Josh Holmes info-blowout @teambeyond

Games Halo 5: Guardians
#1

Josh Holmes is just a nice guy when it comes to community interaction - I’ve already had the pleasure to get some answers from Josh on Twitter.

But now he stepped into the lion’s den (brave man!) @teambeyond which I havn’t seen any studio head doing to that extent before.
He answered a lot of questions - there are some nice infos there too!

HERE is the corresponding thread (please wear a protective suit - enter at your own risk!).
Josh goes by the name of Sal1ent there… just that you know.

As I’m a real nice person I’ve harvested all of Josh’s quote for your reading pleasure - probably not all things are perfectly clear without the context of the conversation but I think you can get 90% of the info without having to read through 18+ pages.

I’ve summarized the most important points a couple of posts below (for the lazy)!

But here is the full text (Josh’s quotes in normal text)!

WALLS OF TEXT INCOMING

Why is there a thread with my name in the title? :slight_smile:

@Maximus IL: Great post and thanks for taking the time to write up in such detail. Your posts here are pretty uniformly awesome BTW.

Where to begin…

I can’t really offer much insight into MCC because I didn’t work on it. Same goes for the rest of the Halo 5 team. What I can say is that the MCC team cares deeply about their product, they worked their -Yoinks!- off to try and deliver the ultimate Halo fan experience and they were devastated by the problems the game had upon launch. There was no conspiracy to knowingly release a flawed product and they have been committed to fixing issues since it released. That’s not an excuse for the state of multiplayer when it launched and you have every right to feel frustrated and angry.

On communication: I am very much in favor of open dialogue with the community. Prior to release that will always be somewhat constrained by plans around announcements, etc because we can’t talk about unannounced stuff. I am looking forward to post-E3 and GamesCom when I can share our HCS and post-launch support plans for H5. During Halo 4’s development our communication was further limited by team bandwidth. We were a brand new studio taking on a massive challenge, growing our team while building a huge game. For Halo 5 we’ve tried to open things up with the Arena beta, The Sprint series and through direct interaction on forums, social media, etc. We’re balancing this with the effort that goes into building the game, obviously. Speaking for myself, personally I try to respond whenever I am able to address a question or concern from members of the community, so long as the dialogue remains respectful.

On the beta feedback / post-mortem: my blog wasn’t trying to justify decisions, I was providing context for changes being made and a developer’s perspective on the game that we’re building. I tried to touch on what I felt were the most important takeaways for us as a team, but of course not everything was covered.

You mentioned concerns with lighting. These were not addressed in detail, but I did mention lighting improvements in my summary as one of the many things being addressed post-beta. To add more context, we have a new physically-based material system and a new lighting model for Halo 5. At the time of beta we were still dialing things in and there were a number of technical work items still outstanding. We’ve continued to work on refining the lighting throughout the game and paid particular attention to improving player visibiity in multiplayer, which was a big issue in the beta in specific areas on the maps. This is something we have been rigorously testing and it is much better. It’s also been a high priority across the many other maps we’re building that weren’t featured in the beta.

On sprint, I feel like this is a religious debate. The mechanic is incredibly divisive. Nothing I say will convince the sprint haters that it’s good for Halo, no matter how it’s implemented. We like the way our game plays with sprint. There are many reasons why it’s in the game, both mechanical & experiential. I’ve tried explaining some of them (and maybe I have done a poor job), but it seems any attempt to do so devolves into a dogmatic rhetoric and personal attacks. Suffice to say, we enjoy the way it plays and feel it supports our vision for Halo 5. That’s why it’s in there. The core of the game is supported by sprint and we prefer the way it plays with it. So do the vast majority of players based on all of our research. For people that don’t like it, we’ve enabled a toggle in customs so they can play without it.

There. I’m done talking about sprint.

Finally, you mentioned the lack of a forum on Waypoint to highlight bugs and glitches discovered. In your mind how would this differ from the HALO SUPPORT forums there? Is it simply a question of better moderation or are there specific tools that you feel are lacking? Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated and I will be sure to pass on to the appropriate folks.

Thanks again,

Josh

> SatansReverence
> Because that would be totally free of self selection bias.

Do you even know what this means?

> SatansReverence
> He has compared real Halo players to kids crying for a -Yoinking!- comfort blanket.

I’ve done no such thing. But feel free to go ahead and fabricate whatever words you want to put in my mouth. Whatever makes you happy.

