In Halo, “the sandbox” usually refers back to the weapons and automobiles on a map at any given time: all of the toys you must play with. However for a complete different set of Halo followers, that sandbox is the sport itself. Be it by Forge or formidable modding initiatives like SPV3, enjoying with the very core of the sport itself is a part of the legacy of the franchise. Now, Microsoft has made that even simpler after publishing an intensive assortment of modding sources for Halo: The Grasp Chief Assortment. And as a shock, a few of these sources include some never-before-seen photos from Halo 2’s improvement method again within the early 2000s.
At present, Microsoft launched official documentation for Halo: The Grasp Chief Assortment’s mod instruments, particularly Halo 2 and Halo 3 (different entries within the collection are anticipated to obtain documentation at a later date). As spotted by Halo modder Kiera on Twitter, a number of the documentation for Halo 2 accommodates materials immediately from Bungie circa the early 2000s. With it are a number of improvement photos that few have seen till now.
What’s cool about these photos is that they showcase the inside workings of Halo 2’s engine. Certainly one of these photos illustrates the “screenshot_cubemap” command. I’m not going to thoroughly faux to know what this does, however primarily based on the documentation, it’s to be used in producing reflective surfaces, like we see within the outdated documentation picture supplied.
One other neat pair of photos reveals off debugging data, itemizing information for when a mannequin is utilizing particular weapons or enjoying out varied animations.
Like many behind-the-scenes pictures, these are hardly glamorous. However they’re cool nonetheless. The event of Halo 2 is a story of excessive ambition at the price of abusive crunch, a lot of which has been talked about overtly. Varied supplies from the sport’s improvement have been seen earlier than, whereas others stay out of attain, just like the legendary 2003 E3 demo (which 343 has not too long ago contemplated lastly making playable). At present, a bit extra has seen the sunshine of day.