This article was written and published on Halo Waypoint by Josh Holmes, former Creative Director, now Executive Producer with 343.

2014 is here and much is afoot in the Halo universe. This past year has been a time of great transition at 343 as we’ve moved our engine and team from Xbox 360 to Xbox One and begun building the next chapter in the Halo saga. We’re proud of what we accomplished with our first release in Halo 4 and now we’re focused on something much more transformative as we make the leap to the next generation of Xbox. We showed a hint of what we have in store at E3 last year and we’re excited to share more in the not-so-distant future. Please be patient – we can’t wait to show you what we have in store.

Beyond the transition of platform and technology, we’ve made some notable additions and changes to our team.

As some of you may know, we added a new Creative Director to our team in 2013. Tim Longo joined us last May, coming to us by way of LucasArts. Tim carries with him almost two decades of game development experience during which he has worked on titles such as Tomb Raider, Star Wars: Republic Commando and most recently the unreleased FPS, Star Wars: First Assault. Finding Tim was the result of a long search on my part. In many ways I felt like I was searching for a unicorn. I needed someone with a mastery of game narrative and storytelling, a deep understanding of game mechanics, experiential design and aesthetic, with the ability to define a compelling creative vision and inspire a large cross-functional team to achieve it. With Tim, I found that person and over the past seven months, we’ve formed a great partnership working together. His keen sense of vision, collaborative spirit and creative generosity have made him a terrific addition to the team.

In hiring Tim, I have moved from my former role of Creative Director to that of Executive Producer, heading up the internal development team. In my new role I am responsible for overall project leadership and business ownership, for setting the high level project vision and goals and leading my team to achieve them. It’s been an interesting shift in focus and I’ve been grateful to have such a stellar team supporting me.

But what about Kiki, our EP from Halo 4? Our intrepid Wolfkiller is right here, developing exciting new stories, experiences and technologies that will transform the way that you experience Halo. She will have more to share at a later date, but I can promise that what she is working on is really cool.

Finally, our beloved Art Director, Kenneth Scott, has made the decision to move to California and bring his family together in one place. As a result of this move he will be stepping down as AD, though he will continue working with us remotely in his new role as Visual Design Consultant.

Obviously this is a big change for our team and we are going to miss having Kenneth here in the building with us. Ken is a founding member of 343 Industries and working with him on Halo 4 was one of the highlights of my career. He was my creative partner and brother-in-arms for many years, and through his vision we managed to establish a bold new look for the Halo universe. He was also instrumental in building the amazing team of artists that we have here at 343 today.

Kenneth leaves some pretty massive shoes to fill on the Art Director front, but we are lucky to have another artistic giant stepping up to take the reins. Nicolas “Sparth” Bouvier is taking over for Kenneth as Art Director. Nicolas has been with the studio since the beginning as our Lead Concept Artist and he has worked closely with Kenneth over the past five years to define the visual language for 343’s Halo. In fact, Ken and Sparth have worked together for over eight years now in the industry and it has been said that the two share the same brain (except Nic is much more French). Nicolas is a master painter and visionary artist with 17 years of industry experience. He is world-renowned for his concept work and is someone whose work I have followed closely long before I came to 343. (I would pay money to live in Sparth’s dreams!)

Kenneth had this to say about his move:

It was hard to make this decision. This team has been my family for half a decade and I love them dearly. Helping build this studio and team is easily the highlight of my career. It’s heartbreaking. 
BUT! 
I’m excited to hand the big pants to one of my dearest friends, Nicolas ‘Sparth’ Bouvier. Nicolas and I have worked together for the last eight years, and we’ve shared a brain for most of it. He was one of my first hires to 343, and not seeing him day-to-day will feel as weird as losing a limb. I have the utmost confidence in him and I know the future is sound in his mighty fingers. 
AND! 
We just can’t get enough of each other, so I will continue to support 343 and this universe as a Visual Design Consultant from sunny Santa Monica. 
In my underwear. 🙂 
Those Skype meetings will get awkward… 
– Kenneth

In closing, I will leave you with this image from Sparth – an early exploration of a new location that features prominently in a little game project we’re tinkering with….
/Josh

Click the above pic to make HUGE!