> Kreig556
> Oh, yes, let’s ignore all those meaningful, respectful posts that could lead to a useful discussion and just nitpick and reply to these ones instead, so that you can have an excuse to leave the discussion.

I haven’t left the discussion, but I was clear about a couple of things in my last post. I’m done talking about sprint and I can’t speak for MCC (team or game). Also, please don’t freak out if I don’t respond immediately. I’m not trying to ignore people I just have a lot going on and it may take some time for me to post.

I went through the last few pages to address some stuff that doesn’t fall into either category.

> tatter3d
> @Sal1ent
>
> For the love of satan, can we please have another beta?!

We don’t have any plans for another external beta. The burden of supporting an external beta release takes weeks of time from the team. Time that would otherwise be spent polishing the final game. I have to balance the impact to the team and make the right tradeoffs to deliver the best game.

#2

> bitter
>
> So I take it you guys want Halo 5 to focus on player maneuverability more than the past games? That’s definitely something that sprint and the other spartan abilities support. However, abilities such as thruster would add more depth to combat if the player were able to shoot/melee while using said ability. I understand that your ability to shoot is a cost for more mobility, which is a reasonable balance at low-to-mid level matches. When it comes to higher level matches, where players are far more consistent with their aiming/teamwork, these abilities that force us to put our gun down (even for 1-2 seconds) only hurt the flow of combat and diminish the amount of offensive plays we can pull off with them. Of course this is all preference, but giving more power to the individual in terms of not just defensive movement, but offensive movement as well will definitely make for a more exciting gameplay/viewer experience.

A couple of things here.

Yes, maneuverability and player mobility is a big focus for Halo 5’s gameplay. From a design perspective we have intentionally built the abilities to have tradeoffs as these result in interesting tactical decisions in battle. If you clamber instead of crouch jump, you give up your ability to shoot and must face the direction you are traveling in. If you sprint, you give up the ability to shoot and recharge your shields. If you thrust, you drop your weapon momentarily.

For thruster in particular, we’ve gone through a ton of tuning on this from Halo 4 through Halo 5. It’s one of the first abilities we began prototyping for Halo 4 back when I joined the team in 2009, so it has gone through a lot of test validation since then. For thruster to work well and feel good, it needs to have instant response (I press the button, I thrust). It needs to have sufficient acceleration and distance to read from first person, but this is balanced against how much impact it has on combat. Thrust too far, too fast and it becomes incredibly overpowered.

When you allow players to shoot while thrusting (no tradeoff), it feels random. The instant nature of the ability means no tell before movement begins. The speed of movement makes it too hard to track the target in that crucial first few frames. Thruster becomes overpowered and dominates 1:1 combat resolution.

Since beta the team has spent a lot of time working on timing and transitions between different actions to tighten them up for a more fluid feel while maintaining the right balance between abilities. This includes the window for thruster so you can shoot sooner after beginning your thrust, giving enough time for a tell without feeling sluggish. It also extends to basic sandbox actions like zooming in and reloading weapons.

> WingedGrim
>
> I love how josh just equates us to haters and attackers, who use rhetoric to get our points across. I’m quite honestly offended by this statement, it really shows just how seriously he’s taking our feedback.

I’m not trying to generalize and I understand how my statement could be taken that way. Going back to Maximus’ original post, he mentioned perception and I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the past day. Perception governs a lot of our interactions if don’t make an effort to continually re-examine our conclusions.

> Rolf
>
> @Sal1ent Can you say something about the FOV in Halo 5?

FOV is a constant series of tradeoffs. Wider FOV makes for better spacial awareness but shrinks characters/enemies on screen. It also affects perf, which has a sweeping impact on the game experience. I’m not sure what the current FOV is, I think it’s around 70.

Don’t expect any big changes from beta.

> Maximus IL
> Imagine the following scenario: Spartans can shoot while sprinting, but with aim assist disabled. The arm-pumping animation can remain - including the left arm being off the stock. The gun is still pointed downrange . . . right arm pumping, but always downrange. Immersion criteria met. Getting shot while sprinting reverts a Spartan to normal running speed. Now sprinting is no longer a purely defensive / positioning mechanic, but has a significant offensive utility. A player can always close range if they obtain a positional advantage behind an opponent. A player can always run down an opposing player with depleted shields.

