The developers of Halo Infinite have discussed their “love-hate relationship” with the Brute that started the Craig meme. While the subject of ridicule, the character model ultimately granted the team at 343 Industries more time to bring Halo Infinite up to a better level of quality.
“While it was fun to see the community gravitate towards Craig, he unfortunately represented some content and systems that were not ready for prime time in that demo,” said Steve Dyck, Character & Combat Director on Halo Infinite, in a new Halo Insider post. “The positive outcome of Craig was that he was one of the factors in gaining some more time to finish work and get Brutes to a place where the team is happy with them. This is one of the many positive examples of 343 working with and aligning with the Halo community around expectations. Players who look hard enough will still be able to find some evidence of Craig in Halo Infinite, his spirit lives on!”
'Craig' is the name given by the community to a Brute that featured in Halo Infinite's first campaign reveal, which was the subject of ridicule and blowback due to the quality of the graphics, among other things.
While discussing the character designs of Halo Infinite, Dyck also noted that the team is looking back to the Bungie Halo games to influence its art direction. “In terms of which part of the legacy we looked to for inspiration, we settled most around the Halo 3 / Halo: Reach timeframe,” he explained.
“We wanted to get back to the legacy designs that made Halo characters iconic,” added Character Art Lead, Bryan Repka. “I will use the Elites as an example – in Halo 4 and Halo 5 the Elites were big and bulky. We ended up scaling them down a bit and giving them more of a sleek look.”
While Halo Infinite is looking to the past in the name of being a “spiritual reboot”, it also has several new enemy ideas of its own. One of those is the Skimmer, a new Covenant troop.
“One of the new enemies we just revealed in the Campaign Overview is the Skimmer,” said Dyck. “They are a mid-tier combatant, sort of on the level with the Jackals and higher tier Grunts. They aren’t full flying enemies but have hover packs to allow them to move around quickly and provide unique challenges and opportunities to the player while on foot or in a vehicle.”
The post also provided a little extra detail on the Spartan Killers, a group of Banished members who are equipped to hunt down Spartans. One can be seen in the Campaign Overview trailer - Jega 'Rdomnai - but they are just one of many.
“Each Spartan killer is unique and has its own story and battle trophies,” promised Repka.
For more on Halo Infinite, check out The Banished Rise trailer, Master Chief's new AI companion and outpost opportunities, and how Ray Tracing will be a priority for the PC version... after launch, at least.
Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.
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