{"id":24809,"date":"2015-11-23T17:14:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T22:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/?p=24809"},"modified":"2015-12-23T20:33:13","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T01:33:13","slug":"canon-fodder-fifty-caliber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/?p=24809","title":{"rendered":"Canon Fodder: Fifty Caliber"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apologies for the late entry on this one. Been so busy PLAYING Halo 5! LOL<\/p>\n

This is a reblog from HaloWaypoint:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By GrimBrotherOne
\nIssue 50<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"canonfodder-11-16-15-f71b275daae34b079b110e257d78d69b\"<\/a>Well folks, welcome back. As you might have noticed, you were greeted with a mighty impressive number to open this week\u2019s installment. The fact that we are up to 50 issues in and still running strong is a testament to\u00a0you<\/em>, Halo\u2019s diverse, passionate, and incredible fanbase. This week begins our first forays into what can be considered spoiler territory for\u00a0Halo 5: Guardians<\/em>. In the coming weeks, we\u2019ll be looking closer at some of the scattered technology seen throughout the campaign and multiplayer playspaces, looking at how the\u00a0Hunt the Truth\u00a0<\/em>Season 2 tied into the connected events of the universe, and yes, we\u2019ll be talking soon about those Sangheili ships you\u2019ve all be clamoring about.<\/p>\n

Halo 5: Guardians<\/em>\u00a0represents a paradigm shift in the state of the Halo universe, all at once turning certain once-standard conventions on their head, while also resonating with echoes of past initiatives and ancient intentions. Needless to say, we have observed a litany of fan speculation regarding a number of different aspects of the story. As we button up the year that has been and look ahead to times still to come, we\u2019re excited to share and experience with you the next steps in Halo\u2019s narrative evolution and journey. To kick us off today, we wanted to give you some particularly insightful perspectives from a creative mind close to the process, so I grabbed\u00a0Halo 5: Guardians\u00a0<\/em>lead writer Brian Reed to get his thoughts on the game experience and how it took shape.<\/p>\n

REED BETWEEN THE LINES<\/h2>\n

Jeff asked me if I\u2019d do \u201ca post-mortem on creating the Halo 5 story\u201d which is practically a topic for a book. But after thinking about it, I thought it might actually serve as a nice window on the world of game development to walk through just one tiny bit of the mountain that is Halo 5. The first thing to know about making a game with the size and scope of a Halo title is that every second of every day, across a team of hundreds, there are decisions being made. And each of those decisions eventually informs or invalidates every other decision being made, sometimes simultaneously. Every polygon, every line of dialog, every texture, every map goes through this same craziness. To illustrate just the tiniest part of this process, let\u2019s look at how we approached developing Fireteam Osiris.<\/p>\n

The story of Osiris actually begins with Fireteam Majestic, because in a nearby parallel universe,\u00a0they<\/em>\u00a0are the stars of Halo 5. When I was first talking to Frank O\u2019Connor about joining 343, he made it clear there was a desire to expand the Halo Universe\u2019s character roster in games. This had already started during\u00a0Halo 4<\/em>with the introduction of characters like Captain Lasky, and Palmer, and would continue into\u00a0Halo 4: Spartan Ops<\/em>\u00a0with Roland, Doctor Glassman, and multiple other Spartans and fireteams, including Fireteam Majestic. As Creative Director Tim Longo came onboard, and the story of Master Chief and Cortana developed, it became clear that Majestic was the wrong team to send into the field for this mission. So we put Majestic on the bench and created a purpose-built team. They would be Fireteam Kodiak. Or maybe Fireteam Artemis? Firteam Zodiac? Hmmm…<\/p>\n

If you ever wish to experience madness, get involved in a naming discussion for a massive project. There will be whiteboards covered in candidates, and email threads that go on for days as every person in every department from game design to consumer products has an opinion on why every name is wrong except the one they like. So before anybody or anything gets a real name, we use a lot of code names. That\u2019s why we started Fireteam Kodiak\/Artemis\/Zodiac with Spartans Smith, Jones, and Brown. The three of them were blank slates. They weren\u2019t even male or female at this stage, they were just Our New Fireteam, and they would help us with the stated goal that Halo 5 was to be a co-op focused game.<\/p>\n

