Project Foundry

Master Chief equipped with an energy sword in the demo.

Project Foundry is a realtime project created by the Halo Studios development team as part of the studio's transition from the old Blam/Slipspace Engine to the use of Unreal Engine for games development. It was formally announced at the final day of the Halo World Championshops 2024, alongside the rebranding of 343 Industries to Halo Studios. The project is a collection of three realtime environments created in Unreal Engine 5, designed to explore what would be needed to transition the studio and its development pipelines into using Unreal, and what kind of challenges might faced while doing it. When announced, Halo Studios noted that Foundry is not a game, nor is it a testbed for one, instead emphasising the exploratory nature of the development process.^[1]^[2]

The demo was created as part of 343 Industries' transition into Halo Studios, under the direction of the new studio leadership led by Pierre Hintze. As part of this vision, Hintze explained that while making Halo Infinite, 343 Industries had been attempting to be both a game developer and a software company at the same time by attempting to build and maintain Slipspace Engine alongside make the main game. This led to difficulties in production due to the studio's divided attention; something that Halo Studios aims to solve by switching to an engine developed by another studio - allowing them to refocus entirely on games production. As such, all future Halo games will use Unreal 5.^[1]^[2]

The demo has three environments; a classic, Pacific Northwest-styled environment inspired by preexisting Halo levels such as the eponymous mission from Halo: Combat Evolved, the Coldlands, a winter biome with a star visible behind the ring, and the Blightlands - a Flood-infested environment.^[1]^[2] All three reuse some Halo Infinite assets such as the Forerunner beacon towers, with the Coldlands environment featuring a Banshee that flies through the sky. The classic environment is used for a handful of dioramas; the first depicting Master Chief clad in Halo Infinites rendition of the MJOLNIR Mark V armour and an M6D magnum fighting a Sangheili Mercenary equipped with an energy sword, while the latter depicts only Master Chief equipped with the same energy sword.

The demo was unveiled with a trailer, titled A New Dawn, featuring interviews with several developers involved in the project and featuring a look at some of the animations and moving effects including waterfalls, weather, and Flood spores.^[3]