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SPV3 Developer Blog
by Masterz1337
This will hopefully be the fi rst of many blogs to come, in which we will be detailing
aspects of the SPV3 project that you will all hopefully fi nd entertaining and provide greater
insight into how we are designing our mod. We are going to kick things off today with one of the
most controversial enemies in the franchise…. the Brutes! In this somewhat more lengthy
document than I intended, we will talk about how the Brutes worked in Bungie’s Halo games,
and how we have integrated them into Halo 1 in a way that is fun, exciting, and have their own
unique gameplay mechanics.
Our fi rst introduction to Brutes in the franchise was in the fabled 2003 E3 demo. Unlike
what we got in the fi nal game, the Brutes fought alongside the rest of the Covenant, serving as
shock troops supporting the rest of the invasion. As we all know, in the fi nal game they were
used as Elite replacements, and were vastly inferior enemies. There were only a handful of
options against them, the sword, needler, plasma grenade, and carbine. In a few rare instances,
you could use the battle rifle and rockets against them. The battle rifle is the most interesting
weapon in Halo 2’s sandbox against them, as the three round burst could remove their helmets
and kill them with a headshot with a single trigger pull. Yet, this can only happen in one mission,
and that mission only lasts about 20 minutes. As described by Bungie in their Et Tu Brute vidoc
which detailed the changes they were making to the Brutes in H3 from H2, the H2 Brutes didn't
have any interesting behaviors, weapons or reactions to being shot or in combat.
Halo 3 tried to fi x them, and made them into what I can best describe as “easy Elites”.
They inherited many traits from the Elites, such as energy shielding in the form of power armor
rather than helmets and became the new main bad guy. All weapons were now effective against
them, melees were a viable option, and grenades could blast off their power armor. Power
armor unlike the personal shields the Elites had, could not be regenerated once depleted, and
also had longer recharge times. It functioned more as a second layer of health that was more
vulnerable to certain projectiles than it did the players own personal energy shield. Brutes
received their own unique weapons and equipment, but they were hardly a threat one on one,
unlike the Elites. The exception to this was the Chieftain rank, who were more of a mini boss
than an equal opponent like the Elites were. Halo 3: ODST made the player weaker while
making Brutes stronger, and thus Brutes became more of an equal to you than they were in
regular H3, which we felt was a step in the right direction. They are a fi ne enemy, but you will
never fi nd yourself in a drawn out duel with one like you did with an Elite in
H1.
With Reach, Brutes were intend to be a one time adversary for a single mission, but
Bungie was so pleased with how well they performed that they got included in some of the later
missions, and of course Firefi ght. With Elites once again the primary enemy, making the Brute
into the poor mans Elite was no longer an option like H3. Brutes instead went back to their H2
origins, albeit with lower health and without the obnoxious berserker mode. Melee was once
again an option against them, and more importantly, the player was given more anti brute
weaponry in the form of a useful needler and the needle rifle, which against their flesh could kill
them with one super combine. The most signifi cant change was that the Brutes could be
stunned when taking certain amounts of damage. They weren’t without their faults however.
Reach’s gameplay heavy was focused on headshot weapons always being emphasized over
automatics, unless you were up against an Elite in which a plasma rifle or plasma pistol was still
your best option to remove their shield and go in for the headshot. Unless it was a fi refi ght
encounter, Brutes and Elites were always separated, isolating them from ever working as a
team like the rest of the Covenant species would do throughout the game. Rarely encountered
one on one, they became a new enemy that sat somewhere between a Jackal or Skimisher and
an Elite, and at long last were treated as an addition to the Covenant, rather a replacement for
another member.
For SPV3, we knew we wanted our Covenant to work as a team throughout our
extended campaign. While this did conflict with the existing lore, we quickly came up with our
own backstory as to why these two species would be fi ghting alongside each other at times,
which will be further explored through the terminals hidden through the campaign. We wanted to
avoid Brutes playing like Elites, and Halo 3 style Brutes would not work nor be unique enough
when mixed into what was previously (and still for the most part is) an Elite dominated game.
We used the concept of the Reach Brute’s as a jumping off point, and then started to
differentiate them further. In addition, we looked at what we knew about the original intent of the
Brutes when they were created for H2, and adapted that into gameplay as well.
In Halo 1, every weapon can be used effectively against any enemy, even on Legendary
diffi culty if you have mastered both the weapon and have an understanding of the enemy
behaviors. We simplifi ed Brutes to primarily have 4 ranks, compared to the dozen they had in
H3 or the unclear amount of H2 and Reach. We went with 2 primary ranks, Followers and
Leaders, with each one having a minor and major rank. Followers all have the same amount of
health, and leaders all have the same amount of health, regardless if they are minors or majors.
