| JaggedSac said: "In the middle of mission 3, you encounter a bunch of covenant fighting this big ass monster (it had tusks, it seemed like some sort of prehistoric animal) From Tom Morello
|
Awesome!!!!
| JaggedSac said: * "We basically hit every single piece of the engine, making things better across the board" * New tech engine starts with a refined approach to distance and detail that allows for a dramatically expanded number of enemies, light sources and other details. * The engine is an "imposter" engine using a smart, yet common programming technique for the engine and the new LOD system. * There can be a large amount of "imposter" objects both far and close to the player. Far objects still look greatly detailed despite having low polygon counts and cheap shaders (at a distance). They look much more detailed the closer the object is to you. "Imposter" objects that are really close to you are SUPER detailed with much clarity. * Adding all these objects (vehicles, enemies, buildings, scenery, etc.) don't take a profound hit to the system because of the technique they're using. * The imposter system frees up memory that Bungie can use for other in-game enhancements, the first of which is lighting. * Halo: Reach can have 20-40 dynamic light sources at one time, the most notable of which are on weapon effects. * "As plasma bolts come searing past, they move across the screen with each plasma bolt having its own independent light source, casting color and shadow about the space to remarkable effect." * Refined approach to distance and detail * Allows dramatically expanded number of enemies, light sources and other details * Described as "imposter tech" * Level of Detail (LOD) system allows building of bigger and more populated spaces for exploration * Distant objects are rendered at low poly with cheaper shaders, ie "imposters" * Imposter look great at distance and detail increases the closer you get to them * Less chance of pop-up and stippling as environmental geometry, plants, buildings, enemies or anything else can be placed into the visual field at the same extreme distances without profound hit to system performance * At extreme close range items can be rendered with incredible detail, ie, a wall was shown from inches away with tiny rivet features in the metal popped on the screen with perfect clarity * Imposter system indirectly frees up memory which can be devoted to other technical aspects * Lighting being one of those aspects * From Halo 3's 3 or 4 light sources, Reach's engine presents 20 to 40 dynamic lights at the same time * Weapon effects benefit greatly from the improved lighting, ie Plasma bolts moving across the screen with their own independent light source, casting colour and shadow across the environment * More improved lighting examples, a Warthog gun firing at a wall with hundred of real sparks flying from the stone, the particles interact not just with the wall geometry, but with it's normal map additionally, the particles scatter down onto a nearby vehicle and react with its curves and lines, the sparks bounce and flow along the tiny textured surface * New weather system bringing rain to many missions, adding to the atmosphere * The sky is no longer a sky-box like past Halo games, it's a true space in the overall environment, ie a ship descends from orbit and towards you, you can watch it make the full descent as a real object would fall * Motion capture heavily implemented, a majority of the cut-scenes based on captured actions * On-screen characters exhibit an animation technique known as variable gait blending, when a character changes speed, ie walking to running and vice versa, the animation of walking blends seamlessly into running and then sprinting, also, when turning on a pivot, players no longer stay still and magically turn in a circle, they realistically move around the pivot with their bodies and lifting their feet in reaction * Bungie hired company Image Metrics to aid with human faces, which now appear dramatically more lifelike than Halo's traditional potato faces |
How can anyone not feel at least a little hyped after reading that list!
The imposter tech/LOD system sounds a lot like id's texture streaming tech in Rage. Exciting.
Some information from the Edge magazine that came out today:
The new "abilities" are persistent rather than one-time use like equipment. You'll use them like you use grenades. Only 2 shown were active camo and dash, but expect more.
Halo theme is not in.
This is not Halo 4.
Cut scenes use a handheld camera style.
New grunt currently nicknamed 'keg grunt'
The engine has been 'gutted' and just about every aspect overhauled.
Voice actors faces will be mo-caped.
When performing assassinations old one-hit kill replaced by third person animation - but "there is a good chance that Reach won't feature instant assassinations at all"
During playthrough, the player is inside a building and skirmishers speed toward him and he didn't manage to take down a single one.
For Dax
"More immediately apparent though, is an entirely new timbre to the AR. It sounds markedly more powerful than the otherwise satisfying chugging stutter heard in previous games".
Bigger environments encouraging exploration - in co-op, the teleport is far less strict. You can be in one area and your buddies in another.
Night vision as seen in ODST is in.
Motion tracker shows elevation.
Here is some more info, stolen from gametrailers, so sorry for that.
-Reach is 70 percent complete.
-They gutted the old engine and left "no component untouched" when improving it.
-Now players will look the same throughout multiplayer, coop and singleplayer (and the way they look will be customizable)
-Hints there will be power drain and grav lift armour abilities..
-There is a 3d radar and the HUD can now highlight various environmental features and overlay information about them.
-Night vision returns to Reach (as seen in ODST).
-On the pause screen it mentions "grades and credits" but Bungie wont discuss them yet. Probably to do with the character customization system.
-The AR leaves smoke and sparks when it fires. Explosions have been completely redone for Reach. They are apparently, huge, dirty and lingering.
-Green marine monocle returns. WIN.
-Bungie were disappointed with the reaction of people to the halo 3 marine, so theyve brought back the flavour of the halo 1 marine.
-Mongoose return confirmed.
-Assassinations (by holding down melee) will feature in multiplayer and the instant assassination of past halos may not be featured at all. Bungie is using the Beta to decide how it will feature.
-Huge landscapes - but you can visit each area. In coop you may see your buddy fighting a long way off in the distance.
Teleportation is far less strict.
-Bungie is bending the Xbox as far as it will bend and really pushing the hardware.
-Tung says there will be some big surprises in campaign.
-The game features rain which will leave covered areas dry and vice versa.
-Elite AI has been improved a lot. They might be doing something like fixing a door and then something may attack them, but once they have dealt with the threat they'll go back to what they were doing before.
-"Bungie's not fixed on leaving the trusty BR out". The DMR has 3X zoom.
-Shield recharge not as fast as Halo 3's.
-Halo Reach's current build has a lot of computer generated audio used a place holders, meaning that the leaked beta menu footage may well be genuine.
-A few new screenshots in the article, the best being a double page spread epic view of the spartans in a cockpit. There is an artwork of Emile with a grenade launcher.
-Lehto admits that there was no generational leap on the animation side between combat evolved and ODST, but in Reach they will make them like all look like the trailer (including facial animations).
Theres probably some stuff I missed which I may add in later.
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