This page discusses elements of deleted material and cut content. Some information on the page is sourced from game files and may not be verifiable through external sources. Where possible, such information should be clearly-marked and replaced with a proper external source as soon as one is available.

Evolution of John-117 during the development of Halo: Combat Evolved.

The evolution of the Master Chief, from RTS-era Cyborg to the Spartan known in the final game.

During the game's production, the various characters of Halo: Combat Evolved went through significant iteration. This article predominantly focuses on the creation of the named characters and human allies in Combat Evolved.^[1]^[2] For a breakdown of the evolution of the Covenant, Flood and ambient life in Halo, see here.

John-117

https://twitter.com/docabominable/status/1538050280092315648

Another design done by Paul Russel some time after 1999 involved a combat medic Spartan with a chest plate capable of unfolding to reveal a medical scanner and a surgical tool tray. Currently, the design remains MIA.^[3]

RTS Cyborg (1997-1998)

The earliest sketches were done by Marcus Lehto, based on his experiences with BMX biking - which influenced the helmet design.^[4]

Marcus Lehto's earliest sketches.^[5]
C.1997 concept art by Marcus Lehto.
C.1997 concept art by Marcus Lehto.
C.1998 concept art by Shi Kai Wang.

Third person cyborg (1999)

First person Master Chief (2000-2001)

Early revisions of the Mark V armour were covered in the emblem of the Shriners. Their concepts date back to early 2000, with a sketch produced by Marcus Lehto of the earliest recognisable Mark V produced at the beginning of April in this year.

First revision: The first major versions of the Mark V armor, as it would come to be known, were fairly finalised from their first creation. The major differences from the final design are the massively redesigned backpack - which takes the form of a single "hump" instead of the two distinctive shoulders as in later revisions. As such, it has a slimmer and less bulky silhouette. Some screenshots from this era showcase the armor as covered in the logos of the Shriners - presumably a placeholder emblem not intended for final release.

The texturework on this design has some more detail than the final iteration, with more (and different) segmentation patterns on the boots and legs in particular. The colours are deeper and more saturated than their final counterparts, with the model as a whole taking on more of a matte painted appearance (complete with scratches and chips) rather than the iridescent sheen seen in later builds. The forearms have some light secondary blue colouration.

C.1999 sketches of MJOLNIR armor by Paul Russel, predating Lehto's final design but done after the RTS and third-person eras.^[6]
Concept art of the early Mark V, with a pronounced backpack and lower-back knife, by Marcus Lehto (April 1, 2000).
A screenshot of an early take on the Mark V armor, with the Shriners logo visible.
A look at this design from the front (middle).
The early Mark V design holding an SMG.

Second revision: The second revision of the Mark V armor more closely resembles the final game, refining on the details of the previous round of details in a few areas. The pattern of the armour plating is now finalised and the shape of the back and chest are fully-finalised into the form they would take in the final game. The major differences of this era from the Master Chief encountered in the final release of Combat Evolved include a small antenna mounted on the right shoulder and the presence of a deep blue secondary colour - something which may have been the inspiration for the Chief's inclusion in Blue Team in the tie-in novel Halo: The Fall of Reach.

The blue patterning took on different forms in different builds, before being ultimately dropped in final release.

Mark V concept art by Shi Kai Wang.
More developed concept art, closer to the final Mark V by Marcus Lehto.
An antenna-Chief holding an early revision of the shotgun.
An infamous image of this design; one of the few released to showcase the cut Engineers.
Another look at this design holding a shotgun.
An alternate blue pattern seen in Combat Evolved's beta builds.
An antenna-equipped Master Chief with no secondary blue pattern - note the presence of traces of the pattern particularly on the legs.
The faded blue paint can be more clearly viewed in this screenshot.

Cortana

https://twitter.com/docabominable/status/1544962571375153152 https://twitter.com/docabominable/status/1544883413869641729 The character of Cortana was another concept originating well before the acquisition of Bungie by Microsoft. Early ideas for Cortana were considered in reference to Marathon, with her name originating from a famous literary trio of French swords. Marathon had used Durandal, and the third alternative Joyeuse sounded "lame". As such, Cortana was chosen, named after the legendary sword.^[1]

In early storyboards, Cortana was depicted as having shoulder-length hair and minimal clothing - as opposed to her final game's naked appearance with fairly short hair. In the final game, Cortana was modelled in 3D by artist Chris Hughes, with her design based on the ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti.^[7] An early model showcased by Hughes depicts Cortana with a face tattoo and green eyes - both features that were removed for final release.^[8]

An early storyboard depicting a considerably different design for Cortana.
An early model of Cortana, still bearing the face tattoo.

Human NPCs

Marines

Pilots

https://twitter.com/docabominable/status/1538048205564387328 One design concepted and built in 3D by Paul Russel depicts a pressurised vacuum suit intended for use by the pilots of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn's GA-TL1 Longsword complement. The designs were not intended for much use in-game, as they were instead meant to be mainly seen in cutscenes.^[9]^[10] The pilots were ultimately wholly unused in Combat Evolved, though later restored by the Digsite team at 343 Industries for use within the Master Chief Collection.^[2]

Spacesuit and early MJOLNIR sketches by Paul Russel.
A larger look at the Longsword pilot spacesuit.
Russel's final model for the pilot (right).

Sources

^ ^a ^b VICE, The Complete, Untold History of Halo (Retrieved on Jul 10, 2022) [archive]
^ ^a ^b Halo Waypoint, Cutting Room Floor (Retrieved on Jul 10, 2022) [archive]
^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "I have a spartan medic design somewhere, the chest plate would open out with a medical scanner and a surgical tool tray. I’m still looking for that." (Retrieved on Jul 30, 2022) [archive]
^ Twitter, Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator): "Yes. I was in my 20's and BMX biking was still popular, so it was inspired by that." (Retrieved on Jul 30, 2022) [archive]
^ Twitter, Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator): "The earliest Master Chief rough doodles I could find in my personal sketch books." (Retrieved on Jul 30, 2022) [archive]
^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "There were two versions of the armor before I started at Bungie, one was the khaki space marine armor when the game was an RTS; the other was a design by @shiekthegeek when it was a 3rd person game; I did these sketches before Marcus’ final design." (Retrieved on Jul 30, 2022) [archive]
^ halo.bungie.org, Cortana's face was modeled after an Egyptian queen (Retrieved on Jul 10, 2021) [archive]
^ hughesguitars, 3D (Retrieved on Jul 10, 2022) [archive]
^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "Oh, yup. I made that model and texture! That wasn’t my design, it was [Shi Kai Wang]’s. We only had four artists at the time, [Marcus Lehto] and I were pulling a lot of weight on environments, vehicles, and characters, [Shi Kai Wang] did 2D concepts, [Robt McLees] did weapons." (Retrieved on Jul 10, 2022) [archive]
^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "Nah. It was supposed to be a pressure suit for longsword pilots, only seen in cutscenes, I think. We were just throwing interesting ideas in. There was never any master plan for anything in Halo, we made everything up as we went along." (Retrieved on Jul 10, 2022) [archive]