Frank O'Conner addresses the community

[Destroyaaa]

 

This was taken off halo Waypoint from the bulletin posted today. I want to hear you guys's opinions on this.

 

 

 

From the face of Frank

"2012 was supposed to be the end of the world. Instead, it was the beginning of ours. Halo 4, despite being the seventh or eighth game in the Halo series (depending on how you count them), was our first game. That is to say, our first-ever fully fledged title, built from the ground up creatively and technologically. So let me save you the trouble of trolling my statement: We have a lot to learn. We made a lot of mistakes. We can do better. And we know this, and we will. But I don’t want to spend the first moments of the year thinking about the negatives, because frankly, I am incredibly proud of both the team and the game that team created.

 

And for a first effort, it wasn’t half bad.

 

Stepping into Bungie’s oversized shoes would have been difficult, even for a well-established team. The challenge of wrangling that engine, that universe and that community was dizzying, even withering. Four years ago when our charter began, the challenge of starting the seed of a development team and then creating a sequel to Halo terrified us. A small group of us – names you know, like Kiki Wolfkill, Bonnie Ross, Kenneth Scott Josh Holmes and other characters who have moved on to different projects, different places – was tasked with doing something that was almost impossible.

 

But the team grew. And we learned. And we’re still learning. And the game arrived and it succeeded. Halo 4 is the best and fastest-selling Halo game in the series. It won critical acclaim. It won awards, from Best Graphics at the VGAs to Game of the Year at the Inside Gaming Awards. We altered the engine. We expanded the universe. We innovated in storytelling, technology, and even marketing. It wasn’t flawless by any stretch of the imagination, but by most objective criteria, it was a resounding success. So we know we have a lot to do. And we know we have a lot to learn. But we also know that we now have the capacity, the teamwork, the technology and the experience to do much better next time."

 

 

"But my point is this: If you’d asked me three or four years ago if we thought we’d be where we are now, I would have looked doubtfully at you and said, “That’s a lot to ask.” But the team, through miracles of collaboration and individual contribution – and lakes of blood and tears – waded into the challenge with gusto and worked obscene hours with passion and verve to get it done. And now we’re beginning to really understand what “it” is.

 

I think that, perhaps perversely, rather than being looked at askance with doubt and cynicism, in some corners we’ve been given extra latitude – the only benefit of low expectations. And then the ability to exceed those expectations.

 

There are a ton of things we wish we'd done better: Features that didn’t make it into the final game. Glitches that emerged. Missteps made. DLC fiascos. Communication breakdowns. But there were things that went astonishingly well – the creation of a genuinely competitive AAA studio chief among them. A collection of talent and souls that can do something genuinely amazing on this and next-generation hardware. The overhaul of an amazing game engine – but one that really needed to be overhauled – and an amassed education on systems, people, code and audience that will stand us in great stead for the future."

 

 

"Some of the high points of the last few years have been products as well as people – like Halo: Anniversary and Forward Unto Dawn. There have been amazing events – Halo Fest, the E3 debut, ComicCon – all blurring into a sea of faces, excitement, light, and noise.

 

But the most important aspect of our success, and our efforts now and in the future, has been this community – a demanding, imaginative, engaged, vocal, varied and intelligent swarm of personalities, groups and individuals, each with subtly to radically different interests in this vast and varied universe we’re charged with. That isn’t lip service, nor is it pandering. You guys pay for the privilege of playing our game, and you have every right to have a voice in its development.

 

It may not have ended up precisely the way you imagined – there are simply too many voices and perspectives to make all of the people happy, all of the time – but we think of the community as a direct and democratic extension of the team and, indeed, of the development process. A litmus test, a pH strip and a sounding board for ideas and innovations, you are the tension between the need for change and evolution, and the necessity of inertia.

 

Technically, this should be a retrospective, but it’s safe to say I’m more excited about the future than the past. Excited about what this team is already working on. Excited about what this team is capable of. And excited about the future of Halo. A future we want you to be a part of. A future we’re building for you."

 

 

As a community we appreciate Frank O'connor stepping forward and telling us what's been going on with Halo 4. Allowing us to hear these genuine comments from Frank himself goes a long way and allowing the community to have insight on 343 Industries thoughts of Halo 4. We hope in the future we will continue to receive information like this from 343 Industries informing and updating us on a franchise we love so much.

 

This post has been promoted to an article

[Barack Obama]

I love it now Frankie is back on the team. I also can't wait for what 343i has in stock, I personally thought this game had hardly any faults and they were just minor,thanks for posting this! Plus... The picture of Chief and Frankie is pretty awesome.

[Skys]

That was so humble of him yet so straight forward. Glad he put his voice into the community.

[Caboose The Ace]

and this shows 343 do care and are not what peaple call them hope fully halo 5 will be better a new golden age for halo 343s master piece like halo 2 was

[Durandal v2]

Good move by 343I

[D-38 Boss]

Frank O' Conner = Pretty cool dude.

[Halogeek99]

LOVE!

[BeckoningZebra1]

This gets me pumped every time I read it

[Destroyaaa]

Wow you guys for the most part seem to like his post. Unforutantely I am going to take the negative nancy road here. Check out this response I found on waypoint that I tend to side with (not as harshly though).

 

 

""I'm a bit disappointed in the actual content of the update, but I am thankful they at least acknowledged the issues.

 

Basically, I said a while back if 343 didn't at least ACKNOWLEDGE the games problems then I'd be more or less done with them until further notice.

 

But they did... barely. Its still super vague, and there are even some decisions being made right now that make no -Yoinking!- sense. Such as a TEMPORARY doubles playlist? What? It should have been standard since launch.

 

And super disappointing we have to wait another whole month and potentially more for file shares, but at least they're working on it.

