So lately I’ve been thinking about the Halo wars sub series. The potential it has to evoke the classic halo titles while delivering a tactically robust and interesting style that is uniquely its own in the RTS and FPS spaces.
Recently Certain Affinity a studio with close ties to halo made some hires that reunited some old bungie developers under one roof.
Among them the lead of a failed yet mechanically novel game called Disintegration.
There is also a mix of FPS and RTS dev experienced individuals on staff at CA.
For me personally one of Halo Wars biggest drawbacks is the rigid nature of the map design and base nodes.
While I understand the logic behind the design choice I’m not convinced it is the way to make RTS console viable.
While it was stressful Age of Empires II on PlayStation2 was among my favourite games in my youth.
I believe this was due to the free-form nature as opposed to halowars2 feeling less like a strategy and more like a puzzle/tutorial game, restricting throughout the short campaign.
What follows is my pitch for Halo Wars3:
An open map divided into regions. A small tutorial region for first time players and an orbital insertion option for NG+.
Once the player has dominated a region and defended it from the enemy for a certain period it becomes locked.
Once a region is locked you choose one of the surrounding areas as your next mission. The more efficient your lost crusade was the more bonus materials you have to be diverted to the next front.
This is where the FPS element begins, choosing a team of units and a leader you must invade and capture an outpost in the new territory.
Using a simple classic halo combat system with some rainbow six style commands you lead an infiltration squad to take a base of your choosing.
Once the base is cleared, the AI begins an rts lite base defence segment. A small set of units is controlled in a wave based tower defence gameplay style.
Once the base has been defended it becomes your newest base of operations and the RTS elements unfold.
With each new region captured and locked down the AI enemy armies also capture and move to new locations.
In some cases the player will be alerted after taking a new region that an old locked region is under assault and you will be forced to defend the area or abandon it to be taken as you focus your war efforts elsewhere.
This is a more turn based approach to rts, that might seem paradoxical but it allows for a less cumbersome playstyle that can work on console
To capture special point on the maps with unique effects you must send an FPS infiltration to that point.
The freedom of setting up units and bases is offset via the following.
- The mini map has a Halo style damage indicator that shows in a 360° radius where any given assault is coming from in relation to your cursor.
- Tapping an input to cycle through units or bases returns. However holding the respective inputs and pointing the analogue in a direction highlights a base or unit and releasing snaps you directly to that point.
- All bases have some form of shields to allow you to react before taking damage thats needs manual repair.
(A skull would turn this off)
This 3 styles approach of gameplay should serve to make RTS novices feel comfortable while giving more seasoned players room to explore tactics and not be tied to restrictive mission objective structures.
Having rewards like extending the front to cut off enemy supply chains will starve bases deep in your territory. Or capturing an area before the enemy retreats will stop any scorched earth tactics and reap rewards.
Hopefully to incentive clever and proactive play among better players while allowing for slower build resources and take it slow approaches for beginners.
The FPS element punctuates the RTS gameplay to give a short break and entice more of the halo community to pay attention.
It is both more familiar and gives more agency to players in moment to moment play.
Perhaps not going for the commander over the Battlefield approach of Disintegration but rather slipping AI into a system and taking a satellite view to order and set up between rounds then switching to boots on the ground with the previously mentioned rainbow 6 Vegas approach to real time commands for units in your vicinity.
Please provide any feedback on this concept and the mechanics at play.