Fernando Reyes, the Mexican behind Halo

A story of faith and work

In this environment is Fernando Reyes Medina, senior multiplayer designer at Microsoft Gaming, who worked on the modes and systems of Halo Infinite. Graduated from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Computer Science, as an alternative to video game design, which was really his passion, Reyes’ path was filled with internships at Xbox and 343 Industries.

After taking a “leap of faith” he moves to Seattle with the intention of reaching his dream company: Xbox.

The story takes a turning point in the so-called hackathons, these competitions where especially engineers, designers and programmers compete to develop the best tool, resource and even find errors in programs and games. There Fernando decides to pay tribute to his favorite franchise with Halo Heroes.

“Halo Heroes was born out of my desire to be able to share my love of the franchise with a larger audience. There are many fans who enjoy the universe in other media such as toys, books or movies; however, I wanted to create something that I could play with my friends who don’t play video games and show them why I love this game so much,” Reyes mentions in an interview.

This led him to be part of the development of Halo Infinite, since he himself leads these alternate game modes that have brought new life to shooters, as was the design of the modes Big Team Battle, Stockpile and Total Control.

However, for Fernando it is not only about showing his way as a success story, but also opening and facilitating the path of the Latino and Mexican community in the gaming and video game development industry at the highest level.

“I realized how difficult the road to becoming a video game designer was having been born and raised in Mexico City. Talking to other friends in the community who work in the industry, we noticed that many of our issues were similar and none of them related to our skills or things that should be relevant to doing our jobs effectively. We realized that there are many systemic problems” mentions Fernando.