No depth-of-field effects in Halo 3

Bungie’s weekly update has this time explained why the team have decided not to include much in the way of depth-of-field effects in Halo 3.

“We do have depth of field in the game, but right now, it’s only being used (with any great visibility) in the UI [user interface] and in cinematics – because one of Halo’s key functions is the idea of long distance combat,” said the developer.

“If something is out of focus for the game engine, that doesn’t mean the player wasn’t trying to focus on it.”

Depth of field is a commonly used technique in photography and film, it puts specific subjects in focus whilst blurring anything else. The method is oft used to guide an audience’s attention to a certain subject whilst also simply looking rather pretty. It has recently become quite widely used in games as systems become more powerful.

“We would never implement something in multiplayer that artificially obscured the player’s ability to decide what he or she was seeing,” Bungie stated.

“There are borderline cases though. When you run around in a dark area – the bunker in High Ground for example, and then dash into the sunlight – your ‘eyes’ will adjust to the glare with a subtle blow out of the sky compared to the rock and dirt directly ahead of you.”

Bungie also discussed how they’ve made weapons more visible than in Halo 2 and how their new mute function allows players to cut off noisy teenagers in “less than a second”.

Expect a lot more gossip as it comes.