Halo Wars 2

Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) helped ‘solve’ FPS on console. Halo Wars 1 & 2 attempt to do the same with the RTS genre.

Role

Junior UI artist

UI, UX, animations

Responsibilities

Visual design, 2D asset creation, conceptual UI, UX wireframes and flows

When/How/Where

2015-2016

Create Assembly, UK

Consoles & PC

Visual Design

Halo 4 (2012) had released just a few years before, bringing a new visual direction to the franchise. Halo Wars 2 (2016) was an opportunity to refine the direction of Halo even further. We spent a lot of time balancing new visual solutions against the tried and tested. We ended up with a solid mix of old and new Halo, continuing the work which later culminated in Halo Infinite (2021)

Asset creation

Exploring 2D rendered solutions, as well as more typical UI iconography. I spent a lot of time on our “Blitz” cards, figuring out how to visually solve how card-game fundamentals could be reconciled with an already tight control scheme.

In-game UI

Halo Wars 2 was made in collaboration with 343 and Creative Assembly.

Although initially a traineeship, I’m still satisfied with my contributions to the team. Looking back, I provided solid visual concepts that despite my junior role still stayed with the final product. Also, being an RTS fan myself helped us avoid some UX misteps that would have required later correction.

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