HFFL: I’ve been following Sparth for sometime and his work is AMAZING! His concept art is legendary. I’m VERY happy that he’s taken the reigns as the new Art Director for 343. He definitely deserves it, IMO. ANd how about that sneak peak pic? OH MY……

-Sal

Ah here we are in a new year and the first of the Halo bulletin’s for 2014!

First up is the Matchmaking Playlist Update!
Big Team Swat was released on Monday in Standard, Covenant and Forerunner version on the following maps:

• Wreckage
• Shatter
• Longbow
• Ragnarok
• Vortex
• Meltdown
• Settler
• Exile
• Complex

Big Team Swat will be available until Jan 20. At that point, Team DLC will be the new playlist for the rotational playlist.

A new Community choice poll is up and asks you which of the following three gametypes you’d like to have in Doubles:

Personally, I do not play much doubles, but if I did, I’d want King of the Hill. At least both team members are still able to shoot this way. In Flag or Oddball, to get the objective, one of you has to hold the objective which cuts your firepower in HALF!

There’s a blurb about the new Halo comic book mini-series “Escalation” by Dark Horse. I unfortunately wasn’t able to get issue #1 as comic shops were sold out near me. However, I may be able to get a digital copy, and if so will review that and issue #2 on the blog. So I’m not going to post this particular section of the bulletin here as I don’t want to spoil it for any of you who might not have read it yet.

The next big thing is a Community Playdate with 343 featuring Big Team SWAT!

343 be inviting community members at random, so just send an Xbox Live text message to one of the gamertags below on Monday:

• HaloWaypoint
• B is for Bravo
• SamPand
• JayFresh006
• TTL L askan

Next comes an interview with legendary Halo Forge map/mini-game creator, petetheduck. The following will be a direct copy/paste of that interview.


In the first community interview of 2014, I had the pleasure of catching up with legendary Forger petetheduck. Perhaps most known for his video series Forge with Pete, which premiered on Halo Waypoint two years ago, pete has worked on a multitude of projects since the first iteration of Forge. Read on for some insight into what he loves about Forge, and even some info about his new Action Sack game types which are being considered for Halo 4 Matchmaking!

Halo Waypoint (HW): Hey, petetheduck! Thanks for sitting down with me today. For those who haven’t yet seen your videos, tell us a little bit about yourself! 

petetheduck (ptd): Hey, Bravo! These chairs are amazing. Let’s see, I’m petetheduck, and I like Forge. It’s not just that I like to Forge, but I’m also a huge proponent of the tool itself–I think Forge plays a pivotal role in each Halo game; from creating traditional multiplayer maps for enhancing the matchmaking portfolio to using Halo as a platform for atypical custom game experiences likeSpeedrun, Forge is a source of infinite content and can even be an enjoyable activity in and of itself.

I’ve been involved in the online Halo community since 2002, primarily at Halo.Bungie.Org. I started to create Forge-focused videos in 2012 and it has been great to be able to share Forge with Pete with the Halo community through Halo Waypoint. Forge with Pete is a video series I use to share some of my more elaborate Forge creations, with an emphasis on how they were built. That’s an underlying theme to most of the content I create–trying to be informative and helpful. I want people to know how my creations work so if they’re inspired by them, they know how to build something similar themselves.

HW: How did you start Forging? What were some of your first projects? 

ptd: I fiddled around with Forge when Halo 3 launched but I didn’t really get into it until the Foundry DLC was released–that was the moment when Forge went from a map tweaker to a real map creator. I like Halo and I like creating things, so Forge was a natural fit for me. I’ve always been drawn to the more unusual uses for Forge, so I started out creating Infection maps. They were all pretty awful.

My first successful Forge project was the Flaming Ninja Challenge obstacle course in Halo 3. I continued to make obstacle courses throughout Halo 3 and Halo: Reach before transitioning more into custom games, the kind of things that I think are fun for 16 players to jump into in a custom game lobby and play.

HW: Which projects have been some of your biggest or most difficult, and why? 

ptd: I think the most difficult Forge project I’ve completed was Guitar Halo in Halo: Reach. The challenge in building that particular map came from an interesting quirk in the game engine–the game would not spawn two objects simultaneously. I was attempting to use golf balls to imitate instrument-based rhythm gameplay (Guitar Halo–get it?), which is based on very precise timing. But because the game was spawning the golf balls in a random sequence and not simultaneously, I had to create a mechanism to compensate for the spawning system. I went through many design variations before finally finding something that worked. If you’re curious how I did it, check out the episode!

