Development of Halo: Combat Evolved: Difference between revisions

''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' was '''developed''' by [[Bungie]] between 1997 and release in November [[2001]]. During this time, the game that would come to be known as ''Halo'' and the development team behind it went through many radical changes, with the game originating life as a real-time-strategy game, before evolving into a third-person shooter and finally, the first-person shooter known today. This page tracks the development of the game from its earliest origins to final release.

In [[1997 (real world)|1997]], Bungie had just finished ''Myth: The Fallen Lords'' and was beginning the development of ''Myth II''. During this time, Bungie only had 12-15 employees in a small office in South Halsted, Chicago, when [[Marcus Lehto]] was brought on board to work with [[Jason Jones]] on a small "side project" then-known as "Armor".<ref name="Armor">[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive.pl?read=10986 ''halo.bungie.org'' - ''RE: Armor'']</ref> This project was at least in progress by the time the "Armor" trademark was filed on September 24, 1997.<ref>[https://inventively.com/trademarks/armor/bungie-software-products-corporation/75362042 ''Armor trademark'']</ref> This side project was the origins of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', originating as an RTS due to thinking ''Myth'' would be better if it were science-fiction and ''Starcraft'' would be better without resource management. Due to Bungie's interest in physics to provide gameplay, they wanted the vehicles to feel like vehicles and move on 3D terrain. This integration would be based in the ''Myth'' engine<ref name="untold">[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xwqjg3/the-complete-untold-history-of-halo-an-oral-history#ulf-1 ''VICE - The Complete, Untold History of Halo'']</ref>, and was later referred to as "basically ''[[Myth]]'' in a sci-fi universe."<ref name="bungiehistory">[http://bungie.net/Inside/CustomPage.aspx?section=History&subsection=Main&page=6 ''Bungie.net: Inside Bungie: History''] (Archived copy [https://web.archive.org/web/20041216074133/https://www.bungie.net/Inside/CustomPage.aspx?section=History&subsection=Main&page=6 here])</ref> This prototype would change name from "Armor" due to the need to avoid the game actually shipping with that title, and would be referred to internally as "Monkey Nuts" as to ensure the game would not ''actually'' ship with that title. "Monkey Nuts" was quickly changed to "Blam!" as Jones didn't want to tell his mother he was working on a game called "Monkey Nuts".<ref name="untold"/> The trademarks for "Blam.net" and "Blam.org" were filed in March 1998.<ref>[http://marathon.bungie.org/story/bungiedomreginfo.html ''Blam.net and Blam.org trademarks'']</ref>

The initial RTS prototype was built with an isometric camera view, though experimentation with certain features allowed a third-person camera to be attached to units for control including the soon-to-be Warthog and Marines. The fun of using the Warthog vehicle led to the camera getting closer and closer. The initial revisions of what would become the Master Chief at this time were simple ~400-polygon models nicknamed something along the lines of the "future soldier", designed to be a supersoldier much like the final Master Chief, but deployable en-masse on the battlefield.<ref name="untold"/> These RTS versions of the game had no story and were purely designed for multiplayer<ref name="untold"/>, though by late [[1998]]/ early [[1999 (real world)|1999]], the game had fully morphed into a third person shooter.<ref name="OriginOfHalo">[https://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?cid=630 ''Bungie.net: The Origin of Halo'']</ref> [[Jaime Griesemer]] was hired in mid-1998 at which point the ''Halo'' team was 8-9 people mostly working on the game engine. By this point, the game had one assault rifle that could fire grenades and a small boat called a "[[Doozy]]", though Griesemer soon began creation of the shotgun and sniper rifle. The multiplayer mode had a [[Slayer|4v4 deathmatch mode]], and the staff would often stop development at 4pm every day and play for the evening.<ref name="untold"/><ref name="GI"/> As development progressed, Bungie would eventually move offices to the north side of Chicago to be in a nicer area and nearer to Marty O'Donnel's studio.<ref name="GI"/>

