11/9/07 Weekly Update

[iBotPeaches]

Bungie Weekly Update: 11/9/07 Posted by lukems at 11/9/2007 5:59 PM PST

Site Watch

Heatmaps have been welcomed into the Bungie.net architecture and arenow supported in Halo 3. Although weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ve turned this feature on, weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢restill treating it like a beta, because weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re not entirely sure how itwill affect the database and load balancing for our current serversystem. Additionally, weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re still trying to prioritize all actionsin-game that require processing for the Web site (things likestatistics, file share data) ahead accoutrements like Heatmaps in thedatabase. If introducing Heatmaps slows things down, weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ll probablytake them offline while we work out the kinks in the interest ofpreserving the end user experience.

WhatÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s a Heatmap?

Heatmaps are the Doppler Radar System of Death in Halo 3. WeÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢retracking encounters, weapons used and their results in a given game,collecting that data and sharing it with players visually. The key hereis Ã?¢ââ??¬Ã?â??the darker the red, the more frequent the deaths (or kills,depending on the parameters).

WeÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ve taken that tracking system and adapted it to your ownstatistics. By visiting your Career Stats page, youÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ll see a new tablabeled Heatmaps. Once you click that, youÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ll be able to click each ofHalo 3Ã?¢ââ??‰â??¢s maps on the left side and see all manner of statistics, whatweapons youÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ve killed (and where youÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ve used them) with on a given map,where youÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ve died to a certain weapon on a given map all via sortabledropdown menus. These heatmaps, however, arenÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢t a collection of yourlifetime statistics, weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re only processing roughly half of theinformation right now, but weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ll be turning it up to full power oncethe feature leaves this beta phase.

In addition to your own stats, thereÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s now a Global page displaying Heatmapresults (it's found under the 'Bungie Online' tab of the main sitenavigation bar). Here, youÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ll be able to look through each map in (bothSocial and Ranked playlists) and see where shenanigans are beget. Likethe Career Stats page, the Global Heatmap page uses dropdown menus todisplay on what the tools of destruction are on a given map. Are morefolks camping the canals of Snowbound, while your Heatmaps show youatop low base with a Carbine?

The below images show the heatmaps in action. These are globalheatmaps tracking the kills (top) and deaths (bottom) from the SniperRifle on Jub-Jub Guardian.

 

http://www.ibotmodz.net/forum/uploads/remoteimages1/2733-547.jpg

Ya'all don't move around much with the long rifle, do you?

http://www.ibotmodz.net/forum/uploads/remoteimages1/2733-548.jpg

Yellow room = dead room.

 

 

Heatmaps and their implementation are the first of some newBungie.net features Chris Gossett and his fellow web devs are workingon; some of the features they are working on implementing areparticularly exciting to competitive jerks like me.

Ongoing Issues

In addition to continuing our investigations into melee in Halo 3,weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re aware of some other issues that are causing ruckuss and rage inthe ever-vociferous Halo community. One of the armor permutations forthe Elite model Ã?¢ââ??‰â?¬Å? the Commando shoulders Ã?¢ââ??‰â?¬Å? isnÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢t unlocking properly foranyone. This is a code-related bug and something that weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re aware ofand looking into. Fixes in Halo 3 are pretty complicated and when youadjust one thing, it can turn out like that sci-fi movie where dudeswent back in time to see dinosaurs and when one of them stepped on abutterfly it somehow eradicated humanityÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s future. WeÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re trying to noteradicate futures, folks, but we are looking into a number of issuesand possible tweaks going forward.

Other dudes report their screenshots either arenÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢t uploading at allor are taking ages and eternities to upload to the Web site. This is anissue weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re aware of and looking into. The issue is related to theautosave and upload feature for screenshots not collecting dataproperly, and while itÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s unfortunate that itÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s not working as intended,there is a feasible workaround. In order to expedite the appearance ofscreenshots, you can upload them into your File Share, and because weprioritize the data in the share, you should see results quickly. Weknow itÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s not the most elegant solution in human history and top menare working on permanent fixes.