I’ve used Forge to create other elaborate mechanisms–from Battleship to Rock-Paper-Scissors. I’ve always found it fun to explore the limits of what Forge is capable of, brainstorming ways to make those unexpected experiences possible.

HW: We know you’ve whipped up a few Action Sack game types that are being considered for Halo 4 Matchmaking. Tell us about them! 

ptd: I submitted three game types for consideration in the Action Sack playlist. I’m not sure which, if any, will actually make it in, but here’s the rundown on what I put forward:

Paintball: What sets Paintball apart from other instant-kill Slayer experiences like SWAT, aside from the themed map and Loadout, is the elimination-style, round-based gameplay. You’ll only have one life per round, so make each Plasma Pistol shot count as you try to eliminate the other team. If Paintball makes it into Matchmaking, I’ll be interested to see the community’s reaction. There is a lot of potential for other experiences that use one life settings if Paintball is well received. Paintball is already a popular custom game, and I simply provided a colorful speedball-inspired arena to play it in.

Z Fighting: Z Fighting uses the Dominion game type to spice up Shotgun Slayer. The short range of the Shotgun allowed me to experiment with a minimalistic map design–a completely flat battlefield that is dynamically altered as Dominion barricades rise up from fortified bases. The lack of elevation variation makes base turrets and Auto Sentries surprisingly effective, adding an interesting twist to Z Fighting’s fierce close-quarters combat.

Warthog Chase: With elements inspired by popular custom games like Warthog Derby, Warthog Chase is a love letter to our favorite Halo vehicle. Using King of the Hill, a large hill will move from Warthog to Warthog during the game. When you have the hill on your Warthog, you’re trying to avoid the enemy team because if they get inside your hill’s radius, they’ll contest it and prevent you from earning points. The gameplay is all about chasing down the Warthog that has the hill and contesting it, or attempting to knock it completely off of the map.

HW: Any advice to aspiring Forgers out there who would like to see their creations in Matchmaking? 

ptd: Get involved in a Forge community. Feedback is critical to improving as a Forger, but even the best maps need to be seen–and Forge communities are a great place to share your content with others.

HW: I also know you’re quite busy with work these days. Any future Forge projects that you’d like to tackle next in Halo 4? 

ptd: Work! Yes, and the little ducklings. They keep me busy. Action Sack has a lot of potential and I would enjoy focusing on that style of gameplay more in the future. I don’t have any specific plans for custom games at the moment, but with Ricochet–well, the possibilities are endless. Multi-team Ricochet is the most versatile game type there has been in a Halo game and because of it, now is definitely an exciting time to be a Forger. I also seem to have a tradition of releasing a single Rube Goldberg Machine for each Halo game..

Halo 3
Halo: Reach

I think Halo 4 might be next.

HW: Thanks for joining us, and hope to hear from you again soon! If people want to check out some of your videos, where should they go? 

ptd: Thanks for having me! My website, petetheduck.com, is an archive of most of my projects and has links to my different channels. Right now some of my videos posted there are offline, but they’ll be back soon. Quack quack!

—end copy/paste

HFFL: That’s a great interview. I’m lucky enough to have pete on my friendslist. I’ve also been fortunate enough to play all three of those gametypes he’s proposed for matchmaking. I love all of them.

I’m really hoping Paintball makes it in. It would be a GREAT way to rack up the kills with a Plasma Pistol and work on that commendation as well. I’m also hoping for a variant of this that uses the Boltshot, for the same reason. Z Fighting is fun and can get intense! The lead can switch suddenly and there is always action going on. It’s near impossible to camp on that map (which I’m grateful for). Warthog chase is a blast! Running down the current Warthog HIll driver is immensely fun. When you’re lucky enough to be in the Warthog with the Hill, it’s a rush trying to get away from everyone else! 

I for one hope ALL THREE make it into matchmaking!

Lastly we come upon the Screenshot Spotlight and the subject is the best of 2013. There are some great choices here. The following two were my favorites of this particular bunch!

How could you not love this one? I so totally wish this was a SKIN for our armor! Crackling LAVA!

This one is an awesome take on Red vs. Blue (if even in reverse). Not the video series by Rooster Teeth, just the regular matchmaking teams.

Well, that wraps up my abbreviated version of this week’s bulletin. If you’d like to read the full bulletin, go HERE.

-Sal