Steel Halo

Steel Halo: Imperial Sport, Commons League is a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004, developed in Melbourne, Australia by Primal Clarity Productions.

Origins
Steel Halo originally began as Super Bombing Run when it was started as a university project in 2005. Not surprisingly, it was based on the Bombing Run gametype that features in UT2004. Initially, Super Bombing Run, or SBR as it came to be known (all UT2004 game types have a 2-3 letter abbreviation) was a collection of mutators that modified the behaviour of Bombing Run to include things such as new weapons, health mods and variations to the scoring system.

Once the semester was over, the core team of developers continued with the project, and the name changed from Super Bombing Run (SBR) to Steel Halo (SH). A large portion of the codebase was also rewritten and Steel Halo became a full fledged game type, which provided a larger level of control over the game. From there development has continued, and now a beta release is soon due to be made available to the public.

Like Bombing Run, the ultimate objective of Steel Halo is still to score goals, however the fundamental game dynamic is different from that of more traditional UT gametypes.

Weapons
One of the unique things about Steel Halo is the weapons it uses. None of the traditional UT guns are available, instead there are things called Gravity Displacement Rifes, which utilise push and pull energy to manipulate the ball and other players.

Push energy
The primary fire of most weapons (with the exception of the Ward) utilizes push energy. It allows weapons to act as close range melee weapons, as well as launch the ball. You can charge up your weapon to increase the damage output, or to increase the distance traveled by the ball.

If a weapon is left charging too long, it will overload, blowing up in the player's face and often causing them to ragdoll.

Pull energy
Typically the alt fire of a weapon, pull energy allows a player to suck the ball into their weapon, and also can slow down other players within range! Whilst you cannot overload your weapon on this fire mode, continual use of it will slowly drain your health.

Weapon types
Steel Halo currently features 7 weapon types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The descriptions come directly from the Steel Halo website.

Criterion
The Criterion is the standard weapon for competitors in the Steel Halo tournament. The Criterion doesn't excel in any particular area, however neither does it suffer from any real weaknesses, making it a versatile choice for attack, defence or support. Many teams employ Criterions to augment the more specialised yet potentially vulnerable GDG's.

Cannon
The Cannon is the brute of the Steel Halo tournament. Sporting the largest and heaviest particle chamber permitted in civilian applications, the Cannon is capable of firing the ball at extreme velocity, making it ideal for affecting quick turnovers or long range attacks on goal. However, raw strength comes at a price - the bulky Cannon sees wielders suffer a reduction to their maximum running speed, and players must also be careful when charging to full strength - the Cannon heats up rapidly, and will cause the wielder minor burn damage before it will overload, leaving players vulnerable to taking heavier hits before they can regain their composure.

Mace
The Mace is designed for one thing to brutalise other players, and it does it very, very well. Early versions were linked to fatalities, but subsequent revisions have limited the Mace's capabilities to severe concussion and temporary unconsciousness. The Mace fires a wide burst of highly charged but rapidly dissipating gravitrons which also has the added effect of being able to launch the wielder rapidly through the air if aimed directly underfoot. This gravity jumping, when combined with the already devastating effect of the Mace, has seen a spectacular manoeuvre enter into tournament play - the dreaded Death from Above. Unfortunately, the Mace is hideously inaccurate when used to fire the ball, to the point where the saying "as rare as a Mace goal" has found common usage among Steel Halo commentators. The ball will shoot out at a random angle, with random Coil, making it quite difficult to pass or shoot at targets of opportunity.

Snare
The Snare is to the Cannon as fire is to water. Essentially a supercharged vacuum, the Snare can draw in the ball, and even other players, from a great distance so powerful is its ability to pull. Perfect for goal defence, but even more suited to a skilled Ruck looking for interceptions or uncontested ball-ups. Also, at the expense of push capability, the Snare is lighter than every other GDG, and players report feeling totally unencumbered while using it, and capable of their usually top speed whilst running. Be careful pointing this GDG at another GDG, however - if both GDG's are pulling toward each other, the wielders will rapidly and involuntarily accelerate into each other, usually knocking each other out in a sickening but crowd pleasing collision. One last warning - because of the extreme amount of air that passes through the Snare, rapid freezing is a common problem that robs careless Snare users of their body temperature if you hold on to it for too long.