The first goal for the Narrative team was to figure out who would lead the new fireteam. We started working on the idea that Spartan Smith might have been an ONI agent recruited into Spartans, initially discussing Smith as \u201cthe child of James Bond and Lara Croft\u201d because those characters each had traits we wanted our lead to have. Smith was to be the Spartan you sent into impossible places to find targets that didn\u2019t want to be found. This idea led us to the creation of ONI Acquisitions, and we started to think of Smith as a person who was once basically a hitman for ONI, but had recently taken on the mantle of the hero. This gave us a character who had spent their military career making sure you didn\u2019t know who they were, and decided that we\u2019d know them mostly through their actions and the way they spoke to their teammates.<\/p>\n

Once we loosely knew who our lead was, we started assembling the rest of the team. Even though we didn\u2019t think Majestic as a group fit the mission of Halo 5, we liked Thorne as a character and we wanted him involved. His way of looking at the world as a potentially good place would pair nicely with Spartan Smith\u2019s more cynical \u201cevery target is just another target.\u201d Thorne would also serve as a Spartan the fans would know from a previous product and would lend the new kids on the block an air of legitimacy. We liked Palmer too, and toyed with the idea of her deploying on this mission alongside Smith instead of Thorne. Then we thought maybe they\u2019d both be on the team. For a few weeks we had Smith, Thorne, Palmer, and Spartan Jones (who would be a Spartan fluent in alien languages).<\/p>\n

As we put the story on its feet, we began fleshing out the characters, and got to know our fireteam pretty well. Spartan Jones became Spartan Vesper (in part because nobody could keep the names Smith and Jones straight), but she was proving to be too \u201ckid genius,\u201d so we worked on maturing her voice a bit while still retaining enough of her innocence that she could marvel at Sangheili ruins or ask Smith why he would help a man he was once planning to assassinate.<\/p>\n

The first big and permanent change to the team came when we hit on the idea of Meridian being a glassed planet outside of the UNSC\u2019s jurisdiction. We wanted someone who could act as our window into that world, and replaced Palmer (who was needed elsewhere in the Halo 5 story anyway) with Spartan Song. Her history started as \u201cgrew up outside the UNSC\u201d and came to include her surviving the glassing of her home world.<\/p>\n

At this point we were months and months into development, and Thorne was working quite nicely with the group since his personality matched nicely with the other Spartans. He\u2019d hunted and killed like Smith, seen loss like Song, and had a certain wonder at the galaxy like Vesper. Since everything was going so well, we shouldn\u2019t have been surprised when the scheduling gods saw fit to throw us a curve. Ethan Peck, the actor who plays Thorne, was unavailable due to a conflicting project, and we really didn\u2019t want to have his face with a different actor\u2019s voice after we\u2019d gotten to know Thorne so well in Halo 4. With Thorne out of Osiris, we discussed what personality would fit best with the rest of the team. We talked about a whole new Spartan, but we still wanted someone established. We toyed with the possibility of a member of Blue Team, but it never felt right.<\/p>\n

Someone jokingly suggested we use Buck since his jovial attitude would work well as a counterpoint to Smith\u2019s all-business personality, he\u2019d be able to get Song to open up about her past, and the difference in character\u2019s ages meant he\u2019d get to have a sort of kid sister thing with Vesper. The fact that Buck was a fan favorite and promoting him to Spartan would be exciting both worked to get us pretty excited about the idea. But I say \u201cjokingly suggested\u201d because it was never going to happen, right? There was no way Nathan Fillion had the time with his work on a little hit TV show called Castle… yet by some series of scheduling miracles I still don\u2019t fully understand, he did. As we moved into casting actors and recording dialog, we settled on our final character names. Smith became Locke, Vesper and Song became Vale and Tanaka, their characters continued to mature, and Fireteam Osiris as you know them began to take shape.<\/p>\n

So back to that thing I said at the beginning about decisions. This has been a lighting fast 1000-ish word version of 2+ years of craziness.\u00a0And that\u2019s just for those four characters<\/em>. Now extrapolate that out across the game and multiply by infinity. Literally every facet of every piece of Halo is touched by hundreds of developers. There\u2019s a handful of us that get to make decisions on what makes the cut and what doesn\u2019t, but the truth is we have an army at our backs. It\u2019s an amazing team to be part of, and a privilege.<\/p>\n

To all of you outside of the halls of 343 who are reading this, thanks for joining us on this adventure, as well as those yet to come.<\/p>\n