On July 21, 1999, during the Macworld Conference & Expo, Steve Jobs announced that ''Halo'' would be released for Mac OS and Windows simultaneously.<ref>[http://pc.ign.com/articles/068/068975p1.html ''IGN: Heavenly "Halo"'']</ref> Before this public announcement, game industry journalists under a non-disclosure agreement had previewed the game in a private showing during [[Electronic Entertainment Expo|E3 1999]] - mid-May of that year - and were reportedly amazed.<ref name="untold"/><ref>[http://halo.bungie.org/pressscans/display.html?scan=pcgamerusoct99 ''PC Gamer: Your first look at... "Halo"'']</ref> However, the game was still nameless and thus Bungie hired a branding company to help them name the game. The company and Bungie generated hundreds of names<ref name="untold"/> including "The Santa Machine", "The Crystal Palace", "Solipsis"<ref name="solipsis" group="Note">Solipsis was the original name for the planet the ring orbited, now known in canon as [[Threshold]].</ref>, "Hard Vacuum", "Starshield", "Star Maker", "Age of Aquarius"<ref name="OriginOfHalo"/> and "Red Shift".<ref name="AOH73">''[[The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World]]'' - ''p. 73''</ref> However, the name the team ultimately settled on was "Covenant", and this name was given several logo treatments.<ref name="untold"/> However, one artist - [[Paul Russel]] - thought the name was "stupid" and came up with five or six other names<ref name="untold"/>, including "Project: Halo"<ref name="AOH73"/>. Few people at the studio liked the name at first, as some thought it was too-religious and that it didn't particularly sound like an action game.<ref name="untold"/><ref name="AOH73"/> However, when Russel wrote down the name on the whiteboard in the studio, the name "clicked" in a way that was simple, and described the intent of the universe while maintaining a sense of mystery.<ref name="untold"/> Bungie also teased fans with a Blam! mention on their webcam<ref>[http://halo.bungie.org/bborgarch/bborg_072199/e3.html ''halo.bungie.org - E3 Shenanigans'']</ref>, and on May 20th a ''Myth II'' fan site was suddenly updated with what would become the Blam! project's final name - ''Halo''.<ref name="MBO">[http://marathon.bungie.org/story/blam.html ''marathon.bungie.org - Blam!'']</ref> The trademark for ''Halo'' was filed in February 1999.<ref>[https://inventively.com/trademarks/halo/microsoft-corporation/75638523 ''Halo trademark'']</ref>

Despite this, the primary issue remained that the gameplay footage seen at the Macworld conference was almost everything the studio had working at the time.<ref name="GI">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqb3Mgc_T0M ''Youtube: GI Show: The Halo Spectacular (Feat. 343i, Jaime Griesemer, Marty O'Donnell)''] - (Interview begins at 56:04)</ref> At the time, the game promised a seamless world without levels or loading screens, open terrain, fauna, flora, weather, celestial events and more.<ref name="rampancy"/> Ultimately, many of these features would be cut for various reasons, but the large expansive levels and seamless transitions from indoor to outdoor environments - considered revolutionary at the time<ref name="GI"/> - would remain in the final release.

Despite the hype surrounding ''Halo'' and Bungie's success in announcing it, the company was undergoing financial struggles due to the less-than-successful launch of ''Myth II''<ref name="seropian">[http://halo.bungie.org/misc/interviews/img.seropian.061900/ ''halo.bungie.org: Interview: Bungie's Alexander Seropian'']</ref> - the game had an installer bug that forced Bungie to recall copies of the game so it could be fixed. A month following the Macworld unveiling of ''Halo'', on August 13, Bungie announced they were entering into a publishing partnership with Take Two Interactive, and would begin to see their games published on consoles - where before Bungie had primarily been a PC game developer. Bungie would handle publishing in North America through Take Two's framework, while the two would co-publish games in Europe and Asia.<ref name="mac">[https://www.macobserver.com/news/99/august/990813/bungietaketwo.html ''The Mac Observer: Bungie Software Brings In Distribution Partner, May Head Into Console Market'']</ref> Around this time, Microsoft had begun work on the [[Xbox]], and then-Microsoft Game Studios head Ed Fries was tasked with building up a portfolio of games for the console's launch in fall [[2001]]. When he received a call from Peter Tamte about Bungie's financial situation, he was extremely interested. Take Two invited two of their leading studios - Bungie and Rockstar Games - to meet with Microsoft in January [[2000]].<ref name="untold"/><ref name="seropian"/> Alex Seropian and Tamte later agreed that joining Microsoft would be good<ref name="untold"/>, particularly as Seropian believed that if Bungie was going to lose their independence - as was the case with Take Two - they may as well fully merge so they can try and have as much a say as possible.<ref name="seropian"/>  