This is an interesting idea. The lack of aim assist would make sprint-shooting less effective than normal shooting, so the defensive capabilities of sprint would be reduced but not eliminated. The challenge would be in how to communicate the mechanic to players so they understood how the system worked. Could potentially be done through reticle size. On the note about kicking players out of sprint whenever they take damage, this is something we’ve tested in the past (seems like a good tradeoff on paper) but it always feels terrible. It’s hard to connect the act of being slowed to the impact of being shot (and directionally, where that damage is coming from). Players have been pretty unanimous in their hatred for it throughout extensive testing.

> Maximus IL
>
> Under the Support forum, have a couple of general subforums for common categories of problems, such as “Game / DLC Loading & Downloading Issues”, “Server / Network / Internet Issues”, “Campaign Issues”, “Ranks and Skill Matching Issues”, and “General Multiplayer Issues”. Within the subforums, there should be pinned threads for the most common issues (“Hit Registration”). The threads should indicate how to properly report a problem and any required evidence (such as video). Noncompliant posts should be deleted or hidden. 343i could use the topic post not just to describe how to properly report, but to give acknowledgement and updates on the status of the reported issues that 343i has been able to reproduce or add to the to-do list.
>
>
>
> That is the kind of structure that would help both the gamers and the programmers.

This is a good suggestion and I’ll pass on to the team that builds Waypoint.

> blankfein
>
> Oh; but please pre-order our game

Honestly if you have any hesitation regarding H5, I would suggest that you not pre-order the game. I’m not here to sell the game to you. I only want people buying/playing H5 if they’re going to enjoy it.

> AkaDemiK
>
> @Sal1ent will halo 5’s HCS use sprint? One can assume that the majority of the competitive crowd would want this mechanic disabled in tourneys

I expect we’ll start the first season with stock settings and then look to the players to help inform updates/changes as we go, but we haven’t made any firm decisions yet. We still have a lot to announce on the competitive side of things.

@CoachMayyne @VinFTW @Infinity:
IMO dividing the community based on DLC is a bad thing for the MP ecosystem all-up.

#3

> WingedGrim
>
> the problem with this rationale is that you’re not taking into account that A.) both players have this ability, and B.) it’s just as hard for the thruster to track his or her target, not all randomness is a bad thing, it’s artificial randomness that ruins gameplay, randomness coming from player input is good for the game. Adding shooting to thrusting or other abilities creates a natural trade off and increases the skill gap, as well as encourage more aggressive gameplay making matches go faster.

While it’s true that both players have the ability, the player initiating the thrust action has the advantage in that they know exactly which direction they are going to move in. They are able to adjust aim accordingly and therefore always have the upper hand. In its current incarnation thruster has great offensive capability without being overpowered.

> Humpflung
>
> If I CAN NOT SHOOT while moving, jumping, or strafing simultaneously in full 360 degree access, then this isn’t my game and not what made Halo great IMO. If I have to put my gun down for any reason, I don’t want to play then. I’m not even trying to be snobby pissed off -Yoink- either. The fun that is Halo are the dynamic and unique gun fights that always seem different with every encounter. That and getting around the map to outsmart your enemy without sprint was the equivalent of juking somebody out on the football field, but way cooler. Very satisfying. Now it’s gone. At least you made it clear you’re killing this off.

Well you can shoot while moving, jumping and strafing simultaneously in 360 degree access. You have the choice to put your gun down to take specific actions, none of which impact your ability to move/jump/strafe. That said, if you are entirely opposed to any situation where you need to put your gun down (assuming you don’t include grenade throws and melee) then understandably you won’t enjoy H5.

> FireAtWill
>
> @Sal1ent Any words about BTB? As a lone wolf and casual player (that also love Halo esport) I am very curious about what H5 BTB will offer.

We’ll be talking about larger scale MP (including vehicles) in the upcoming months. As of now it falls in the category of “unannounced.”

> ZipCity117
>
> 343 has confirmed that power-ups will be making a comeback.

Yup. Power-ups are in the game we just didn’t have them polished enough to include in beta. Same with a lot of the weapons. Changes to power weapon placements and power-up additions have dramatically changed (IMO improved) the flow of beta maps.

> Aphex Twin
>
> That doesn’t make it a viable tactic though. One month maybe, probably closer to a week, any halo 5 player with a more serious competitive drive will never thrust at an opponent. Not to say anything bad about kampy, but halo 5’s landscape hasn’t fully revealed itself to everyone yet.

343 pro team has been playing this game at a high level longer than anybody on the planet. They continue to use thrusters offensively, against one another and against skilled opponents in the beta. They seem to do alright.

> Aphex Twin
>
> Offensively how? To close the gap between an opponent or to avoid taking damage?