The difference between the two is how effectively they use their weaponry. This gets rid of the
“bullshit” factor where a player thinks “what the **** that should have killed him” all while not
realizing that the enemies have variable levels of health. The ranks are defi ned by not only
armor color, but how fancy their helmets are and the color of their skin. Older Brutes who have
become leaders have monochromatic skin with fancy helmets, while younger follower Brutes
have richer color and less ornate helmets. This way you can still identify a rank, even if their
helmet has been blown off. You can see an example of this with Brute fur and skin colors as
depicted in H2A and SPV3 below.
Every weapon in the sandbox has been individually tweaked and tested to make sure
that they interact with the Brute's health in ways that make every encounter with them possible
to survive with any weapon, but much easier if you master your knowledge of both the enemy
and the weapon you are using. When using a headshot capable weapon against the Brutes, we
returned to the original idea in Halo 2 that the battle rifle would be the most capable headshot
weapon agains them. The three round burst enables the player to both destroy their helmet and
land a headshot, if the burst is powerful enough to destroy the helmet with the fi rst 1 or 2 bullets.
How many bursts you will need to shoot at the head, of course varies by diffi culty. Other
headshot weapons may be able to destroy the helmet with less pulls of the trigger, but are
harder to aim, or in the case of the carbine take more impact to destroy it. Regardless, with
other headshot capable weapons (with the exception of the sniper), a destroyed helmet must be
followed up with another headshot that will penetrate the head. Unlike Reach, automatic
weapon fi re can remove or damage their helmets. Automatic weapon fi re will also stun the
Brutes and they will not be able to attack while under sustained fi re, giving the player the
chance to move in while they recover in order to fi nish them with a grenade or melee. A player
can also take advantage of a stunned Brute in order to move back into cover to charge their
shield. Since our Brutes are rarely encountered on their own, a player must be aware of their
surroundings and other enemies. A Brute may be easiest to take on once everything else is
dead, but will continue to be the most dangerous enemy trying to kill you while you let it live.
This just doesn’t apply to the player, when fi ghting alongside marines they too can stun a Brute,
giving you an opening to decide what you want your next course of action to be. Like games
before, needle based weaponry can kill them in a single super combine. Thought has been
added to things that are new, like the grenade launchers attached on some loadout weapons, so
that if you do successfully impact a brute head on with a grenade, they will most certainly be
killed. Unlike the Elites, where plasma based weaponry is the most effective way to fi ght, with
Brutes plasma weaponry is the least effective method of attack, as they have higher health
amounts and plasma is less less effective against enemies with high health amounts when
compared to human automatic weaponry. Weapons that do EMP damage, such as plasma
grenades, plasma pistol overcharges, explosions from gravity grenades, are not as effective on
Brutes, so players must conserve what they have in their inventory if they want to use the
previous tools to attack Elites, Jackals and Skirmisher majors when encountered. Later of
course, shielded flood forms as well.
But creating a health system for the Brutes isn’t enough to make them their own class of
enemy, we also worked hard to make sure their attacking behavior is different than that of other
species in the Covenant. Now that we had a new member of the Covenant that could melee, we
didn't want melee combat to be identical to the only other member that could melee you, again
the Elite. Since they have no shields, they immediately will flinch when you land a melee attack
on them. But if they are successful in hitting you, you will be thrown backwards by the force of
their melee, similar to ODST. This can throw you away from any cover you may have had and in
worse cases to your doom if they knock you off a cliff or bridge. By doing this, we give you a
higher reward for landing a melee on a brute compared to an Elite, but the consequence of
being hit results in a more dire situation for the player. In short, there is higher risk, but also a
higher reward when entering melee combat. A particularly memorable moment happened to me
while playing AOTCR up in one of the elevated sections with the glass windows. The Brute
charged at me and I stuck him, only to be launched by his melee attack out through the window
as he exploded. Hurt but alive, I immediately ran to cover as AI came running around the corner
in an attempt to fi nish me off. The Brute melee is also more dangerous to marines, often
resulting in a one hit kill, unlike the Elites who have to bash healthy marines with several strikes
to kill them.
Brutes will use a variety of weaponry, but are most commonly found using the Brute
Plasma Rifle, the Shredder, and the Brute Shot. As further explained in our terminals, the Brute
Plasma Rifle and the Shredder are older versions the Plasma Rifle and Needlers often carried
by Elites. The BPR fi res slower than the standard plasma rifle, but does more damage along
with having a distinctive red contrail. The Shredder is weaker vs energy shielding than any other
Covenant weapon, but when it hits a units health it does devastating damage in both it’s impact,
and then detonation of the shard. Being needle based, it can also cause super combines which
are fatal. They also use 2 new grenade types. The cluster grenade which is a fuel rod based
grenades that explodes and then releases smaller explosives, and the gravity grenade, which is
based off of a cut piece of Halo 3 equipment. The gravity grenade creates a fi eld that sucks
objects in and does damage, and then eventually explodes, thereby detonating any other
explosives inside the vortex.
