Chronique:BWU 01/05/2009

Posted by urk at 5/1/2009 3:08 PM PDT

Hello. We've been expecting you. Waiting, thinking to ourselves, any minute now. You didn't disappoint. Here you are, eager to dig in and explore this space with us.

Yes, we've be expecting you, friends, and we know exactly what you want from us. But of course, you know better; you're not without a modicum of knowledge and understanding all your own. May is just now peeking out from around the corner and Halo 3: ODST won't be hitting store shelves until Fall. Fall is still a long way off. You know it. We know it. Let's get down to it anyway.

Another week and another Friday heralded by an update without any hot news. You probably recognize a pattern beginning to take shape. Not of the Fibonacci variety either, where said repetitions are woven into the very fabric of nature in some kind of cosmic mathematical coincidence that makes you wonder if there really is a design to everything after all, but more of Grandmother's quilt variety, where said repetition makes you wonder where in the world people can purchase such hideous floral pastel patterns and why they think you'll want to display them in your living room. Nonetheless, we'll try and keep this space interesting for you.

Today's update, though devoid of any revelatory information, takes a pretty good look at Halo 3: ODST from an interesting perspective. Focusing on a recent takehome from earlier in the week, with commentary from four designers and an engineer, we're going to take you on a sidecar ride that begins in Test, ends up in our living rooms, and ultimately appears to have irritated more than a couple of very understanding (and undoubtedly extremely lovely) wives.

But before we dig in, it's time for...

...More LIVE Braggin'

Some speculators postulated that we wouldn't have the gall to keep on touting the fact that Halo 3, aged old beauty as she is, managed to top Major Nelson's LIVE activity list for the third week runnin'. Boy, were they wrong.

If this news were an udder, we'd have both hands firmly around the teats - we're gonna milk this cow for all she's worth. It's not too often we get to claim the top spot against the host of new and awesome games that appear to launch endlessly into Xbox LIVE month after month, especially not this far out from our own retail launch back in September of 2007.

In case you were wondering, yes, this is the strange and slightly disgusting analogy section of the weekly update. We hope it wasn't too off-putting, what with the mention of teats and all. You deserve better. Still, thanks very much for playing.

In Vitro

Speaking of playing. We've kept busy over this last spell putting the latest builds of Halo 3: ODST through some very blistering paces. While we have a small army of incredibly talented folks employed under our test gurus here at the studio, it's important to know what the rest of the gang thinks about the overall experience too. After all, we make it our business to develop games that we want to play. It should come as no surprise that one good way to ensure that happens is to actually play 'em ourselves. Shocking!

But it's not all fun and games.

Testing, Testing, and More Testing

Plenty of players out in the wild seem to think that working in Test would be a dream job. You get to sit around all day playing video games and get paid for it, right? Well, while some test positions do require incredible amounts of game time, it's certainly not always the stuff dreams are made of. Testing a game to ensure that it's a well received experience by the time it hits store shelves is a crucial component to crafting a solid title. It's a task that requires tons of hard work, and there's a lot more method to the Test madness than simply playing the games and giving your two thumbs up.

In fact, we originally wanted to do a brief exploration this week, chatting about exactly what's involved in crafting a takehome playtest experience, what our Test team is looking for in terms of feedback, and what they ultimately do with the mountains of data they mine, but they're simply way too busy right now to focus on anything that doesn't directly impact Halo 3: ODST. But no worries, we hope to tackle their perspective sometime soon, and in the meantime, we've roped in a few of Bungie's finest from the other side of the experience to talk a little bit about what it's like to partake in a takehome playtest.

It's All Business

The fivesome below are, of course, completely unbiased and provide their opinions as objectively as possible. While half of that proceeding sentence is completely baseless, and patently false, you would be surprised at how critical our guys and gals can be when it comes to evaluating their own work. In fact, that seems like the perfect angle to begin with.

Q. How difficult is it to remain objective for playtests, given that some of the things you're being asked to evaluate are both your own work and stuff you're already very familiar with?

