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Subject: Matt's Halo Update - July 27, 2001
Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 19:06:39 -0700
x-sender: matt@mail.bungie.com
From: Matt Soell <matt@bungie.com>
To: "Louis Wu" <halo@bungie.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0

Today's belated Halo Update is brought to you courtesy of Team Bungie's
merciless trouncing of several Microsoft Games grand poobahs in a
four-on-four game of Halo.  Yeah, yeah, I know... big surprise.

- Again, plenty of bugfixing this week... making the big subsystems work
so we can get to the little details.

- Having introduced the AIs to the concept of driving, Chris Butcher is
now teaching them how to drive different kinds of vehicles.

- The Bear fixed a major physics issue and in the process made all our
vehicles drive better and with a more realistic feel.  After doing this
he was able to pull out the various hacks we'd inserted to make the
individual vehicles handle the way we thought they should.  Better Gaming
Through Physics.

- Hardy is engaged in major multiplayer balancing: deciding the weapon
spawn times, power-up placement, the weapons you start with, starting
positions and so forth, level by level.  This involves a lot of
playtesting so it's not all sackcloth and ashes.

- Shiek is building shuttle bay doors for a Covenant cruiser.

- Marty and Jay continue to add sounds, including (finally)
footsteps...and something Hamilton called "man-sized reverb" for a hangar.

- The compass and bullet count on the assault rifle work now - courtesy
of Rob, who's also thirty-three years old today.  Happy birthday Robt.

- One thing I've noticed in recent weeks is that Eric tends to work on
some of the coolest stuff in the game - and naturally it's all towards
the end of the game and involves plot points that I can't even allude to.
 But I can bring up small individual elements and let you guys wonder
about what they mean.  What's green and gooey and eats through the ground?


Matthew Soell
Community Guy / Keeper of the Bungie Way
Bungie Studios
matt@bungie.com
bungie.org