Oh I love threads like this. It’s full of a bunch of people who have never actually worked on video games talking about how they would make video games. Generally what ends up happening is something like:
“I perceive this part of the game to be problematic, therefor I would have fixed that problem, but I don’t actually know why the problem arose or how to fix it.”
or
“I want this feature to be in the game, so without considering any time or budget constrains, I would obviously have implemented this feature before launch regardless of whether or not it’s even physically possible.”
More characters for Master Chief and the others to talk to.
More remarkable events.
Effects on the story from completing certain side missions.
Echo being in worse condition by the time Master Chief gets to him.
Escharum…reworked somehow.
Map and structures
Land vehicle-friendly terrain.
Biome diversity (desert, beach, ocean, jungle, forest, savanna).
Weather (rain, fog, sunny, cloudy, snow).
More depth in lakes (and underwater exploration).
Destructible environment (trees, structures, etc., and how quickly would depend on the object).
Structural diversity (more alien-looking structures for the Banished, and more complex structures all-around).
More objects and structures showing what happened to characters (bones, prisons, etc.).
The rating shouldn’t matter much (just look at Skyrim and Elden Ring, as well as the other Halo games), and the game’s areas aren’t very detailed as they are (however, nothing to the extent of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games).
Missions
Mission replay.
More level diversity and more varied layouts.
Simple events for some HVTs.
Enemies
New and old enemy types and variants.
Designed around abilities but in a fair way.
Less awareness of the location of players.
Activities for them to do when not fighting.
Creatures
Creatures that can attack Master Chief, the UNSC, the Banished, and other creatures.
Larger creatures.
Underwater creatures.
Abilities
The Repulsor.
Jet pack upgrade for the Thrusters.
Vehicles
New and old vehicle types and variants.
Better land vehicle handling.
Customization
FOBs
Base building (Valor and missions unlock more options) to add more defenses and features (Banished vehicles, larger squads, Marine upgrades).
Base defense (optional).
Instant ammo and grenade refills at any weapon replicator.
Set FOB defaults for Marines (types, loadouts, etc.).
Squads
Command system (use the Marking system to manually choose targets, have a button/key to bring up a menu to tell Marines to leave the squad or wait, etc.).
Squad members teleport to Master Chief.
Rescued Marines have better stats (more health, greater accuracy) than FOB Marines.
Marines can be revived after being knocked down but might not survive being hit in that condition.
Armor
Multiplayer customization can be used after finding a skull for it.
Certain armors give bonuses (Yoroi gives extra Energy Sword damage, Aviator lets flying vehicles move faster, Enigma increases the radar, etc.), which can be toggled from the campaign armor customization menu.
Weapons
Multiplayer customization can be used after finding a skull for it (same skull as for armor customization).
Certain attachments give bonuses (Orochi’s Breath causes the BR to do fire damage, Shinobi Wrap reduces enemy awareness when using the AR, etc.), which can be toggled from the campaign weapon customization menu.
Vehicles
Multiplayer customization can be used after finding a skull for it (same skull as for armor and weapon customization).
Certain attachments give bonuses (Longhorn increases the damage done by driving into enemies with a Warthog, Cowcatcher increases the distance characters move after being hit by a Warthog), which can be toggled from the campaign vehicle customization menu.
Co-op
Linking (players can choose to link themselves to another player and be teleported to them at a certain distance, and players can turn off the ability for other players to link themselves to them for each player).
Mission teleporting (players teleport to the mission level when a mission is started).
Mission voting (players can vote against playing a mission, and hosting players can turn off that feature before starting their save or make it so only they can start missions).
Team revival (only during missions).
Unlocks
Armor lockers would unlock armor pieces, and no other items would be in them.
Finishing the campaign on any difficulty would unlock Master Chief’s armor.
Finishing the campaign on Legendary solo without skulls would unlock a stance and mythic effect.
Finishing the campaign on any difficulty co-op would unlock an emblem and a stance.
Finishing the campaign on Legendary co-op without skulls would unlock a stance and mythic effect.
Finding every audio log would unlock an attachment (one for each type of audio log).
Finding every skull would unlock an armor effect.
Destroying every propaganda tower would unlock a Grunt AI.
Extras
Weird skull for odd encounters and strange events when using certain customization items.
Multiplayer
Customization
Armor
Knee, wrist and glove armor are split.
Foot armor is customizable and split.
Shoulder, knee, wrist, glove and foot armor are unlocked as one item.
Multiple attachments can be equipped together.
Sets can be saved to be loaded later.
Armor cores
Only used for drastically different models (e.g. Elites, certain crossover armors).