Both. Would you use it with a utility weapon in full view of your opponent to move directly toward him? No, but that doesn’t make it less viable offensively in the right situations.

> Aphex Twin
>
> Why is limiting individual skill a good way to make halo 5 more about teamwork when that only allows for teamshooting and no other form of teamwork to develop?

I never said that it was. It’s fair to say that individuals have more skill-based tools at their disposal in Halo 5 than ever before. We are also trying to emphasize and reward good teamwork. The two are not mutually exclusive.

> MultiLockOn
>
> How is this different from saying “if you don’t like Sprint just don’t use it”

The point is that you can be very successful without using it, even before the post-beta tuning (which narrows the delta between base and sprint movement speed). There is tactical value to using the ability in specific situations but it’s not required to succeed.

> Brutality
> Okay I played a fair amount of the beta but can someone tell me what the point of Spartan charging was? Didn’t it do he same damage as a melee except if you missed you had to wait for the animation to finish? I maybe used it twice total

The main advantage of Spartan charge is that you can get a one-hit kill from behind, with an extended range to the melee (can launch the attack from a short distance away). It’s useful in flanking a distracted enemy. You can use it from the front or side but its usefulness in those situations depends on the enemy’s health. We’ve been tuning the cool down after impact since beta to feel more fluid.

> MultiLockOn
> I thought it’d be interesting to tie spartan charge to thruster pack, where if you melee during the thrusting animation you spartan charge in that direction. Not only would this fix the issue of not being able to melee out of Sprint, but it makes thrusting an offensive ability WITH a huge trade off of the long charging animation. And there’s skill in the execution of the timing.

It’s a good idea and we tried this but it never felt right. Something about the combination of input, plus the multi-directionality of thruster creating uncertainty around which angles (from the analog input) result in a charge.

#4

One of the problems with Truth is that people hear “inspired by Midship” and immediately compare it to that classic map. We took inspiration from Midship but didn’t want duplicate it in terms of layout or size. We wanted something that had its own character. It’s interesting because fans of OG Midship think it’s a giant monstrosity while newer players generally like it. It’s certainly not my favorite H5 map, but I do enjoy playing it.

Since beta the lighting has improved to allow for better player visibility (no more blue team hiding in plain sight), the weapon placements have changed, and overall it plays much better (especially with the higher base speed).

> RyanW
>
> Hey @Sal1ent, it was never talked about in the Beta Feedback article you posted but are there any changes being made to Breakout? Two of the biggest reasons were there was really no reason to push up and move around more(objective, power up/weapon) and the fact that when you died you can see your teammates PoV from third person which was a huge unfair advantage, encouraging at least someone to die on your team to help you.
>
> Has there been any improvements made?

The team has been experimenting with an objective (one flag). This adds depth by giving you two ways to win the round: push the flag or eliminate the opposing team. It helps address stalling/camping when the stakes are high. No guarantees it’ll ship this way but the results have been positive so far.

> Computer
>
> @Sal1ent Can you get the art team to chill on the visual clutter? I know they want the map to look good but it starts effect game play when it is visually busy to look at.

This is a constant challenge with heightened visual fidelity. What you see as “clutter,” someone else sees as “detail” - the goal (and challenge) is to deliver a more detailed physical environment that maximizes the capabilities of the Xbox One while retaining clarity of image and the ability to follow the action. Your point is well taken though and this is something we are always working to balance.

> MultiLockOn
>
> Josh could we get any insight regarding crouching + thrust = a slide in that direction.

Slide is triggered from sprint, so if sprint is turned off so is slide. We tested thrust + crouch and it never felt right in combination.

> CoachMayyne
>
> 1.When do you think the season2 of the sprint will air? and how many eps are you thinking of doing?
>
> 2. When will we get visual differences to H5 post-beta feedback? E3?

  1. Not exactly sure - it takes a LOT of time and footage to pull together the full episodes and right now Paul is busy filming the next series.

  2. The next major beat for us in revealing H5 content is E3, yes.

> Batchford
>
> Good stuff on you settling into Team Beyond, would be nice to see Quinn post a bit more here though.
>
> Nice to hear you guys working on Breakout. I really hope you guys implement Strongholds into competitive settings, because that mode is probably the best mode to come to Halo in recent years. Is the frame rate issues in Strongholds from the Beta resolved?

I was just bugging Quinn today about coming back to BE.

