On April 1, 343 Industries community director Brian Jarrard reported that testing for the PC version of Halo: The Master Chief Collection was scheduled for this month. That is, “if all goes according to plan.” Apparently, things have not gone to plan. In the recent Halo Insider, Jarrard wrote that there was still a lot more work to be done, and testing could be delayed.
“As we’re now in the back half of April, I’m still optimistic this will be the case but it’s also possible those plans may not fully land as we initially hoped,” Jarrard wrote regarding the possibility of April testing. “Folks that have been around and follow me know that I’m all about trying to be as upfront and honest as possible – both with good news and less favorable news.”
Jarrard admits that the translation from console to the PC platform has been a tad tricky. Calling the architecture “considerably more complicated and requires a lot more work,” Jarrard attests that development has been going well. For one, the team is close to perfecting the feel of mouse and keyboard controls. Naturally, this would be quite the undertaking considering that the team is porting over a controller shooter that relies heavily on auto aim.
A Mountain Into A Molehill
There is still a hill to climb. The game doesn’t yet have the UI option to rebind keys. Also, a major priority for the team is getting telemetry up and running, so they can gather information on how well the build is working on the PC.
“This is complex and all new work that has to be done for each flight,” Jarrard wrote. “I’m also learning that just the process of carving out a ‘safe’ build that can be flighted to external people is a learning process. While we’ve done this with MCC on Xbox all last year, doing this on Steam is a brand new process and is something we’re still learning as we go.”
For those curious about how development is coming along, there will be an update soon. Sometime next week, 343 will post a development update on the game’s progress. Splash Damage, which has partnered with 343 on the development, could also drop by with some screenshots.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection will launch sometime later this year via Steam. The game will become available piecemeal, starting with Halo: Reach and continuing throughout the remaining games one by one.
