Companion AIs in multiplayer

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Since Halo is still finding it’s niche in the multiplayer FPS market, and there has been a lot of backlash towards Armor Abilities and Equipment, as well as other changes to the “classic” formula, I’ve come up with an idea that I think is unique and might be what the franchise needs.

One of the joys of Halo campaign is having Cortana, your AI sidekick, travelling with you. Why not extend this to multiplayer? Not with Cortana, of course, but other AIs?

As far as I know, there aren’t any instances of AIs partnering with SIVs, so the “War Games” simulations are a good place for the UNSC to explore those possibilities. These wouldn’t be necessarily “smart” AIs like Cortana, capable of hacking into the Covenant battlenet or absorb the knowledge of ancient civilizations, but would be able to provide more “flavor” into the multiplayer experience.

Alongside the ability to customize your armor appearance and emblem, you could tailor your AI’s appearance and personality to deliver the kind of companion you’d prefer- or, if you hate the idea of an AI, you could deny the relationship or silence the AI.

When active, the AI appearance would be present in the MM lobby, able to “pop up” in a small corner of your HUD, and possibly other places in the UI, like the post-game carnage report. You could have humanoid (like Cortana), animal (like Loki), or abstract (like BB) AI appearances.

Personality would manifest in other ways, similar to the firefight voice in Reach/H3:ODST, but more advanced:

-Give you A) advice or B) witty banter in between respawns
-Make remarks about weapon pickups (upon picking up a heavy weapon: “You’ve got only 13 kills to go before you get the silver ‘Walking Tank’ commendation!”)
-Encourage you when you or your team are losing or winning(“Finish the fight, Spartan!”)
-Remind you about your progress on daily and weekly challenges
-Talk “trash” about other players and their AIs
-Possible simple animations

Along with just adding character to the experience, you could make the argument for replacing AAs and equipment with “AI effects” .

Even if you just had one gametype where AIs can affect gameplay, like an “AI Slayer” gametype, it could open up a lot of possibilities. Similar to Dominion, imagine fighting or sneaking your way into the enemy base, allowing your AI access to their data entry port, and watching your AI jam the enemy motion sensors, create holograms, and disable defensive turrets and shields.

2

> Since Halo is still finding it’s niche in the multiplayer FPS market, and there has been a lot of backlash towards Armor Abilities and Equipment, as well as other changes to the “classic” formula, I’ve come up with an idea that I think is unique and might be what the franchise needs.
>
> One of the joys of Halo campaign is having Cortana, your AI sidekick, travelling with you. Why not extend this to multiplayer? Not with Cortana, of course, but other AIs?
>
> As far as I know, there aren’t any instances of AIs partnering with SIVs, so the “War Games” simulations are a good place for the UNSC to explore those possibilities. These wouldn’t be necessarily “smart” AIs like Cortana, capable of hacking into the Covenant battlenet or absorb the knowledge of ancient civilizations, but would be able to provide more “flavor” into the multiplayer experience.
>
> Alongside the ability to customize your armor appearance and emblem, you could tailor your AI’s appearance and personality to deliver the kind of companion you’d prefer- or, if you hate the idea of an AI, you could deny the relationship or silence the AI.
>
> When active, the AI appearance would be present in the MM lobby, able to “pop up” in a small corner of your HUD, and possibly other places in the UI, like the post-game carnage report. You could have humanoid (like Cortana), animal (like Loki), or abstract (like BB) AI appearances.
>
> Personality would manifest in other ways, similar to the firefight voice in Reach/H3:ODST, but more advanced:
>
> -Give you A) advice or B) witty banter in between respawns
> -Make remarks about weapon pickups (upon picking up a heavy weapon: “You’ve got only 13 kills to go before you get the silver ‘Walking Tank’ commendation!”)
> -Encourage you when you or your team are losing or winning(“Finish the fight, Spartan!”)
> -Remind you about your progress on daily and weekly challenges
> -Talk “trash” about other players and their AIs
> -Possible simple animations
>
> Along with just adding character to the experience, you could make the argument for replacing AAs and equipment with “AI effects” .
>
> Even if you just had one gametype where AIs can affect gameplay, like an “AI Slayer” gametype, it could open up a lot of possibilities. Similar to Dominion, imagine fighting or sneaking your way into the enemy base, allowing your AI access to their data entry port, and watching your AI jam the enemy motion sensors, create holograms, and disable defensive turrets and shields.

Not bad… Halo seems to be missing that slight comical side with the humorous cowardly grunts… and multiplayer armor effects like confetti… in the end it is all about fun. However the AI yes should have a mute option but should also not interfere with fire team communications… otherwise it is yet another trial headset communication and teamwork must over come.

3

Goodness, I hope not. Titanfall has all kinds of chatter that can’t be turned off and it annoys the heck out of me. All of its chatter and the chatter you mentioned can be replaced by much more unobtrusive visual or aural cues. I don’t want the inane chatter of an AI or etc. drowning out footsteps, fire, or teammate communication, all of which are much more important.