However, Bungie was still in a deal with Take Two, and thus Microsoft and Bungie negotiated that Take Two would retain the rights to Bungie's previous properties and the other game being developed by Bungie, ''Oni'', while Microsoft would keep Bungie itself and ''Halo''.<ref name="untold"/> Microsoft announced their Xbox console at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in March 2000, to which Bungie later stated their interest in working on the platform.<ref>[http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=1141 ''halo.bungie.org'':] "X-Box is a prime example of a console entering the market at the leading edge of technology, which is where we want our games to be"''</ref><ref name="gamestar">[http://rampancy.net/info/articles/translation_of_the_gamestar_may_2000_halo_preview ''Rampancy.net: Translation of the GameStar May 2000 Halo Preview'']</ref> At this time, the Microsoft acquisition was still not complete, and speculation remained that ''Halo'' would be ported to other consoles such as the Playstation 2.<ref>[https://uk.ign.com/articles/2000/05/12/halo-5 ''IGN: Halo - Bungie's ambitious first-person shooter is coming...'']</ref>, though Bungie later said ''"We never got it running on PS2 anyway"''.<ref name="bungiehistory"/> The buyout was announced on June 19, 2000; Microsoft had acquired Bungie for around $30 million and ''Halo'' would become an exclusive for the upcoming Xbox console - much to the dismay of PC and Mac fans. Bungie began a restructuring, moving their officers to Redmond and designer Joseph Staten joining the cinematics team.<ref>[http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=1756 ''halo.bungie.org: Joseph Staten to head fourth development team at Bungie'']</ref>

Even amidst the negotiations to move to Xbox, Bungie once more showed off ''Halo'' at E3 in May 2000, showing off a [[Halo E3 2000 trailer|new trailer]] showcasing a deployment of Marines on the titular ringworld. Like the Macworld conference, the demo was finished at the 11th hour, with Marty O'Donnell finishing the music and burning the DVD just two hours before departing for the conference.<ref name="matrydiscuss">[http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=1840 ''halo.bungie.org: Marty O'Donnell discusses Halo's sound'']</ref> This trailer would mark the appearance of several new vehicles and equipment; the [[Sangheili|Elites]], [[D77-TC Pelican|Pelican dropship]], a sniper rifle, the [[Type-1 energy sword|energy sword]] and the first appearance of the Master Chief. Previous builds of the game had featured multiple SPARTAN supersoldiers as merely one type of infantry, but now the Master Chief was a singular character. The Master Chief shown in the E3 2000 build would also bear armour much closer to resembling the [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V|MJOLNIR Mark V]] found in the final game, albeit with a small antenna and other slight differences. The trailer would also mark the first appearances of the Covenant [[Type-26 Wraith|Wraith]] tank and the [[Type-46 Spectre|"Spectre"]], the latter of which would later be cut from the final game. The Warthog additionally featured a mounted rocket launcher later reminiscent in design of the [[M12G1 Gauss Warthog|Gauss Warthog]] featured in ''[[Halo 2]]'' and the [[M12A1 Rocket Warthog|Rocket Warthog]] later featured in the ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' [[Halo PC|PC port]].<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgUfN7x7BSA ''Youtube: Halo: Combat Evolved E3 2000 trailer'']</ref> A press kit handed out at E3 2000 estimated the game was "60% complete"<ref>[http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=1429 ''halo.bungie.org: Press kit says Halo 60% done'']</ref>, while a later article claimed that the only components now missing were mission design and AI.<ref name="gamestar"/> At this time, the team did have code to generate geometry on the fly as the player explored the world, and "stupidly" discussed this aspect of the game to magazines at E3 with the map being set in an archipelago created in an ancient asteroid strike. As the game later began to evolve into a linear shooter, this style of open world was ditched as it was deemed too RPG-like and the team wanted the player to spend less time exploring and more on shooting.<ref name="jones"/>

Over the month following the Microsoft acquisition, Bungie moved campus to Redmond. To make sure they left Chicago with a bang, Seropian and Jones went back to the first Bungie office, an old basement apartment, and offered the now-current tenant $1000 to let them have a farewell party there.<ref name="bungiehistory"/> With the switch to working on Xbox, Bungie now had an arduous task of bringing the game they'd developed so far for PC and Mac to work on the Xbox. This was a blessing and a curse, as it meant the team only had one hardware platform to worry about making the game for, but the Xbox devkits had not been given to Bungie yet and the timescale for the game's development had been rushed, with a little under a year to make the game. The switch to first-person and the Xbox platform would force a radical crunch period on the studio, with "90% of the game" being made in just nine months prior to ship.<ref name="crunch">[https://twitter.com/Dr_Abominable/status/1061172229990481920 ''Paul Russel on Twitter'':] ''It's always going to be CE. We made 90% of the game in 9 months. I worked, that entire time, from January until early October  2001, 16-20 hours a day 6 days a week and from home on Sunday. It wrecked me for months after ship. Halo 2 had more studio strife, though.''</ref><ref name="untold"/> By September of 2000, Bungie still hadn't started work on the campaign of ''Halo''.<ref name="campaigndelay">[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive2.pl?read=42414 ''halo.bungie.org: Re: That reminds me...'']</ref>