 

There was mention of custom game options so at least they're looking into it.

 

I wish we could at least know what this next TU is about. Just tell me if its more fixing glitches oriented like last one, or gameplay/balance/features oriented like I'm hoping for.""

 

Yeah I mean I feel like every weekly bulletin is the same.

 

Very proud of the team, we did a lot with a little... no. Every business is hard as Yoink! to build, every product is hard as Yoink! to launch, the difference is most businesses aren't a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. There are no cafes in most businesses. There are no lounges with plasma TVs. There are no trips to NYC to hang out with celebrities. I've never seen a group of people congratulate themselves more on doing their job than 343. I completely understand being proud of the team and what people have accomplished, but don't try to frame it as though the struggle excuses some of the faults.

 

There are approximately zero people reading this:

 

Quote:

"We have a lot to learn. We made a lot of mistakes. We can do better. And we know this, and we will."

 

that were disappointed with Halo 4, but will now return to the game because of that statement. It means nothing to anyone but the people who already know you made mistakes.

 

There are approximately zero people reading this:

 

Quote:

"The overhaul of an amazing game engine – but one that really needed to be overhauled"

 

who then feel better about playing a Halo game with the worst frame-rate drops in the series.

 

Then I read this

 

Quote:

"It may not have ended up precisely the way you imagined – there are simply too many voices and perspectives to make all of the people happy, all of the time"

 

is it the community's fault that we're missing features from Halo 3? Frankie talks about how by all objective measures Halo 4 was a success. Missing core components of your predeccessors is a pretty damn objective failure.

 

and I read this

 

Quote:

– but we think of the community as a direct and democratic extension of the team and, indeed, of the development process."

 

What was influenced by the community? Any examples? Was FUD or TTL asking for Complex? If the community is such a direct and democratic extension of the team, which part of the community asked for the first map pack to be big brown maps? Was that ReadyUpLive or r/Halo's fault? Could you guys have democratically put up a vote with the major communities asking if recreating Seattle during crunch time was a good idea? I just find it hilarious that after a year of Trust Us, Feels Like Halo, now suddenly the community is apparently a direct extension of the team and there are just too many gosh darn voices to be heard to make people happy. To extend this makeshift olive branch while simultaneously refusing to outline the next title update is hysterical to me. To this day, we still have no idea who, why, or how 343 makes any of their matchmaking decisions. We open up the weekly bulletin every week and hope there's something interesting. That is literally the only involvement we get with matchmaking updates.

 

No end user gives a rat's -Yoink!- about the development process of anything. You don't think about the thousands of man-hours that go into the labeling of every single product in a grocery store, you just buy it. Give us some actual hard definable timelines for when we'll be getting fileshare, when we're getting a ranking system, when we're getting video uploading. Where are these features? Everything is always one or two weeks away. We'll have more details to share in a bit! As someone who hasn't played Halo in over a month, all I took from that update is that video game development is hard and that we'll be getting minor playlist updates in 3 or 4 weeks. Well, no Yoink!. Sometime in the future we'll get missing features added and a title update. Oh and we have more outsourced table-scrap maps to look forward to that we'll have to pay for. Halo 4 is hitting all time low daily peak populations right now, there are 200 people in the playlist of their new DLC pack, and a 4 year old download-only PC game is ahead of it in activity, but who cares, the team is working hard! Puhleaze. I'm sure Frankie will respond to this by calling me a troll and that I hate Halo and hate everything and am moving the goalposts and should leave GAF as I have been told by him before, which is fine, but it doesn't change the fact that all the 9.8's and long hours in the world can't stop this game from falling further on its face if they keep heading down this same path."

 

 

 

While I respect that he admitted he made mistakes, this business is about results. They have all the money, resources, time, and power to make a great game. This game was released as a beta and was not ready for the public. They have taken away things that the communuity loved with very little logic involved. Sure I might be "excited for halo 5" or "excited for updates to halo 4" but I was excited BEFORE the game was released. Im sorry but this is unacceptable, I paid $60 bucks for this.

[FIXYOURMAPSYOUIDIOTS]

I agree with you brute, i love the Halo franchise but it saddens me to not get full enjoyment when playing Halo 4 because of the issues mention in your post. I really hope 343 sort there stuff out and get on to fixing these things as soon as possible. Also just found out today that Halo 4 got dropped from MLG pro. Just goes to show how far they have strayed from what Halo Multiplayer is supposed to be like

[usdhm]

There is no way in hell someone can call you a troll after that one brah

Everything you said makes sense. and while the maps are huge and very non halo, i have grown to love the new style of things

but the halo 'experience' has completely flown out the window, its not not got that immersion the previous titles had (even reach)

and the ranking system, what ranking system? ive had the game a couple of months and im 116/130

and im not even a die hard gamer, theres no news of any new ranks and by the sounds of that post the company are gonna start incubating their new baby rather than than care for their first creation.

[Reptile]

When Halo 5 comes out, we'll be ready.

Believe, people, 343 did their best, and as Frank said. It WILL get better.

I expect Halo to get bigger than it is, and lets face it, they didn't do that bad; they did a better job than that company who went broke for making Halo Wars.

 

There is no way in hell someone can call you a troll after that one brah

Everything you said makes sense. and while the maps are huge and very non halo, i have grown to love the new style of things

but the halo 'experience' has completely flown out the window, its not not got that immersion the previous titles had (even reach)

and the ranking system, what ranking system? ive had the game a couple of months and im 116/130

and im not even a die hard gamer, theres no news of any new ranks and by the sounds of that post the company are gonna start incubating their new baby rather than than care for their first creation.

I feel you, bro. It is awesome when you're used to it, just takes some time.