Founder and CEO of @CertainAffinity. Former multiplayer, online, and UX design lead for Halo 2 and Halo 3. https://xitter.cf/t.co/EvSbhL7azH @RST_Texas board member.
Austin, Texas
Joined June 2013
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Still laying low here, but popping in with something fun. I applied my UX/systems design background to ... vegetarian Persian cuisine. After tons of research, some of my recipes are online. No fake meats, just trying to fix cookbook chaos.
Beta: verdanttablecookbook.com
Finally, apparently I wrote those descriptions for Missile Beach and Solitude, but I need to jog my memory!
Oh look at that, a nod to Fourth Station too—a CA experiment resurrecting the Mars Needs Women mp map from Marathon. We had these maps playable, and I have fond memories of playtests on both. I ended up shying away from the latter, however, as it didn't work as well as I'd hoped.
I like paper design, and here's proof: design docs for an unfinished @CertainAffinity map for the Halo 2 Blastacular Map Pack. We were making one original and two remakes, but Bungie pulled our timeline in so as to not interfere with the Halo3 beta. Alas.
halowaypoint.com/news/digsit…
Max Hoberman retweeted
It has been an incredible week in Toronto. Thank you to IO and XP for hosting two amazing events. It was a whirlwind meeting other industry folks and catching up with colleagues.
@XPGamingInc | @IOnews
#XPGAMESUMMIT #XP24 #gamedevelopment #gamedev #gamestudio
Max Hoberman retweeted
What an invigorating lesson in crafting and developing Intellectual Property from Corey Caplan, @lduchaine and @MaxHoberman, led by moderator Pierre Moisan 📝
#XPGAMESUMMIT #XP24
Well we got pulled away before we found a match, so we'll have to try again. On a positive note, we had to go for a debrief on a Loro multiplayer playtest today, and it went quite well.
...reduced, but at the expense of a unique environmental characteristic we're invested in. The sandbox can change to accommodate, but we'll lose some of its uniqueness and identity in the process.
Is there a path through the maze that doesn't compromise either? Soon we'll know.
Today was a very interesting continuation of an ongoing debate: can the unique sandbox that we made for our playable PvE demo of Loro be carried over to PvP? The rub here is a) longer engagement distances, and b) faster and more erratic targets.
Engagement distances can be...
Max Hoberman retweeted
Last week we were so excited to be one of the sponsors attending 2024 Level UP Showcase. Students shared their work with members of the industry leaving us wanting more. Congratulations to all the students and to the winners.
This rant of mine still has legs, apparently – and it's applicable to another game. Surprise. What have I done?
@CoconutRTS bringing up @MaxHoberman's SBMM tweet. Hopefully it will reach a wider audience than @TheOnlyChoy's original video
youtu.be/x1vSY0qQe0Y?si=0zeb…
Weapon respawning in PvP came up in a conversation. Waaaay back in the day I implemented this as a random time within a designer-set range. I know some pros preferred a fixed time, but I was intentionally making it less predictable to tilt a little more casual. Good? Bad? Ugly?
“Ha! hold my brain; be still my beating Heart.”
It's Finally Here.
After 14 Years Halo 2 is back and the original Xbox Live has returned. I spent the last two weeks recording everything that made the game special.
youtube.com/watch?v=YZXjYESZ…
For all aspiring time travelers! Very cool, I'm curious how much functionality they'll be able to replicate. If they can reach feature parity in places, I wonder if they might enhance or add features in line with my original design specs... 🤔
Halo 2 will launch on Insignia in Public Beta on March 15th at 20:00 GMT (16:00 EST, 13:00 PST) with the following 10 multiplayer playlists. Please ensure your console is setup, and you've signed up for your Gamertag. See you soon! :D
ALT Halo 2's OptiMatch "Choose Matchmaking Playlist" screen with the following options: - Rumble Pit - Double Team - Team Slayer - Team Skirmish - Team Training - Team Snipers - Team Hardcore - Team SWAT - Big Team Battle - H2 Challenge
You might know that I'm vegetarian, but did you know that I've never eaten meat? Check out my story on this fundraising page if you'd like to know more. It's an entertaining one! amplifyatx.org/p2p/344596/ma…
We've been in development on this for quite a while, so it's exciting to finally be able to announce our involvement! It's a very strong partnership on an inspiring new IP. Of course we can't say any more about the game now, but our team is in the mix doing awesome work daily.
We are proud to announce our partnership with @ArchetypeEnt as a lead co-developer on #EXODUSGAME, the exciting new sci-fi RPG first revealed at The Game Awards.
Learn More: certainaffinity.com/archetyp…
Max Hoberman retweeted
Certain Affinity is proud to announce that Ry Mendenhall has been awarded the annual Certain Affinity Nels Memorial Scholarship!
Created in partnership with SMU Guildhall, this scholarship recognizes excellence, generosity and leadership in honor of Nels Nelson. Congratulations!
We don't always get awards, but when we do we prefer:
Max Hoberman retweeted
We're heading to #DICE2024 next month and are looking forward to catching up and making connections. If you're looking for world class AAA lead- or co-developers, let’s talk!
With over 40 products across 17 major franchises, we're always excited to find the next big challenge!
ALT graphic containing DICE Summit 2024 logo alongside the Certain Affinity logo. includes pictures of Paul Sams and Pierre de la Rue, and the date/location of the Summit: February 13 through 15 at the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas. Text on graphic reads: "Paul and Pierre are heading to Vegas for DICE next month and are looking forward to catching up with old friends and making new connections. If you're looking for world class AAA lead-developers or co-developers – let’s talk! Having delivered over 40 products across 17 different major franchises, we're always excited to find the next big challenge for our teams!"