Halo Moves From the Xbox
to the PC
Gearbox
President/Executive Producer, Bungie Producer Talk with GameZone About Taking a
Top Title from One Platform to Another
When Microsoft’s Xbox
console platform was first released, there were few games that accompanied the
launch. Even before the release of the gaming platform, detractors were
snickering at the limited titles.
But then the platform
launched, and the world discovered Halo.
Without a doubt, Halo
was one of the tastiest titles to ever accompany a platform launch. Gamers were
soon huddled around console demos in electronics stores staring in awe at the
graphical quality of the title. While shooter titles are not for everyone, just
the look and play of the game had heads swiveling.
At long last Halo is
coming to the PC.
The game revolves around
the efforts of a fellowship of alien races, known as the Covenant, bent on
destroying humanity. The survivors of on decimated colony are trying to lure the
enemy away from the Earth. A warrior with a vast arsenal at your disposal, it is
up to you to combat the menace before humanity is but a star-dusted memory in
the galaxy.
That’s the backstory.
Let’s move ahead.
How do you take a
top-ranked Xbox title and port it to a completely different platform, which
maintaining the quality of the title? Randy Pitchford, President and Executive
Producer of Gearbox Software and Michel Bastien, Producer at Bungie Studios,
talked with GameZone about that very thing.
Question: Halo was
one of the stunning debut titles of the Xbox. Now here we are more than a year
later and the title is being ported to the PC. What differences will players see
in this new incarnation?
Randy: "There are
some obvious differences – such as super high resolution graphics that simply
aren’t possible on your television, or being able to play the game on the
internet using your mouse and keyboard and of course new MP maps, vehicles and
weapons. Then there are some not-so-obvious differences – things where we’ve
done a huge amount of work behind the scenes to make sure the experience is as
high quality as possible on the personal computer."
Q: The Xbox features
universal requirements, so that took the guess work out system requirements. But
the range of PC systems is daunting at best. What system is optimum for this
incarnation? Was this game recoded with a particular video card in mind?
Randy: "System
requirements on the PC have more to do with finding a nice balance between
putting the features in that make the software interesting or competitive and
making sure that there are enough potential customers to support the effort.
"We decided to put the
extra effort in and go for scalability.
"This means that the
most impressive system is bleeding edge – a fast CPU with very recent graphics
hardware that can utilize DirectX 9 and Pixel Shader 2.0 well. But, we’ve also
done some custom graphics work in the software for people with DirectX 8
generation cards or even much older graphics hardware – like the GeForce 2mx."
Q:
Does this game feature multiplayer options?
Randy: "The
multiplayer game is one of the best parts of Halo for PC. First of all, the PC
version of Halo will be your first opportunity to properly play Halo on the
internet – which is very exciting for us. Secondly, we’ve added lots of new
features: New vehicles (ground and air), new weapons, new maps, new game options
– it’s really exciting and we’re having lots of fun testing’ at Gearbox."
Q: Is the storyline
exactly the same as it was for the Xbox version or are there ‘surprises’ along
the path?
Randy: The story
and structure will be the same. The dramatic story line, the cut-scenes, the
musical score and the important game play elements (AI, physics, combat dialog,
humor…) are all the elements that came together to create the Halo experience.
They are flawlessly making it into the PC version of the game."
Q: Halo is as intense
a shooter game as has been developed in the past year. What do you think are the
elements that comprise a top FPS style game, and how does Halo fit that bill?
Randy: "The most important consideration
relates to what we call the player’s feedback loop. It relates the movement of
the character and the responsiveness of the controls. It encompasses the
feedback the game generates when I walk, jump, fire my weapon or drive vehicles.
There’s a certain "feel" that is just right in the good FPS games and terribly
wrong in the bad ones. Despite our attempts to quantify all of the factors and
turn the tuning of the feedback loop into a science, it turns out to be very
much influenced by instinct, subtlety and ‘feeling.’ "
Q: One of the biggest trends at E3 this past year
was incorporation of the rag-doll effect into the FPS genre. Where do you think
the genre is heading? What elements of Halo do you think contributed to the
advancement of the genre?
Randy: "Halo really uses physics well – not
because of ‘rag doll’ but because a more complex than usual physics model is
built into the game play surrounding things like vehicles, grenades and other
important combat factors. Sure, it’s great to see an alien you’ve blown up get
thrown 50 feet through the air only to collapse into a crumpled heap against
some rocks, but it’s much better when you’re in a Ghost and you’ve just pulled
off a 360 flip by using the hovercraft to jump off of an oncoming tank! Halo
proved that physics directly tied to game play is infinitely more exciting than
physics as a result of some kind of damage you’ve done – this is the thing that
other FPS games are just now starting to mimic."
Q: The Halo sequel is heading for the Xbox. Is there
a chance that it will port to the PC down the road? What criteria do you look at
when determining what ports to another platform?
Michel: "Will Halo 2 be on the PC? We simply
don’t know – Bungie hasn’t made that decision yet and probably won’t for some
time. We are excited about the PC version of the original Halo game – we play
lots of it in the studio! We are extremely focused on delivering a kick-ass Halo
sequel to our fans. Our demo at E3 scratched the surface of our ambitions and
delivering on that promise is what we are passionately hard at work on."
Q: What do you consider to be the most memorable,
most intriguing, or most enjoyable aspects of Halo?
Randy: "Right now, Gearbox is heavily
involved in ‘testing’ the new multiplayer features of the game. I find myself
waking up in the middle of the night after dreaming about dog fighting in the
Banshee (Covenant fighter craft) or blowing up enemy positions with the mortar
(Covenant Fuel Rod Gun) as part of a team coordinated attack."