-Brian Reed<\/p>\n

HFFL:<\/strong> No, Brian, thank YOU!<\/span><\/p>\n

SUSTAINABLE ARMORY<\/h2>\n

\"cfbattleshadowlight-93e9e4ff21724481855416dff370f505\"<\/a>Very soon we\u2019ll be dropping the first sustain salvo for\u00a0Halo 5: Guardians<\/em>, and among the new modes, maps, and skins contained in the \u201cBattle of Shadow and Light<\/a>\u201d update will be some delicious new armor to try and snag in your upcoming REQ pack opening extravaganzas. While we\u2019ve dropped a couple of subtle hints along the way, we thought it would be nice to give you the lore love you long for. Let\u2019s scope out the story-skinny behind SHINOBI and TRACER.<\/p>\n

SHINOBI<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"cfshinobinew-b7726112ed0b447297f5b0aef65b8e63\"<\/a>Discovered aboard a derelict freighter in Lacaille 9352, SHINOBI armor has no known manufacturer or intended user. ONI continues to probe the recovered suits to unlock what appears to be several levels of restricted functionality. SHINOBI\u2019s core systems remain cryptic “black boxes” to UNSC analysts, despite ONI’s successes in integrating the SHINOBI helmet with standard GEN2 Mjolnir techsuits and Spartan neural interfaces. Though aware of the inherent risks involved, ONI has authorized limited testing of the SHINOBI armor for a select few classified S-IV operatives.<\/p>\n

HFFL:<\/strong> Okay, I may take a few knocks for this, but I’m not a fan of this armor. Now reading the backstory to it makes me even lesser a fan of it. It’s both to Earth specific in design and at the same time a bit alien.<\/span><\/p>\n

TRACER<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"cftracernew-08aeef9ed7d44046a9fe83cdf3e541da\"<\/a>TRACER-class armor combines features of other field intelligence data collection Mjolnir variants into a new and integrated package. The TRACER helmet features a Tier-III datacore, the first portable example of such a high-end computational system, and a significant upgrade over that found in earlier baseline GEN2. Additionally, Chalbys boasts that the TRACER has most of the operational capabilities of both the ENGINEER and TRACKER suits.<\/p>\n

TRUTH & RECONCILIATION<\/h2>\n
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\"cffeelinglucky-942754ffc20c4caeb96d2de122093120\"<\/a>Ch00path1ng4: What was the name of the Marathon-class cruiser destroyed by the\u00a0Day of Jubilation<\/em>\u00a0during John-117’s EVA excursion to return the bomb during the Battle of Earth?<\/strong>A:\u00a0<\/strong>The UNSC\u00a0Feeling Lucky\u00a0<\/em>fought valiantly as part of the UNSC Navy\u2019s Fifth Fleet at the Battle for Earth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

FordFalcon1997: How did Jul ‘Mdama lose control over the Didact’s Prometheans as of Halo 5?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>The extent of \u2018Mdama\u2019s perceived control over Promethean forces during the campaign on Requiem was largely based on influence and intent on the part of the Didact himself, and less on any true sway the Sangheili commander actually possessed over his temporary allies. By the time Jul arrived on Kamchatka, the Promethean forces were under a completely new influence\u2026<\/p>\n

EightWalk326413: A \u2013 Will we ever get to see the DECIMATOR-class Mjolnir in Halo 5? B \u2013 Is the SPI armor still in use among Spartan IIIs, or has it been completely replaced by GEN2 MJOLNIR armor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>A \u2013 Yes.<\/p>\n

B \u2013While SPI has been mostly phased out of use by Spartan-III operatives, some of the photoreactive plating technology has seen limited but successful use in several spec-ops ODST units.<\/p>\n

