I recently watched The Game Informer Show: The Halo Spectacular.
When questions like “Why no split screen” come up, why are the answers so generic and vague?
Most of the people listening to this sort of interview would be very or at least, a little bit, familiar with the technology behind games. I’m not learning anything with answers like “It was a tough decision”.
Why not answer exactly “what” would have been sacrificed in the game and the technical requirements behind it?
Is split screen a long and costly process because everything needs re-rendering for a different size screen? Is it because there would be too much in game content to be handled with an average internet connection?
I have no idea.
Just curious
Edit: The Split-screen thread in these forums has some nice info, would be nice to have answers from devs.
> 2576836393959214;2:
> Because giving a direct answer is a no no business model?
> Idk
I’m not even mad about no split screen, a little disappointed for sure, but mainly just curious.
It’s nice to see studios in a real conversation with their audience. Being so vague just leads to “No U” type of discussion
Rendering on 2 screens takes twice the horse power from your box. If you want split screen to be available, you have to design the game as such that the Xbox can render everything twice (or 3 or 4 times) which means your base level demand on the Xbox has to be lower, making everything look worse for someone playing alone.
The devs choose to maximize the performance for one person, rather than have 2-4 playing simultaneously be an option.
> 2533274804585157;3:
> > 2576836393959214;2:
> > Because giving a direct answer is a no no business model?
> > Idk
>
>
> I’m not even mad about no split screen, a little disappointed for sure, but mainly just curious.
> It’s nice to see studios in a real conversation with their audience. Being so vague just leads to “No U” type of discussion
I was just giving a BS answer. I honestly have no clue. But if I had to say something it would be what the guy above me said.
> 2533274836465274;6:
> Probably because he knew that any answer he gives will be picked apart on the Internet, so he decided to go for the PR option.
PR options lead to emotional and silly discussions and obviously doesn’t shield anyone’s answer from being picked apart.
There’s nothing like down to earth real science/fact to keep it real…
> 2614366390849210;4:
> Rendering on 2 screens takes twice the horse power from your box. If you want split screen to be available, you have to design the game as such that the Xbox can render everything twice (or 3 or 4 times) which means your base level demand on the Xbox has to be lower, making everything look worse for someone playing alone.
>
> The devs choose to maximize the performance for one person, rather than have 2-4 playing simultaneously be an option.
Thanks for your answer.
I’ve played many games split screen that were visually satisfying. The experience to play with your brother, friend, etc. together in the same room is priceless.
Maybe it’s time for consoles to evolve past the same old architecture to allow more freedom to keep the socializing with real people rather than internet buddies along with frame rate.
I hope it will happen soon, before it is completely forgotten that games were once a fun and rewarding social experience in your living room.
They probably dont know what exactly would have been the hurdles aside from frame rate and resolution issues and the standard problems with split screen.
The decision was certainly hard, but probably made well before any specific challenges could be identified.
> 2533274855279867;9:
> They probably dont know what exactly would have been the hurdles aside from frame rate and resolution issues and the standard problems with split screen.
>
> The decision was certainly hard, but probably made well before any specific challenges could be identified.
If you can’t define challenges, how can they ever be solved? Did you think you would have a Halo app on your “mobile device” 10 years ago?
Just saying.
Split screen seems like an important social experience for many, most of us can’t afford two consoles, two TV’s to play with husband, wife, buddies.
2015 Lan parties: “Bring your TV, your console and your internet connection”
XD
I think they just wanted to make Halo 5 more competitive and balanced. I mean how many times do you get split-screeners on your team in matchmaking and win? But thats just my theory seeing as they had pros working on the game this time as well.
What I got from that interview, is that the scale of the game (warzone, campaign, etc…) would not be able to work with splitscreen. They said they have maps 4 times larger than any halo map ever made (think forge world), there is no way that it would work at 30 fps on splitscreen. They are not saying Graphics>Gameplay like some idiots say they are. 343i never said graphics>gameplay, they said massive scale campaign and multiplayer>splitscreen, which I honestly agree with, despite being disappointed by the lack of splitscreen in custom games since I often play with my friends.
> 2533274804585157;8:
> > 2614366390849210;4:
> > Rendering on 2 screens takes twice the horse power from your box. If you want split screen to be available, you have to design the game as such that the Xbox can render everything twice (or 3 or 4 times) which means your base level demand on the Xbox has to be lower, making everything look worse for someone playing alone.
> >
> > The devs choose to maximize the performance for one person, rather than have 2-4 playing simultaneously be an option.
>
>
> Thanks for your answer.
> I’ve played many games split screen that were visually satisfying. The experience to play with your brother, friend, etc. together in the same room is priceless.
> Maybe it’s time for consoles to evolve past the same old architecture to allow more freedom to keep the socializing with real people rather than internet buddies along with frame rate.
> I hope it will happen soon, before it is completely forgotten that games were once a fun and rewarding social experience in your living room.
You need to replay halo reach again. Just need to do the 1st level, Single player. Then split. You will see a huge difference.
1 being everything has a lower rez to it.
2 the windmills or things of its nature to add life to the level are gone or not moving
3 draw distance reduced and the backdrops have been reduced in quality.
Because of this. I haven’t bothered in split-screen for a while now.
> 2533274804585157;1:
> Most of the people listening to this sort of interview would be very or at least, a little bit, familiar with the technology behind games.
I dont really think so, people who understand the tech behind games should know how messed up a game is after splitting into two different screens. Josh provided a good answer, framerate and scale would be compromised. Halo 5 will be faster and bigger than any other halo before, with companion Ai’s always on the scene.
Again, a tech savyy gamer would not even question why split screen is not there.
> 2533274873910058;18:
> > 2533274804585157;1:
> > Most of the people listening to this sort of interview would be very or at least, a little bit, familiar with the technology behind games.
>
>
> I dont really think so, people who understand the tech behind games should know how messed up a game is after splitting into two different screens. Josh provided a good answer, framerate and scale would be compromised. Halo 5 will be faster and bigger than any other halo before, with companion Ai’s always on the scene.
> Again, a tech savyy gamer would not even question why split screen is not there.
Thank you for your answer. I build my own computers, understand a little of the gaming tech, but not enough to answer some of my questions. I’m self taught and my philosophy is when in doubt, ask. It’s the only way to learn.
What I get from answers here is that the hardware is at fault. Graphical fidelity and immersion vs. frame rate, large environments (BTB), split screen, etc. what matters the most in a gaming experience? The answers toward a solution with the current hardware are obviously not that easy to make. Super detailed graphics, large scale environment, 60fps and fluid motion are awesome but so is playing with your husband, wife, friends on the same TV. Decisions should be made to please the majority, so in H5 case, it seems more important to develop Warzone/BTB and super massive environments rather than catering to split screen campaign players.
As I mentioned before, it may be time for someone (not expecting this to come from the current big names in gaming consoles) to bring in a different architecture and more power to consoles but considering we just went to new gen and there is only a handful of games out there taking advantage of it, it may take a while. My guess is that devs would have to go back to the blackboard as well. Split screen is an awesome feature, and I hope it will be considered in the future.