Over the summer following E3, little info was released about ''Halo'', though some tidbits of information emerged such as a screenshot of the [[Mgalekgolo|Hunter]] enemy, the then-unnamed (and later cut) [[Huragok|Engineer]] and repeated assurance by Microsoft and Bungie that ''Halo'' would come to Mac and PC.<ref>[http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=1901 ''halo.bungie.org: Halo WILL ship for the Mac'']</ref><ref>[http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=1906 ''halo.bungie.org: Microsoft says Mac and PC... of course!'']</ref> Eventually, [[Matt Soell]] began posting weekly community updates to keep track of progress on the game. revealing that campaign brainstorming began in December.<ref name="campaigndecember">[http://rampancy.net/info/weekly_updates/december_1_2000_originally_at_halo_bungie_org ''Rampancy.net: 1/12/2000 Bungie update'']</ref> The Redmond studio in which Bungie was now located was designed by Microsoft to be programmer-centric, with closed offices and such that the Bungie team hated, preferring a more open and collaborative working environment, leading to the Redmond studio having the walls and dividers ripped out. This led to tensions between Bungie and some of the other Microsoft teams working there.<ref name="untold"/><ref name="bravenew"/> Eventually, Bungie mandated that regular Microsoft keycards in the building wouldn't grant access to the studio to ensure the development could move smoothly.<ref name="untold"/>

In total, roughly 40 people - not including testers - worked on developing ''Halo: Combat Evolved''.<ref name="commentary"/>

[[File:HCE EarliestFlood Concept.jpg|thumb|right|The earliest known concept art of the Flood, by Robert McLees in roughly 1997 during the RTS days of the game's development.<ref name="AOH52">''The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World'' - ''p. 52''</ref> The full resolution was lost during the shuffle of years at Bungie, and the colour resembles human skin more due to McLees' colour-blindness.<ref name="feast"/>]]

When developing games prior to ''Halo'', Bungie's method of development was to develop their engine, then make their multiplayer gameplay feel good. This was only followed then by campaign as the final element to take place.<ref>[http://halo.bungie.org/pressscans/display.html?scan=cgw1199 ''halo.bungie.org: Computer Gaming World 1999 scan'']</ref> The development of ''Halo'' was no exception, as the rough story for the game didn't even begin to take shape until mid-199, following the Macworld trailer premiere. The first seeds of the franchise were sown following [[Robert McLees]]' creation of the then-"future soldier" (the predecessor to the Master Chief) and the Warthog vehicle, at which point he began to place himself in the year 2500, with the player at war with alien factions.<ref name="untold"/> In the early stages of the game's development, the game's setting of a "fortress world" was to be a hollowed-out planet, though this soon evolved into a [[dyson sphere]] and later the titular ringworld.<ref name="AOH73"/><ref name="jones">[http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?cid=6 ''Bungie.net: Jason Jones Interviewed By You'']</ref> This planet was to have been named "Solipsis", one of the names suggested as the game's title during development.<ref name="IGNhistory"/> The evolution of the setting to the ringworld, however, inspired Paul Russel to come up with the name ''Halo'', which was then applied to the ring itself.{{Citation needed}} The earliest drafts of the structure that would later become the [[Portal at Voi]] were concepted by [[Marcus Lehto]]<ref>[https://twitter.com/game_fabricator/status/1088274744456159232 ''Marcus Lehto on Twitter:''] ''These are the oldest drawings of the Ark. Started playing around with this idea during Halo CE development''</ref> and implemented into an early build by around 1998.<ref name="LehtoWireframe">[https://twitter.com/game_fabricator/status/1198285568712441858?s=19 ''Marcus Lehto on Twitter:''] ''This is the very first Warthog I designed for Halo back in 1998. Old pc build only runs in wireframe now. Master Chief could go prone, crouch and drive this somewhat unwieldy vehicle around the map. Even had an early Forerunner Ark in the background! #warthog #halo #cybertruck''</ref><ref group="Note" name="Ark">This concept would later be considered for inclusion in ''Halo 2'' as the Ark, before later being relegated to ''Halo 3'' as the Voi portal.</ref>

