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Official Sybex Halo Strategy Guide
Written with the full cooperation of Bungie Studios, Gearbox, and Microsoft Game
Studios, the Official Sybex Halo Strategy Guide by Doug Radcliffe is packed with
invaluable strateies, behind-the-scenes information, and winning tactis straight
from the experts.
Included in the strategy guide are:
- Complete single-player walkthrough so you can survive Legendary
difficulty
- Analysis of every weapon, vehicle, and enemy in the game
- Powerful strategies from hardcore Halo veterans
- Exclusive Halo Story Bible excerpts that have never been published
anywhere
- Tips and level design notes from the Bungie and Gearbox development
teams
- Detailed maps of every single multiplayer level
- Essential tactics for dominating every multiplayer map and game
mode
- Fun compilation of Halo Easter Eggs
Keep reading for an example of just one of the many of the level design notes from
the development team included in the book.
LEVEL-DESIGNER NOTES: THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN
The Pillar of Autumn was one of the more challenging missions of the game to construct
because it contained the game's tutorial. Teaching new players all of the skills
they needed without boring or frustrating them proved to be harder than I expected.
After I finished the first version of the tutorial, we brought several people into
our playtesting labs to give us feedback on it. It was a disaster. Everyone got
completely lost. Nobody could figure out the controls. Several of the participants
were killed before they could even find a weapon, or blew themselves up with grenades.
Most of the participants ended up shooting the technician giving the tutorial in
frustration. A couple even asked if they could stop playing and go home.
So I went back to the drawing board. I kept the (few) things that worked and rebuilt
the tutorial based on the things we had seen in the playtests. We gave the player
a lot more control over the pacing of the tutorial to give him time to master a
skill on his own. We built devices for him to interact with to keep him interested
while he learned important controls. We also ended up trimming the tutorial to about
half its original length and moved some of the controls into the rest of the mission.
Since this was the first mission in the game, we packed lots of scripted moments
into it. There are crewman getting thrown through closing blast doors by grenades,
Marines pinned down behind makeshift barricades, Covenant boarding parties blowing
in an airlock door, and lots of other dramatic moments. My favorite one happens
when you "accidentally" kill Captain Keyes on the bridge.
-Jaime Griesemer, Design Lead, Bungie Studios
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