High Noon Interview

[John-117]

343 Industries confirmed today that High Noon, a remake of the classic Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer map Hang Em' High, will be the final multiplayer map to ship with Halo: Anniversary. The news came out of a lively Halo: Anniversary discussion at New York Comic Con 2011.

 

First spotted in the E3 Halo: Anniversary trailer, High Noon represents the second makeover and re-release of the Halo: CE classic Hang 'Em High. Originally remade in 2007 as Tombstone by Bungie alum Max Hoberman's co-founded studio, Certain Affinity, Tombstone was one of the two final Halo 2 add-on maps (the other was Desolation, a remake of the Halo: CE map Derelict) to make up the Blastacular map pack.

 

We tracked down Max to talk about Certain Affinity's work on remaking his remake, what we can expect from High Noon, and tried our best to trip up Hoberman with our silly Halo knowledge in the process. Spoiler: Achievement Unlocked.

 

IGN: This will be the second time you've remade the map, what did you learn making Tombstone for Halo 2 that you're employing for this redeux redeux?

 

Max Hoberman: We kept the Tombstone remake very close to the original map, only making changes to address issues that arose during development. For example, jump height forced us to change the vertical scale on the map, and this made the big long ramp look horribly awkward and stretch too far into the play space, and so we replaced it with a lift.

 

We also started everyone with a battle rifle, rather than the standard SMG, to better approximate the pistol start on the original map, and this caused us to want to ease mobility (e.g. jump up to the broken walkway) and make it easier to drop into cover (e.g. "crack hole" that led down to the tunnel).

 

For the second remake we found ourselves in a great position – we could have our cake and eat it too. Our remake goes out of its way to be as true to the original as possible, and then via the wonders of Forge adds new elements to the High Noon variant that go way farther afield than we ever even considered on Tombstone. So the two experiences of remaking this classic map were wildly different from one another, but both times we got to playtest one of our all-time favorite maps every day, so we loved it.

 

IGN: Tombstone was tweaked with cosmetic changes (visual overhaul, soda machines, fusion coils) and to accommodate for Halo 2's jump heights. What changes other than aesthetic tweaks have you made to accommodate for Halo: CE/Halo: Reach gameplay?

 

MH: For the classic version we stayed true to the original, so beyond visuals we just scaled things to accommodate for jump heights. For the new version the biggest change that we had to deal with was the inclusion of the jetpack. The extra mobility that this affords radically changes the nature of the game, and this was causing a lot of problems because it's such a wide open map with so little cover. The jetpack became the only equipment worth a damn, and anyone without one felt like a mouse surrounded by circling hawks. To address this we went to town with new tunnels and passages, giving little mice places to hide (with shotguns at the ready).

 

IGN: Tombstone appears to be set in the Halo: ODST timeline (destroyed New Mombasa can be seen in the distance), what period is High Noon in?

 

MH: We imagined Tombstone as a military training facility outside New Mombasa, abandoned after the city's destruction. We called it the "High Plains Training Facility" since High Plains was our codename for the map during development. There are plains outside Mombasa, right? I'm sure there are.

 

We took the new map further afield. It's a Forerunner facility that generates portals, though I'm not quite sure where or when. I'm pretty sure that the Forerunners probably used these for interstellar mail delivery.

 

IGN: Tombstone was the only map in Halo 2 to have 8 territories, (the game's limit). How many territories will High Noon have?

 

MH: I admit – you've stumped me (damn you!). I remember setting up the 8 territories on Tombstone, but I had to ask Kyle, our Test Lead, to find out about High Noon. Fortunately he said that there are eight territories, so I guess he gets to keep his job.

 

IGN: Describe the weapon loadout and power weapon locations; will sword and sniper spawn remain in the precarious spawnpoints? Rockets? Overshield for classic mode? Something else for Reach gameplay?

 

MH: Simple answer: yes. We've tried to keep the classic version of the map as true to the original as possible, including weapon locations, powerups, etc. We changed things up to better suit the High Noon variant, but learning is half the fun, so I'm sure you'll do fine.

 

[via IGN]

[Kurt S-501]

great! Awesome news!!!

[BraverKING514]

Thanks for the update! Serously, how do you find this out?! I can never find info out of this forum!

[Father B]

Super. Hopefully I'll be online by the time CEA comes out.

[iTz KeeFy]

Yea 343 pretty much just confirmed how jetpacks ruin halo. Lets not take them out lets just build tunnels so we can hide from them. So dumb. I HATE AA's, especially jetpacks. Freaking STUPID! I dont get it. Its makes halo NOT fun. I really hope they are talking about anniversary playlist through reach and not the anniversary disk. I just want halo anniversary to be a classic halo. After all it is the remake of Halo1 CE.

[Onyx Max]

I've heard that it's all on one disk ! Think of it as the reach disk with the campain swapped out for halo ce . If you have DLC , it will recognise it . And the new maps will be there too . For those who don't buy halo CE . the maps will be available for download at a later date !

 

Jet packs do not ruin halo !! The sandbox is fair . And every ability can be countered . There will be two versions of all the new maps . Classic and Anniversery . The latter being the one with the new passageways and all armour abilities .

[Absolute Dog]

John we rarely get to talk, chat or play together any more, but I want you to know how much I appreciate the hard work, digging under rocks and peeking behind closed doors that you do for us. You bring all the big and small bits of information together for the forum members into on spot. You know I have been a fan of you "sluething" skills since the beginning and have seen you grow from a "cub" reporter to a "Big City" anchor of this site.

 

Thank you!