Sora Vran Rumil: What is the name of the commander who lead the Covenant at the Battle of Sunaion?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>While the Battle of Sunaion was led by several various undisclosed Covenant commanders, one Sangheili general who\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0be identified is Kitun ‘Arach, who by some accounts was rumored to have stormed the hill on Kamchatka aided by an unlikely \u2013 albeit temporary \u2013 alliance with Fireteam Osiris. While certainly intriguing given the possible implications, these particular reports cannot be confirmed.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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ONIPHILES<\/h2>\n
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\"cfonifiles-c64208439f4c47dda1ad871ea72102bc\"<\/a>So normally at the end of each issue of Canon Fodder we highlight the latest new and\/or updated articles to populate the Universe encyclopedia function on Halo Waypoint and the Halo Channel. This week we thought we might do just a bit more, so in addition to our normal lore load we\u2019re also excited to introduce you to a\u00a0brand new<\/em>\u00a0section of the Universe encyclopedia:\u00a0ONI FILES<\/a>. Many Halo fans have long adored this franchise\u2019s tradition of doling out lore morsels dolloped throughout scattered data drops and disclosed documents. While much fun has been had over the years by fans finding these gems hidden throughout everything from forum posts to game manuals to map reveals, it\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0make things a bit hard to keep track of sometimes. With that in mind, we wanted to create a place where new fans can make old discoveries and old fans can make new speculation, all in one handy location. Within the ONI FILES section, you\u2019ll find all sorts of story-supporting sweetness, from the\u00a0Halo 3<\/em>\u00a0Terminals to the Eleventh Hour Reports, some even featuring some enhanced formatting to help make the narrative a bit more digestible. We certainly hope you enjoy digging through the information as much as we enjoyed collecting it! Continue to keep an eye on the new area as well, as we’ll be adding more documents from time to time. Some you may have already seen, while others… perhaps not so much.HFFL:<\/strong> I’m glad to see this happen. It IS hard to keep track of it all. Having it tidied up into one spot will make this much easier for junior and experienced sleuths alike!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n
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JACKPOT<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure the eighth day of creation was reserved for the angelic souls that make up our fabulous Consumer Products department, as it\u2019s always a fun time when they descend upon us from their heavenly upstairs abode to grace us with gifts and good tidings. It\u2019s even\u00a0more\u00a0<\/em>delightful when the opportunity presents itself for us to share those gifts with the Halo community, and in honor of Canon Fodder\u2019s 50th<\/sup>, we have a few things we\u2019d like to share. Up for celebratory grabs are copies of Halo 5: Guardians,\u00a0Halo 5: Guardians\u00a0<\/em>OST on vinyl,\u00a0Halo: Hunters in the Dark<\/em>\u00a0signed by some of the word-weaving story crew here at 343 Industries, and someawesome Halo MegaBloks sets. To enter for a chance to win, all you need to do is tweet me\u00a0@GrimBrotherOne<\/a>\u00a0with the hashtag #CanonFodder and let us know your favorite aspect of the Halo fiction. Winners will be randomly drawn and announced in next week\u2019s issue; who knows, maybe I\u2019ll convince Catalog to pull names from the hat. For an extra chance to enter, simply post in this issue\u2019s discussion thread linked down below. Good luck!<\/p>\n

And with that, we close for another spell. From me personally, thanks to each and every one of you that grace these weekly pages with your eager eyeballs, and who communicate your passion for the Halo universe. It\u2019s an absolute honor to share that passion with you all for a few moments each week, and I can\u2019t wait to show you what\u2019s still in store\u2026<\/p>\n

Until next week\u2026 Live well, play Halo, and here\u2019s to another fifty!<\/p>\n

-GRIM<\/h4>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n
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NEW UNIVERSE ENTRIES THIS WEEK!<\/h2>\n

NEW ENTRIES<\/p>\n

MJOLNIR
\n<\/strong><\/a>The brainchild of Dr. Halsey, MJOLNIR powered assault armor is has become the legendary combat counterpart to the Spartan program.
\nARGENT MOON<\/a>
\nArgent Moon was an ONI-controlled research facility where unauthorized and potentially dangerous biological testing was allegedly carried out.
\nKRAKEN
\n<\/strong><\/a>Capable of leveling enemy defenses and subduing entrenched fortifications in mere seconds, the Kraken is the most powerful siege engine utilized by the Covenant.<\/p>\n

NEW SECTION<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

ONI FILES<\/a>
\nONI FILES is a collection of clandestine documents gathered from obscure sources.<\/p>\n

Source Link<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apologies for the late entry on this one. Been so busy PLAYING Halo 5! LOL This is a reblog from HaloWaypoint: By GrimBrotherOne Issue 50 Well folks, welcome back. As you might have noticed, you were greeted with a mighty … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canon-fodder","category-halo-waypoint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24809"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25120,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24809\/revisions\/25120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}