JASON REIS GAME DESIGN
Halo Infinite
Narrative Technical Design
For Halo Infinite, I worked both with the narrative and campaign team from an early greybox phase all the way through multiple post-launch content updates. For the narrative side (roughly 2/3rds of my time), I hired and led a team of four technical designers (working alongside them as an IC and manager) responsible for building narrative systems in Lua, along with their game placements, narrative design at the implementation level (timing, placement, triggers/events, interrupt behavior, prioritization, game logic), and providing iterative designs (revisions) to strengthen our story's impact, readability and overall player experience.
The areas of my individual contributions included both critical path main missions and optional content, cinematics, player and NPC VO, boss and enemy intro sequences, and supporting tool side features and efforts (debug, cheats, capture, automation, telemetry, streaming, optimization/performance, documentation). This also included custom cameras and control work for interactive narrative beats. In the end, I worked on every mission, but my primary focus included Missions 1 through 8. Additional content included outposts VO, the fallen Spartans (equipment), map tutorials and propaganda towers.
Campaign Missions
Halo missions are known for spectacle and big action moments. One major new development to enhance the player experience was that cinematic sequences in our campaign seamlessly transition from game sessions without cuts. The game is responsive to player path and action, so there was added emphasis on dialogue referring to player specific progression or actions. This resulted in a more natural feeling relationship with the new partner AI. Iterative improvements during regular reviews or implementation phases were made in direct collaboration with creative leadership and other content owners.
This is an edited down selection of some of the best moments I worked on in the game. I include gameplay beats where narrative work is a heavier presence or and some of my larger specialized efforts (pelican flights, custom interactions).
Outposts, Spartans, MP Cinematics
Other narrative implementation outside of the critical path campaign missions included Pelican flight cinematics, level transition/streaming, Outposts (optional side content in the open world; similar content to missions, objectives speakers, Marine NPC VO), Fallen Spartans (equipment acquisition cinematics), Map Tutorials (scripted map movements during the first FOB), Propaganda Towers, Golden Path Reminder VO, Academy vignette support/technical support, and seasonal cinematics for Multiplayer Events.
Mission Design
Equipment
Prior to joining the Narrative team I spent a year working on campaign team as a mission designer. During this period I built several short-mid length missions to playable prototype state (flow, AI spawning and movement, objectives, campaign specific game object prototypes, "greybox", terrain placeholder geo), to define the focus of what our game would ultimately become before we scaled up to a larger team.
In addition to mission work, I worked on an equipment strike team of design leads that designed from whiteboard and prototype/proving phase new or refreshed/returning equipment for Infinite's Sandbox (including the new to Infinite favorite grapple shot). This process helped steer our decisions towards what makes Halo feel so fun to play in the moment to moment combat, and balanced multiplayer target experience with campaign. I feel the gameplay in Halo Infinite's player came out well; the equipment is good at differentiating the play experience and strategy, and is balanced to each respective game mode without wide disparity.
