Devon Smith

Senior Systems & Gameplay Design Lead | (Contributed to Halo, Mass Effect, Dead Space... and far worse) He/Him 🏳️‍🌈 | Letterboxd:

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

Brand New Day fucking rules.

This is what a Marvel New York was supposed to feel like.

This is a Spider-Man comic arc in movie form in a way we haven’t really gotten before.

Got a few little spoilery gripes, but they really only based on what they do moving forward.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@ChaseSeaborne It’s a solid read, but that sadness and almost hopefulness in the original delivery already nailed it.

Meanwhile, Cortana sounds like your friend who snapped and shot someone, and is making you help her bury the body.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

Not a single performance re-recorded by the original VA is better than their 2001 version.

It’s not nostalgia; it’s an understanding of intent, pacing, and motivation.

This is a direction problem.

[Nikos @nikos_on_yt]

the old halo voice acting mogs the new voice lines. A fan put the old voice lines over the two betrayals cutscene and it's a night and day difference. Why didn't they just reuse the dialog from 25 years ago? It was already perfect

[Georgia Coley @artwithinpod]

the biggest feat of Brand New Day is that it’s somehow the first Spider-Man movie with a bunch of extra comic-book characters that doesn’t feel either overstuffed or pandering to future movies. it’s just an organic, living, comic book world! I couldn’t believe it!

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

Unless there was a legal reason, the only reason to re-record original actors would be to smooth out recording consistency with the actors that have retired or were unavailable.

That… didn’t happen.

Screams they didn’t have the time they needed based on the good cinematics.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

This got a lot of traction. For those non-moots peepin’… I was the guy locked in a small Russian room trying to rescue these cinematics on the *first* remake.

While we did what we could with the time we had, I had a good 17 years to think of what I’d do with these resources.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@ChefandArbistor For all of our faults and the valid criticism out there, we fought hard to preserve nearly every Easter Egg/community favorite glitch/speed run trick that was possible on a technical or in this case, legal level.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@torchedbyangels It was also me fighting one of the battles I lost to keep her in CEA.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@torchedbyangels The Misriah was just a placeholder because I didn’t have the file for Asklon on hand when I pitched it, but it made more sense to use an arms manufacturer for the propaganda context of the poster.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@Simonistired @torchedbyangels I don’t think doing the website for the credits was the move.

But originally, the site had ALL original teams credited per title.

They changed it at some point, which was a huge mistake.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@evolved117 Context: I was one of those morons.

(Specifically on the last remake with not enough time to meet our, or our audience’s expectations).

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@evolved117 343/Halo Studios has a ton of wonderful, passionate, and brilliant team members.

Many of which have mountains of challenges foisted upon their shoulders.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@Twisted0964 Yeah I was mostly referring to poor Steve, Jen, and Tim.

Stacker Keyes for life, but the new VA really does a good job of making the character his own and not being an impersonation.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@Lunnzies I just checked, and in-game one is 40 seconds longer, with no net positives or expanded context.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@Lunnzies The dead air lingering 1-3 seconds too long (and not artfully) is another layer (and the first thing I noticed).

The pacing of the good ones lead me to believe it was a result of slashed polish time.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@ashen82v @GoldenEvolved We had a VO trigger in H4 where Cortana says “Warthogs. And still in one piece!
Glad to see your luck is holding out” — right next to an area where people kept accidentally driving off a cliff.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@Revan_Reborn_1 Yeah, I’m definitely excluding the new lines in this comparison.

But I think that’s also the lynchpin.

The lines they have an understanding of because they authored them are pretty solid.

It’s the understanding of the original material that eludes them.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@LordPatriot445 @Xethicz The Stealth Elites should also not be two shot with the same sword on Normal.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@jungle_penguins The Anniversary Terminal team killed it. I remember being relieved and excited when they finally got delivered to us.

There WAS a funny draft where the “Miranda, is that you” line played over the shot of Halsey in a nightie.

[Devon Smith @DevGameDev]

@jungle_penguins Oh… I have the exact opposite opinion.

I think H5 has the worst “Focus, M”, overexposition-laden, and cast chatter misfires in the series.

Reach and H4 have the best drama-focused reads. Halo 2 is peak dialogue rhythm and inflection.