709forms it when assets are fi rst imported into the editor. This approach pays off
in rapid iteration time when iterating on level design. However, it can make
the cost of changing source assets like meshes, animations, audio assets, and
so on more painful. Other engines like the Source engine and the Quake engine
pay the asset optimization cost when baking out the level prior to running the
game. Halo gives the user the option to change raw assets at any time; they are
converted into optimized form when they are fi rst loaded into the engine, and
the results are cached to prevent the optimization step from being performed
needlessly every time the game is run.
13.4. The Game World Editor