Editing Cut Halo: Combat Evolved levels

{{Status|RealWorld}}
{{GameFiles}}
{{Series/Cut/HCE}}
{{Quote|[Crunch] happened on Halo 1 as well, of the 25 planned missions for Halo, we shipped 10. Part of the problem is that as team size grows, all the really informal, seat-of-your-pants stuff you've been doing just doesn't work.|[[Chris Butcher]] on ''Halo''{{'}}s cut levels.{{Ref/Reuse|Eurogamer}}}}
During the [[Development of Halo: Combat Evolved|development]] of ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'', the game took many forms including [[real-time strategy]], third-person shooter and eventually, [[first-person shooter]]. As the game transitioned into an FPS and a release for the [[Xbox]] platform, work on the game's campaign still hadn't begun by [[2000#September|September 2000]].{{Ref/Site|URL=http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive2.pl?read=42414|Site=halo.bungie.org|Page=Re: That reminds me...|Quote=Have they moved into the single player portion of the game yet?<br>Nope. Although a lot of it is being discussed.|Quotee=Matt Soell|D=27|M=02|Y=2022}} Mission brainstorming later began in earnest in December{{Ref/Site|Id=Rampancy|URL=https://rampancy.net/info/weekly_updates/december_1_2000_originally_at_halo_bungie_org|Site=Rampancy.net|Page=1/12/2000 Bungie Weekly Update|D=27|M=02|Y=2022}} with the rest completed over the course of [[2001]]. This page documents the levels known to be '''cut from release''', predominantly those planned out for the game's final FPS release.

==Overview==
{{Quote|I vividly remember building, literally on 3x5 index cards, a number and letter system. A10, A20, A30 and so on for each one of the missions. B30 was “The Silent Cartographer”. I pinned them to a board and I just stared at it for hours. There must’ve been 40 of those cards of there, and I’m like: “There’s no way in hell we’re going to build all of this.”|Marcus Lehto on ''Halo''{{'}}s cut levels.{{Ref/Reuse|VICE}}}}
When planning out ''Halo: Combat Evolved''{{'}}s campaign, [[Marcus Lehto]] originally planned things out on 3x5 index cards, with a number and letter system assigned.{{Ref/Site|Id=VICE|URL=https://www.vice.com/en/article/xwqjg3/the-complete-untold-history-of-halo-an-oral-history#ulf-1|Site=VICE|Page=The Complete, Untold History of Halo|D=27|M=02|Y=2022}} These names can be found in the final game map files, and are listed as such below;
*'''A10''' - [[The Pillar of Autumn (Halo: Combat Evolved level)|The Pillar of Autumn]]
*'''A30''' - [[Halo (Halo: Combat Evolved level)|Halo]]
*'''A50''' - [[The Truth and Reconciliation]]
*'''B30''' - [[The Silent Cartographer]]
*'''B40''' - [[Assault on the Control Room]]
*'''C10''' - [[343 Guilty Spark]]
*'''C20''' - [[The Library]]
*'''C40''' - [[Two Betrayals]]
*'''D20''' - [[Keyes]]
*'''D40''' - [[The Maw]]

As can be seen in the numbering, there are several missing gaps indicating where levels were to be included, before being cut. At some point in development, the 40 missions Lehto planned out were eventually reduced to a more manageable 25, though another 15 were later cut for final release.{{Ref/Site|Id=Eurogamer|URL=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/better-than-halo-the-making-of-halo-2-article?page=4|Site=Eurogamer|Page=Better Than Halo: The Making of Halo 2|Detail=Page 4|D=27|M=02|Y=2022}} 

==Campaign levels==
===B20===
B20 is a level developed very early in the production of ''Combat Evolved''. Little is known of it, though its files still exist at [[343 Industries]]. As part of the "[[Digsite]]" project, the level was explored for potential use as a [[Firefight]] map.{{Ref/Site|Id=HWCRF|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/cutting-room-floor|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Cutting Room Floor|D=07|M=07|Y=2022}} Most of the surviving information about B20 comes in the form of missing tag references, as opposed to actual useable files. Much of the level's overall swamp themeing was similar to the final game [[343 Guilty Spark (level)|343 Guilty Spark]], or the cut multiplayer map [[#Swampthing|Swampthing]].{{Ref/Site|Id=DigsiteDeliveries|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/digsite-deliveries|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Digsite Deliveries|D=07|M=07|Y=2023}}