The ''Pillar of Autumn''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s name has an origin story, though this was later addressed as being "not half as interesting as that of her twice-renamed sister ship, "{{UNSCShip|Dawn Under Heaven}}"."<ref name="jones"/>

In planning out the game's campaign, Marcus Lehto built a number and letter system on 3x5 index cards pinned to a board. There were around 40 of these cards, with numbers and letters such as A10, A20, A30 and so forth. The mission "[[Halo (Halo: Combat Evolved level)|Halo]]" had the name A30, while "Truth and Reconciliation" had the name A50. A40 was the name given to an eventually cut mission, possibly one referenced to be set near a volcano involving "heavy machinery".<ref name="campaigndecember"/> Later on, twenty five missions were planned in total, but only ten made the final cut - with heavy asset and layout reuse included.<ref>[https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/better-than-halo-the-making-of-halo-2-article?page=4 ''Eurogamer: Better Than Halo: The Making of Halo 2''] - ''Page 4''</ref>

The reveal of the Flood was a pivotal moment for Bungie, and one they kept closely-guarded. The use of the aforementioned playback animation, AI and custom animation made the flashback cutscene extremely development-intensive. Every time the camera moves around in the cutscene, it is to allow an animation to stop or begin playback or to spawn/despawn a character. Jaime Griesemer wanted to pit the player straight into the action following this cutscene, but Staten disagreed, wanting to let the player have a quiet moment to build tension. Staten and O'Donnell also had a disagreement about the [[Paranoid Marine]], as one suggestion for the encounter would have the player hear a gunshot noise if they walked a certain distance away from the Marine. If the player returned, they would find the marine had committed suicide.<ref name="commentary">''[[Halo 3 Legendary Edition]]'' - ''Halo: Combat Evolved developer commentary''</ref>

The studio played a lot of multiplayer in development, but for a long time the terrain seen in the Macworld demo was the multiplayer map.<ref name="GI"/>

At some point in the game's development following the transition to FPS, [[Chris Butcher]] had working [[jetpack]]s implemented into the game, and the map [[Boarding Action]] was designed with the use of these jetpacks in mind. However, the jetpacks were later cut from the single-player mode of the game, and the map had to be redesigned to have teleporters instead.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEhdyzjVVqk&feature=youtu.be&t=9m16s ''YouTube: Question Session - Level Design''] - ''Hardy LeBel discusses the cut jetpacks.''</ref> At least one multiplayer map was worked on by Paul Russel and LeBel called "Ruined Pain".<ref name="ruinedpain">''[[:File:REF YouTube RuinedPain Comment.png|Hardy LeBel discusses "Ruined Pain"]]'' - ''Screenshot of the comments section from "Question Session - Level Design" in which LeBel discusses cut levels''</ref>

[[File:MarcusLehto PreCE Halo sketch.jpg|thumb|200px|An early sketch of the ring's mechanics prior to the in-game model being created.<ref>[https://twitter.com/game_fabricator/status/707762473122680834 ''Marcus Lehto on Twitter:''] ''Sketch before building the first #Halo ring. Was my math way off for a 1.5hr rotation to provide Earth-like gravity?''</ref>]]

[[File:PreXbox_Ring.jpg|right|thumb|200px|In the 1999 builds, the ring had the appearance of being broken or unfinished, a concept later reused for [[Installation 08]] in ''[[Halo 3]]''.]]

The human aesthetic - primarily that of the interiors of the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} - was driven by Paul Russel's inspiration from the works of the artist Ron Cobb, who had done a number of instrumental work on developing the look of the ''Nostromo'' in ''[[Wikipedia:Alien|Alien]]'' and the colony in ''[[Wikipedia:Aliens|Aliens]]''. The interior of the vessel was designed to look believable and interesting, with drink vending machines, [[bulletin board]]s, and signed denoting various areas of the ship for the crew and the player. Paul tried to take the industrial look developed by Cobb for ''Alien'' and riff on that without turning into a blatant copy, wanting to show things in a functional way that looked like it fit together. The final result was a design direction which looked like it had been built by human hands.<ref name="AOH75">''The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World'' - ''p. 75''</ref> Smith also provided concept artwork for the interior of the ''Autumn'', with [[Lorraine McLees]] developing some of the exterior look. McLees' involvement in the game's production was primarily to do with visual branding and marketing and began working on the ship as everyone else on the team was too busy to do so. Griesemer and Lehto specified they wanted the vessel to look distinctly human, but the only human designs in the game at that point in time were the Warthog, weapons and a now-cut boat. McLees did a handful of sketches, and the team was drawn to one reminiscent of the shape of the assault rifle. At the request of Lehto, the ship was lengthened about three hundred percent to make it longer than tall.<ref name="AOH125">''The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World'' - ''p. 125''</ref>

