
Re: AI Script	scarab	8/11/11 4:49 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/11/11 9:49 a.m.
Re: AI Script	Dagoonite	8/11/11 10:31 a.m.
Re: AI Script	RC Master	8/11/11 11:41 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/12/11 1:20 a.m.
Re: AI Script	RC Master	8/12/11 7:05 p.m.
Re: AI Script (ooh! Question!)	RC Master	8/13/11 5:52 a.m.
Re: AI Script (ooh! Question!)	dmiller	8/13/11 2:28 p.m.
Re: AI Script (ooh! Question!)	dmiller	8/13/11 2:34 p.m.
Re: AI Script (ooh! Question!)	RC Master	8/13/11 8:37 p.m.
Re: AI Script	General Vagueness	8/9/11 11:38 p.m.
Re: AI Script	mrbig	8/10/11 12:50 a.m.
Re: AI Script	dmiller	8/10/11 9:11 a.m.
Aww crap	RC Master	8/8/11 7:22 a.m.