Trix and Brute - a Halo Infinite Halloween Story
Want to know what transpires when a Spartan IV uses a bit of trickery to extract high value intel from a Brute on Zeta Halo?
My submission for the Seattle Indies Halloween 2026 Game jam, for the theme "Trick or Treat".
My Process:
I've wanted to write a Halo story for eons. As a player of the franchise for twice as long as I have been a writer, I was like, "Yeah, let's give this a shot. I will use Infinite as the background narrative. Try to do something silly, too. Something unique."
I began by handwriting in a notebook spilling over with concepts and ideas. Decided that this was a chance to do a mini Halo story. Microsoft has a free content usage license, so why not? That page is as readable as Old English - I won’t want to share it here.
Next, I prototyped a full story arc using Twine 2.0, as you can see on this page. Given it is for branching narrative, I considered where to put those. Usually I sprinkle them throughout. But this time I wanted to give the player choice for the end. I did consider finding a place at the beginning. However, I just wanted to experiment. See how it plays with the multiple endings. Is it not engaging enough? Should I have written a longer second branch? I wasn’t sure. I am simply satisfied that I wrote it and submitted it within the time frame - one week.
I thought over the two characters. What was the main character’s need? Purpose? Want? How did that fit with the theme? I would have loved to go deeper with that, write a thirty minute short story. However, this was intended to be developed in a far shorter timeline. Thus, I kept it simple:
1) The Spartan needs to regroup with the UNSC Infinity’s survivors.
2) the Brute is digging for something in the ring.
3) This Spartan is experienced at interrogations. So what does he do instead? Something that fits with the goofiness of Halloween. No Spoilers!
I then transferred the writing blocks into Arcweave. Linked the elements together. Revised details, deleted a few sentences, and hit play.
My Result:
A interactive fiction experience set within the world of Halo Infinite. Sure, it doesn’t utilize anything such as Blueprints, C++, or Python. It shows that I can conceptualize, prototype, and build game narrative.
Initially I set out to write a spoof, a parody. Like, Brutes and Spartans don’t talk this way. But it morphed into a serious situation with a bit of comedy.
Sources:
For the Halo Infinite screenshots: the Brute: https://www.halopedia.org/index.php?title=Category:Halo_Infinite_screenshots&fil...
For the Spartan IV, also Halopedia screenshots.
I am unable to include more than one 5 mb music track using the free version of Arcweave. So I left music out of this. I was going to use tracks from here: https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/royalty-free-music/downloads-c/sci-fi-music/90