Of all the sparse details we have onHalo Infiniteat the moment, likely the biggest piece of new information that we know of is that the game will feature a new engine, known as Slipspace. This was revealed initially in thefirst trailer forHalo Infinitewhich debuted last year during Microsoft’s E3 2018showing.
In a new interview with IGN, 343 Industries' Bonnie Ross spoke a bit more about this new Slipspace engine and why it’s such an important pillar of whatHalo Infinitewill become. Ross said that the previous engine that was used to create pastHalogames allowed the studio to work on a three-year development cycle but at the same time it was very hard to work in. “We did a ton of work, onHalo 4, on the engine, to get it to look… I think it looked amazing for being on the last generation on the last year of the platform,” Ross said.
After the completion ofHalo 4, Ross told devs at 343 that forHalo 5they would adjust the tools and work pipeline to make it much easier to create within. However, this never transpired and the team at 343 later called out Ross and company for it. As such, it was then decided that before work onHalo Infinitewould begin, the Slipspace enginewould be created to benefit not only developers but to expand the scope and future ofHaloas a whole. “So it really was taking the time off and, as we announced the Slipspace Engine last year, it is all to verify we’re building the platform for the future of Halo,” Ross described.
As a result, this new engine would cost not only money but time. Creating Slipspace threw off 343’s three-year development cycle for theHaloseries which meant what would later becomeInfinitewouldn’t arrive until further down the line. “So it was a huge investment. A bigger investment than we’ve ever done,” Ross said. “That engine [the previous one] is, gosh, eighteen, nineteen years old? So when you think about where we are today, we needed to pretty much redo it and I’m really proud of what we have now but it took a lot of work to get there.”
Luckily, creating Slipspace seems to be one of the best things that has been done to theHaloseries in quite some time. Even though we haven’t seen much ofInfinite, the lone trailer we have for the project looks stunning. Hopefully, this coming E3 will finally show off more ofHalo Infinitein action and highlight the power that now comes with Slipspace.
