Editing Cortana (level)
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==Production notes== | ==Production notes== | ||
{{Quote|I took the Cortana mission, completely gutted it and rebuilt it in about three weeks—that mission where Gravemind is talking to you and Cortana is in distress. We didn’t have a lot of resources for that. It was a lot cooler on paper. And it had the transforming Flood, but I don’t think we did great there. It’s a kind of half-baked mission that needed to be there for the story, so we sort of threw it together, but I would’ve preferred not to do that.|[[Paul Bertone]] discussing his work on Cortana.{{Ref/Reuse|VICE}}}} | |||
{{Quote|I took the Cortana mission, completely gutted it and rebuilt it in about three weeks—that mission where Gravemind is talking to you and Cortana is in distress. We didn’t have a lot of resources for that. It was a lot cooler on paper. And it had the transforming Flood, but I don’t think we did great there. It’s a kind of half-baked mission that needed to be there for the story, so we sort of threw it together, but I would’ve preferred not to do that.|[[Paul Bertone]] discussing his work on Cortana.{{Ref/ | When originally conceptualised, the level that would become Cortana in the final game was simply meant to be a level set inside High Charity, fighting against the Flood.{{Ref/Twitter|dmiller360|533780549807398912|Dan Miller|Quote=the level order was the same,just the geometry was different. Originally floodgate consisted of both floodgate AND Cortana|D=10|M=10|Y=2021}} In this build, the High Charity level was to consist of two large found segments connected by the [[Hanging Gardens]].{{Ref/Twitter|cgbarrett|1145920642358714368|Christopher Barrett|Quote=I found this while digging through some old concepts. I don’t think it’s even been published? A schematic concept of High Charity from Halo 3 #Halo3|D=10|M=10|Y=2021}} An early mission layout showcases the mission as progressing with the player eventually progressing into and through the [[Mausoleum of the Arbiter]] - with a planned reveal of an army of Flood-infected Arbiters which the player would have to battle. Later on, the level was intended to feature a sequence in which the player would find a [[Type-47B Scarab|Scarab]] with damaged legs, which Cortana would take control of and use it to battle the Gravemind while the player held off invading Flood forms and shot off the Gravemind's tendrils that attempted to latch onto the Scarab.{{Ref/Site|Id=NeoGAFDan1|URL=https://www.neogaf.com/threads/halo-ot14-they-call-it-halo.507989/page-356#post-47803018|Site=NeoGAF|Page=Halo - OT14 - They call it Halo|Quote=Developer Insight #17 Cortana and a Scarab. The level in which you rescued Cortana was going to be a "High Charity" level, not "Cortana" we ended up with. Here’s what was originally planned. You were supposed to, or rather the idea was that you were going to, fight the Gravemind, but not in a way you might think. You were going to retrieve Cortana, and a little after that you two were going to come across an abandoned Scarab with its hind legs ripped off. Seeing no other options, you were going to board the Scarab and insert Cortana so she could pilot it. After that, the Gravemind was going to appear, and Cortana was going to duke it out with him in the damaged Scarab while you were on board. You were going to help out by killing any Flood forms that made their way onto the Scarab, and shoot off any of Gravemind's tentacles that tried to latch on.|Quotee=Dan Miller|D=10|M=10|Y=2021}} | ||
[[File:H3 HighCharity Schematic Concept.jpg|thumb|right|An early schematic layout for the level.]] | |||
Ultimately, the High Charity level was one of several levels [[Cut Halo 3 levels|cut for time]].{{Ref/Twitter|dmiller360|1113434705133625344|Dan Miller|Quote=In floodgate you went into the covenant cruiser at the end, correct? Well that was the Cortana geometry. The Floodgate mission was much, much longer. There was original High Charity geometry made for the Cortana mission that was cut due to lack of time.|D=10|M=10|Y=2021}}{{Ref/Twitter|dmiller360|533780831513624576|Dan Miller|Quote=the old original geometry for cortana was cut- that was high charity geometry.|D=10|M=10|Y=2021}} At a similar time, the level [[Floodgate]] was cut-down around 75% due to issues with pacing, and thus much of the geometry developed for that mission was repurposed for Cortana. This process of gutting and rebuilding this mission was undertaken by [[Paul Bertone]], who did the task in around three weeks.{{Ref/Site|Id=VICE|URL=https://www.vice.com/en/article/xwqjg3/the-complete-untold-history-of-halo-an-oral-history|Site=VICE|Page=The Complete, Untold History of Halo: An Oral History|D=10|M=10|Y=2021}} Cortana was expanded around 75%, as the team felt the mission needed to be longer and harder to better-reflect the narrative stakes in the story.{{Ref/Reuse|GDC1}}{{Ref/Reuse|GDC2}} These issues, combined with the lack of a dedicated designer for the level, meant that the developers at Bungie knew they were shipping what they considered to be a bad level, but were unable to do much about it. One idea pitched by [[Dan Miller]] to aid with navigation in the level was to place holographic footsteps on the ground to help show the player where to go, similar to the effect shown at the end of the level [[The Covenant (level)|The Covenant]]. | |||
The reuse of the Floodgate geometry originally developed for the [[Indulgence of Conviction|crashed cruiser]] meant that the interior structure of High Charity contains some illogical design choices, such as the [[bridge]] of a {{Class|CAS|assault carrier}}. The level posed numerous technical challenges for the developers, with the level's size requiring it be split into eight BSPs. Having to allow the geometry to have AI walk on it - even upside down or on walls - was also challenging, and collisons had to be faked for much of the level geometry. To help produce the feel of the city having been wrecked and crashed, the engineering team wrote a script that tilted the level geometry by fifteen degrees on export. Nonetheless, the AI pathfinding continued to be an issue, alongside questions of how to balance art vs. design needs for the level.{{Ref/Site|Id=GDC1|URL=https://www.bungie.net/en/aboutus#page=publications&publication=12662|Site=Bungie Publications|Page=Halo 3 Flood Alien Level Autopsy|D=10|M=10|Y=2021}}{{Ref/Site|Id=GDC2|URL=http://www.bungie.net//images/Inside/publications/presentations/!Halo3_Flood_Alien_Level_Autopsy.zip|Site=Bungie.net|Page=Halo 3 Flood Alien Level Autopsy|Detail=Original presentation download link|D=03|M=5|Y=2012}} | |||
<gallery> | <gallery> | ||
File:H3 Cortana DesignDoc 1.jpg|An early design draft for the initial layout of Cortana. | File:H3 Cortana DesignDoc 1.jpg|An early design draft for the initial layout of Cortana. | ||
