Editing Blam engine

{{Status|RealWorld}}

The '''Blam engine''',{{Ref/Site|Id=TigerEngine|URL=https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1022106/Lessons-from-the-Core-Engine|Site=GDC Vault|Page=Lessons from the Core Engine Architecture of Destiny|D=22|M=9|Y=2021}} often stylised '''Blam! engine''', alternatively known as simply the '''''Halo'' engine''', and sometimes known as the '''Midnight engine''' in the case of ''[[Halo 4]]'',{{Ref/Site|Id=ArtstationMidnightEngine|URL=https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Q53Ll|Site=Artstation|Page=Thomas Stubbs, HALO 4|D=03|M=10|Y=2022}} is the [[Wikipedia:Game engine|game engine]] that powers the majority of ''[[Halo (disambiguation)|Halo]]'' titles, beginning with ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' in [[2001]]. It has since been succeeded by the [[Slipspace Engine]] in [[2021]], with the release of ''[[Halo Infinite]]''.

File:HP Diagram BlamHistory-Simple.png|thumb|center|700px|A heavily simplified diagram of the development history of Blam. See [[#Gallery|the gallery]] for the full version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to [[Chris Butcher]], an engineering director at [[Bungie]], the Blam engine entered development in late [[1997]] alongside the game [[Development of Halo: Combat Evolved|that would come to be]] ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''.{{Ref/Reuse|TigerEngine}} The Blam engine first started out as an updated, "next-generation" version of the engine used in ''Myth: The Fallen Lords'',{{Ref/Reuse|JJInt99}}{{Ref/Site|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-cutting-room-lore|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder, Cutting Room Lore|D=26|M=07|Y=22}} with the addition of polygonal units as opposed to the 2D sprites used by ''Myth''. Bungie quickly decided, however, that focusing in on a single character would be a more compelling use of the [[Halo universe|''Halo'' universe]] than a strategy game, and pivoted towards a third-person design.{{Ref/Reuse|JJInt99}} Many remnants of the ''Myth'' engine remained prominent in the Blam engine, most notably the [[tag]] system, which remained a core part of Blam for the entirety of the engine's lifespan.{{Citation needed}}

 

 

Each successive ''Halo'' game developed by Bungie was built upon the Blam engine, and it was significantly evolved with each successive game.

The Slipspace Engine is a heavily revamped and modernised game engine developed by [[343 Industries]], which is derived from Blam. While containing significant amounts of new and overhauled code, the engine is ultimately based upon the version of Blam used in ''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]'' and still retains remnants of this engine.{{Ref/YouTube|8qqGrIFlgXQ|Halopedia Archive|343 Social Stream - Happy Halodays (19 December 2018)|Time=1389|Detail=23:09}} ''[[Halo Infinite]]'' is the first game to utilize the Slipspace Engine, and it will presumably succeed the Blam engine as the engine of choice for future ''Halo'' titles.{{Ref/Site|Id=SlipspaceOurJourneyBegins|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/our-journey-begins|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Our Journey Begins|D=22|M=9|Y=2021}}

One of the key design goals of the ''Anniversary'' remasters of ''Halo: CE'' and ''[[Halo 2]]'' was to leave the titles' original gameplay completely untouched, so that the games would play exactly as they originally did. As a result, both ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]'' and ''[[Halo 2: Anniversary]]'' use their respective game's original engine. However, in order to produce the remastered anniversary graphics, developer [[Saber Interactive]] needed a significantly more modern [[Wikipedia:Rendering (computer graphics)|rendering engine]]. Thus, for each of the games, they retrofitted their own internally-developed engine, the Saber3D engine, onto the original engine to facilitate the remastered graphics, while preserving the original Blam engine's gameplay logic so that the games play exactly as they originally did. This has been compared to essentially running two game engines at once, within the same game. This unique design also allowed for the ability for the player to switch between the two graphical modes at any time within the gameplay - a tool originally developed to allow developers on ''Anniversary'' remasters to rapidly compare their new artwork with the original game. However, the tool was turned into an official feature.{{Citation needed}}

These constraints were not compatible with ''Destiny'' in a number of ways: it was a multi-platform game targeting release on a multitude of consoles, all of its target platforms contained [[Wikipedia:Multi-core processor|multi-core processors]] which requires [[Wikipedia:Thread (computing)Single-threaded_vs_multithreaded_programs|multithreading]] to take full advantage of, and finally, ''Destiny'' would feature many sizable content updates after launch, which Blam did not support.  However, Bungie still wanted to preserve large portions of the Blam engine, notably the gameplay framework and networking code, and so couldn't build a new engine or switch to a third-party one.{{Ref/Reuse|TigerEngine}}

*''[[destinypedia:Destiny|Destiny]]'' (2014) {{C|Tiger Engine}}

*''[[destinypedia:Destiny 2|Destiny 2]]'' (2017) {{C|Tiger Engine}}

Multiple games have also been prototyped using the Blam engine:

*''[[Wikipedia:Shadowrun (2007 video game)|Shadowrun]]'' (2007){{Ref/YouTube|I-uJLTLqYpA|Gamecheat13|Shadowrun Halo Prototype - The Artifact Playthrough}} {{C|Final game did not use Blam}}

*''[[Wikipedia:Hail to the Chimp|Hail to the Chimp]]''{{Ref/Twitter|ihatecompvir|1439934470254051328|Quote=So that Hail to the Chimp prototype from Deluge runs on the Blam engine. Neato, not sure if its H1 or H2 Blam (could be either)|D=23|M=9|Y=2021}}{{Ref/Twitter|zeddikins|Code=1439984177831727110|Zeddikins|Quote=Hail To The Chimp build is split off from Stubbs, as theres still some bitmaps for it|D=23|M=9|Y=2021}} (2008) {{C|Final game did not use Blam}}