[tropshop]

Halo Combat Evolved is how I got into software development. It only had LAN multiplayer, but tunneling software on your PC enabled you to play over the internet. That blew my mind in high school and I got heavily involved in the community, writing mIRC scripts, chat bots, forum plugins, application skins, and so much more.

Man I spent endless hours playing and coding back then. But I never could get into the later Halos. The gameplay was so drastically different. The CE pistol was the ultimate weapon. It was always available and had the potential to bail you out of any scenario. But you can’t solely rely on it to win competitive games. Powerup timing is king. Everyone knew the exact second overshield/rockets would spawn, so there was a natural flow to the maps as teams pushed to gain these items. Halo 2 and beyond removed all of this.