Halo A Call For 1-Sided Game Modes

[Skyward Shoe]

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Beginning in Halo 2, Halo has always featured 1-sided, asymmetrical game modes. These have included simple variants like 1 Flag CTF, 1 Bomb Assault, and Territories, as well as the occasional full-blown mode like Invasion. Halo 4 introduced a departure from this for the first time in close to a decade, not shipping with any 1-sided game modes and never adding in any via updates. A few work arounds were made for this, like hiding one flag under the floor and using rounds to emulate the old system, or the Conversion game mode that I helped create in order to fill the Invasion gap (with limited success), and these helped the customs community get by until MCC brought back these options in Halo 2 Anniversary. With the bare-bones game modes introduced in Halo 5 and the frequent update schedule, may of us expected that 1-sides modes might make a comeback in this game. 1 Flag in particular is a simple variant of CTF, and should be fairly easy to implement. Unfortunately, 6+ months later even this most basic variant has not been released or made possible.

This is a call to 343 Industries to dedicate the time and resources to make a few basic 1-side game mode variants. 1 Flag CTF, 1 Bomb Assault, and a 1 sided "lockdown style" Strongholds variant are the big three modes I would like to see. These base game modes already exist in the game, and so should take the least amount of effort to create. Even with the intricacies of game design and the amount of other content being created, I feel that this should be a relatively minor task for 343 Industries to achieve. There are already asymmetrical maps in Matchmaking that would support these modes with a few tweaks to spawn and weapon layouts, tasks that would take forgers a couple of hours to a day to complete.

These game modes would not only add more variety to current playlists, but also would vastly increase the variety of maps produced in Halo 5's Forge. 1-sided game modes play very differently from their symmetrical counterparts, and this allows for more wild, asymmetric map designs that would just never work for symmetrical modes. This invigorates custom games and leads to the potential for more varied and interesting forge content reaching matchmaking. As a longtime member of the forge and customs communities, I can attest that the variety of types of maps in Halo 5 has been severely hampered by a lack of game modes to design around. Choices fuel creativity, and with just a few small game modes we could see a huge increase in variety, increasing forge activity, promoting variety in customs, and leading towards a better matchmaking experience.

Waypoint Post

 

[Psychoduck]

One-sided modes, and One Flag CTF in particular have been a huge part of Halo for years. They provide opportunities for a different type of experience within the core Halo gameplay we love. There are several reasons why the community wants to see these modes return and plenty of reason to believe it would be feasible to at least add one-sided variants of existing modes like Flag and Bomb.

One bit of support that may not be well-circulated is the huge potential for these modes to shine in HWC and other competitive play. Yes, it would split the map pool somewhat to have some maps developed for these one-sided modes and the traditional multi-objective modes, but there would still be enough overlap in viability for Slayer and Strongholds play to be worth it. Counter Strike, a game centered around a one-sided objective mode, is by far the most viewed first-person shooter e-sport, so there's no reason to believe this wouldn't be popular with audiences.

 

[♥ Sky]

One-sided modes, and One Flag CTF in particular have been a huge part of Halo for years. They provide opportunities for a different type of experience within the core Halo gameplay we love. There are several reasons why the community wants to see these modes return and plenty of reason to believe it would be feasible to at least add one-sided variants of existing modes like Flag and Bomb.

One bit of support that may not be well-circulated is the huge potential for these modes to shine in HWC and other competitive play. Yes, it would split the map pool somewhat to have some maps developed for these one-sided modes and the traditional multi-objective modes, but there would still be enough overlap in viability for Slayer and Strongholds play to be worth it. Counter Strike, a game centered around a one-sided objective mode, is by far the most viewed first-person shooter e-sport, so there's no reason to believe this wouldn't be popular with audiences.

People were talking about one-sided not being for HWC and I was agreeing with them somewhat, until you mentioned CS. Now I see no excuses.

 

[Cheesegrater74]

To be honest why we don't have any one-sided modes just does not make sense to me. Sure, we have Warzone Assault replacing invasion in a way but I'm really hoping 343 starts learning. The fact that they would even CONSIDER taking away grifball amazes me.