Since Brutes are often found attacking in packs, players must be aware of who is using
what weapon, and plan accordingly. If a players shield is stripped by plasma fi re, shredder fi re
can quickly deplete their health. In order to stop the player from being constantly harassed by a
steady stream of plasma fi re like they are by Elites, the Brute weaponry by default fi res slower,
making it easier for the player to dodge attacks but ultimately being more punishing to them if
they are unable to do so. Brute shots are often wielded by leaders, and are one of the few
weapons that is a serious threat to a players vehicle, and is the most dangerous to go up
against in one on one fi ghts. Brutes can also be found wielding Particle Carbines, Focus Rifles,
and the Brute Plasma Pistol, although it is more rare. Brutes will also use human weaponry in
desperate situations, something players will encounter once the Flood are introduced and the
Covenant’s priorities become about survival rather than fi ghting you. In all cases, Brutes are far
more aggressive with their fi ring behaviors than other species with the same weaponry, and
players just avoid simply trading fi re with them, even more so than other species of the
Covenant.
There is still one last class of Brute we have not talked about, which is those who wear
power armor like in H3. These Brutes are the most rare, and come in minor and major ranks.
They wear distinctive helmets with a glowing red eye, and have energy shields. Unlike H3, their
power armor generates a shield as strong as a blue or red Elites, but recharges twice as quickly.
Like H3, once broken the shield will not return. Their shielding will also glow from blue -> purple
-> red as it takes damage, so players can easily tell you close they are to breaking it. EMP
attacks will also destroy the shield and armor, similarly to Elites. They will often work in special
packs, or lead a pack of Brutes or other Covenant. These enemies are on par with Elites in
terms of diffi culty. While somewhat of an after thought, we did want to do something special for
higher ranks and by giving some Brutes energy shields, we could give them a greater fi ghting
chance against the Flood, since they can’t instantly be infected. We have so far found them to
be distinct enough enemies to defi ne them from both unarmored Brutes, and the Elites.
So there are 2 key staples of the Brutes we have not yet touched on, the gravity hammer
and the Chieftain. We have neither, despite having an asset for the Chieftain. Let me fi rst focus
on the Hammer. There is flat out no current way to make a gravity hammer work with a gravity
effect. The way it works in latter games, is that an effect is generated at a certain point of the
animation of the melee, called a keyframe. In Halo 1, the only thing you can link to a keyframe is
a sound. We debated and tested a "Brute battle axe" where the force of being hit would fling you
in a direction without killing you, but fi ghts became inconsequential because an impact from it
would just result in your shield charging, and be ready for the next impact. Plus it could fling you
places we don't want the player going as well. Sure we could up the damage so it could kill you
in a single hit if your health is low from the fi rst hit, but then we just have a clone of the sword
Elites.
When it comes to the chieftain, the fi rst problem was that we couldn't use their signature
hammer. So, that leaves us with projectile weapons. The fi rst idea, was to arm them with heavy
weapons like a portable shade turret, or fuel rod gun. However... we already have 2 enemies
that use these weapons, the Hunters. We do not treat hunters as "boss" enemies like later
games, and we probably have more Hunters in the fi rst half of our campaign than the entire
franchise as a whole. But plenty of weapons are used by multiple enemies. So we looked at
ways to do health systems. Keep in mind, we don't want some weapons to be useless against
them. So this ruled out an enemy that required head shots, which the Halo 3 chieftains require,
unless you start dancing around them and try to melee them or just pump lots of ammo into.
Given our more restricted movement, not a great plan. Reach chieftains were also headshot
centric, and so we wanted to avoid something like them as well. We also tried a number of
systems that merged how our other Brutes work, like constantly recharging shields that couldn't
be destroyed and required a headshot after the helmet was destroyed, but without a headshot
weapon to deal the fi nal blow, we didn't fi nd them fun. In the end, we felt we couldn't do a Boss
like enemy for the game, and we couldn't do something we felt would be fun enough for the
player. Rather than put it on our checklist of "stuff we have" we felt things would play better
without it.
That sums up our fi rst developers blog. Hopefully people will fi nd these enlightening
about what goes on in our crazy heads and a better picture of the level of quality in gameplay
we are trying to achieve. Let us know what you want to learn more about for the next log! Be
sure to join us on our new reddit
www.reddit.com/r/halospv3
, and follow me on Twitter
@masters1337. We look forward to sharing more with you in the future.