"In addition to there being fewer of the non-textured rectangular stand-in buildings in the game these days, the scale of units to buildings has been a major focus recently. By scale, I mean the size of units and buildings in relation to each other. This can be a tricky thing as making infantry units that are precisely in scale with buildings can make them too small to distinguish, while making infantry larger can have them towering over vehicles in an absurd fashion. In addition, buildings and units have to fit nicely on a player's TV screen so that you can have a good view of the battlefield without having a screen full of structures or that constant desire to want to zoom the camera out. There will be plenty of fine tuning on the scale relationship between units and buildings in the weeks ahead as we zero in on something that works well and looks great.
"During playtesting it was great to see the Sparrowhawk in action. We posted the concept here in a monthly update not too long ago, but having the chance to build them and wreck stuff with them during a game was sweet! That journey from concept to first art pass on the unit and getting it into the game so we have a recognizable unit to use doesn't stop there, but it's a first step. Artists will be working on effects, animations, second and probably third passes on these units to put that final polish on them before the game ships. ...if only I had more Hawks to stop the Warthog raiding force that was running rough shod over my installations, I might have stood a better chance of winning my final game in playtest. Even though I lost, it was ridiculously cool to see a group of 8-10 UNSC vehicles, guns blazing, tearing up the map."
You can find the Halo Wars community websitehere. While you're there beg for some screens or a movie. Anything!
May 17, 2007
