The latest edition of Halo Infinite’s Inside Infinite series is out now, and it’s stacked with information and insight. This latest deep-dive blog post is focused around Halo Infinite’s multiplayer–the bread and butter for many fans–and there is a lot to take in.
The ridiculously in-depth blog post features commentary and insights from a range of multiplayer designers and developers at 343. They shared their responses to the Halo Infinite beta test and discussed the origin and inspiration for the new Bots system. The developers also go deep on 343’s general philosophy for Halo Infinite’s multiplayer overall.
343 also shared some statistics about the Halo Infinite beta test, saying people collectively spent 519,914 hours in the game from July 29-August 2. The test was mainly focused on gameplay against bots, and players combined to take down 65.3 million bots during the beta. Players collectively engaged in 1.34 million matches during the test and 2.9 million Weapon Drills.
Regarding feedback from the Halo Infinite beta, the developers acknowledged that the radar system was a little off and less reliable than in previous games. The developer heard this feedback and will be making changes for the next test.
“We knew that the implementation we had for the Tech Preview was going to feel different, maybe even a little contentious, which is why we wanted to get feedback on it as soon as possible. We’ve heard all the feedback and we have a new iteration that will be in the next preview which will be more in-line with players’ expectations,” the studio said.
343 also shared its three main pillars for Halo Infinite multiplayer. As written by 343, they are:
- The Player Spartan is Halo Canon – We want players to feel invested in their Spartans and part of that is making them be part of the bigger Halo universe. This led to the world wanting to feel more grounded to reduce “game-y-ness” without compromising gameplay.
- Extensibility at the Core – Modes, systems, and everything we built for Infinite to be modular and expandable over the lifespan of the game. This enables us to recontextualize parts of one game mode quickly to stand-up new mode prototypes for future Seasons. The long-term benefit is this also helps us extend this beyond our internal team and into our community development tools by exposing these various components through Forge and Custom Games settings to empower the community to build more content that feels more “real” alongside things built by our team at 343.
- Always Onboarding – Playing online is intimidating for many and difficult to master. It was important for us to develop an evergreen onramp of features into online play that we refer to the Academy. Starting with the Tutorial, players start their journey; joining the ranks as a Halo Spartan to learn the basic mechanics. Through additional features like Weapon Drills, Training Mode, and the Players vs. Bot playlist, players always have fun and “safe” ways to practice and explore Infinite before they’re ready to jump in boot-first into matchmaking.
And for 4v4 Arena specifically, here’s what 343 had to say about its general approach:
- Fair Starts – Players start the match as equals with balanced gameplay mechanics.
- The Lone Wolf Survives but the Pack Thrives – Players can achieve individually through skill expression, but the team with better coordination, communication, and reactivity will seize the most victories.
- Mastery = Mechanical Depth + Tactical Decision-making – A match with two teams of equal skill should be determined by the team’s tactical decision making as the game mode’s state is altered by player action.
- Game Mode Clarity – The modes in Halo Infinite’s Arena communicate their game states efficiently and urgently to bolster the tactical decision-making required for a player’s path to mastery over the Arena experience.
- Power is Earned and Impermanent – Scavenging pushes teams to contest the acquisition of items within the Halo sandbox. Any item that can be earned can also be taken away through combat resolution, positioning, and tactical actions.
The full blog post runs through many, many more interesting points about Halo Infinite’s multiplayer–far too many to list here–so be sure to read the full post to catch up on all the goodness.
Halo Infinite’s campaign and multiplayer modes are launching on December 8 as separate products, with multiplayer being completely free-to-play. Campaign is included on Game Pass. The next Halo Infinite. beta test will include Big Team Battle and 4v4 Slayer.
In other news, 343 recently explained why it did not show Halo Infinite’s campaign at Gamescom.
Source: Gamespot
