Halo fans are thirsty for any morsel of news they can get their hands on. Be it information gleaned from new Mega Construx reveals, or in employee interviews from 343 themselves.
Yesterday, 343 Industries released the newest issue of their monthly Employee Spotlight feature, this time focusing on Lead Multiplayer Designer, Andrew Witts. In it, Witts describes what it’s like working on a project for as long as they’ve been developing Infinite, keeping team morale high, and the things he’s proud of. Perhaps the most interesting callout, however, is the new Mark System.
Witts describes the Mark System as “…a feature where players can mark a spot in the world that lets their teammates know vital information, like an enemy position or weapon location.” This is the first time Halo’s multiplayer will have a system like this, very likely inspired by games like Apex Legends and it’s Ping system. This is a feature that has been widely request by the Halo community, and even though it’s been heralded by fans as a great addition to the player’s toolset, there are some (like Pro Player NV TriPPPeY) who think it will take away from Halo’s competitive skill gap, and shouldn’t be allowed in competitive settings, like HCS. Personally, I think it adds a layer of accessibility and new-form communication for players who are hearing impaired, either unable to or are uncomfortable with speaking over open mic channels, or are otherwise in a situation where vocal communication isn’t a viable option. Twitter user zBret responded to TriPPPeY with exactly this saying “Well I’m kinda for it simply because I’m partially deaf. My awareness is a completely visual attribute for me.”
We also finally received confirmation that Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is drawing even more inspiration from previous Halo titles than previously thought, with confirmation of features “including how we go inside the player’s helmet in the match intro like the opening cutscene from Halo: CE, to the designs for Eagle and Cobra Team’s logos like past Halos, to maintaining certain design language of our game mode objects like the Flag has a Skull on top and the Oddball is this sci-fi skull from hell.” This is the first time we get official word on the speculated intro cutscenes for Multiplayer that we saw in the Multiplayer Overview ViDoc that was released last month, which can be seen at 02:22 below.
Likewise, we receive new information on the design decisions for the new Weapon Rack system that is replacing the traditional weapon spawns in arena modes:
“We wanted to make it a better experience for players, and we invested into what we call Item Spawners. The Item Spawners are assets like Weapon Racks and Equipment Spawners. It’s nothing new for Halo in terms of what players expect, but we wanted to call out where weapons spawn in the world.”
There’s a ton of interesting information, both about Halo Infinite’s hotly anticipated Multiplayer, as well as insight from the man leading the team responsible for suite itself. Go give a read if you haven’t already, and make sure to check out what we think of the Halo Infinite Battle Pass when you’re done.
Don’t forget to go register to be a Halo Insider if you’re interested in participating in the Halo Infinite Technical Previews (previously referred to as Flighting). This is the ONLY way to play the game early and access is not guaranteed. If you find yourself having a difficult time with the registration and verification process, follow the twitter thread from Community Manager Unyshek here:
