Contemplating Bungie's Halo visor design
January 2009
The visor provides safety for the eyes as is with safety glasses.
The visor provides safety for the eyes from physical objects reaching the eyes as well as radiation.
The visor can be switched on and off.
The visor must be earned by the gamer, as in, one need to have fulfilled a certain number of assignments.
The visor comes in different colours. The all-time favourite a, shade of black, is one of those.
In certain scenes of the game the visor helps the gamer to determine in which direction the Halo character is watching.
The visor is meant to function in the same way sunglasses are meant in real-life, i.e. of course to have a better view during sunlight or bright light environments.
Different kind of information can be displayed in the visor. One of those would be highlighting the object that the Halo character is pointing his gun to.
The positioning of the visor is now in such a way that a large part of the face is covered by it. Making the visor smaller is no option.
Making the visor bigger will almost result in a helmet that is used by astronauts.
The visor is now positioned closely to the face. it is more positioned like the glasses of an off-road biker than the visor of the helmet of a F1 race car driver.
The Halo character can remove the visor if needed.
When the visor is removed the true face of the Halo character will be shown.
When the Halo game is played online all Halo characters are real-life individuals. Removing the visor will result in showing the real-life face of each online player.
The possibility for each online player to put his own photo as a face of the Halo character is a must-have feature to make the game more attractive.
It possible for the visor to fall off during heavy fighting or e.g. when the Halo character is involved in hand-to-hand combat.
The visor is of strategic use so it should be possible during online gaming that one Halo character can decide to hand over his visor to another player.
The visor can have many strategic functions. Take into consideration the gameplay.
The visor can be damaged in every situation.
Is it possible for the visor to be shattered or fragmented like glass.
The colour of the visor can be used to indicate the visor is weakened.
The colour of the visor can also be used to indicate the loss of strategic function.
There should be weapons that can disable the visor's functionality.
The visor losing its functionality because of a bright flash or a bomb explosion is a possibility.
It is not a strange thing to think that the bright flash of an explosion can weaken or damage the visor in any way. Explosions cause radiation.
Radiation coming from the sun can be strong enough to weaken the visor over time, especially in a science fiction shooter.
Taking radiation and sunlight into consideration, it is not such a strange thought to implement the weakening of the visor by an explosion.
Furthermore, the alien environment the Halo character is moving in can be is much more poisoning than the solar radiation.
If there are things like radiation and explosions in the game that are much more powerful than in real life, then it must also be that the effect of that stronger radiation and explosions have their influence on the Halo character regardless its armour, and especially its visor.
Counter measures can be taken by the Halo character when problems with its visor occur.
Power, from the gun's power cell, can be used to repair and to strengthen the visor.
A damaged visor is a damaged visor, meaning, no aid will be able to fully restore the visor's functionality.
Like a wound can be healed over time, so to can a biological visor heal over time. Yet, like any wound, a scar always remains.
Additional gameplay can be made if it is possible to partly repair/strengthen the visor by draining power from the Halo character's power cell located in its gun, but at the same time the visor becoming radioactive by doing so.
As can be seen on the close-up picture of the Halo character's visor, the visor seems to have some distinctive markings on the surface. Markings usually always have meaning or a purpose.
Using such markings to indicate the level of skill a Halo character.
The markings on the visor are important for each player to see. The details on the visor must be made clearly visible during intense fighting when playing the Halo game online.
There is are possibilities to simply use the markings on the visor for aesthetic purposes, e.g. when one gamer is chatting with another gamer and while doing so each gamer has a close-up of the other gamers' visor.
Bungie artists who work on the visor must discuss their ideas with the engineers that are responsible for engineering the visors used for real soldiers, i.e. the small square visors or cameras used in combat these days.
Visors used by the military require different specifications than visors used by the navy.
Visors are not a new idea. The film industry has delivered some nice visor functionality and visor design already like for the X-Men movies.
Similar visors like the one from the Halo character can without a doubt also be found in nature. Just have a look at the eyes of a mosquito.
The visors of the X-Men were already thought of long before the movie was made as comic books of the X-Men show us.
There are other comic book characters which wear a visor. The visors of the X-Men were not a revolutionary thought.
The person who invented the X-Men got the idea to supply some of the X-Men with a visor by making use of his creativity/fantasy. The mind is a great thing.
It can be mainly for aesthetic reasons to supply the X-Men with visors but it can also be to give extra functionality/ability to a X-Men character.
Besides the visor there were other options on the table to equip the X-Men with.
At some point it simply was a logical conclusion that a visor had to be used to express the functionality of certain X-men.
Some functionalities are logical to equip a visor with: X-ray vision, night vision, ultra-violet vision.
At some point it is all about functionalities that are strongly related to the eyes.
A function that is strongly related to the eyes is being able to detect things far away.
Being able to detect things far away; the Halo character's visor allows for binocular vision.
Sunglass functionality for the visor is a must-have feature when the Halo character is within a bright light environment.
One functionality of the visor is also that when bright light falls on the visor the bright light can be redirected towards where the Halo character is looking at.
Redirecting bright light which is falling on the visor can be used for aesthetic purposes at any time during the game.
A scene in the game where the Halo character is moving in a dark clouded mountain terrain and a small ray of sunlight is falling on its visor which is then redirected into a dark corridor.
Another scene is where multiple Halo characters are moving over the battlefield and every now and then light is reflected by the visor of each Halo character.
The Halo character can decide for himself in what extend the light is reflected by its visor.
Controlling the functionality of reflect ability creates strategic advantages.
Even if the gamer can decide to what extend the light will be reflected from its visor, there are situations where there simply is no time to adjust the reflect ability, e.g. flashes from a bomb are intense and rise very quickly.
This not knowing if the visor is set for the best strategic advantage is something that can add to a better and more exciting and complex gameplay.
The gamer must decide/set the reflecting ability of its visor before entering a certain level in the game, or perhaps before entering a building for that matter.
Choosing the reflecting ability before starting a level results in a better game experience since a gamer must get creative if it turns out that the gamer has chosen a reflecting ability that has strategic disadvantages.
A gamer will always, or at least many gamers, will choose those settings that will be of strategic advantage to them. Only a few gamers would choose settings that are of less strategic advantages but are chosen simply because they provide much nicer graphical effects.
There will always be gamers who choose settings that are of less strategic advantages simply because they provide a much more difficult, and therefore challenging, gameplay.
It can be said that in certain situations it comes in handy to be able to see like a cat in the dark.
A cat uses the light of the environment to see in the dark, similar like many other nocturnal animals.
Being able to see in the dark. It is known that with nocturnal animals it is the tapetum lucidum in their eyes that is responsible for being able to see in the dark, and this layer is only working when light from the environment falls on it.
The ability for nocturnal animals to see in the dark fully depends on the amount and quality of the light that is present in the environment.
At some point in the game, the visor acting in the same way like the tapetum lucidum, can be a disadvantage. A cat's eyes glow up at night when the headlights of a car catch them.
Different levels of tapetum lucidum can be programmed in the visor, depending on the surroundings that the Halo character is moving through.
The size of the steps that should be used to increase or decrease the night vision of the Halo character can be done in percentage.
If looking at a cat and its ability to see in the dark, there are moments that the amount of light can decrease the cat's night vision.
If looking at a cat and its ability to see in the dark, there are moments that the quality of light can decrease the cat's night vision.
What goes for cats also goes for other nocturnal animals that use the tapetum lucidum layer in the eyes to see in the dark.
Snakes have a tapetum lucidum layer in the eyes.
If a Halo character is equipped with a layer that acts like a tapetum lucidum layer to see in the dark this layer then should be visible in some way, also in daylight environments. At least to some extent.
The tapetum lucidum layer of the visor should have some strength, or weakness for that matter, to it.
The tapetum lucidum layer can be a delicate layer like a thin film that is used to cover delicate screens within a LCD factory, or perhaps a very hard and robust layer like some sort of coating.
The Halo character can damage its tapetum lucidum layer, no matter whether the tapetum lucidum layer is delicate or robust.
A damaged tapetum lucidum layer on the visor can look like e.g. pieces ripped off or hanging down the visor.
The Halo character being able to see in the dark by looking through the pieces of tapetum lucidum layer that are still on the visor after the layer has been severely been.
The Halo character running through bushes and branches during night time while pieces of tapetum lucidum layer hanging loose from its visor.
Also in more futuristic scenes the tapetum lucidum layer on the visor can get damaged in the same manner as it can when the Halo character is running through bushes.
Perhaps not so futuristic, but some gas or misty environments where the gas or mist is made from aggressive chemicals that cause the tapetum lucidum layer to peel off.
If not gas or misty chemical environments, a sandstorm might as well be able to peel off the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor.
Sandstorms are present on planets whereas space dust is a whole different story.