Weapons
Multiple attachments can be equipped together.
Sets can be saved to be loaded later.
Vehicles
Multiple attachments can be equipped together.
Sets can be saved to be loaded later.
Other
Emblems are unlocked as one item.
Custom emblems can be made through an emblem editor.
Coatings and visors are unlocked as one item.
Coating and visor colors are all unlocked for free, but designs are not.
Each armor piece, weapon attachment, etc. can have its own color and coating.
Crossover items from other Microsoft-owned games and from other companies (redesigned to fit the Halo style).
Sets can be saved to be loaded later.
Maps
More vertical designs.
Less invisible walls.
Classic maps remade (after a poll on multiple sites and in-game to find the most liked maps).
Land vehicle-friendly BTB maps.
Modes
Firefight
Maps can be edited in Forge.
More settings.
Custom games
Equipment settings.
Custom game browsing.
Classic modes.
Dungeon crawl mode
Players go through procedurally-generated levels (not bland ones either) that become more difficult but give better items as they do.
Some levels also have effects that change the gameplay (less gravity, slightly slower movement, etc.)
Armor and weapon customization affect as they would in campaign.
An optional comic or animation for the event’s story (which can be read or seen whenever even after the event ends, and a new comic or animation with each appearance of the event).
Progression
Challenges
Reworked to reward players for playing well (or trying to) and trying new modes.
Unlimited challenge swapping.
No difficult weekly challenges.
Slightly difficult monthly challenges that encourage new play styles (that do not interrupt matches) and give better rewards.
All challenges available for completion, but players must choose 3-5 to work on at a time.
Medals
At certain milestones, medals give XP, emblems, stances, armor parts, attachments, etc.
Medals give bonus multipliers to XP earned after matches, with team-based, objective-based and more difficult emblems giving greater multipliers.
Score
XP is gained from points (XP levels reworked to accommodate the larger numbers).
XP
XP gained after a Battle Pass is completed can be converted to Credits (0.05%) or affect levels in the next Battle Pass.
Forge
AI (allies, enemies and neither).
A simple and complex system for creating events and items.
Dialogue system.
Destructible structures and objects.
Vehicles
New and old vehicle types and variants.
Better handling for land vehicles.
Shop
Every item costs $1.
All bundles cost $5.
Crossover (not from Microsoft owned games) armor bundles cost $7.
Emblems can be bought in bundles.
Coating designs can be bought in bundles.
Armor can be bought in bundles.
$35 Battle Pass to get every item released in the season.
Cheating and other problems
Reporting players is able to be done during matches, and it automatically saves the video of the match to be reviewed (reporting can only be done three times in an hour with a limit of 12 reports per day).
Reporting players after matches requires the match to be selected from match history (same limit as during matches).
Emblems have a report option (the emblems a player had around the time of the report and in the last match played with the player reporting will be saved and marked for review).
Progress updates given for bugs and other issues (misaligned objects, map areas not being blocked).
I’m not a developer, and I don’t know the exact circumstances, so I’m not sure.
However, this might be something I’d have tried.
I would have paid attention what was going on during the first year of development, and decided what was feasible or not.
To give the game a lifespan of ten years, I would have studied player retention in other games, considered the impact of certain features on player enjoyment and figured out what was worth implementing or not.
With that said, my goal would have been to get the major features of the game ready for release (campaign, co-op, Forge, multiplayer modes), and to have a roadmap for the content released after it.
After release, I would have paid attention to criticism and considered what was worth changing, adding or removing based on the amount of criticism, but also based on my own thoughts of the features (if those changes received criticism however, I’d change them again).
That’s likely how many people who created their own video games started.
Quite a few games that released in poor condition have had actual fixes made by people for the major problems the games had.
Halo is far more popular than most video game series, and 343 had more than half a decade to work on Infinite.
Despite that, Infinite released lacking content and having many issues.
Meanwhile, less popular series have released with many times the content and far less noticeable issues, and even for those that had more noticeable issues, many of them were resolved within several months after the games launched.
Even games in the Halo series have released in better conditions (having co-op, Forge, Firefight, more modes, more complex maps, etc.) than Infinite.
Nix armor cores completely and consolidate all armor pieces onto the MK7 core. Throw in changeable tech suits as well. Revamp coatings to be more of a pattern with a customizable color wheel instead of a completely controlling your color.
It would be a good stopgap until we get Forge mode and custom game browsing.
I agree to some extent.
It sort of ignores the event however.
I disagree.
The shop should only be for coating designs, not colors.
Armor and weapon pieces and attachments should have free primary, secondary and detail colors.