In the original story cut of B20, the Master Chief was to have been tasked with assassinating a [[Covenant]] "Prophet". At this stage in ''Halo'', the [[San'Shyuum]] species (more commonly known as "Prophets") did not exist yet and were to debut in ''[[Halo 2]]'' - instead, the Prophet target of the level was to have been an [[Sangheili|Elite]] wearing a "striking hat" - something which likely went on to inspire the [[Sangheili High Councilor|Elite Councilors]] in ''Halo 2'' instead. Similarly, the objective of assassinating a Prophet was realised in ''Halo 2'', with Master Chief's mission to assassinate the [[Prophet of Regret]] in the levels [[Delta Halo]]/[[Regret (Halo 2 level)|Regret]]. The level would have featured a mysterious monster that lurked in the central portion of the map, forcing the player to take a wide path around that middle section to avoid being killed while they made their way to a tower in the distance.{{Ref/Reuse|DigsiteDeliveries}}

===Alpha Base===
The series of storyboards marked X40 depict a cutscene not featured in the final release of ''Combat Evolved'', set after the end of the level [[The Truth and Reconciliation]]. The cutscenes depict the commandeered [[Dextro Xur-pattern Spirit|Spirit]] dropship (notably shown flying backwards due to a mistake on Wilson's part) returning to [[Alpha Base (Installation 04)|Alpha Base]], flanked by [[Longsword]] fighters. The Spirit lands on the base's landing pad to an audience of hundreds of assembled Marines, who cheer at the return of the Captain and the Master Chief. The crowd is hushed and Keyes gives a speech, before turning away from the crowd and addressing the Master Chief and Cortana directly.

This mission lines up with a [[Cut Halo: Combat Evolved levels|cut level]] recalled by [[Joseph Staten]] during the ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' developer commentary included in the ''[[Halo 3 Legendary Edition]]'', in which he mentions that a level was intended to take place between The Truth and Reconciliation and the following mission [[The Silent Cartographer]], which would have explained the purpose of Installation 04 and its purpose as a weapon. This mission was ultimately cut and the information relegated to the cutscene on The Truth and Reconciliation in which Keyes is saved from the brig; a decision later mocked by the developers who referred to the Captain as "Captain Exposition". It is likely that the cutscene shown here would have served the purpose mentioned by Staten. {{Ref/Reuse|DevCommentary}}

These storyboards also give a look at what Bungie intended for Alpha Base, later featured heavily in [[2003]]'s ''[[Halo: The Flood]]'' as the UNSC base of operations on the ring. Part of the original pitch of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' would have seen the player waging a larger guerilla war against the Covenant on the ring, though by the final release almost all mentions of a UNSC home base on the ring were removed for time. The base in these storyboards resembles a [[Beacon tower]] like those featured elsewhere in the game, though the base as visualised in [[2018]]'s ''[[Halo: Fireteam Raven]]'' has a drastically different appearance.
;X40 1
<gallery>
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 1 1.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 1 2.jpg
</gallery>

;X40 2
<gallery>
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 2 1.jpg
</gallery>

;X40 3
<gallery>
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 3 1.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 3 2.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 3 3.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 3 4.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 3 5.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 3 6.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 3 7.jpg
</gallery>

;X40 4
<gallery>
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 1.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 2.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 3.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 4.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 5.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 6.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 7.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 8.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 9.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 10.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 11.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 12.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 13.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 14.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 15.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 16.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 17.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 18.jpg
File:HCE AlphaBase Storyboard X40 4 19.jpg
</gallery>

===Level after The Silent Cartographer===
In early drafts of ''Combat Evolved'', a level was intended to take place inbetween The Silent Cartographer and Assault on the Control Room. This level was ultimately cut for time, and the cinematic depicting Echo 419's descent inside the bowels of Installation 04 was included instead to justify the travel to a completely new region in the next level. A lack of resources at the time meant no matte paintings were available to depict the dropship flying above-ground.{{Ref/YouTube|Id=DevCommentary|EwfnAM3dBrM|Vikingo NO|Halo Combat Evolved: Developer Commentary Playthrough (2007)【55:12】}}

Despite this level being cut, The Silent Cartographer and Assault on the Control Room retain subsequent ordering of B30 and B40 in the files, respectively - indicating that one of these missions may have been renamed in the course of development, or started development after this level was cut.{{Ref/Reuse|DevCommentary}}

===Volcano level===
One level discussed for development around December 2000 involved "volcanos and heavy machinery". Little is known aside from this.{{Ref/Reuse|Rampancy}}