4

I kinda like this idea! As long as there’s an option to not have it, I wouldn’t see where there would be a problem with it, especially if you’re the only one hearing the AI.

It’d be cool for it to manifest in game modes like Firefight or Spartan Ops, too, should those return.

And if not multiplayer, just those types of modes. I’d be fine with that, too.

5

> Goodness, I hope not. Titanfall has all kinds of chatter that can’t be turned off and it annoys the heck out of me. All of its chatter and the chatter you mentioned can be replaced by much more unobtrusive visual or aural cues. I don’t want the inane chatter of an AI or etc. drowning out footsteps, fire, or teammate communication, all of which are much more important.

The key would be giving players choices. Choices like a quick toggle on/off function, or, giving players the ability to choose between chatty, or not-so-chatty type personalities. And certainly it would be a challenge to incorporate these elements in a visually pleasing and unobtrusive way.

It wouldn’t work at all in certain gametypes, perhaps (like SWAT or Flood,) but as a casual player, I would much rather hear an AI of my choosing than the 14 year old with a headset calling me a noob.

6

I like this idea a lot. The thought of designing my own little sidekick companion is just really pleasing, and I think it would go a long way towards world immersion, especially if you could bring your AI into wherever your Spartan IV is allowed to go.

However, a good amount of time would need to be given to give such a feature the necessary depth. If the appearance or personality customization is too limiting, or if the dialogue is repetitive, it will just feel cheap and tacked-on. Which would be a disappointment, as there really is a lot of potential here.

7

> It wouldn’t work at all in certain gametypes, perhaps (like SWAT or Flood,) but as a casual player, I would much rather hear an AI of my choosing than the 14 year old with a headset calling me a noob.

I can understand why this might get in the way if you’ve trying to communicate with your team, but otherwise, why not, right?

8

> I like this idea a lot. The thought of designing my own little sidekick companion is just really pleasing, and I think it would go a long way towards world immersion, especially if you could bring your AI into wherever your Spartan IV is allowed to go.
>
> However, a good amount of time would need to be given to give such a feature the necessary depth. If the appearance or personality customization is too limiting, or if the dialogue is repetitive, it will just feel cheap and tacked-on. Which would be a disappointment, as there really is a lot of potential here.

Agreed completely. There would need to be a commitment to have many voice actors saying thousands of lines of dialogue so that it wouldn’t become repetitive, and enough choices to make your AI feel unique.

9

> The key would be giving players choices. Choices like a quick toggle on/off function, or, giving players the ability to choose between chatty, or not-so-chatty type personalities.

And if it can be turned off, then it would make no difference to me.

But I see this trend where someone proposes a new feature and everyone’s like, “yeah, as long as it can be turned off” or “sure, as long as it’s only in custom games.” Why should the developer waste so much time and resources on a big feature that will possibly be turned off by a large portion of the players anyway? It would be better for the developer to focus on features that will be beneficial and enjoyable regardless of trivial personal preferences.

As an example, Titanfall has all kinds of cool features and gimmicks, like radio chatter and drop-to-location, but it misses functionality that would be considered fundamental to a shooter, like private matches, custom game settings, and the ability to practice by yourself.

10

I actually really like this idea! It sounds like it would be hilarious. My AI would probably consistently get pissed off at campers and AAs.

11

> > The key would be giving players choices. Choices like a quick toggle on/off function, or, giving players the ability to choose between chatty, or not-so-chatty type personalities.
>
> And if it can be turned off, then it would make no difference to me.
>
> But I see this trend where someone proposes a new feature and everyone’s like, “yeah, as long as it can be turned off” or “sure, as long as it’s only in custom games.” Why should the developer waste so much time and resources on a big feature that will possibly be turned off by a large portion of the players anyway? It would be better for the developer to focus on features that will be beneficial and enjoyable regardless of trivial personal preferences.
>
> As an example, Titanfall has all kinds of cool features and gimmicks, like radio chatter and drop-to-location, but it misses functionality that would be considered fundamental to a shooter, like private matches, custom game settings, and the ability to practice by yourself.

These were actually just added into Titanfall, at least on the Xbox One. There are private matches and I am sure they will add custom settings and the like later.

12

> I actually really like this idea! It sounds like it would be hilarious. My AI would probably consistently get pissed off at campers and AAs.

True that…If I could, I’d make mine do the raging for me.

But as such this isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but not too much of a great one either.
Since you’ve added the feature to turn it off, I can’t really see any harm.
I think that they should add things like this only if they ahve extra time and ahve fnished teh game.

13

> > I actually really like this idea! It sounds like it would be hilarious. My AI would probably consistently get pissed off at campers and AAs.
>
> True that…If I could, I’d make mine do the raging for me.
>
> But as such this isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but not too much of a great one either.
> Since you’ve added the feature to turn it off, I can’t really see any harm.
> I think that they should add things like this only if they ahve extra time and ahve fnished teh game.

Or add it as a free update after the game and not as one of those stupid $3 voice packs cough CoD Ghosts cough