Overview:
Halo 2 Anniversary carried with it the challenge to recreate large portions of the Halo 2's memorable combat within the Halo 4 engine. The melee traits and systems were no exception to this ambition. I was responsible for researching the original Halo 2, documenting all pre-patch melee behaviors, and working within the Halo 4 Editor to tune new values for Halo 2 melee combat so that it closely matched the original title.
The secondary opportunity within this space was to re-evaluate some of the decisions made by the original Halo combat designers, and determine if there were ways to create a more cohesive and efficient experience without disrupting the nostalgia and memory of OG Halo 2 fans.
Design Goals:
In order to achieve a proper recreation, I set out with these goals:
Systems Implemented:
Weapon Remapping, Spawn Influencers, HUD Indicators, Melee Damage and Momentum / Speed Adjustments
Halo 2 Anniversary carried with it the challenge to recreate large portions of the Halo 2's memorable combat within the Halo 4 engine. The melee traits and systems were no exception to this ambition. I was responsible for researching the original Halo 2, documenting all pre-patch melee behaviors, and working within the Halo 4 Editor to tune new values for Halo 2 melee combat so that it closely matched the original title.
The secondary opportunity within this space was to re-evaluate some of the decisions made by the original Halo combat designers, and determine if there were ways to create a more cohesive and efficient experience without disrupting the nostalgia and memory of OG Halo 2 fans.
Design Goals:
In order to achieve a proper recreation, I set out with these goals:
- Recreate # of hits to kill
- Recreate speed of hits to kill
- Recreate memorable advantages of position and momentum
- In the case of Halo, running and jumping
- Identify commonalities in weapon behavior - create a better sense of uniformity
- Identify unique weapon traits - better represent their damage behavior
Systems Implemented:
Weapon Remapping, Spawn Influencers, HUD Indicators, Melee Damage and Momentum / Speed Adjustments
melee combat
Run / Jump Melee
Creating the perspective of momentum-driven combat was always a unique solution to providing the design of "attack combos" in a classically non-combo centric genre of First Person Shooters.
Allow advanced players to receive the advantage of extra damage:
Special logic had to be included so that running and jumping was distinct enough from doing both standalone actions.
In pre-patch Halo 2 only the "Rocket Launcher" was able to kill other players in 1-hit from a run + jump condition.
Creating the perspective of momentum-driven combat was always a unique solution to providing the design of "attack combos" in a classically non-combo centric genre of First Person Shooters.
Allow advanced players to receive the advantage of extra damage:
- While running
- While jumping
- While running + jumping
Special logic had to be included so that running and jumping was distinct enough from doing both standalone actions.
In pre-patch Halo 2 only the "Rocket Launcher" was able to kill other players in 1-hit from a run + jump condition.
Heavy Weapons
Multiple heavy weapons had to be re-created for Halo 2 Anniversary, these included:
Rocket Launcher and Brute Shots received special treatment as melee weapons, with the Rocket Launcher receiving the same Halo 2 Classic traits and damage values.
Brute Shot was designed to mimic the behavior and power of a "heavy weapon" such as the Rocket Launcher, but I gave it the slicing_melee type (similar to the Energy Sword) due to it's bladed art characteristics.
Multiple heavy weapons had to be re-created for Halo 2 Anniversary, these included:
- Rocket Launcher
- Brute Shot
- Sentinel Beam
- Beam Rifle
Rocket Launcher and Brute Shots received special treatment as melee weapons, with the Rocket Launcher receiving the same Halo 2 Classic traits and damage values.
Brute Shot was designed to mimic the behavior and power of a "heavy weapon" such as the Rocket Launcher, but I gave it the slicing_melee type (similar to the Energy Sword) due to it's bladed art characteristics.
aim assist + collision capsules
Edited and tweaked capsule sizes for Aim Assist balance + better Melee hit detection
documentation
Halo 2 Anniversary vs Halo 4
*Excel data is a documentation of the content edited and created within the Halo Edtior.
Halo 4's database had a lot of older weapons, along with incorrect values for would be needed to recreate Halo 2 melee.
I sorted through the content and derived my own values based off the research I did on OG Halo 2.
*Excel data is a documentation of the content edited and created within the Halo Edtior.
Halo 4's database had a lot of older weapons, along with incorrect values for would be needed to recreate Halo 2 melee.
I sorted through the content and derived my own values based off the research I did on OG Halo 2.
New melee types were also needed to be created, in order to hold the lower/upper damage bounds, along with combat traits.
Weapon Mapping | HUD damage indicators
Excel Simulations and Documentation
Along with my team, I edited and used Excel Sheet tools to simulate the changing of weapon mapping / locations throughout Halo 2 Anniversary maps, in order for us to test out different weapon randomization variations.
Additionally created and used Excel Sheets document and re-tune hud damage indicators.
Along with my team, I edited and used Excel Sheet tools to simulate the changing of weapon mapping / locations throughout Halo 2 Anniversary maps, in order for us to test out different weapon randomization variations.
- Allow us to experiment with different randomized weapon placements, and judge spawn timers on weapons
Additionally created and used Excel Sheets document and re-tune hud damage indicators.