I’d say you could have used the “Hide Details” feature for the Battle Pass tiers, but who knows if anyone will actually expand the tiers for more details.
I’d have done the same for my post as well if it wasn’t for that…
Yeah, I’ve used it a few times, but I think people didn’t know to click on it.
Edit: I see you’ve used it.
If you don’t have to do the weekly challenges, you could just play normal matches instead of the event matches, and you’d still progress in the event.
I’m saying the primary, secondary and detail colors should be free for each piece.
Blue, purple and green helmet, grey, black and orange helmet attachment, green, blue and red chest armor, orange, brown and yellow gloves, etc.
The only thing that should cost money are the designs (camo, symbols, etc.).
Also would like to add, color customization for these should be expanded.
There are lots of different things to color on a weapon/vehicle that would only increase player customization freedom
This sounds very interesting.
Would it be SP only or would it have the possibility for multiple players?
I think a nice way for challenges to work would be just basic objectives (get kills, get wins, play matches, play objective, ect ect)
And then you would have a tiering system for rewards.
Common–swaps out every week, relatively easy to get
(emblem/stance/backdrop/AI color/AI/Visor)
Rare–swaps out every other week. You need to play a decent amount of time to get this
(stance/backdrop/AI color/AI/Visor/Shoulders/Knee pads/coating)
Ultra-Rare–swaps out every 2 weeks. You need to play regularly to get this
(Visor/Shoulders/Knee pads/Chest piece/Gloves/Wrist/armor/FX/coating/Utility)
Ultimate–swaps out every 3 weeks. You need to play a lot to get this
(Chest piece/Wrist/armor/FX/coating/Helmet/Helmet attachment
Legendary–swaps out every 4 weeks. You need to play a lot and be really good at the game to get this
(Helmet/Helmet attachment/Armor FX/Mythic Set/coating)
You shouldn’t have to be forced to play a certain mode to progress, doesn’t matter if it is an event.
Rather, the event would just be there for something new and you would WANT to play the event to have fun, not because you HAVE to to get rewards.
Just my opinion.
However, if you are adamantly, there could be something where playing the event gets you more XP
The “Other” section of multiplayer customization has that somewhat, but yeah, more options there would be good.
Multiplayer and singleplayer.
Sort of like Firefight, but you’re not staying in one map.
I had some ideas for challenges, but I forgot them.
The basic challenges you mentioned are fine though, and aside from the weekly ultimate challenges, that’s already how it’s worked somewhat since the changes (last I checked anyway…).
That would be good.
I think that as well, but I think the fact they did that shows they might’ve been getting less people playing certain modes and events before.
Not certain about it being a problem, but if it is, what solutions are there?
That would be nice in addition to the event rewards.
It might get people who’ve finished the event to keep playing it as well.
Maybe Credits could be used for those who finished the event and Battle Pass.
Having improved yet basic customization locked in an awful way isn’t good.
Without that customization, customization in Infinite is worse than Reach’s, and even with primary, secondary and detail colors in general, it would only be on a par with Reach.
Allow me to pick the Server I want to play on. I’m in Western Canada (<40 ms ping time to MCC Servers) and I am continually put on servers with up to 270 ms ping times and European (German, Cyrillic etc.) Xbox Gamer tags. Their Automagic system simply does not work.
Up the Tick Rate for BTB Servers from 30 hz.
Fix the De-Synch - Rubber Banding issues. Rather than write long winded descriptions of the issue, fix it.
Make sure that Bounties - Challenges you make actually are being counted AND are documented properly. For example, if it says Scoped Headshots, but your only counting the Sniper, then make sure it says Scoped Sniper head shots. Because other weapons have Scopes too.
Until they fix the infrastructure, I may as well go play Destiny PVP (which I despise), which is peer to peer and equally erratic in matchmaking.
Gonna try to keep thing semi realistic here, but to start off with the least realistic:
Forge and at least one canvas map (with several accompanying forge-made maps for BTB and social), coop, a robust file share, lobbies, and a customs browser all at day one. This alone would’ve done wonders even if nothing else about Infinite changed. The gap between 5’s and Infinite’s releases was longer than that between CE and 3, that -Yoink- should’ve been there, I don’t care.
And now for stuff that should be slightly more reasonable:
A separate ranking system in addition to the pass. Maybe give a few rewards for certain milestones, IDK, just something to keep people occupied.
More robust and varied playlist options. Easy stuff like separate slayer variants like BR starts, Snipers, the various objective modes having their own playlists, and for all of these and more to have BTB and FFA variants. If there are enough people playing the game, which was the case at launch, you wouldn’t have much of a problem keeping the playlists populated. I think MCC’s system would be a good place to look.
