Alphamoon: Difference between revisions

==Description==

{{Quote|We were building stuff that just couldn't be played, in any engine, we built, and detailed, and went a huge way down the path with a whole bunch of environments and levels for the game that just totally didn't make it. If you look at the level with the Flood, inside the quarantine area - that is the remaining 20 per cent of a gargantuan, sprawling level that was meticulously built and hand-constructed, but that could never, ever have shipped in any engine.|[[Chris Butcher]], discussing alphamoon.{{Ref/Reuse|Eurogamer}}}}

alphamoon was first revealed in a stream of the [[Halo 2 E3 demo|''Halo 2'' E3 demo]], shown by [[Frank O'Connor]] and [[Brian Jarrard]] following Jarrard's chance finding of a ''Halo 2''-era [[Xbox]] devkit with the build on it in his home. alphamoon is one of a number of levels included in this build. The level as presented in the stream is based in the ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' game engine, using the ''Combat Evolved'' HUD, plasma rifle, and plasma pistol - though the [[Unggoy]] and [[Sangheili]] art assets featured are their ''Halo 2'' incarnations. The level is from early ''Halo 2'' development and is not optimised, resulting in a very low framerate while playing.{{Ref/Reuse|stream}} Level geometry found in an early prototype created by [[David Candland]] for ''Halo 2''{{'}}s cut [[Theater]] mode showcases a small section of level geometry - prominently including a [[Type-48 Weevil]] cannon intended as an objective for the player to destroy.{{Ref/Site|Id=Candland|URL=https://www.cand.land/halo2party|Site=David Candland|Page=Halo 2 Party Prototype|D=14|M=11|Y=2021}} This original alphamoon geometry was later described by [[Chris Butcher]] as a "''gargantuan, sprawling level''" that could have never shipped.{{Ref/Site|Id=Eurogamer|URL=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/bungie-halo-2-e3-demo-was-a-fake|Site=Eurogamer|Page=Halo 2 E3 demo was "smoke and mirrors"|Quote=If you look at the level with the Flood, inside the quarantine area - that is the remaining 20 per cent of a gargantuan, sprawling level that was meticulously built and hand-constructed, but that could never, ever have shipped in any engine.|Quotee=Chris Butcher|D=27|M=02|Y=2022}}

In the level dialogue, the Arbiter is referred to by the title of "Dervish".{{Ref/Reuse|stream}} This name was the original title for the Arbiter in ''Halo 2'' development, but was ultimately changed to avoid being unintentionally offensive to Muslims.

===Current status===

The level is set in a heretic camp on the moon of Basis. While this concept did not make its way into the final ''Halo 2'' campaign, this idea is the basis for the setting of the multiplayer level [[Burial Mounds]]. Ultimately, several ideas from the early stages of this level's development were present in early Burial Mounds iterations such as the Control Room structure (detailed in the storyboard selection below), though the initial sketches produced by [[Max Hoberman]] were deemed too intensive for the two-man team assigned to the level - leading to the map's layout being redesigned by [[Chris Carney]] into the iteration seen in the final game.{{Ref/Twitter|MaxHoberman|1073617496228409344|Max Hoberman|Quote=Alright, one more original Halo 2 multiplayer map design to cap the week, then something else. You'll never, ever guess which map this was my original paper design for. Sorry it's so crap quality, still trying to find the original file.|D=15|M=11|Y=2021}}{{Ref/Twitter|MaxHoberman|1073641053570383874|Max Hoberman|Quote=Yes! This was the original idea for Burial Mounds that I put together. It was clearly out of scope - we were a two man team - so Carney scrapped it and started over.|D=15|M=11|Y=2021}}

==Transcript==