Dear Bungie, Bungie’s Next game (halo 3) is drawing closer to completion, and I am concerned about a few things that might not go in it, as in being left out, and things that should be changed. Note: its your game, you can do what ever you please, but I am just speaking from a fans perspective, and I think you might find a lot of people agree with me. Let me state this now that this post is not negative like last week at all. There were a lot of great achievements in Halo 2. One such thing is the UI. The UI in halo 2 was the best I have ever seen in any game. It was extremely stylish, classic, simple, and easy for even the most novas of players. The reason it was simple was because there was no “clutter.” There is an old saying, to many cooks can spoil the broth. Well I think Bungie did an excellent job on the UI by not going over board. Bungie also had tips in there Halo 2 UI as part of a way to inform the players, but keep them busy while they wait for games. If I am correct on this, Bungie is credited for doing this in a first person shooter. (for such a detailed and myriad amount of tips in pre-game lobbies.) It also numerated the steps that the system was in, keeping us informed step by step, and thus giving the player more power and knowledge of what is going on. I think personally the Tips thing, though small, was clever, as well as the 1,2,3,4 steps. What also was clever was having boxes where players where shown, which in halo, showed Xbox controllers. It also showed there “logo” which is each players own identity. This was also very clever, and better then most games. The game setup was great to. My only complaint was that I felt like I did not have enough control on the game setting, like if I wanted were pistols on the map would spawn, I choose human pistol, and where BR’s spawn, I choose carbine. (I guess this is a feature, but I wish it was integrated.) There was 2 other things I did not like about the UI, and that was one, I wish there was a button (like the black button) where I could select someone to boot or give party leader. In halo 2, you have to hit Y, and then go all the way down to do so. It is just a convenient option. The last one is the friends and clan list itself. Granted, no other game has such a user friendly and eye appealing UI for this then Bungie, but I wish I had more control over it. I wish I could choose certain spots to be filled in with my friends. So for example, let’s say I have Steve, Frankie, bob, and Sketch on my friends list. Frankie is all the way down on the bottom, but I want him on top. Sketch is in the middle. But I want him bellow Steve, and bob is currently on top. If I could change this, it would be great, and give’s the player more control. This is so nice when there offline to. (for messaging them.) Also, I hate it when I first logon, and it says I have a message, but my friend is off, so I have to scroll down the list to get the message. It would be more convenient if messages were on top like friend requests. I also saw one of your early builds, where you could send files to one another. I think this would be such a great asset in a game. It would make the next project so much more then just as a game, but more as a social gathering. (Like halo 2 game rooms have become.) Best of all, its P2P, so its no cost to Bungie. (Though The bugs could get annoying to fix.) Overall, I think the UI system is a marvelous achievement of Bungie, and is defiantly the standard bar that gaming companies have to meet, which all have failed in this area. (Darn it!) Props to The UI Team, and I hope such a focus will be made to the next project as well. What also should be focused on desperately is the network of the next project. What really brought halo 2’s destruction of being a bigger success then it already is in my opinion, is the stand-bys, bridging, and modding. Let’s start with what Halo 2 runs on for a network. Halo 2 operates by sending data to Bungie servers, and Xbox live servers once in a while, especially when looking for players or when a team wins. How do we play games then? Simple, Halo 2 runs on a P2P network, which is where one Xbox 360, will have the host, and sends all the data outward, and basically acts like its own server. It cost Bungie no bandwidth, and Bungie does not have to worry about tons of servers to cover and pay for. The down side to this, is that the person with host, has a Huge advantage over his players. For example, a person with host can kill anyone with 8 needles (one explosion) with the needier. But, it can take several explosions with people with non host. Lunging, lag, and the range of grenades all are impacted from the host. It can also be manipulated, to boot people, lag them, or force host on your own team, giving you the advantage, even though you may have DSL, and the other team has t1. Please Bungie, for the love of god, don’t set your next project as a P2P, except for custom games. Instead, invest in the servers. It will boost the life of the game for a long time. A great way to rid stand-by folks is to do something very similar to Far Cry. It detects if a person is having a faulty connection, and boots them if it gets bad. If people have ISP connections that are that bad, they need a new ISP, because they are hurting everyone’s fun factor. Besides, how many people have that problem anyways? Speaking of fun factor, This may be off the topic, but one thing that can make a game playable for ever is the ability to create/customize stuff. Gamers are like noob game designers. All they want to do is make there own stuff and play it, and have fun. Look at Far Cry. Its simple editor is extremely cool to use, and even though it is limited on what you can put down, players have learned to be creative around it. If Bungie was to Create a Map editor for there new game, it would be a Big hit. Best of all, you could do it Far Cry style, make the players Share the map P2P. Again, no extra cost, and you continue the fun factor, and making it a even better game. Plus you get the kicks of seeing some really creative maps that your fans made from your creation. The lunging system in halo 2 was…. Frustrating; granted, it is one of the most sophisticated melee systems of any video game. For example, if one has the Brute Shot, and he runs at a person, aiming at the head, and moves his controller to the left a little at the exact same time as he punches, it’s an instant kill. The game itself is all about position, and timing. On LAN, you can see how good it is. Sadly, online, lag has a tole on it, and thus, sometimes it does things that should not happen. (2 people standing, 1 punching, and not hitting them.) Also, the idea of flying seems fun, but unrealistic, and sometimes annoying, especially when you fall off a cliff. >_< Wow, that’s all I can think of now. (That I hear people talk about all the time, and things that most don’t notice unless they have a trained eye.) Over all, Halo 2 is a great game. Granted, you may hear folks saying it was not as good as halo 1, but that is because (what a some people think, but not all) of the story. Halo 2 strips Halo 1’s MP in my opinion. You may wonder why I do this, but the answer is simple, I care. I care enough about this Company, and believe it or not in its people, as well as the fans. I thought by stating some of the obvious, and some not so obvious, it might help some of the most talented game designers make an even better game. -Aktins Diet PS: Please bring in sprinting. It really makes FPS fun. :) Now to the Update: WOW, that was really cool! I never expected it to look that good. Damn those guys are something. The music was a little over the top though I thought. But I have confidence that Marty will pull through, because his music is always excellent. Maybe its an example of what direction he is heading? And what of the Arbiter? What of the flood? God I hope there is a lot of flood. I love them. I also want to ride the dinos:) *sigh* that sucks that it is the last one. Damn you Bungie. Well, I guess the map editor is even more important then! Oh, and Please show the demo. Or at least some pics of the Ships! -Aktins Diet Edit: I change my mind on the music. I guess I did not "feel" it cause it was so alien. But now it feels right.... Thought I might let you know. Good job Marty. [Edited on 5/12/2006]