Alter challenges to be less specific so that players aren’t forced to deal with RNG to complete them. Turn “get kills with Heatwave” to “get kills with close ranged weapons”, or “win CTF” to “win objective gamemodes”. Judging by Infinite’s falling population, it seems frustrating people just makes them drop the game than spend money on swaps.
Fill the battle pass with a plethora of actual items to unlock, instead of several tiers being basically nothing more than swaps and emblems no one cares about. With the current pass, all of the Reach armor really should’ve been included. Also while obviously they have to make the paid version enticing, please throw free players a bone.
For the store and weeklies, don’t bother with emblems and nameplates. Nobody cares about them and they are seen as filler.
Speaking of the store, making things a bit cheaper still and like doubling its size would be nice. Also, when people said they wanted to buy individual items from a bundle, they meant they still wanted the entire offering to be there and for them to just pick and choose if they wanted; they did not want a single piece of the bundle to be put on the store and then the rest just left out entirely.
For weekly rewards, I think it would be smart to have completing your weekly challenges to reward you with a unique reward point to be spent on a separate store for all of the weekly rewards. A new one would be added each week, but old stuff like Willow Tea would still be available for people who missed out. I think this would both get rid of FOMO and would still encourage people to sign in every week so they can stock up on points even if they don’t like the newest weekly reward.
Achievement-based unlocks would be nice, and maybe it’d be possible to give battlepass owners an additional reward for each achievement for those particularly enticing items (say in the case of the Reach BP, you could make the Haunted helmet, AKIS, and Mariner helmets tied to achievements).
When it comes to customization, as many things as possible should be cross core. In particular, helmets, coatings, and visors should be available for every armor set. The coatings would be a fair amount of work but hey, consequences of being greedy and locking color customization. When it comes to other armor pieces, it’d probably be best to treat it on a case by case basis. I can see Mark V[B] and Mark VII being able to swap most of their armor pieces, but things like Yoroi (or a potential Mark VI Gen 3 armor core) would probably be limited to just the helmets. Maybe going off of the prosthetics the arms could be swapped around too, but chances are that’d end up looking pretty silly for at least the fractures armor cores.
Speaking of coatings, it would’ve been a lot better on the player’s end to make them solely pattern-based, and to give players the ability to change the colors and wear levels as they please (even if most people have horrible taste and will make everything look plastic-y and fake, judging off of complaints I see).
Playable elites, either in the form of Invasion ala Reach or just player preference like 2, 3, and 2A. Disable them for ranked and SWAT if you want, just let people be dinosaurs if they want to.
Yea.
They could come up with a lot of things for that
Sounds like fun.
Would be a great feature for a season.
Like THE feature for the season that sets up the hype
Kind of but they are still kind of scuffed imo
I’m not sure low population is a problem, at least not now.
And if it is, that’s why a match composer is good.
Also, a bar next to each mode relaying to you the playlist’s population health would be good
I would like credits straight through gameplay but that would be a HUGE overhaul so doubtful it would happen
It is the same as MCC or any past Halo
I dunno, we would have the same level of customization as Reach, but we would still get more, the more you play.
Building off the Halo 2 Anniversary edition would be a great start. Gameplay was crisp, the aesthetic was pleasing, and as a whole the community was/is in love with it.
If 343 used the H2A engine and just extrapolated that, creating new experiences in a setting that was already established and stable, we wouldn’t be where we are now.
That’s their single biggest screw up. Everything else is forgivable/fixable. Tell us where we’re going, not that you’ll tell us where we’re going in a month and then push back the deadline.
And stop making excuses. The consumer does not care about work/life balance. That’s your company’s problem to fix and management’s issue. I run a business. I find work/life balance important for myself and employees. I will never use that as an excuse for being delayed on something. I apologize like an adult, communicate how I intend to remedy it, etc.
Nobody’s perfect, but the PR team is a colossal failure.
My major complaint is the same one I’ve had for 20 years: Fix matchmaking to keep bad players like me isolated from high skilz players. I don’t want to be in a game with them, even though they love to be in game with me for the poor sportsmanship of easy pickins’. I’m sure there are programmers who could make this work with some sophisticated AI/Neural Net/Big Data stuff right? Of course they could, but 343 and Microsoft don’t want to pay for that. The best games are those that are closely matched, not one sided pork fests.
Also, fix the Rocket Launcher (tracking, strenght), fix the Hydra (tracking strength), fix the Needler (tracking, visuals). Also, also, deactivate grapple when player is carrying sword.