==Multiplayer maps==
===Indoor===
{{Article quote|Imagine the smell. 4-8 players.{{Ref/Reuse|DigsiteDeliveries}}}}
Indoor is a map developed by [[Gearbox Software]] for the [[Halo: Combat Evolved (PC port)|''Halo'' PC port]], though never shipped with the game.{{Ref/Reuse|HWCRF}} The map was the most complete of the Gearbox cut ''Combat Evolved'' maps, with already near-finished visuals and a close-quarters, small-team layout - unlike the other ''Halo PC'' maps which were all designed for [[Big Team Battle]].{{Ref/Reuse|DigsiteDeliveries}}

In the [[Digsite]] restoration project, Indoor was taken by contributor Ludus and taken to a state of completion in a new map called Underground. Underground was created by Ludus with a goal to fix up Indoor's messy spawns and layout using feedback written by [[Bungie]] for Gearbox back in ''Halo PC''{{'}}s development alongside a suite of textures created by Gearbox but never used in-game. The textures (and map theme in general) are [[human]] in nature - with ''Combat Evolved'' having few human-themed environments, this provided an opportunity to increase some visual variety in the ''Combat Evolved'' multiplayer experience. The map's soundscape was updated to include blaring sirens inspired by those of the film ''Alien''.{{Ref/Reuse|DigsiteDeliveries}}

The [[tag]]s for both the original Indoor and the Digsite-revamped Underground are available in the Digsite release for the ''[[Halo Editing Kit]]''.{{Ref/Reuse|DigsiteDeliveries}}
<gallery>
File:HCE Digsite Indoor.jpg|The original Indoor map.
File:HCE Digsite Underground.jpg|Ludus' recreation of Indoor, named Underground.
</gallery>

===Dusk===
{{Article quote|Watch your step. 2-4 players.{{Ref/Reuse|DigsiteDeliveries}}}}
Dusk was a map created by Gearbox Software for the ''Halo'' PC port.{{Ref/Reuse|HWCRF}} Unlike Indoor, Dusk was not close to content-complete, and had a considerably less refined layout, with an inconsistent scale and a muddied centre layout resembling the map [https://callofduty.fandom.com/wiki/Rust Rust] from the ''Call of Duty'' franchise. As such, Digsite contributor Ludus used that as inspiration for his recreation of Dusk for the game's multiplayer, now-termed Abyss.{{Ref/Reuse|DigsiteDeliveries}}

Abyss reuses an unused texture originally developed for Indoor, and the skybox from the E3 2000 build of ''Combat Evolved''. The [[tag]]s for both Dusk and Abyss are available for modders to use as part of the Digsite release in the ''Halo Editing Kit''.{{Ref/Reuse|DigsiteDeliveries}}
<gallery>
File:HCE Digsite Dusk.jpg|The original Dusk map.
File:HCE Digsite Abyss.jpg|Ludus' recreation of Dusk, named Abyss.
File:HCE Digsite Abyss.jpg|An early work-in-progress version of Abyss, using the original 2000-era skybox.
File:HCE Digsite Abyss Skybox.jpg|The E3 2000 skybox on Abyss.
File:HCE Digsite Abyss Cave.jpg|A cave on Abyss.
</gallery>

===Mofocross===
"Mofocross" was a map created by [[Max Hoberman]] created back at the old Bungie offices in Chicago in c.[[1999]]. It consisted of an island with a racetrack running throughout it that would allow players to [[race]] [[Warthog]]s and [[Ghost]]s around the island.{{Ref/Twitter|MaxHoberman|1679280310876508160|Max Hoberman|Quote=Seeing these old Halo multiplayer maps being resurrected makes me want someone to dredge up Mofocross. It was a Warthog v Ghost race map, with a road that looped around the perimeter of an island. I made it using the terrain editor, way back in Chicago ... I think in 1999.|D=31|M=07|Y=2023}}

===Swampthing===
{{Article quote|Something in the mist...{{Ref/Reuse|DigsiteDeliveries}}}}
Swampthing was developed by Gearbox Software for ''Halo PC'' as a map with a similar theming to the level [[343 Guilty Spark (level)|343 Guilty Spark]] or the earlier level [[#B20|B20]]. The map has a look and layout broadly similar to ''[[Halo 2]]''{{'}}s [[Backwash]], taking place inside the swamps of [[Installation 04]].{{Ref/Reuse|HWCRF}} A map named "swamp" has also been referenced by Digsite, though whether swamp is related to swampthing is unclear.{{Ref/Reuse|HWCRF}}
<gallery>
File:HCE_Digsite_Swampthing.jpg|Swampthing, as restored by the Digsite team.
</gallery>

