Development of Halo: Combat Evolved: Difference between revisions
→Early story and setting drafts
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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> | 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> | ||
By 1997/1998, the [[Flood]] were already being concepted, and story ideas circulating about their role alongside the Covenant. The Flood had been designed by Jason Jones purely for gameplay, and McLees was the first to truly think about what the Flood was in the fiction. His first idea was to have the Flood be a bioweapon engineered by the Covenant, designed as a "living minefield" with which the Covenant would seed planets on their borders, in case anyone tried to make landfall. At the time the game was to be set on a planet, the concept of the [[UNSC]] did not exist yet, simply named the "Empire", later reflected in some of the earliest marketing materials published about the game's story. The story beats of what would become ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' were in place, though still undefined. In this early draft, the player and their ship would crash on a planet populated by humans not part of the Empire, with the player's technology from 2552 and the native technology from the 1950s. The player's goal would be to train the indigenous population for when the Covenant arrived. They would | By 1997/1998, the [[Flood]] were already being concepted, and story ideas circulating about their role alongside the Covenant. The Flood had been designed by Jason Jones purely for gameplay, and McLees was the first to truly think about what the Flood was in the fiction. His first idea was to have the Flood be a bioweapon engineered by the Covenant, designed as a "living minefield" with which the Covenant would seed planets on their borders, in case anyone tried to make landfall. At the time the game was to be set on a planet, the concept of the [[UNSC]] did not exist yet, simply named the "Empire", later reflected in some of the earliest marketing materials published about the game's story. The story beats of what would become ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' were in place, though still undefined. In this early draft, the player and their ship would crash on a planet populated by humans not part of the Empire, with the player's technology from 2552 and the native technology from the 1950s. The player's goal would be to train the indigenous population for when the Covenant arrived. They would combat the natives in the early levels, and the Covenant later on.<ref name="feast">[http://halo.bungie.net/news/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=Feast_of_Bones ''Bungie.net: Feast of Bones'']</ref> | ||
[[File:HCE_EarlyCortana_Render.jpg|thumb|250px|left|An early model of Cortana featuring green eyes and face symbols.]] | [[File:HCE_EarlyCortana_Render.jpg|thumb|250px|left|An early model of Cortana featuring green eyes and face symbols.]] | ||
Another Flood origin, written by Griesemer, would have the Flood as a meningitis-like disease that made a life form more aggressive and more intelligent. The natives would use the Flood as a rite of passage, throwing males of-age into a mass grave in which they'd climb back out smarter and looking for a fight.<ref name="feast"/><ref group="Note">This origin is remarkably similar to the origins of the Flood and its effects on [[Pheru]] later described in ''[[Halo: Cryptum]]'' and its sequels.</ref> Another idea to emerge in the pre-Microsoft era of ''Halo''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s development was [[Cortana]]. The idea for Cortana came about based on Durandal, an AI companion in Bungie's previous game ''[[Marathon]]'' named after a famous literary French sword. Three words stood out as a "three-pack" - Durandal, Cortana and Joyeuse. Durandal was taken and Joyeuse sounded "lame", so Cortana was chosen to be the AI companion for the Master Chief.<ref name="untold"/> Character artist Chris Hughes modeled Cortana's face based off the Egyptian queen [[Wikipedia:Nefertiti|Nefertiti]],<ref>[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive9.pl?read=241110 ''halo.bungie.org: Cortana's face was modeled after an Egyptian queen'']</ref> with an early version of the Cortana character model having symbols on the character's face and featuring green eyes, later removed from the final in-game model. Actress [[Jen Taylor]] was hired to be the voice of Cortana as she and Joseph Staten had been in college together. Cortana was originally slated to have a British accent, but Taylor's previous role in ''No One Lives Forever'' sounded too similar, and Cortana was changed to be American - though some lines such as ''"sod off!"'' and "''toady about"'' remained in the final script.<ref name="untold"/> One early story draft involved the Master Chief returning to the Control Room of Halo, only to find Cortana had gone mad with power and now wanted to take over the universe - a storyline notably similar to the later premise of ''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]''.<ref name="commentary"/> | Another Flood origin, written by Griesemer, would have the Flood as a meningitis-like disease that made a life form more aggressive and more intelligent. The natives would use the Flood as a rite of passage, throwing males of-age into a mass grave in which they'd climb back out smarter and looking for a fight.<ref name="feast"/><ref group="Note">This origin is remarkably similar to the origins of the Flood and its effects on [[Pheru]] later described in ''[[Halo: Cryptum]]'' and its sequels.</ref> Another idea to emerge in the pre-Microsoft era of ''Halo''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s development was [[Cortana]]. The idea for Cortana came about based on Durandal, an AI companion in Bungie's previous game ''[[Marathon]]'' named after a famous literary French sword. Three words stood out as a "three-pack" - Durandal, Cortana and Joyeuse. Durandal was taken and Joyeuse sounded "lame", so Cortana was chosen to be the AI companion for the Master Chief.<ref name="untold"/> Character artist Chris Hughes modeled Cortana's face based off the Egyptian queen [[Wikipedia:Nefertiti|Nefertiti]],<ref>[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive9.pl?read=241110 ''halo.bungie.org: Cortana's face was modeled after an Egyptian queen'']</ref> with an early version of the Cortana character model having symbols on the character's face and featuring green eyes, later removed from the final in-game model. Actress [[Jen Taylor]] was hired to be the voice of Cortana as she and Joseph Staten had been in college together. Cortana was originally slated to have a British accent, but Taylor's previous role in ''No One Lives Forever'' sounded too similar, and Cortana was changed to be American - though some lines such as ''"sod off!"'' and "''toady about"'' remained in the final script.<ref name="untold"/> One early story draft involved the Master Chief returning to the Control Room of Halo, only to find Cortana had gone mad with power and now wanted to take over the universe - a storyline notably similar to the later premise of ''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]''.<ref name="commentary"/> | ||