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The first weapon developed for ''Halo'' was the assault rifle, originally a low-detail model built during the RTS days of the game's development. However, the team at Bungie liked the weapon's silhouette, so artist Robt McLees took to filling in the detail and evolving it into the [[MA5B assault rifle]] found in the final game. McLees was the only person at Bungie familiar with firearms during development, and had to constantly battle to make the human weapons feel like they could mechanically function in the real world as opposed to merely look cool, such as making sure the assault rifle had enough room for bolt travel. McLees' design process for the weapons involved drafting thumbnail sketches on paper with names, caliber, features and slang nicknames for the marine allies to use in-game. McLees continually reworked the rifle's ergonomics and design throughout development, but didn't discover until four months after ship that French firearm manufacturer FN Herstal had produced a weapon with a very similar look around the same time - the [[Wikipedia:FN 2000|FN 2000]].<ref name="AOH96">''The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World'' - ''p. 96-99''</ref>

A number of more exotic human grenade designs were concepted but the more conventional "pineapple" eventually won out.<ref name="AOH107">''The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World'' - ''p. 107''</ref> Late in development, Jaime Greisemer was told he could only keep either the shotgun or the sniper rifle, but he and several other developers stayed up several nights to make sure both made the final cut.<ref name="untold"/> However, a [[M7057 flamethrower|flamethrower]] was intended for the base game on Xbox but ultimately cut.<ref group="Note" name="flamethrower">The flamethrower later made the cut for the 2003 release of [[Halo PC]], however.</ref>

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The first vehicle developed for ''Halo'' was the [[M12 Warthog]]. During the RTS days of the game's development, the Warthog originated as the "Hummer" - a vehicle more resembling modern-day conventional [[Wikipedia:Humvee|Humvees]] employed by the US Military.<ref name="OriginOfHalo"/> Over time, this evolved through a number of iterations before resembling the one found in the final game. The Warthog was made drivable with a third-person camera during the RTS builds to test the vehicle's physics in traversing the terrain, with the employees eventually finding merely driving the vehicle around to be fun, eventually prompting the change for ''Halo'' to become a third-person game. By 1998, a version of the Warthog modelled by Marcus Lehto was drivable on terrain and was noticeably more squat than the later vehicles with a flat bed and no turret.<ref name="LehtoWireframe"/><ref group="Note" name="Spade">This model bears a notable resemblance to the vehicle later included in ''Halo: Reach'', the civilian [[Spade]].</ref> Another version was more armoured, and boasted a turret.<ref name="LehtoVehicles">[https://twitter.com/game_fabricator/status/1198286976249561088?s=19 ''Marcus Lehto on Twitter:''] ''This vid of some very early Halo vehicles shows a slight upgrade to the Warthog, several human tanks, and a couple Forerunner and Covenant vehicles. #halo #warthog''</ref> The 1999 Warthog shown at the Bungie 2002 Fanfest bears more resemblance to the final vehicle, though the version shown in the E3 2000 footage remains almost identical to the final game. However, this Warthog featured a rocket turret a opposed to the characteristic [[M41 Vulcan|chaingun]] of the final release. This rocket turret visually resembles the [[M68 Gauss cannon|Gauss cannon]] featured in ''Halo 2'', though behaves more similarly to the [[M39 rocket turret|rocket turret]] featured in the later release of ''Halo PC''.

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During the flashback cutscene of 343 Guilty Spark, Joseph Staten wanted Marty O'Donnell to license some rock music to play in the Pelican. ''[[Wikipedia:Paint It Black|Paint It Black]]'' by the Rolling Stones was considered for the choice, but O'Donnell and Salvatori created an original song; [[Shreddin']], for use instead.<ref name="commentary"/>

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File:HCE_EarlyCoverArt_1.png|An early cover art draft from roughly 5-6 months prior to the launch of ''Halo: Combat Evolved''.<ref>[https://twitter.com/albertpenello/status/1063668617428951041 ''Albert Penello on Twitter'':] ''I want to say about 6-7 months before launch. These would have been early drafts.''</ref>