Shells that exit the Halo characters' gun when firing hitting, and therewith damaging, the tapetum lucidum layer on the visor.
It would make a stunning graphical performance; picture the gamer looking through the Halo character's tapetum lucidum visor in a dark environment and aiming at an enemy, starting to fire and during firing losing his night vision and therewith slowly losing his view on its enemy.
A Halo character's view getting unclear, e.g. when it is walking through the rain.
The gamer can wipe the Halo character's visor with its hand.
If not with his hand, cleaning the visor with an airflow that is coming from the helmet is optional.
Any of the vehicles that the halo character is using can be equipped with a windshield that has a tapetum lucidum layer.
If the Halo character has damaged his tapetum lucidum layer, it is possible to strip the tapetum lucidum of a windshield and place it on its own visor.
It is always possible for the Halo character to look through the tapetum lucidum layer of the vehicle's windshield when its own tapetum lucidum layer is damaged or lost.
If looked at the tapetum lucidum layer of a cat's eye, a veterinarian could tell of the aging process of this layer.
The aging process is the same for every tapetum lucidum layer for all cats and not only for certain species.
The aging process be quickened.
Also the aging process be slowed down.
The aging of the tapetum lucidum layer influences a cat's ability to see in the dark.
A cat needs more light than before to see in the dark when the quality of the tapetum lucidum layer get lower.
An aging tapetum lucidum layer can be seen when looking in the eyes of a cat.
A tapetum lucidum layer of a cat that has aged already quite a while has certain markings on its tapetum lucidum layer that indicate that aging process.
The indication of an aging tapetum lucidum can be used in the Halo game.
The aging process of the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor can start as soon as a new game is started.
The aging process is an ongoing process, throughout the whole lifespan of the Halo character.
The average lifespan of a Halo character is shorter than the aging process of the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor.
The average lifespan of a Halo character online is usually longer than the Halo characters offline.
An online game exists long enough to program the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor to age over that same period.
Other cats influence the aging process of the tapetum lucidum layer when these cats physically interact with one another.
Halo characters do not physically interact with each other during an offline game.
The chance of Halo characters physically interacting each other during online gaming is higher than with offline gaming.
In the Halo game one Halo character can damage or hurt another Halo character by accident and by doing so on purpose, just like on a real-life battleground.
In certain scenes an aging tapetum lucidum layer of a visor of one Halo character can cause confusion to other Halo characters.
An aging tapetum lucidum layer of a visor of one Halo character may lead to that Halo character being expelled from a team of Halo characters.
The Halo character with the aging tapetum lucidum layer of his visor cannot prevent the team from expelling him.
A cat that has a tapetum lucidum layer that has aged for quite some time receives no help from other cats.
If one cat determines a cat it encounters has such an aged tapetum lucidum layer, that healthy cat then passes its findings on to other cats.
Parts of the cat's body, i.e. organs, other body functions like smell hearing, are also affected by the aging of thetapetum lucidum layer.
The tapetum lucidum layer of the cat's eye is of course made from biological material and subsequently it can be affected by bacteria.
Quite a few other external biological factors can influence the wellbeing of the cat's tapetum lucidum layer.
Some of these external biological factors are found in the water from which a cat is drinking.
Some of these external biological factors are found in the animals that can be eaten by a cat.
There are at least two most important internal biological factors that can lead to an aging tapetum lucidum layer.
A few parts of the body armour of the Halo character are made from biological material.
These biological body parts needed to fulfil certain assignments and not merely are there for aesthetic reasons.
An idea is to make the tapetum lucidum layer on the visor of biological material.
In case of using biological material for the tapetum lucidum layer on the visor, the biological structure must be chosen. Nature has many great biological designs.
The following biological structures are examples a designer can use as the main structure of the tapetum lucidum layer on the visor; that of a leaf, a fish' skin, a snakes' skin, perhaps a smooth and only coloured structure like that of an apple.
A tapetum lucidum layer on the visor that is made from biological material can become affected by bacteria.
Bacteria do reside in a cat's tapetum lucidum layer.
There are locations present in the game where bacteria could reside.
Bacteria that can affect the tapetum lucidum layer on the visor do not necessarily need to be coming from another biological object such as a plant or water.
There are possibilities that bacteria are simply living on the manmade walls of some structure on the planet that the Halo character is fighting on.
Picture the Halo character with a biological tapetum lucidum layer on the visor that is infected by the bacteria.
