First off, hello everyone, this is my first halowaypoint post and most likely not my last. I’ve been playing Halo since 2002 with a buddy of mine and I’ve watched it evolve and grow into the games they are today. Forum goer since the old Bungie.net days, participating in their classic ARG’s and keeping it clean. While there are many things that fans are beginning to point out and lash out over, I’m here to voice my own personal concern with something that could easily make this game better. And that’s lighting.
Why lighting can make or break a Halo game.
Target acquisition. this is the biggest make or break example in multiplayer games, and why I personally steer clear from most online ventures. Halo 1 through 3, even Reach, although each with glaring differences, had one thing that made their online matches tolerable. Being able to see the enemy, their silhouette, in different times of day, behind any kind of texture and etc was first and foremost their top priority and a staple to their crisp and clean graphic design choices. If you had issues making out a player, you had issues taking him down. Poor target acquisition can be caused by a number of things, including artifacts on your screen, poor hud design, map readability and definitely lighting.
Readability is another concern. Although similar to Target acquisition, Readability can affect your surroundings and your ability to assess and take advantage of the area around you. Take a look here: Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta Gameplay - YouTube - First part of the video looks okay. Map is laid out nice, you can see what you can and can not do, but my hopes dropped a bit when you first get to see Midship at around the 00:40 second mark. What’s wrong with this picture? It looks like someone smudged up your pair of glasses and you didn’t bother cleaning it up. There are so many lighting effects screaming at you: reflective surfaces, glowing energy barriers, holograms galore. But the most obvious issue with all this is this bloom overlay. I thought it was the quality of the video at first. It is so distracting it’s unbelievable. Biggest offense? 00:50 second mark of the video. Put yourself in the player’s shoes. If you were running up to that base wielding the bloom sword with no radar, how fast would you have reacted to that enemy? There are so many lighting distractions that it is taking me away from the experience that I want. Take a look at Heretic, the midship remake in Halo 3. I look to that when I show people an example of how something can be upgraded, while still keeping the feel and look of the original.
Before I wrap up, one thing they have have done well regarding readability so far are the map layouts. Reach and 4 suffered from the overpopulation of useless geometry on their maps. This made using grenades and generally moving through it a pain. It’s nice seeing them go back to simpler designs, it just pushes the player to focus on their skill.
343i, You have had a great opportunity to light a fire under the Halo community and learn what it was that made Halo great with the Master Chief Collection. Now there’s a bigger base that’s looking to you guys for the next big thing. Thanks for rekindling my favorite game, Halo 2, and I’ll be looking forward to what will essentially be YOUR Halo 2. It can be huge.
TL;DR
Don’t add bloom effects or unnecessary lighting effects to the game, takes away from the beauty and simplicity.