I was originally onboard with this system, under the impression that it would function akin to Destiny 1’s Shader system, a Universal set colour that isn’t restricted by the class in use.
However upon playing Halo Infinite’s Beta, it is disconcerting that there are exclusive colour schemes to both the armour core and in the case of the Mark VII armour core, colours exclusive to an Armour Kit, ruthlessly limiting visual expression to a depressing degree, this occurs a lot with the Championship Teams Armour kits.
I understand the decision to have exclusive Armour coatings, almost akin to Skins you’d see on specific types of Jets in Ace Combat or Cars in a racing game, however in the context of Halo, especially within Infinite’s limits, it creates a situation where combined with the battle pass issues, you really cannot do much to make your spartan stand out distinctly, when you yourselves are trying to encourage player expression, instead you’ve stifled it unintentionally/intentionally, it is hard to tell. Either way, it doesn’t feel fun to be restricted this way with the armour.
I would like to propose looking to two alternative Games’s systems to try and mend this issue of limited player expression, the core issue coming from not being able to choose the colours the players want, not to the extent like the previous games at least.
The two examples are:
Warframe’s Colour Pallets system
&/Or
Anthem’s Material & Colour Customisation system.
Both of these systems were monetised in different ways.
Warframe’s was buy having multiple different colour schemes, all of which have different variants and tones of certain colour schemes, ie an Ice themed one, or a Orokin themed one etc etc, the main colour scheme was also available for free in terms of basic colour, but not the variants of it within the main Pallet.
Anthem’s was by allowing you to go a step further, with free range of colours to choose from, but the monetisation coming in from the materials that the colour schemes used, the Javelins could for example have a full metallic colour scheme, or a Matte mixed with carpet-like textures, this also applied to patterns within the texture if I recall correctly. (While the game flopped hard due to its lack of focus and failed expectations, its shining light in the mess was how in-depth the customisation system could be done.)
How could these systems work in Halo Infinite? I imagine with the current Armour coating system, that can be adapted to having preset textures/patterns that you have to buy, but with a Colour scheme that is free to customise at the player’s leisure.
This is at least an ideal scenario.
This is not me bashing anyone, just someone who’s enjoyed the game so far, but feels there is a massive issue with how customisation is handled, while it is vast, it feels too narrow in its current iteration. I hope that a 343 dev notices this and at least take this into account, players will buy any preset you have on offer for them, so long as you let them choose to be Pink & Grey etc etc etc.
so long as they get to choose their colour combinations properly, they will be happy, as of right now, there is an air of betrayal at the moment, which is unfortunate.
I hope this helps.