Halo 4 is shaping up to be a spectacular game and we have a ton of info on the AI and Spartan Ops. Before that we request you to check our detailed posts on the weapons, Promethean enemies, etc. in case you haven’t or don’t have much knowledge about them.
Ray Almaden level designer for Halo 4 has revealed how they have blended the level design with AI:
“Whatever game I’m working on, I have to come in, I have to learn what level design does for the gameplay system, and how to create level design that supports gameplay the best. It’s so much more complex for Halo because you have the sandbox which is very different. Bungie had its amazing level design and that’s the style we’re building up from,” he told OXM.
“The designers all have to come in and learn that here’s the AI, and here’s what we do to it, and from that the other systems kind of support it. So you set up stuff to work with, and you try one thing, and then instead of Battle Rifle you try Assault Rifle, and you have to think how this feels, what if I just come in there with a rocket launcher, what is the experience? And once you know the sandbox, how it works and what you can get out of it, then it becomes easier. It takes a while to get there though.”
There’s more. Here’s executive producer of Halo 4 Kiki Wolfkill talking about the origin of Spartan Ops and how the team got inspired to create it.
“There were a few eureka moments, but not all of them worked exactly how we thought they would. The right combination sort of came together. For us it started with loving the co-op experience. But how do we take that experience and make it something people are going to want to engage with over time? We also got really engaged with this idea of a watercooler moment being more than just sharing things you watched on TV,” he said.
“Rather, how does that watercooler moment be about the story you saw, and the thing we played, and then did together? That was a big impetus.”
You can check out more information on the Forerunner Architecture and other things by visiting OXM.
Halo 4 will be released on November 6 for the Xbox 360.