Okay, so 343i recently hired another former professional Halo player, and I for one find this incredibly interesting and a wonderful sign considering 343i has hired in total 3 former pro players -
The last two were hired relatively recent as well; now I’m curious what does the community think on this and what you think they might be doing?
Quinn and Andy both spearheaded the weapon tuning which turned out fantastic IMO.
Overall I am feeling more optimistic that the next Halo! But I do have some personal questions regarding this move to hiring former pros;
What does 343i intend to utilize them for?
And what are their personal wishes to bring into Halo 5?
I’m aware no official reply can be made but perhaps something can be said on their motivations and personal intentions?
This goes along with my personal sentiment that 343i should be a bit more transparent on subjects that allow this, there is always a risk of rustling jimmies on any given topic, but the absence of talking with the community leaves us(or rather myself) stagnant, patients has it’s virtues and even if something is not set in stone, which risks letting people down, I think it would still be good to drop some tidbits of information and or personal input which may not make it in the final product.
Heck, doing a weekly interview with various employees would go a long way to spicing up the weekly bulletin a bit more.
I don’t think it takes pro Halo players to simply bring back the gameplay mechanics that made Halo so successful to begin with.
If they’re there for any reasons related to making multiplayer a better experience, it’s mostly because 343’s trying to “innovate” the multiplayer, and are looking to include mechanics that might actually be GOOD. This still leaves me extremely skeptical.
I’ll reiterate the fact that it doesn’t take pro developers to bring Halo back to its roots. They’re obviously doing new things, which could be good or bad. They’re definitely there to help with the multiplayer experience though.
> Okay, so 343i recently hired another former professional Halo player, and I for one find this incredibly interesting and a wonderful sign considering 343i has hired in total 3 former pro players -
>
> Andy Dudynsky
> Mason Cobb
> Sean Swidersky
>
> The last two were hired relatively recent as well; now I’m curious what does the community think on this and what you think they might be doing?
>
> Quinn and Andy both spearheaded the weapon tuning which turned out fantastic IMO.
>
>
> Overall I am feeling more optimistic that the next Halo! But I do have some personal questions regarding this move to hiring former pros;
>
> What does 343i intend to utilize them for?
>
> And what are their personal wishes to bring into Halo 5?
>
>
> I’m aware no official reply can be made but perhaps something can be said on their motivations and personal intentions?
>
> This goes along with my personal sentiment that 343i should be a bit more transparent on subjects that allow this, there is always a risk of rustling jimmies on any given topic, but the absence of talking with the community leaves us(or rather myself) stagnant, patients has it’s virtues and even if something is not set in stone, which risks letting people down, I think it would still be good to drop some tidbits of information and or personal input which may not make it in the final product.
>
> Heck, doing a weekly interview with various employees would go a long way to spicing up the weekly bulletin a bit more.
I am just scared they won’t say “NO” or say what they really think about things. Hearing how the pros talk in ghandis thoughts or in stream, vs when surrounded by 343 employees they sound like completely different persons with different thoughts.
Neighbor is a game tester , so while he can potential suggest things he can’t dictate how the game is going to be played only the leads , directors , and possibly Microsoft can. I remember someone on neogaf said that at one point Frankie said they “can’t make a game you want because it won’t sell” to a tester, could be wrong though. Either way if Dersky is a tester it is probably the same way for him.
> Neighbor is a game tester , so while he can potential suggest things he can’t dictate how the game is going to be played only the leads , directors , and possibly Microsoft can. I remember someone on neogaf said that at one point Frankie said they <mark>“can’t make a game you want because it won’t sell”</mark> to a tester, could be wrong though. Either way if Dersky is a tester it is probably the same way for him.
No matter what kind of mechanics Halo has it will always sell because, it’s Halo (At least when they don’t have a beta). However making the game as they did with Halo 4 definitely won’t sustain a healthy online population, I believe a game with mechanics working for Halo would do that.
> > Neighbor is a game tester , so while he can potential suggest things he can’t dictate how the game is going to be played only the leads , directors , and possibly Microsoft can. I remember someone on neogaf said that at one point Frankie said they <mark>“can’t make a game you want because it won’t sell”</mark> to a tester, could be wrong though. Either way if Dersky is a tester it is probably the same way for him.
>
> No matter what kind of mechanics Halo has it will always sell because, it’s Halo (At least when they don’t have a beta). However making the game as they did with Halo 4 definitely won’t sustain a healthy online population, I believe a game with mechanics working for Halo would do that.
Who says the tester was asking for mechanics working for Halo?
I think plenty of people will jump to the conclusion that halo will be more 1-3 style. The most they probably will do is ensure a decent classic playlist on launch.
> > > Neighbor is a game tester , so while he can potential suggest things he can’t dictate how the game is going to be played only the leads , directors , and possibly Microsoft can. I remember someone on neogaf said that at one point Frankie said they <mark>“can’t make a game you want because it won’t sell”</mark> to a tester, could be wrong though. Either way if Dersky is a tester it is probably the same way for him.
> >
> > No matter what kind of mechanics Halo has it will always sell because, it’s Halo (At least when they don’t have a beta). However making the game as they did with Halo 4 definitely won’t sustain a healthy online population, I believe a game with mechanics working for Halo would do that.
>
> Who says the tester was asking for mechanics working for Halo?
We don’t know what he wanted, but it probably was something closer to Halo 1-3.
I like it. Now I wouldn’t call myself a fan of professional gaming, quite the opposite in fact, but hiring people with a lot of experience taking gameplay to its limits is surely the way to go for building a better functioning product. My hope is simply that they don’t try to exercise their personal preferences as more fundamental concepts of “Good” game design.
This brings me a bit of hope regarding the future of Halo. Hopefully these guys who know Halo better than the great majority of 343i employees will be able to guide the series towards redemption. They know what makes the games truly Halo, they know what the players like and dislike. It would be a silly move to not let listen to them.
Still, I think the best move for future Halo games would be for 343i to hire Gandhi and let him have the final say on all things multiplayer. It probably wouldn’t ever happen though… A man can dream, right?
It would be cool if they’d tell us. I hope they are used in the multiplayer department, not because I want a halo 3 remake, but because I want a halo so finely tuned and challenging that it would be fun.
I hope they all suggest more symmetrical arena style maps along with a few asymmetrical arena style maps. I’m tried of the poor excuse for maps that we’ve been receiving basically since Halo 3 but more so Halo Reach.
