Story Creator Mode

I want there to be a proper story creator mode for Halo: Infinite.

This is more than a simple “AI in forge mode” post this post is a fully expanded idea filled with my thoughts and opinions about the tools and features we might need for this mode in Halo: Infinite. I apologize in advance for the inconsistent amount of detail in my list and the spelling and capitalization errors in the post. (I don’t do community posts incase you don’t know.) If there’s a feature that you want to add please leave them in the comments. Thank you.
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I was thinking that this mode was going to be like Doom (2016) SnapMap or Far Cry 5’s Arcade mode. Powerful map editors that make new experiences or stories out of an existing sandbox. Most of the features and tools that I list here are based off of existing mods such as The Vengeful 'Vadam’s Halo Reach: Evolved and the Halo: CE mod SPV3. Now I realize it might be pretty difficult for the dev team to make this hypothetical mode so its possible that some tools that I list down below is most likely not going to be in the game. Hell this entire thing might not be in the game at all. But I believe that if this mode were to be released with Halo: Infinite or in some later update in the games life cycle the game would have a strong community making content and it would have players come back for more without the Devs doing anything.

Note: this is assuming that Halo: Infinite has gameplay similar to Halo 3.

AI

Custom NPC Properties - this mode should have a feature that allows us to customize the properties of an NPC. Not just the NPC color armor or skin color, things like behavior, strength and resilience. Something to make a new enemy type, to add variety to the gameplay.

Custom Spartan/Elite AI -Now this is a little different than the one I mentioned earlier but not by much. I was thinking that we could get Spartan AI or Playable Elite AI that wear armor pieces that you have unlocked. I think that would be a good reason to grind and maybe even pay for DLC armor. The settings I mentioned before would apply.

Sandbox.

Custom Weapons - Halo has always had good weapons each one was unique and brought something new to the table. I want there to be a tool that can change the stock weapons of Halo: Infinite. A tool to change the weapons appearance and properties. For example a pink rocket launcher that shoots chain gun bullets that only does a little damage to grunts. Or an Assault Rifle that shoots sparkles while voices of the multiplayer announcer play instead of gunshots. Now this feature would only be available in this theoretical mode as potential new weapons made here could unbalance the multiplayer modes of Halo: Infinite.

Custom Vehicle Properties - As I listed in custom weapons I think there should be a way to be able to change the exact properties of vehicles. We should be able to change the speed strength, damage, color etc, of the vehicle.
Trait Modifiers - Halo 4 introduced trait zones, Based on the properties specified in the pause menu. these zones would modify your spartan to the specified settings when you stepped into the zone. That was good. Please bring that back. And expand it with custom hazards like something akin to Fallout 4’s radiation damage something that reduces your max health (or shields in this case) like the trait zones, Halo 3 added custom powerups. When picked up it would modify your spartan to the settings specified in the gametype settings. That most definitely needs a comeback and there should be a way to make multiple different power ups.

World building

Landscape Technology - Obviously we are gonna need the forge mode as a basis, but as a way to expand on it. it would be greatly appreciated if we got a tool that can morph the terrain in the map something akin to Far Cry.

Text and Dialogue - It’s not realistic to think that NPC dialogue is going to say exactly what we want them to say. That’s fine but I want them to say something when triggered and to say some voice lines from the campaign. I was thinking that lines of text would appear on the screen as subtitles or a communication transmission. Like in Doom (2016) SnapMap mode.

Data Pads/Terminals - this is important in my opinion. The ability or tool that adds terminals would allow us to flesh out our stories and add more depth to them. Or you can just add prequel memes in there. I’ll leave it to the brilliant Halo community for the contents of the terminals in this hypothetical mode.

Scene Scripting - To help convey a story in a campaign in any game, much less a Halo one we need cutscenes. It does not have to be massive and detailed just basic and understandable. something as simple as a marine going in a warthog and driving from point A to point B then leaving the car and giving a thumbs up while saying something. No detailed cinematics.
It’s not just important that we have cinematics it’s important to have gameplay cinematics. I mean that friendly or enemy NPCs should do something should we get to a certain point. Like say a voice line or turn hostile or for enemy NPCs turn unexpectedly friendly then shoot you after 20 seconds have passed.

And that’s my list right here. Thank you for reading and I hope the devs do too.

Most of the things on this list strike me as realistic possibilities. However, they’ll never brand it as a “story creator” It’s simply Forge mode with AI and some other advanced features added in. Given how freaking incredible Halo 5’s Forge is, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these ideas are added in Infinite’s Forge.

Your ideas that I like and think are realistic:

  • AI. People have been asking for AI in Forge/customs for a long time, and hopefully we’ll finally get it. - Custom Vehicle Properties - Landscape morphing - Data pads/terminals. I imagine they’d probably just be limited to text, as adding in additional content like videos and images would require much more advanced programming and integration with external services outside of just Halo and XBL. - AI scripting. I can’t imagine 343 would introduce AI into Forge without some sort of basic scripting options. - Text & Dialogue — Admittedly I’ve never played Doom (2016), so I don’t know what SnapMap entails, but this could be really fun. The voice lines would need to be categorized well and searchable, and if that’s in place, then this would be great.The ones I don’t like:

  • “For example a pink rocket launcher that shoots chain gun bullets that only does a little damage to grunts. Or an Assault Rifle that shoots sparkles while voices of the multiplayer announcer play instead of gunshots.” — DEAR GOD NO. Halo has some fun, silly elements for sure, but it is not Fortnite, nor should it ever try to be. Halo 5 already has a comprehensive system of weapon modifications. I don’t like how heavy handed it is in Warzone, but having them for customs is great. - Custom Spartan/Elite AI armor — The reason I don’t think this would work is technical, not philosophical. Let’s assume that armors that NPCs can use are based on the Forge map’s author’s unlocks. So player A makes the map & mode and gives the NPC Elites his Zealot armor he has unlocked. What happens when player B downloads that map/mode from File Share and makes even one modification to it? Technically, player B is now the author of this version of the map/mode. Available NPC armors now have to change. This would be really confusing and technically tricky to implement. Better to just use a default list of appearance options for all NPCs. Leave the customization only for the player.