Inclemency
Introduction
Inclemency is a campaign-style mission for Halo Infinite made using the in-game Forge editor. It aims to create a brief but dense experience covering a variety of gameplay scenarios familiar to veterans of the Halo series while capturing the tight pacing of Bungie's later installments. Upon release, it was the first full, original mission of its kind for the game, and was later selected by Halo Studios for inclusion in its Forge Features series.
The map and associated mode are available on Halo Waypoint and will be added to your in-game Bookmarks list once bookmarked on the website.
Ideation and Design
The creation of this map was spurred on by the Season 5 update for the Halo Infinite, which added support for the AI enemies used in the official campaign content to Forge. With official PvE content having been sparse since the game's release and the campaign having deviated somewhat from the series's traditional formula, I wanted to quickly produce an entirely original mission that would provide the dense, tightly-paced kind of experience found in earlier titles. The snowy theme was chosen to showcase new assets added alongside the AI features.
I settled on a scenario in which the player was stranded in a Banished extraction facility high in the mountains and needed to find a way to escape. Players must drive to the site, fight through an outpost, and finally raid the extraction facility to reach an escape vehicle, then hold out on the site until the coast is clear.
Players overlook the area on their way to the outpost.
Scripting Logic
Halo Infinite does not provide the game logic required for a campaign experience, but its version of Forge includes a full node-based scripting system similar to Unreal Engine's Blueprints; clever use this can provide all of the functionality required for campaign-style content.
For scripting purposes, each combat arena of the map was considered an "encounter." Each encounter had its own node graph including logic for spawning enemies, updating checkpoints, opening/closing doors, and other general game flow management. Some finer details relating to AI navigation are also handled here. Additionally, I created a node brain outside of all encounters to act as a global library for common actions like despawning enemies from previous encounters to remain within the game's AI unit limit.
Inclemency is chiefly designed for single player but is also optimized for co-op play. The map features a custom difficulty scaling solution; if three or more players are in the game when entering an arena, the scripting will spawn remixed encounters with greater unit counts and veterancy to provide adequate challenge.
Some of the scripting logic for the bridge encounter.
Final Design
The mission opens along a glacial ridge leading into a cave with a couple of unarmed Razorback vehicles and a handful of weapons nearby. This gives players time to take in the setting and select their preferred weapons before combat begins.
The cave leads to the first encounter, a skirmish with a contingent of Banished troops around a Forerunner ruin. The enemies are low-ranking and scattered, but some weak ones are positioned on higher ground to keep players on their toes. An interactable gate blocks players from driving straight through.
A short drive through a ravine provides quiet time before opening up to a vista framing the extraction facility that the mission is centered on. This moment is chiefly inspired by the environment reveals in the mission Halo from Halo: Combat Evolved.
Banished auto-turrets pelt players as they drive through the open towards the next outpost. They pose no real threat but help sell the feeling of being in enemy territory.
Players then reach a Banished outpost at the foot of the base. This is a more traditional Halo encounter with a healthy mix of enemy ranks and engagement distances as you move deeper into the area.
A Jackal Sniper overlooks the outpost but has a poor sightline to the entry area, meaning players are likely to notice him before putting themselves at risk. With more players he is joined by a Brute Sniper positioned at a more advantageous angle.
Special variant weapons are hidden throughout the level to encourage exploration. Ammunition deposits dotted along the main path allow these to be used freely without as much concern for ammo shortages.
The outpost connects to an arena of platforms and bridges. With less room to maneuver and multiple routes around the platforms, this is a frenetic and close quarters encounter -- especially as drop pods deploy Berserker brutes to rush players, forcing them to stay on the move.
A Rocket Skimmer along the side of the facility above adds to the action. Though its rockets are easy to hear and evade, the pressure encourages players to find a way to take it out and keeps the encounter feeling large.
A Man Cannon at the end of the bridge arena launches players to the Rocket Skimmer's perch, giving players a dramatic entrance to the facility and an opportunity to get back at the Skimmer if they hadn't already.
A Phantom dropship deploys reinforcements at the end of the bridge, starting a mixed range battle as the player moves forward and furthering the sense of active enemy opposition.
When entering the facility, an Elite ambushes the player from a high walkway, starting a close range encounter in the interior with a turret-toting Warlord guarding the exit. The arena has a C-shaped design; lighting draws players' attentions to a sliding route ahead that cuts through to the other side.
Through the interior is an outdoor engineering bay with a Sabre aircraft -- an escape vehicle! Players must interact with a terminal on the other side to bring down the bay's exit shield before leaving. The terminal's position is marked on their HUD with an indicator.
This final arena provides a more open battleground to contrast the tight quarters of the previous encounters and allow for a large scale finale, but the Sabre bisects the space and ensures that the number of enemies is manageable.
The terminal overloads the energy shield, but a rhythmic bevy of drop pods launches players into an aggressive final battle.
After some time, a Phantom deploys a Hunter pair to act as a final boss fight for the mission. With more than two players the Hunters are upgraded to powerful Banished Hunters and are reinforced by a second volley of drop pods. The mission ends once the Hunters are killed.
Afterword
Inclemency proved to be a great success. Reception was positive, and with a turnaround time of just five days for the initial release version, it ended up being the first fully-featured custom mission for the game in general. Its scripting framework would be reused in my following project, Zero Order Hold, and a number of other creators' maps via a scripting guide I made based on Inclemency. When the Firefight game mode was added, I also made a specially redesigned version of the outpost and bridge areas for use with it by stitching the two together into one contiguous arena.