Adam Millard - The Architect of Games

Early Access: Why Can Master Chief Only Carry Two Guns?

Added 2021-12-07 10:12:14 +0000 UTC

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How does Mario remain so infamously creative, without ever having to tell you how its new ideas work? Why do platinum games make your dodge move so powerful? And how does Halo create interesting strategic decisions by taking your guns away? the answer is a little-known and abstract concept called Toolsets.

A videogame's toolset is the culmination of all of your abilities and all of your strategic options, and the way each component fits together can have a huge yet invisible impact on the way you play - and there is no better example of the power of a good toolset than Halo. By restricting players to just two weapons at a time, Halo didn't just use a toolset to shape the way you play, but to put players in charge and let them decide their own strategies, a decision that inadvertently changed the course of videogame history, as The Architect is about to find out...

You Saw:

Halo: Combat Evolved - 2001

Doom - 1994

Quake 2 - 1997

Half Life - 1998

Halo Infinite - 2021

DOOM: Eternal - 2020

Blood - 1997

Halo 2 - 2004

Grand Theft Auto 5 - 2013

Titanfall 2 - 2016

Counter Strike: Source - 2000

Halo 3 - 2007

Psychonauts 2 - 2021