Okay, so I got into this little project lately, building a Halo emblem generator. It started, like many things, when I was playing some Halo again. You know how it is, you get the itch. But messing with the emblems in the newer games… it just felt a bit restrictive compared to the old days. Remember Halo Reach? Man, you could really make something unique back then.
So I thought, why not try and build something myself? Not for anyone else, really, just for me. A little tool to tinker with. I figured a simple web page thing, running locally on my machine, would be the way to go. Keep it simple.
Getting Started: The Pieces
First hurdle: getting the actual emblem parts. The shapes, the icons, all that stuff. I spent a good chunk of a weekend looking into how to maybe extract them, but honestly, that felt like a headache and maybe not entirely cool. So, plan B: I just started recreating them myself. Fired up my graphics software and drew a bunch of the classic shapes and icons from memory and references. It was slow work, pixel by pixel sometimes, but kinda relaxing in a weird way. Ended up with a folder full of basic PNG images with transparent backgrounds.
Putting it Together: The Code Bit
Alright, got the parts. Now to make them dance. I decided to use plain old HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Specifically, the HTML Canvas element seemed perfect for layering images and playing with colors.
Here’s roughly how I tackled it:
- Got a basic HTML page set up with a canvas area.
- Wrote some Javascript to load a background shape onto the canvas first.
- Figured out how to load a second image (an emblem icon) on top of the background.
- Added controls. Simple buttons at first: ‘Next Emblem’, ‘Next Background’.
- Then tackled colors. Found a simple color picker script someone else made – saves reinventing the wheel, right? Hooked that up so I could change the color for the foreground and background layers independently.
- Layering got more complex. Added controls to nudge the emblem layer around – up, down, left, right. Maybe add a resize option later, I thought.
Making it Usable (for me, at least)
The basic thing worked, but it was clunky. Clicking ‘Next’ a hundred times to find the shape you want? No thanks. So, I spent another evening refining it.
I swapped the simple buttons for dropdown menus. Much better. One list for backgrounds, one for the main emblem icon. Maybe add another layer later? Keep it simple for now.
Performance was okay, surprisingly. Since it was just layering a couple of small images on a canvas, my browser handled it fine. Didn’t need anything fancy server-side, just the images and the HTML/JS files sitting in a folder.
The Result?
So now I’ve got this little local tool. It’s nothing revolutionary. It doesn’t connect to the game or anything fancy like that. It’s just a simple sandbox for trying out emblem combinations quickly. Lets me recreate some old favorites or try ideas that might be tricky with the in-game UI limits.
Didn’t bother putting it online. Hosting, potential issues with using Halo-style assets (even if I redrew them)… too much hassle for a personal project. It just lives on my hard drive. But it was a fun exercise. Good practice with canvas and Javascript, and it scratched that creative itch the game couldn’t quite reach. Sometimes building a small tool for yourself is more satisfying than tackling some huge, complex thing.
