Halo e3 2000 demo and Torque
by Simon Love · 05/26/2006 (11:38 am) · 16 comments
I am a rabid Halo fan. I do not have Xbox live, although I used to have it, but the point is that me and my buddies still gather frequently to play halo 1 and 2.
I recently bought the halo 2 map pack, which features a nice little halo 1 demo from e3 2000. Even though I am the wannabe game dev of the group, my friends immediately commented how it looked and felt like the TGE.
Instead of having endless forum posts about 'Is torque able to do this or that', I suggest non-believers be redirected towards that video. It is quite amazing how, even in a relatively unpolished state, this Halo video proves that even the most basic TGE implementation is able to cope with such a fun game.
What matters is not the technology, it's what you do with it. I'm pretty sure Halo 1 is doable with TGE and Halo 2 is definitely a TSE-equivalent game. The video of Halo from e3 2000 clearly demonstrates that DESIGN and STYLE is what sets games apart, not lens flare, bloom, or real-time reflective water.
Amen.
I recently bought the halo 2 map pack, which features a nice little halo 1 demo from e3 2000. Even though I am the wannabe game dev of the group, my friends immediately commented how it looked and felt like the TGE.
Instead of having endless forum posts about 'Is torque able to do this or that', I suggest non-believers be redirected towards that video. It is quite amazing how, even in a relatively unpolished state, this Halo video proves that even the most basic TGE implementation is able to cope with such a fun game.
What matters is not the technology, it's what you do with it. I'm pretty sure Halo 1 is doable with TGE and Halo 2 is definitely a TSE-equivalent game. The video of Halo from e3 2000 clearly demonstrates that DESIGN and STYLE is what sets games apart, not lens flare, bloom, or real-time reflective water.
Amen.
About the author
#2
I have an Indigenous life form fetish.
05/26/2006 (12:15 pm)
Exactly the video I am talking about. If that would have been released, I'd be an even bigger Halo fanboy :).I have an Indigenous life form fetish.
#3
05/26/2006 (12:28 pm)
Ya, I know... when I saw that video, it may me feel cheated :P
#4
05/26/2006 (1:21 pm)
I really liked Halo anyway. I know a lot PC users felt cheated when it went the Xbox route but it's a fun game.
#6
This will sound dumb, but for a long time, I suspected that Bungie used Torque (or some variant) to create Halo -- and that Bungie got an NDA signed to prevent anyone from knowing the secret. :)
This scene from the e3 video just reinforces my suspicions.
An offset plasma rifle shot . . .
The entire sequence at full speed . . .
www.aaronellis.net/plasmarifleoffset.avi
The sequence in slow motion . . .
www.aaronellis.net/plasmarifleoffsetslowmo.avi
Anyone who has worked with Torque much knows about the weapon offsets. And this looks awefully similar.
Wierd huh?
Aaron E.
[Edit: added a sentence and fixed some typos]
05/26/2006 (1:32 pm)
Simon,This will sound dumb, but for a long time, I suspected that Bungie used Torque (or some variant) to create Halo -- and that Bungie got an NDA signed to prevent anyone from knowing the secret. :)
This scene from the e3 video just reinforces my suspicions.
An offset plasma rifle shot . . .
The entire sequence at full speed . . .
www.aaronellis.net/plasmarifleoffset.avi
The sequence in slow motion . . .
www.aaronellis.net/plasmarifleoffsetslowmo.avi
Anyone who has worked with Torque much knows about the weapon offsets. And this looks awefully similar.
Wierd huh?
Aaron E.
[Edit: added a sentence and fixed some typos]
#7
...if any of that makes sense.
anyhoo, i'm just sharing my opinion. to each his own :) the fact is i might just be upset because microsoft bought halo and it changed it from a pc title to an xbox title.
05/26/2006 (2:08 pm)
I have always felt that "HALO," at it's core, was Tribes2 without jetpacks. TORQUE can not only be used to create a 'halo-like' game but in fact already has. To make halo with torque would be risking to take a step backwards or at least to idle. Halo was, from the start w/bungie, tribes2 with better graphics and a real story but no jetpacks....if any of that makes sense.
anyhoo, i'm just sharing my opinion. to each his own :) the fact is i might just be upset because microsoft bought halo and it changed it from a pc title to an xbox title.
#8
05/26/2006 (2:25 pm)
I think I remember reading a game magazine article where one of the Bungie devs described the multiplayer as very similar to Tribes. This was back when Halo was planned for the Mac and PC, though. 
#9
05/26/2006 (2:59 pm)
I interviewed at Bungie for an internship in 1998 when Halo was a third-person top down action game like a big 3d open ended Contra. Now THAT would have been cool :)
#10
05/26/2006 (3:03 pm)
I think it's really neat that Halo was originally going to be a RTS. Their art in the trailer was pretty interesting though.
#11
05/26/2006 (4:31 pm)
Man do I miss the initial Halo pc shots, it made the game seem so much crazier than it actually turned out to be.
#12
@Darrin : Totally agree with ya. I am not saying that we should make Halo 1 again, just like using T2D to make Super Mario world would be useless; it's already been made. I'm just saying that people who doubt that Torque can effectively produce a Halo-like game should look at the previously mentionned e3 2000 video and give 100$ to GG :).
Just making the point that, no matter the technology you have, if you are passionate about making games, TGE will do the job to bring any vision to reality (with a little tweaking, of course.)
A Bungie-sized team and Microsoft-sized budget probably would help a whole lot, too.:)
05/26/2006 (7:13 pm)
@Aaron : Well, I just played Halo 2 all day...for research purposes, obviously. :) And I noticed that, if you look at another player firing ballistics projectiles(i.e : Brute shot), the projectile is spawned directly from the eye vector of Master chief. Even then, I guess it's an issue in most game engines, not specifically Torque.@Darrin : Totally agree with ya. I am not saying that we should make Halo 1 again, just like using T2D to make Super Mario world would be useless; it's already been made. I'm just saying that people who doubt that Torque can effectively produce a Halo-like game should look at the previously mentionned e3 2000 video and give 100$ to GG :).
Just making the point that, no matter the technology you have, if you are passionate about making games, TGE will do the job to bring any vision to reality (with a little tweaking, of course.)
A Bungie-sized team and Microsoft-sized budget probably would help a whole lot, too.:)
#13
You're probably right. I guess I don't play enough Multiplayer FPS games. Or I haven't been very observant while playing them. :)
05/26/2006 (9:15 pm)
Simon,You're probably right. I guess I don't play enough Multiplayer FPS games. Or I haven't been very observant while playing them. :)
#14
05/26/2006 (9:25 pm)
Dude, no prob, I noticed all of this today as well, hehehe. 
#15
Weapon offsets are something I noticed after thinking about how the heck FPSs align weapon systems. It gets real fun when you think about how vehicle projectiles, like the ghost's plasma, are aimed and fired (since the vehicles are driven in third person).
05/27/2006 (1:12 pm)
As another lover of Halo, I totally agree with you. The earlier versions of games are usually just as fun, just without the polish we expect from the final product.Weapon offsets are something I noticed after thinking about how the heck FPSs align weapon systems. It gets real fun when you think about how vehicle projectiles, like the ghost's plasma, are aimed and fired (since the vehicles are driven in third person).
#16
11/22/2006 (5:41 pm)
i have more support to that,ive noticed for the parts on walls that go up kinda steep the texture gets blurred *like in tge* also ive noticed that in halo pc that themouse changes liek torques, ALSO if you look at steep areas in halo 2 the point looks EXACTLY like it ahs the same area as points in tge!
Torque 3D Owner Jesse (Midhir) Liles