Frame rate in beta was only partially optimized and Strongholds was the worst case example. The engineering team is united in their focus on delivering stable 60fps across modes for launch.

> MrGreenWithAGun
>
> Invasion?

No Invasion but more to come on larger scale MP. Stay tuned!

> ZipCity117
>
> Have any changes been done to weapon/shield system? It was really hard to figure out, as it still had shields, but they were weaker or guns were stronger.
>
> With the already fast kill times in H5, why not keep Breakout the same as regular Slayer? Would be a more unified experience.

This has been a big point of contention at times for the team. Breakout was designed around higher lethality to promote faster kill times and empower individual play. Moving to a unified experience has clear advantages but it also reduces the opportunity for a single player to take out an entire opposing team to secure the comeback win. Those thrilling moments are part of the DNA of the mode - hence the hesitation in making the shift. Rest assured that you are not alone in debating this. :slight_smile:

#5

Thank you kind sir! Wow some people on those forums are ridiculous…

#6

> 2533274809687497;5:
> Thank you kind sir! Wow some people on those forums are ridiculous…

Indeed. It’s probably the same people wondering why developers don’t post on forums that much.

#7

I love how he actually went on that wretched forum, said his mind, and the people insulted him afterwards.

And then they brought up polls taken from team beyond. Which is basially the most biased and preset polls on the internet.

I’m sorry, but Josh >>>> team beyond users.

#8

Wow, he must be insane for posting there.
Why doesn’t he reply more here on Waypoint?

Also, how he kept saying “larger scale MP” makes me excited for a larger BTB. So Invasion won’t be in Halo 5, but he sounded like there was something similar in this large scale multiplayer.

#9

> 2533274877056440;8:
> Wow, he must be insane for posting there.
> Why doesn’t he reply more here on Waypoint?
>
> Also, how he kept saying “larger scale MP” makes me excited for a larger BTB. So Invasion won’t be in Halo 5, but he sounded like there was something similar in this large scale multiplayer.

Ya I always wondered why 343i employees post on other gaming sites and dont post on their own. For example, Frankie on Gaf. There is a reason why we post here and its because its called halo “WAYPOINT” which means the halo hub pretty much. This should be where the community is and where 343 should focus their attention to to be honest. Nothing wrong with replying on other forums as well and taking advice from them too (the more the better) but I find us “waypointers” are neglected.

#10

<mark>A word of warning:</mark>

If you have gripes with people’s attitudes at Beyond forums, you can go and tell it to them, or keep it to yourself. Here, however, we don’t look nicely at talking crap about other communities. So, anybody who feels compelled to tell how awful they think those people are should prepare for their post to get edited.

#11

I commend Josh for posting on Team Beyond, and that he stayed professional and level headed. And gave a lot of insight into their developmental mindset as well that I think should (key word being should) put some people at ease with regards to certain decisions.

#12

Really useful info; thanks for sharing, TrueBlue. Also, thanks for putting the posts here on Waypoint, instead of me having to go to teambeyond’s website.

#13

> 2533274809687497;9:
> > 2533274877056440;8:
> > Wow, he must be insane for posting there.
> > Why doesn’t he reply more here on Waypoint?
> >
> > Also, how he kept saying “larger scale MP” makes me excited for a larger BTB. So Invasion won’t be in Halo 5, but he sounded like there was something similar in this large scale multiplayer.
>
>
> Ya I always wondered why 343i employees post on other gaming sites and dont post on their own. For example, Frankie on Gaf. There is a reason why we post here and its because its called halo “WAYPOINT” which means the halo hub pretty much. This should be where the community is and where 343 should focus their attention to to be honest. Nothing wrong with replying on other forums as well and taking advice from them too (the more the better) but I find us “waypointers” are neglected.

I think the problem is that this place is basically a cesspool of hate, though not as bad as Team Beyond, so there’s nothing to focus their attention to. Gaf? Reddit? They are monitored by many people and make sure that nothing gets out of control. There are mods here as well but sadly they aren’t enough to stop the hate. I mean, why display your hate for something on random forums when the company has their own forum page for you to post your hate on?

#14

> 2533274877056440;8:
> Wow, he must be insane for posting there.
> Why doesn’t he reply more here on Waypoint?
>
> Also, how he kept saying “larger scale MP” makes me excited for a larger BTB. So Invasion won’t be in Halo 5, but he sounded like there was something similar in this large scale multiplayer.

