Bungie Weekly Update/07-06-01

This is the Bungie Weekly Update of July 06, 2001, written by Matt Soell.

Bungie Update
Recently some fans of the Halo Updates suggested I return to the old days of prefacing each update with a witty comment. I don't know that my prefaces ever qualified as witty, but I aim to please. I thought I would share some of the witticism generated at Bungie TestMeister Ryan Hylland's Fourth of July party, but quips like Stop punching me! only prove I'm no Oscar Wilde. Perhaps it's best to head straight into the update:


 * We now have the capability to merge scenarios, which essentially allows the level designers and the Sin-O-MatiXXX team to work with a minimum of coordination. This speeds up our workflow tremendously.
 * The Sin-O-MatiXXX team has spent most of this week fixing bugs in their cutscenes. But it's not all tedious clean-up. As I began writing this Halo Update, Marty emerged from the studio and announced, I've just finished a new, three-minute piece that I like a lot. It adds real emotion and pathos to the cutscene Joseph is working on. Joseph, displaying the humility that comes naturally when working with a composer of Marty's caliber, could only reply GreatGreatGreat. Let's get that blam in there.
 * Marty and Jay have added some great sounds for the weapons. It's particularly satisfying to hear a Covenant energy weapon as it charges up.
 * Multiplayer UI is progressing steadily, and the team has been tweaking the rocket launcher and sniper rifle in multiplayer games.
 * Butcher beefed up the AI so the Marines follow you more intelligently.
 * Hardy's new multiplayer map is up and running. All he needs to do is texture it...and add the ice lakes of course. His goal, in his own words: As many connections as possible, so all the areas are accessible and interesting.
 * The Online team's own Peter Marks is contributing some multiplayer maps to Halo. His newest one doesn't have a final name yet, but his first attempt is called Hang 'Em High in honor of the gallows-like structure at the center of the map.
 * The Bear, who is ill and thus uncharacteristically taciturn, only volunteered that he fixed some vehicle physics issues this week.
 * Speaking of vehicles: the Shadow, which was in last week, is now out - replaced with the Wraith.
 * Speaking even more of vehicles: if they happen to be resting on a glass surface, and you blow the glass surface to smithereens, the vehicle now falls. Yeah, it's what you'd expect, but it wasn't working before and now it does.
 * Speaking of glass and hearts thereof, Jason Jones volunteered that he's listening to Blondie's Greatest Hits album a lot this week, especially The Tide Is High, and he's very happy about it. This may not seem like a big deal, but it's a big step up when you consider his fixation with the song Crash by the Primitives a few years back. Way to go, Jason!