ArcCoil
Utilising three unique gravity tubes around a central particle chamber, the ArcCoil is capable of imparting controlled amounts of spin on the ball, making its trajectory arc gracefully through the air past defenders and into goals. Considered the Strikers GDG of choice, the ArcCoil is rarely mastered, but in the hands of such an individual, even oppositions will stop and stare in disbelief as the ball dances past them. Due to the specific configuration of gravitron beams, the ArcCoil is not a very effective melee weapon, nor is it equipped to pull in the ball at distance.

Ward
The Ward is a defensive GDG with amazing support capabilities. Unlike the other GDG's, it creates a powerful distortion that exerts a repulsive force against anything that comes into contact with it. The resulting 'Ward' repels any incoming energy, namely attacks from other GDG's, and also the ball, whilst maintaining limited launching capabilities. The Ward effectively overloads any attacking GDG due to the feedback created as the incoming energy interacts with the reflected energy. If a player purposely directs a subtle discharge into a Ward, the resulting force will be enough too repel the discharging player away at great speed, effectively turning the Ward owner into a mobile jump pad. Many teams employ the Ward in such a way, however the Ward's greatest appeal is its ability to deflect the ball accurately and with a tremendous boost of speed, creating a special scoring opportunity whereby teams will be awarded double points if they score off the ricochet - a Ward goal. One warning, however - if two Wards should collide, there will be a tremendous discharge of energy that will be felt across the entire arena.

Lance
The Lance is a specialised GDG that projects a highly focused beam of gravitrons for a two-fold effect. At maximum charge, a ball launched from a Lance will travel in a perfectly straight trajectory, much like a rocket that is unaffected by gravity, until it hits a surface, at which point it will then feel gravities pull. The Lance is therefore extremely accurate to a player with a steady hand, especially at long range, where its precision effects can often be felt. In melee, the same focusing beam of energy can cause serious injury - a well aimed head shot will knock any opponent instantly unconscious. However, due to the linear nature of the beam, the Lance is incapable of coiling.

Karma system
Probably the most distinctive part of Steel Halo is its manipulation of the Karma system within UT2004. Death has effectively been eliminated from the game, so no longer can you be killed at the start of a round and have to sit it out. When your health drops below a certain level, you become ragdolled. This is basically the same thing that happens when you're killed in a normal UT game, however unlike UT, when you become ragdolled, your health starts to regenerate, and once you near full health, you stand back up and are back in the game.

It creates an interesting environment, because all surfaces become live. If you run too fast into a wall, or drop from a large height, you'll instantly cut to your third person camera and go spinning into the ground.

Demonstrations
eGames Entertainment Expo 2006
Steel Halo was recently demonstrated at the eGames Entertainment Expo in Melbourne, Australia. It was the first real public unveiling of the game, and it was well received by the gaming community. Two maps were demonstrated, SH-Khesafi and SH-Miridin, as well as all the weapons.

eGames Entertainment Expo 2007
Steel Halo was again demonstrated to the public at EGE 2007, however the code base was considerably more stable than the release demonstrated in 2006. The version shown at EGE was released to the public on December 29th, 2007, and is currently available for download on the front page of the Steel Halo web site.

Maps
SH-NeoChiba
Welcome to Neo Chiba - the largest, most challenging arena on the Steel Halo circuit. Diagonal jump pads converge above the center of the arena, which features a cushion zone to slow players down.

SH-Miridin
A long, thin arena that tests a teams passing capabilities, and the nerve of their offensive tacklers.

SH-Khesafi
Double-sided goals feature in this fast scoring arena, so target those strikers and keep them out of the game!

SH-Nephilim
No description available at this time.

Servers
Currently there is one official Steel Halo server running for testing purposes. People with a full version of UT2004 will be able to find it using the Internet server browser built into the game, and selecting Steel Halo as a gametype. Others can achieve the same thing by creating a new favorite pointing to steel-halo.com.

External links
* Official Steel Halo site
* Download Links for Steel Halo
*
* eGames Entertainment Expo
* Primal Clarity Productions

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See Also

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