Why is it insane?
People over there are all hardcore Halo Player who invest countless hours into the game, who understand how things work and who come up with some interesting ideas!
Do you have to prepare to take some flak? Yes!
Do people over there sometimes choose the wrong tone? Yes!
But it’s still a quite competent Halo community when it comes to gameplay! (which you can’t really say about most of waypoint)

@TrueBlueHero
Good work collecting all of them!

#15

> 2533274801973487;14:
> > 2533274877056440;8:
> > Wow, he must be insane for posting there.
> > Why doesn’t he reply more here on Waypoint?
> >
> > Also, how he kept saying “larger scale MP” makes me excited for a larger BTB. So Invasion won’t be in Halo 5, but he sounded like there was something similar in this large scale multiplayer.
>
>
> Why is it insane?
> People over there are all hardcore Halo Player who invest countless hours into the game, who understand how things work and who come up with some interesting ideas!
> Do you have to prepare to take some flak? Yes!
> Do people over there sometimes choose the wrong tone? Yes!
> But it’s still a quite competent Halo community when it comes to gameplay! (which you can’t really say about most of waypoint)
>
> @TrueBlueHero
> Good work collecting all of them!

He’s insane because that place is like Waypoint only fifty times worse. Doesn’t matter if they are hardcore players or not if they are total -Yoinks!-

#16

Till the end Mr Holmes?

Till the end?

#17

I don’t think they understand how important invasion is to the fans…

#18

> 2533274793332039;1:
> Josh Holmes is just a nice guy when it comes to community interaction - I’ve already had the pleasure to get some answers from Josh on Twitter.
>
> But now he stepped into the lion’s den (brave man!) @teambeyond which I havn’t seen any Halo developer doing before.
> He answered a lot of questions - there are some nice infos there too!

Please stop spreading false info.

First of all, Holmes isn’t the first Halo dev to appear on Beyond - Frankie and Quinn (aka: Deez) were there before - and this’s not Holmes’ first post, either. Some Bungie devs used to come there, too, if I recall correctly. Also, when faced with poll results from the 3 major Halo communities (Waypoint, r/Halo, BE), he replied with a link to “self selection bias”.

Secondly, he dodged a lot of hard-hitting questions (especially about SAs), and when faced with sprint, he simply replied with: “we enjoy the way it plays and feel. It supports our vision for Halo 5” instead of talking from a technical/competitive/gameplay-design perspective, because he knew this’s a war he couldn’t win.

Thirdly, he eventually got stuck and picked some some abusive comments to reply to rather than constructive ones, so that he has an excuse to leave the discussion (just like Frankie did).

Finally, if you dislike Beyond because people there aren’t sheeps fanboying over a dev, then you have a problem, not them. There’s a reason why he doesn’t post here.

Still, it’s very nice to see a dev communicating with fans and I hope to see Josh again soon. I just hope he consider the feedback seriously.

#19

To be fair with TB, those -Yoinks!- ain’t got -Yoink- with the forum Civil War we’ve had ourselves.<div></div><div>I kind of feel like this whole Q&A was a wasted opportunity asides from the technical questions.</div><div></div><div>I myself would’ve asked him about loadouts: Are there going to be in anything outside this whole “Arena MP Mode”</div><div></div><div>About Elites in the multiplayer.</div><div></div><div>Or customization</div><div></div><div>Y’know? Questions we already haven’t debated to -Yoink-</div>

#20

The most important points:

  • Josh once again makes it clear that the H5 team had and has nothing to do with the MCC developement- Their is a greater effort to get in a dialog with fans (wasn’t possible during H4 dev because of growing team)- He won’t discuss Sprint anymore - the Team likes it, all of their polls indicate that most of the people like it too- Lighting much improved after Beta especially player visibility- No second Beta (too much effort)- Every ability designed to have tradeoffs - tested many ideas that sounded good on paper but didn’t work- Shooting while thrusting turned out to be unbalanced / overpowered (thrusting player knows where he goes so can use that advantage)- FOV currently at around 70 (different pros and cons to that)- H5’s HCS will likely start with basic settings - changes after player feedback- He thinks that dividing community based on DLC is a bad thing- No Invasion in H5- ‘Larger scale MP’ infos in the next months- Power-ups and new weapons didn’t make it in the Beta but will be in the final game- Comparisons between Midship and Truth don’t make sense as they wern’t meant to be alike - Team experimenting with objectives (flag) in Breakout- Doesn’t know when next episode of The Sprint will be ready (working on it)- Next big H5 infos @E3- Framerate drops should be ironed out when the game launches