===Ruined Pain===
A map codenamed "ruinedpain" is referenced inside ''Combat Evolved''{{'}}s files, with files still existing at 343 Industries.{{Ref/Reuse|HWCRF}} The map was recalled by [[Hardy LeBel]] as possibly coinciding with a map that was cut from the game involved a huge human interior space and created by [[Paul Russel]] as a test for his human architectural styles. The map was later passed onto LeBel, though ultimately scrapped due to requiring too much time and energy to work into something useable. As of [[2015]], LeBel could not remember if this space was the fabled ruinedpain, or another map.{{Ref/YouTube|xEhdyzjVVqk|Hardy LeBel|Question Session - Level Design|Quote=Hmm, well I don't know anything about a volcano mission for single player. And I'm not certain about this, but Ruined Pain sounds familiar. I can say that I had one other map in CE that I cut before we shipped. It was an absolutely HUGE interior "Human" space built by Paul Russell. I think he made it as a proof of concept for his Human geometry. He gave me the files for the space, but as I was looking it over it was so huge that it really would have needed lots of time and energy to make into a good MP map - time he simply didn't have since he was so busy with single-player stuff. So alas - the world never saw it. That might have been Ruined Pain. But we may never know...|Quotee=Hardy LeBel|Detail={{C|[[:File:REF YouTube RuinedPain Comment.png|Local archive]]}}}}

The map can be spotted in the [[Halo:_Combat_Evolved_Beta_1749|1749 Beta]], where the image for the level [[Damnation]] features the map in an untextured blockout form, with the description "Colony remains on [[Reach]]". As part of the Digside Alpha initiative to uncover and restore cut content, this map is being further developed by Conscars under the name "Purgatory", combining the existing model with a modified layout and new scenery inspired by the Beta 1749 description.{{Ref/Site|Id=HWCRC|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/cutting-room-corps|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Cutting Room Corps|D=07|M=03|Y=2024}}

<gallery>
File:HCE_Con-Damnation.jpg|The level as it appears in the [[Halo:_Combat_Evolved_Beta_1749|1749 Beta]].
File:HCE_Con-purgatory1.jpg|A model of the level.
File:HCE_Con-purgatory2.jpg|An in-development screenshot of the level "Purgatory", based on the cut Ruined Pain level.
</gallery>

===Post-launch maps===
A number of maps were created by the developers at [[Gearbox Software]] during their production of ''[[Halo Custom Edition]]'' and the [[Halo Editing Kit]], that were not included in the official release of these levels. Gearbox developer Marc Tardif noted the following in an interview with Gamespy:
{{Quote|The Halo team at Gearbox has created a few new maps since the game has released, but we're not releasing them at the same time that we release this new software. Our new maps do need a bit more attention before they can be released, and we also want to see how the community responds to all the great, new things that HaloCE and the HEK allow. We know that with the HEK, there will be huge amounts of new content coming from end users and we have an interest in seeing the best of this material join our own maps as official maps. In the future, I expect we'll have more official maps, and I think that not all of these maps will have been created solely by the folks at Gearbox.{{Ref/Site|URL=http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/halo-combat-evolved/509885p2.html|Site=GameSpy|Page=Gearbox Software Announces Halo CE|D=11|M=11|Y=2023}}}}

==Miscellaneous==
The following map names are known to remain in the files internally at 343 Industries, though little is currently known of them;
*race day - Raceday is the working title of a map shown to be in a maps folder alongside other cut ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' maps and experimented on ''very'' early in ''Halo 2'' development. Based around the concept of a "''[[Wikipedia:Car Wars|Car Wars]]''" style mode. It was cut very early on, still graphically resembling a ''Combat Evolved'' level.{{Ref/Reuse|HWCRF}}
*swamp{{Ref/Reuse|HWCRF}}

===Spasm===
{{Expand-section}}
<code>spasm</code> is a map prominently shown throughout much of the development of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' while it was still intended to be a third person game releasing on personal computers. Notably the Macworld 1999 and E3 2000 demos feature different iterations of Spasm{{Ref/Reuse|DigsiteDeliveries}}. The Macworld 1999 iteration was released by ''[[Digsite]]'' in 2023 as part of the ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Editing Kit]]''.
<gallery>
File:PXH CGW1999Cover Screenshot.jpg|Original full sized image used as the CGW magazine 1999 cover, depicting Macworld 1999 Spasm.
File:Digsite Spasm.jpg|Macworld 1999 Spasm ported to MCC.
</Gallery>

===Playground===
Playground is a developer testing environment used by 343's Digsite project for showcasing and evaluating project content.{{Ref/Reuse|HWCRF}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

{{Deleted Material}}
[[Category:Halo: Combat Evolved]]