- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Hey there! I just want to share some different suggestions and ideas that I've had for awhile regarding Halo 3. I'm not claiming to be the first to have spun them up, but I feel that I want to share them, and hopefully maybe even a few people from Bungie might stop by and at least take a look.
Feel free to comment or add your own opinions or thoughts as well!
HDR Lighting:
I've read that Bungie is busy implementing High Dynamic Range lighting into the engine. With the sorts of detailed varieties of signature civilized and desolate martian landscapes and environments that make up the Halo series, I know this is going to great if done properly, I can tell. Hopefully the studio is planning on implementing something similar to the sort of HDR that's seen in the Half-Life 2 Episodes, which is a great standard to cite as an example of HDR lighting done properly.
Realtime Dynamic Weather:
I really don't know whether or not this has yet to be officially mentioned, but a realtime weather system really seems like the next logical leap to make in regard to added realism. I imagine that it would most definately be possible to build each map in the Singleplayer Campaign so that the weather programmed for it would loosely obey some sort of prescripted instructions as to the map's intended environment; but then when it came down to it, loading up and playing the same map multiple times would yield different weather-related results.
Imagine: The player would be dropped into an overcast level, for example, with scattered clouds gathering overhead. I don't know if this is possible to achieve on the Xbox 360 hardware or not, but volumetric clouds could be programmed into the engine and given rain-conductive properties, which would allow for some really randomized dynamic behavior. Can you imagine this working in tandem with the HDR lighting system? Here you are, the player, fending off strings of enemy forces on the ground, while clouds are moving in from the east overhead. The ground grows darker, as the clouds slowly block the sun from view, rays diffusing and blooming from between the last remaining cracks. Suddenly a flash of lightning streaks across the sky, and a deafening roar of thunder is heard. Rain begins to fall by the bucketload, and the tides of the battle suddenly flip as your range of vision decreases substantially and mist begins to swell up from the dirt and grass; this would take replayability to an absolute whole new level!
Regarding Multiplayer Mode, could the HDR and realtime weather effects described above be implemented into online and offline multiplayer gameplay as well? The game host's console could give all of the server-side instructions to the other players' systems, and everyone would play under the same evolving environment conditions. Do you know how seriously cool this would be? Terrain vehicles like Warthogs and Scorpion tanks that were gaining the upper edge on the opposing team not five minutes ago suddenly begin to squeal and lose their traction as the ground begins to shine with moisture and previously stable collision and physics properties slowly turn the surface into mud; and now the frictionless Ghost suddenly becomes the vehicle of choice for the time being.
Nature has its way with the combatants on the field as well, and the sniper perched in the rocky alcoves high above the map picking off the other players slowly begins to lose his deadly aim as the storm settles in, the rain rendering visibility poor and fogging up and distorting the scope lense of his rifle and forcing him to scavange for a more close-range firearm. Another player was not so careful to recognize the sounds of lightning, and mistakes the far-off rumbling of thunder for a nearby explosion, rushing into a fray of deadly enemy fire. This would be insane!
What do you think about this?
[Edited on 7/4/2006]