Lars Bakken, Designer: It's always a bit difficult to remain objective. At the end of the day though, in the case of something like this, we are ultimately just making the game better. So, even if we see issues (which are bound to happen), we can feel happy knowing we are helping out to ship a great game and find those things early. The other thing is, it's great to play your own stuff because you will notice things that other people wouldn't. In these playtests, it's much easier for you to call it out and then make sure it gets fixed.

Dan Miller, Designer: It actually runs both sides for playtests. Generally, we are pretty self-critical about things that we play and spew anger about things we find that are broken or things we dislike. Other times, there are things that I miss because we've looked at this stuff for so long. I generally try to play levels that I haven't looked at for a long time (i.e. not my levels), so that I can play with relatively fresh eyes.

Dave Candland, UI Designer: It's been hard to not get caught up and enjoy the game, but to stay on task. Say we're asked to play as many levels as possible, it kills me to skip cinematics or blow through without exploring. Every now and then when I'll see something that I wanted to change and wasn't able to, I cringe. I still do that when I look at Halo 1.

Michael Williams, Software Designer: There are a lot of elements to our playtests that help to retain objectivity. One nice thing about the playtests is that there is actually some element of "play." When you start using one of your features rather than just testing it, different things will jump out at you that you never noticed before. One other method we use is to get a lot of people from across the team involved in the playtests. If we are testing a co-operative campaign mission with four players, my partners might be someone from the Writing team, the UI team, and an environmental artist (this was my assigned team last night in fact!). Even if there were some form of bias that caused us to miss a problem in our own areas of expertise, someone from a different discipline is going to call it out. Finally, some of us work in areas where we don't play the game at all in our day-to-day work. In cases like this, playtests are the first introduction to the content, and a lot of valuable feedback can be shaken out.

Christian Diefenbach, Senior Software Engineer: Sometimes it is hard to gauge how you would react if you were seeing something for the first time, considering you've been seeing it over and over again. Of course we have external focus tests to help fine tune the game, but the primary source of criticism comes from inside Bungie. Comments and suggestions are not only acceptable, they are highly encouraged, and you have to be open to listen to both positive and negative feedback.

Q. On the subject of feedback, combat chatter can be a really important component to the Halo experience. Some of you had to test out foreign language versions of the game. How does that change the experience?

Lars: It's pretty cool how much Combat Dialog adds to the game, and you don't realize how much until you are hearing it all in a foreign language. It actually just makes the experience a little surreal. For example, hearing the Grunts say things in French is a trip, especially when they go into double-plasma-suicide-mode.

Dan: Some of what makes Halo combat fun is the stuff your friends and enemies say. They give out cues of what is happening and keep you alert of potential dangers. Not understanding this definitely makes the overall experience a bit more awkward.

Dave: IWHBYD skull in Japanese is the most inconsequential setting to me in our game. I couldn't tell you if it was working or not.

Michael: I played in a Japanese build recently, and I hadn't realized just how much I keyed my actions off enemy chatter. There is a surprising amount of information you get from your enemies when you can actually understand them. I found myself getting killed a lot more than usual as I miscalculated what an opponent was going to do. That said, it is really interesting to hear alien voice acting in other languages. The feel of a race like the Brutes changes drastically depending on what language is coming out of their mouths.

Christian: Your peers are still talking in the same language as you, so in terms of team organization, there are no problems. A Grunt and a Brute yelling at you in French or Japanese? In the beginning, it is a little confusing but fun. After a while, if you hear a Grunt or a Brute nearby, it doesn't matter if it is a language you understand or not, you learn to match the sound to the action, and shoot!

Q. Even though a takehome is a crucial component to shipping a solid title, are you ever able to turn off the analytical areas of your brain and just enjoy the game?

