14 DAY TRIAL // Developer 343 Industries admits that it has launched Halo 4 with problems linked to game balance, especially when the new Promethean enemy units were involved, which left some fans of the game frustrated.
Scott Warner, the design director at the company, is quoted by Joystiq as stating during a 2013 Game Developer Conference panel that, “We were a brand new team at 343. You have to consider the challenge that we had was starting from zero people and going to about 340 before we shipped.”
343 Industries also lacked a clear vision about the Forerunner civilization and their Promethean enforcers, which forced the team to experiment with a lot of ideas before settling on a final design.
Initially, some of the enemies that players encountered were set to have some similarities with Cortana, but the team abandoned the idea in order to focus on more traditional archetypes.
Warner added, “When you fight the Watcher, there isn't really a good way to circumvent that interaction with him fast, you have to put a bunch of bullets in him – same way with the Knight. So that, over time, can tip the scale to where it's less fun to interact with him.”
After Halo 4 was launched, 343 Industries focused on addressing all the balance problems that they saw and which the community talked about, and the team believes that at the moment, the game offers a much improved experience.
Halo 4 was launched exclusively on the Xbox 360 during 2012 and saw the return of Master Chief and Cortana to the series, fighting both the old Covenant enemies and the new Forerunners.
The game is designed to be the first of a new trilogy, which will deal with new themes and will explore the lore of the series.
A new Halo title is expected to launch on the next home console from Microsoft.