For Halo Infinite, the team at 343 Industries built more than a game. They also developed a brand-new game engine, Slipspace. Now, the studio has spoken a bit more about what that engine allows the team to do--and it sounds like a lot.

Halo franchise director Frank O'Connor said in a video that the Slipspace engine was designed for "next-generation" game development, and also to be easier to work with.

"We had to create an engine that was more powerful for next-generation development, but also more nimble, so the creatives and engineers are able to work more easily and iterate faster," he said. "This technical groundwork is vital to build a platform for the future of Halo."

Engineering director David Berger said in the video that the Slipspace engine allows the team at 343 to do things that were not possible with the previous game-making tools. "You have to make tools that allow you to make new features that allow you to make features that weren't thought about [before]. You've gotta give the content-creators room to ideate outside of that," he said.

Multiplayer director Tom French, meanwhile, said one of the benefits of the Slipspace engine is that it allows the team to try new things more quickly than before.

"Designers are more empowered themselves to actually tackle a problem and prototype something quicker and faster than we've ever done before," he said.

Interestingly, eagle-eyed fans spotted a reference to a grappling hook in this new behind-the-scenes video. However, O'Connor downplayed the significance of this, saying it's not necessarily a feature that will be in Halo Infinite.

In another intriguing piece of news, 343 community manager Brian Jarrard recently teased that he was in the office on a Saturday for a playtest. He's presumably referencing Halo Infinite, and if the team is working on the weekend, the studio might be gearing up for some kind of announcement soon. Halo Infinite is launching later this year, and there will be beta tests beforehand, so it is high time for Microsoft to finally show and say more about it.

If you’re at the studio on a Saturday for a playtest, is it really “work?” 🤔 Do what you love and it’s never “work.” 🤘 — Brian Jarrard (@ske7ch) February 8, 2020

Halo Infinite is a launch title for Xbox Series X (and any other next-gen Xbox consoles Microsoft may be working on), while it will also play on the regular Xbox One, as well as PC.