Greetings loyal fans,
Several months have passed since I said we would be updating soon. I would like to first apologize to those of you who have been waiting patiently for our return. I can, scarcely imagine how it's been... Not getting regular dosages of HSI content. An odd combination of Skyrim, ME3, hardware failure, and school have kept most of us tied up lately.
Anyway, we're back!
The Actual Update
Halo
So we managed to get the entire, full size Halo ring in game, LOL. It's still a work in progress, however the full mesh can be rendered with only a minimal drop in performance, miraculously enough. It holds up to closer scrutiny fairly well, so our plans to have ground structures will roll onward.
Please take note of the atmospheric ring, this effect is similar to what we've previously implemented on Reach. We plan to improve upon this design by having a separate set of layers for clouds, which should improve the appearance and realism of transorbital gameplay. You'll notice that all of the terrain is 3D and lumpy, in addition to having bump-mapped, extremely high-res textures.
Keyship
The Forerunner Dreadnought is among the more formidable warships in the Halo universe, and a valuable asset if acquired. We plan to use the Keyship in the 'Capture the Flagship' gametype, as well as a win condition object in the High Charity map, among other things.
I took some creative liberties with the landing feet, I made them look more like the Sentinel manipulator claws. I've also added a ton more detail than what was visible on the Halo 3 mesh.
Rapid has been hard at work making an in-game music menu which will allow players to select any track on any map, though all maps will have an appropriate default track that will play on start. It works, however we're still putting the finishing touches on it, prettying up the UI and such in time for the beta release. We've made some headway in texturing the Prowler (80% complete), and modeling the Morningstar (previously unnamed corvette), we'll keep you posted on any developments.
In addition, we have a new team member, Mic, who will help create custom sound effects for weapons as well as compose tracks to populate the music menu.
More to come, stay tuned!
No, I mean it this time..
Wait, don't go!
It's not dead! Rejoice! And "High Charity map", will that be inside high charity?
Yes, we'll probably scale it up a little so it's not too small.
You have no idea how ecstatic I feel knowing this mod didn't die off. Can...not...wait...