Game Mechanics - The Fusion Coil
The fusion coil, a ‘Future Space Battery’, is essentially the explosive barrel of the Halo Universe. In Halo Infinite, you can also pick them up and throw them at the nearest enemy or ally. Why not use them to power up and down various mechanisms in Halo?
Idea: Let the player pick up fusion coils and insert them to power up and down various access ways, doors, turrets, etc. It should NOT be used as a ‘key’ to progress through a level (except in the first level as a tutorial) for obvious explosive reasons.
Example Use Cases
In the first level ‘Halo CE: The Pillar of Autumn’, there are some small access ways that you can travel through. Most are not required to travel through, but they do offer extra ways to sneak around and ambush the Covenant enemies. With this new fusion coil mechanic, you could choose between powering up those access ways to sneak up on the enemy, or take the fusion coil and throw it at the enemy, both are cool.
In the level ‘Halo CE: The Truth and Reconciliation’, you are rescuing Captain Keyes. He is in a covenant jail cell. You find him, press a button to power down the force fields, and he’s free. Fusion coils give a second option, remove the fusion coil, and chuck it at the next enemy you see. Both should be available to the player. Another idea would be to have ‘Vehicle recharging stations’ in the large hanger bay, adds a bit of mechanical scenery to the level.
On various covenant levels, there could be fusion coil powered weapon recharging stations scattered around.
Plus there is always the fusion coils value as a prop. On the level ‘Halo CE: The Silent Cartographer’, you could use fusion coils and the associated equipment as functional props to indicate a buildup of force over time. IE: after completing half the level, if you return to the initial landing zone, you could see a set up base with fusion coils powering various turrets and equipment.
Example Bad Use Case
In the level ‘Halo CE: The Truth and Reconciliation’, when you first board the Covenant ship, you are stuck in a room fighting enemies slowly streaming into the room until the last wave, when a big door opens signifying the progression out of the starting room. A bag idea would be to make the door only open if you power it up. You would need to find a fusion coil, which isn’t hard, unless said fusion coil got blown up during the fighting. If the last fusion coil in the room got blown up, then you would need have some sort of fusion coil spawner that magically ‘appears’ new fusion coils. Then you would need to have some reason for a ‘magic fusion coil spawner machine’ in said room, on top of implementing said machine.
A better way to implement the idea would be to let the door open after the fighting stops as normal, BUT you could open the door earlier during the fighting if you plug in a fusion coil. No ‘magic fusion coil spawning machine’ needed. Plus you are rewarding players for knowing the mechanics of the game.
TLDR
Exploding Barrels, making a more interactive sandbox =P
