stunt_man
February 11th, 2015, 10:40 PM
Hardy Lebel, one the Multiplayer Lead Designer for the original Halo now has a blog and has done two webcam ask-me-anything sessions.
He mainly worked on the first Halo game - he wasn't a fan of the way Halo 2 multiplayer was balanced and he only worked on singleplayer because of it. He's created some maps (ex: Rat Race) and had a hand in many others (ex: Hang 'Em High, Damnation, Boarding Action).
He recognizes H1's competitive merit as an "accident," but that its deep meta-game is undeniable. If you are unfamiliar with H1's multiplayer meta-game, the things he is referring to are:
Static weapon timers. Weapons in CE multiplayer spawn at set intervals throughout a match. For example, if the overshield is set to spawn every 90 seconds, it will spawn at :90, :180, :270, etc. H1 is the only game to feature this functionality. [/*]
The player spawning system. For in-depth information, please see this thread: http://gamebattles.majorleaguegaming.com/forums/t/The-Halo-CE-Player-Spawn-System-Fully-Explained-7843178. For example, in Team Slayer, teamates will spawn at a spawn point near you, and if you aren't near a spawn point, they will spawn at a random spawn point - unless an enemy is blocking it. This means that if one team has map control, they can effectively trap the other team by forcing them to spawn in the same area of the map. However, the trapped team can still escape by all dying at once - because the first player that spawns could spawn behind the enemy team, and the rest of his dead teamates will spawn at points near him [/*]
The weapon balance. He discusses how the weapons are balanced in H1 compared to some other games, including H2. He seems to value a perfectly-balanced matrix of weapons, but overall he respects the importance of the subjective feeling of the weapon for the player. This is in line with something that Jason Jones said about the H1 pistol: "I added code specifically, when the map was loaded, to change a single number on the pistol," which he did because he didn't feel comfortable with the way the pistol felt at the end of development (source: http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/8/4503242/bungie-co-founder-says-hes-to-blame-for-halos-overpowered-pistol) [/*]
Hardy talks about a lot of other stuff ranging from cut content in Halo 1 (jetpacks!), last minute changes to some MP maps (Sidewinder teleporters were always supposed to be two-way - Gearbox got it right), his amazement at how far the H1 competitive scene has come (high-level tricks like nading weapons to you, manipulating the player and weapon spawn systems, etc) and a lot of general level design guidelines.
Here's Hardy Lebel's blog:
http://www.hardylebel.com/
Here are links to his webcam AMA's:
Part 1: http://youtu.be/xEhdyzjVVqk
Part 2: http://youtu.be/Knb-1uJJktA
Here's Missingno's Youtube channel (one of the only pros that makes videos about breaking down H1's gameplay, commentating on competitive matches, and all-around useful tips for some of the more popular maps):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2yeQnuwxkvCU0Zw3XKcPnA
The Team Beyond forum houses high-level discussion for all the Halo games - but it also seems to be the last place you'll find active competitive Halo 1 players from the OG Xbox version. Here's the link:
http://teambeyond.net/forum/
Why am I posting all this you ask? Because I'm fairly certain that 95% of the people who created/create MP maps for Custom Edition had/have no idea about what made the original maps so balanced. This is based off the fact that I've never seen it discussed in the community in the last decade, and also from personal experience ripping maps and finding haphazardly-placed player spawn points and weapon spawn times left at their default settings.
Hopefully you found this interesting - it's good to hear the dirty deets straight from the horse's mouth. And if you can get past some of the cringeworthy stuff he talks about during his AMA's, he seems very knowledgeable and passionate.
He mainly worked on the first Halo game - he wasn't a fan of the way Halo 2 multiplayer was balanced and he only worked on singleplayer because of it. He's created some maps (ex: Rat Race) and had a hand in many others (ex: Hang 'Em High, Damnation, Boarding Action).
He recognizes H1's competitive merit as an "accident," but that its deep meta-game is undeniable. If you are unfamiliar with H1's multiplayer meta-game, the things he is referring to are:
Static weapon timers. Weapons in CE multiplayer spawn at set intervals throughout a match. For example, if the overshield is set to spawn every 90 seconds, it will spawn at :90, :180, :270, etc. H1 is the only game to feature this functionality. [/*]
The player spawning system. For in-depth information, please see this thread: http://gamebattles.majorleaguegaming.com/forums/t/The-Halo-CE-Player-Spawn-System-Fully-Explained-7843178. For example, in Team Slayer, teamates will spawn at a spawn point near you, and if you aren't near a spawn point, they will spawn at a random spawn point - unless an enemy is blocking it. This means that if one team has map control, they can effectively trap the other team by forcing them to spawn in the same area of the map. However, the trapped team can still escape by all dying at once - because the first player that spawns could spawn behind the enemy team, and the rest of his dead teamates will spawn at points near him [/*]
The weapon balance. He discusses how the weapons are balanced in H1 compared to some other games, including H2. He seems to value a perfectly-balanced matrix of weapons, but overall he respects the importance of the subjective feeling of the weapon for the player. This is in line with something that Jason Jones said about the H1 pistol: "I added code specifically, when the map was loaded, to change a single number on the pistol," which he did because he didn't feel comfortable with the way the pistol felt at the end of development (source: http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/8/4503242/bungie-co-founder-says-hes-to-blame-for-halos-overpowered-pistol) [/*]
Hardy talks about a lot of other stuff ranging from cut content in Halo 1 (jetpacks!), last minute changes to some MP maps (Sidewinder teleporters were always supposed to be two-way - Gearbox got it right), his amazement at how far the H1 competitive scene has come (high-level tricks like nading weapons to you, manipulating the player and weapon spawn systems, etc) and a lot of general level design guidelines.
Here's Hardy Lebel's blog:
http://www.hardylebel.com/
Here are links to his webcam AMA's:
Part 1: http://youtu.be/xEhdyzjVVqk
Part 2: http://youtu.be/Knb-1uJJktA
Here's Missingno's Youtube channel (one of the only pros that makes videos about breaking down H1's gameplay, commentating on competitive matches, and all-around useful tips for some of the more popular maps):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2yeQnuwxkvCU0Zw3XKcPnA
The Team Beyond forum houses high-level discussion for all the Halo games - but it also seems to be the last place you'll find active competitive Halo 1 players from the OG Xbox version. Here's the link:
http://teambeyond.net/forum/
Why am I posting all this you ask? Because I'm fairly certain that 95% of the people who created/create MP maps for Custom Edition had/have no idea about what made the original maps so balanced. This is based off the fact that I've never seen it discussed in the community in the last decade, and also from personal experience ripping maps and finding haphazardly-placed player spawn points and weapon spawn times left at their default settings.
Hopefully you found this interesting - it's good to hear the dirty deets straight from the horse's mouth. And if you can get past some of the cringeworthy stuff he talks about during his AMA's, he seems very knowledgeable and passionate.