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Subject: Matt's Halo Update 6/29/01
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 16:11:33 -0700
x-sender: matt@mail.bungie.com
From: Matt Soell <matt@bungie.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0

- We've got the first in-engine cutscene up and running, which showcases
our facial emotion system quite nicely.  Faces in Halo look and move much
better than they ever did before.

- Marty has recorded and mixed some new music, and his trip to Chicago
yielded about 3500 new lines of combat dialog.

- Chucky now wishes to be known as "The Bear."  Asking why would only
waste valuable coding time, so I'll just run with it for now.  The Bear
did some extensive reworking of the aim-assist code so that it works much
better when your weapon is zoomed in.  He's also working with Paul
Bertone on a level I'm not allowed to discuss.  In fact there are a slew
of cool things the programmers have done in the last week, but almost all
of them are still secret.

- Hardy is working on a large outdoor multiplayer map currently called
Sidewinder.  It's a snow level.  Snowy patches will affect vehicle
physics in Halo, and I suspect Hardy will use that to especially devious
effect.

- Chris Hughes did some nice modifications to Cortana, as well as a bunch
of other stuff I can't tell you about.  Let's just say it involves two of
the major characters in Halo's story.  He showed me a sheet of paper
covered with the equations that explain how Bernie's shaders work.  "The
scary thing," he said, "is that I almost understand it."

- The skull is now beautifully textured and looks about as good as a
mistreated skull possibly can.

- Much work has been done on things that, as Rob put it, you shouldn't
notice at all: LODs for hand grenades, the needler, a collision volume
for the shotgun.  That sort of thing.

- If you've seen Saving Private Ryan and remember the way exploding
shells would blast huge clouds of sand into the sky, Shiek has ensured
you'll experience a pleasant sense of dŽjˆ vu when playing Halo.

- The Shadow is back in the game.


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