Here’s my idea for how armours should look in Halo 6, as it’s widely agreed that the Spartan armour in Halo 5 isn’t the best looking and doesn’t fit the Halo art style too well.
This is my first post here, so please go easy on me.
I’m Aussie so Armour will be spelled funny
Art Style
As we know, 343i drastically changed the art style, and consequently, the Spartans. Spartans have been known to be called ‘walking tanks’, however Halo 5’s armour doesn’t really suit that description. There is too much bare undersuit showing rather than armour. A tank is heavily armoured, so if Spartans are going to be walking tanks, they too have to be quite heavily armoured.
The older Halo games have Spartans with lots of armour. They have bicep armour, shoulders, forearms, chest, cod (crotch guard), thigh, shin and boots. The amount of armour on them gives them a bit more bulk, making them look stronger and bigger.
Halo Wars 2 has brought this look back to the Spartans, and hopefully this carries into Halo 6.
How it should look (IMO)
We’ve already talked about art style above, and some of that carries into this section too. One thing I’ve noticed is that Halo 5’s armour consists of lots of tiny fiddly bits for detail. This creates small little distracting things that make the armour overly complicated. How I would approach it goes like this:
Create the outline of the armour. The silhouette, if you will.
Add large details. This will act as the main sections of your armour.
Add detail WITHIN the lines. Things like panel lines are great to add detail and break up flat panels, while not overly-complicating the design. Halo 3 armour does a great job at this.
343i has overlooked some iconic small details of Spartan armour, like the little vents on the back, shield emitter lights and inner thigh flexible material. I suggest looking at past games for reference, looking at what’s consistently in each armour and add it to their own designs.
I’m not sure about other people, but I notice the small details. So here’s my list of small details that I miss.
The vents on the back should bevel inwards.
The flexible area on the back.
http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/BTHR_Zero_X/media/bWVkaWFJZDoxNDMxNDEyNg==/?ref=
The undersuit should be black
The glove should be black with a plate on the top. (though I love the tiny details on the halo 5 gloves)
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61KeKKLy0PL.UX385.jpg
Cod Piece (Not so small of a detail)
Shield emitter lights.
The flexible area on the inner thigh
The boots
The small holes/bolts on Chief’s armour.
Variants
Halo 3 and Reach’s armours were variants of a base armour, ie. Halo 3, the Mark VI and in Reach, the Mark V/B. My idea is to make a base armour in Halo 6, and have variants of it.
Recruit seems to be a good base. Simple, and actually looks pretty good. To me, the name Recruit is a little degrading towards it, as it makes it sound like a beginner/noob’s armour. I liked how Reach’s base armour was called Mark V/B, a variant of the Mark V. So how about Mark VI/B instead of recruit?
Using the design philosophy from above, we can establish a base armour. The flat chest piece of the Mark VI/B or Recruit makes a perfect base for adding things. The variants will be based on the same piece, but add unique features to set it apart from the base.
EVA
I liked the idea from Halo 3 that the EVA is a self-sealing armour. I modified the chestpiece, making it look more like a life support module. I added a collar piece, sealed off the top of the chest joints, changed the shoulder and added sealing points on the forearms and shoulders. I simplified the helmet, as I like the overall look of the Halo 5 EVA.
Recon
I modified the chest to accommodate for that angular look from the Halo 5 Recon. The shoulder is different and the helmet is simplified.
Please excuse the not-so-good drawings, i’m far from professional and i find it harder to draw on my Surface Pro.
What are your thoughts?
