"Halo 4" is easily one of the highly-anticipated games of the year. Previously, the game received a bagful of information that pertained to the weapons, loadouts and armo. New reports indicate that additional details have arrived with regard to the game's AI and Spartan Ops.
Ray Almaden, level designer for "Halo 4," in an interview with the Official Xbox Magazine, stated that the new AI possibilities will be arriving with Master Chief's comeback. Almaden said that a level designer, when taking up a new project, has to learn about the game and make sure as to how the designed level will support the gameplay.
However, the job is "so much more complex for Halo because you have the sandbox which is very different. Bungie had its amazing level design and that's the style we're building up from."
Almaden also stated that designers "have to come in and learn that here's the AI, and here's what we do to it, and from that the other systems kind of support it. So you set up stuff to work with, and you try one thing, and then instead of Battle Rifle you try Assault Rifle, and you have to think how this feels, what if I just come in there with a rocket launcher, what is the experience?" But once you know the sandbox and how it works, "then it becomes easier. It takes a while to get there though."
Executive producer Kiki Wolfkill, on the other hand, shed more light into the project by discussing the Spartan Ops and how the team was inspired to build it.
"There were a few eureka moments, but not all of them worked exactly how we thought they would. The right combination sort of came together. For us it started with loving the co-op experience. But how do we take that experience and make it something people are going to want to engage with over time? We also got really engaged with this idea of a watercooler moment being more than just sharing things you watched on TV," he said.
The new information regarding "Halo 4" has arrived just after the game's list of achievements, as well as details on weapons and loadouts, were revealed earlier. The main campaign is set to include eight missions, the last of which will unlock the usual difficulty based end-game rewards.
"Halo 4" is slated for a Nov. 6 release and is exclusively for the Xbox 360.
Check out the full interview here.