Lars: Yes and No. I have a bad habit of always being hyper critical of my own work. It gets to the point sometimes, where it's even hard for me to enjoy it at first. I find it's easier to do that after the game is done and out the door. At that point, you really can't do a whole lot to change things up, so you just deal with all the little issues you see. I think at that point, I'm able to finally enjoy it. Although, I still see all the little things I'd love to change.

Dan: Yup. I actually had to force myself off the game last night, which is surprising given how long I've worked on Halo.

Dave: Not really. Whenever I play a game, whether it's ours or someone else's, I tear it apart. I make fun of bad textures, ugly shadows, dorky dialogue, plot holes, etc. I will say, however, that, over the past month or so, I've found less and less stuff to critique.

Michael: To a certain degree you can turn it off - especially when there is a co-op moment where everyone is cheering or panicking over your headset. Between those glorious moments (which seem to happen quite a lot at this stage in the project) every time you notice anything even slightly strange you are writing down notes and comparing your experience with others in the playtest. Playtests are a ton of fun, but you also have to keep focused on making the game better - when it feels bad, it needs fixing, and even when it feels good, there is often something you can do to make it great.

Christian: Oh, yes. Especially in the final stages of development. In the beginning, it is hard to shutdown the part of your brain that is trying to look under the hood for ways to improve the player experience; later on, you look for things that need to be fixed; finally you find yourself surprised by simply having fun and getting paid for it.

Q. "Having fun and getting paid for it." Do you see takehomes as a perk of being employed at a game studio, all business, or a little bit of both?

Lars: While I see it as a little of both, I don't think my wife sees it as a perk at all. I definitely treat it like I'm at work, which helps to keep it a little more professional. It also helps my justification to my wife when I tell her I'm "working from home" tonight. Of course, all she sees is me sitting in front of the TV yelling at my teammates and saying how awesome everything is. Doing a little hardcore note-taking at the same time helps to sell the illusion though.

Dan: I tell my wife it's all business or she'd get mad at me.

Dave: Oh, definitely a perk. My wife, on the other hand, will tell you a different story.

Michael: It is very much both. As a business, it is critical that our products be polished and well tested, but it is a fantastic perk, and one of the ways we help ensure the needed quality is there is with takehomes. It is amazing to see a game grow and evolve between playtests, and it is incredible to think that feedback you give can have a real impact on the game's direction.

Christian: At Bungie, the takehome is voluntary, and there is no shortage of volunteers; and of course there are no rules that say you can't have fun while working. I would say it is in part a way to reward yourself for all the hard work you've put into the game, and enjoy the results.

Ah, enjoying the results. We hope you enjoyed the results of this brief batch of interviews. Thanks to Lars, Dan, Dave, Michael, and Christian for providing an inside look into their living room playtests. If you're looking for something to keep your own idle hands busy this weekend, we've got a takehome playtest scheduled for you. Participation is voluntary, but we'll try and make it worth your while.

Mythic Map Pack Recon Challenge

It's been a brief while since we've run a contest for you to participate in, so we figured we'd offer up a competitive and creative outlet for those looking for something to do this weekend. Fire up your copy of Halo 3, play some Matchmaking games on any of the three Mythic maps, or any of their custom variants, and snap some photos of the carnage. You can shoot whatever you like: plays showing off your serious skills, your absurd antics, or snaps that simply capture the maps in all their Mythic glory.

When you have your Mythic Map Pack trophy shots bagged, slap 'em in your File Share and tag them with the single phrase, Mythic Recon. We'll close down submissions first thing Monday morning and spend the rest of the day scouring your weekend work for an undisclosed number of winners. What'll they win? Recon armor.

Of course, if you cheat, boost, or otherwise make an annoyance of yourself (or ever have), you need not apply. We keep a list and your weekend work will be wasted. Everyone else, happy screenshotting.

We Out

That's it and that's all for this week's words. Have a great weekend. Don't do anything we wouldn't do, and please don't tell your grandmother that you don't like her quilt. She worked hard on that bad boy. Tell her you love it and make sure you drag it out into the living room when she drops by. And for now, stay safe and stay tuned.