The sight of a Halo character with an infected tapetum lucidum layer on the visor can be used for advertising purposes. Great aesthetics.
If a poster will be used to display the Halo character with the infected tapetum lucidum layer on the visor, make sure it is not too horrifying for young children to look at.
On gaming exhibits people will be dressed up as the Halo character for promoting the Halo game. A Halo character whose tapetum lucidum layer on the visor is infected by bacteria should also be there.
There can be a disinfectant for a visor that has an infected tapetum lucidum layer.
The Halo character should by default be equipped with a visor that can determine which surfaces contain bacteria that can infect its visor.
If the visor can provide the Halo character with information that a surface contains dangerous bacteria that can infect the tapetum lucidum layer on the visor, then this information should be presented to the gamer, which is looking through the Halo character's visor, by changing the colour of the visor.
More gameplay, i.e. caution, tension and skill, will be brought in the game if more bacteria species will be used.
Additional gameplay can be made if each type of bacteria will infect the visor in its own unique way.
If there will be ten species of bacteria used that can infect the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor, the infection that these bacteria create should all have their own unique graphical design.
How the gamer can be cured from the infected bacteria on its tapetum lucidum layer visor needs to be thought off, e.g. water is one way of getting rid of the bacteria, i.e. walking through a waterfall or jumping from a cliff in the river.
There are bacteria that will cause a cat's tapetum lucidum layer to decrease rapidly.
There are quite a few bacteria that will cause the cat's tapetum lucidum layer to decrease more slowly.
There are bacteria that will only affect the cat's tapetum lucidum layer temporarily.
Natural antibodies within a cat's body can eliminate a few harmful bacteria in its tapetum lucidum layer to some extent.
Take into consideration the normal duration for the antibodies to overcome harmful bacteria.
The time real-life antibodies need to fight harmful bacteria should be implemented in the Halo game. This period is realistic enough to implement it in the Halo game. Meaning, the infected tapetum lucidum layer of the visor will only be infected for a realistic period.
It can also be that not only antibodies in the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor will fight the harmful bacteria, but also that the harmful bacteria have a limited lifetime. Meaning, the infection will be stopped when the harmful bacteria have died.
Harmful bacteria that will only have a limited time to live can still damage the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor in a permanent way.
Like any biological tissue the tapetum lucidum layer on the visor also has a self-healing property to some extent.
Self-healing mechanisms can be positively influenced by e.g. placing a bandage over it.
There scenes in the game that can influence the biological healing process of the tapetum lucidum layer on the visor, e.g. forests, moisture environments, dry environments.
If the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor can only be cured by the antibodies it should be possible to inject additional antibodies into the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor.
One method of injecting antibodies into the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor is to let the Halo character put his visor against mud surface.
The healing process of the infected tapetum lucidum layer of the visor becomes more complex when the visor is not considered to be part of the Halo character's helmet but as a part of the Halo character's face.
A connection from the Halo character's body to the visor should be via biological veins.
If the visor is part of the body or face of the Halo character, then new and perhaps better options will be available to inject antibodies into the infected tapetum lucidum layer of the visor.
It would make stunning graphics; a few veins of the Halo character's face that are interconnected with the tapetum lucidum layer on its visor.
A vein-connection into the tapetum lucidum layer of the visor is an excellent way to inject antibodies when it is infected.
Before closing this brainstorm session let's look shortly at one more aspect that can be thought of regarding the Halo character visor; a duplicate visor that is hovering e.g. eighty centimetres in front of the actual visor.
A hovering visor would allow for more stunning graphics to be made.
New strategic features can be derived from the gamer using both the normal visor and the hovering duplicate visor at the same time.
The hovering duplicate visor only being vaguely visible is perhaps the first way to approach this idea.
The different levels of vague can be used for the hovering duplicate visor. Each level of vague must be tuned to make it the best possible graphical performance for each scenario.
Different colours can be used for the hovering duplicate visor. Perhaps a vague glass colour is the most obvious choice.
The hovering duplicate visor always being in the same line with the visor in the Halo character's helmet, or the duplicate hovering visor moving with some slack when the Halo character is turning his head. The latter providing a more innovative approach to the Halo game.
Instead of a hovering duplicate visor a less high-tech/sci-fi approach of a duplicate visor can be designed, i.e. a duplicate visor that is being held at some distance in front of the actual visor by e.g. a thin and lightweight carbon or steel pipes that come out of the Halo character's helmet.
It is possible to continue on this subject but for now it ends here.