Hopper Updates

Last month, Halo 3Ã?¢ââ??‰â??¢s Hoppers received a handful of changes andtweaks, most notably, perhaps, reducing the frequent appearance ofShotty/Snipers was appearing in Team Slayer. This update, due earlynext week, includes a more robust list of changes, tweaks andadjustments to Halo 3Ã?¢ââ??‰â??¢s Matchmaking. WeÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re continuing to take prettylong looks at Community feedback in the Optimatch forum (among otherplaces) and tracking hopper data so that we can continue to improve thehoppers regularly.

HereÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s the list (remember these changes arenÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢t live right this very moment, but they will be early next week):

Social Doubles has been removed from matchmaking

Rocket Race Hopper has been added to the Social hopper Ã?¢ââ??‰â?¬Å? 8 players, join in parties of up to 8 players.

Multi-team:

[*]Hammerzeit game variant has been added [/*:m:1q3qzd9n]

[*]The frequency of VIP gametypes has been reduced [/*:m:1q3qzd9n]

[*]Swords gametypes will now be to 25 kills, rather than 50[/*:m:1q3qzd9n]

Lone Wolves:

[*]Player count has been increased to 6 players [/*:m:1q3qzd9n]

[*]Swords gametype has been added [/*:m:1q3qzd9n]

[*]Oddball games on Snowbound and Epitaph have been reduced considerably[/*:m:1q3qzd9n]

Team Slayer:

[*]Guardian has been added to the playlist [/*:m:1q3qzd9n]

[*]Valhalla has been added to Team Slayer[/*:m:1q3qzd9n]

Social Skirmish

[*]Flag gametypes will now appear more regularly[/*:m:1q3qzd9n]

Rumble Pit

[*]Added both Construct and Isolation to several gametypes[/*:m:1q3qzd9n]

Oh, Legos

Last week, I talked about a new map, Ã?¢ââ??¬Ã?â??Art VandelayÃ?¢ââ??¬Ã? and how revisingthe object system in Forge has led to some pretty interesting creativepossibilities in VandelayÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s playspace. Earlier this week, DownloadableContent Producer Allen Murray mentioned a few other types of objectsmaking their way to those wiley DLC maps.

In addition to the customization the Forge currently offers, DLCmaps include the ability to place Mancannons (with varyingtrajectories), a couple of different sized Shield Doors and somevehicles will see a variety of tweaks. There are a couple ofstill-secret, still-in testing adjustments and changes that come toclassic Halo vehicles. To say that these changes are the intersectionbetween hysterical and tactical would be a pretty drasticunderstatement. Other less risque changes coming to vehicles includeenvironment-specific decals being applied to vehicles and certainvehicles have had their weapon systems modified so that they behavedifferently in multiplayer combat.

All of that teasing aside, in the extremely near future weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re goingto have much more in the way of cold, hard DLC-related fact and muchless in the way of gimmicky names and vague descriptions. Things are inmotion and the DLC bullet train is making a bee line straight for yourface.

 

777,777,777 And Counting...

 

Threeyears ago today, Halo 2 arrived at retail, so our last project iscelebrating somewhere, eating delicious cake (we're not lying). In aweird coincidence, Roger Wolfson came up and told me that, "At thecurrent pace tomorrow will be the 777,777,777th game of Halo 2 playedon Xbox Live." Given the current pace of Halo 3's gameplay, we're ontrack to hit that number of games played at this time next year. TheWolf(son) says that games of Halo 3 are being played three times asfast as its older sibling.

 

Sounding Off

In just a few short weeks, and just in time for the holidays (yes, we planned it that way) the two disc Halo 3 Original Soundtrackwillmake its way out of production facilities and into your CD players.Composed and written by our own Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori,the Original Soundtrack is an aural adventure through the events ofHalo 3. The events of Halo 3 are recounted musically in the order theyoccured, making the two-disc set an experience from Sierra 117 to thegame's stirring conclusion.

 

Much to Marty's chagrin I've hadMp3's of the soundtrack on my work machine for the last few months, hepromised certain and vicious death were they to leave the office and ifI put them on a portable music player and tried to leave, somehow he'dknow, but the reason I needed them was for research. See, next weekMarty is going to sit down with Ske7ch and me on the Bungie StudiosPodcast and we'll play bits, pieces and chunks from the upcomingsoundtrack and listen to Marty discuss composing the music for Halo 3and the Halo trilogy. Stay tuned.