Editing Development of Halo: Combat Evolved
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{{Status|RealWorld}} | {{Status|RealWorld}} | ||
{{Series/Cut/HCE}} | {{Series/Cut/HCE}} | ||
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==Early development== | ==Early development== | ||
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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/Reuse|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/Reuse|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/Reuse|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/Reuse|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/Reuse|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/Reuse|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/Reuse|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/Reuse|commentary}} | ||
Sergeant Major [[Avery Johnson]] was another character in the game who emerged early on, as an "caricature unashamedly lifted from ''[[List of references to Aliens in the Halo series|Aliens]]''". Johnson was originally designed to just be a random Marine, but voice actor [[David Scully]]'s improvisation and line delivery impressed people so much he eventually became a larger character in the later games. One suggestion from Marty O'Donnel would involve Johnson ending up on the ship at the end of the game with the player shouting "good to see you, Chief!", though this idea was shot down by Staten as he didn't believe anyone would care about the Marine NPCs.{{Ref/Reuse|untold}} Marcus Lehto wanted the marines to look as realistic as possible, and thus watched war movies for reference, but ultimately had to be videotaped by his wife running around with a two-by-four pretending to be a soldier so he could gain more animation reference.<ref name="AOH12">''The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World'' - ''p. 12''</ref> | Sergeant Major [[Avery Johnson]] was another character in the game who emerged early on, as an "caricature unashamedly lifted from ''[[List of references to Aliens in the Halo series|Aliens]]''". Johnson was originally designed to just be a random Marine, but voice actor [[David Scully]]'s improvisation and line delivery impressed people so much he eventually became a larger character in the later games. One suggestion from Marty O'Donnel would involve Johnson ending up on the ship at the end of the game with the player shouting "good to see you, Chief!", though this idea was shot down by Staten as he didn't believe anyone would care about the Marine NPCs.{{Ref/Reuse|untold}} Marcus Lehto wanted the marines to look as realistic as possible, and thus watched war movies for reference, but ultimately had to be videotaped by his wife running around with a two-by-four pretending to be a soldier so he could gain more animation reference.<ref name="AOH12">''The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World'' - ''p. 12''</ref> | ||
The main character of the game, [[John-117]] - The Master Chief - emerged as the "future soldier" in the RTS days of the game's development. During this time, the future soldier was just one of several types of unit available to the player. As development evolved, production became more and more centered on the player and the character they control. The name of "John" was conceived by ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' writer [[Eric Nylund]],{{Ref/Reuse|untold}} while the "117" was created by [[Eric Trautmann]] as a [[List of references to religion in the Halo series|reference]] to 1:17, Revelation of St. John the Divide - ''"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead."''<ref name="trautmann117">[https://twitter.com/mercuryeric/status/883832744936996864 ''Twitter: Eric Trautmann Twitter thread on the origins of John-117 and Halsey'']</ref> These names recieved pushback from Bungie, who didn't want to call their main character "John" in the game. A meeting with Griesemer, Jones, McLees and Staten turned out the suggestion from McLees to name him after a military rank, with Griesemer suggesting Sergeant. McLees pointed out John would be in the [[UNSC Navy|Navy]], so a Naval rank would be appropriate. Griesemer instead suggested Commander, similar to ''[[Wikipedia:James Bond|James Bond]]'', though McLees also countered that Commander would be too high a rank for someone being sent into battle like the player does. The team then looked at real world military rank structures, and found "Master Chief Petty Officer" as the highest non-commissioned officer rank in the Navy, and gave that name to the Master Chief. Many people in the team didn't like the name, but it stuck.{{Ref/Reuse|untold}} At one point, Microsoft urged the team to change the name from Master Chief to "The Commando" to better reflect the tone of the game.<ref>[http://halo.xbox.com/Content/assets/en-us/Podcast/343Sparkast_006.mp3 ''343 Sparkast #6''] (Archived copy available [https://web.archive.org/web/20120201111637/http://halo.xbox.com/Content/assets/en-us/Podcast/343Sparkast_006.mp3 here]</ref> | The main character of the game, [[John-117]] - The Master Chief - emerged as the "future soldier" in the RTS days of the game's development. During this time, the future soldier was just one of several types of unit available to the player. As development evolved, production became more and more centered on the player and the character they control. The name of "John" was conceived by ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' writer [[Eric Nylund]],{{Ref/Reuse|untold}} while the "117" was created by [[Eric Trautmann]] as a [[List of references to religion in the Halo series|reference]] to 1:17, Revelation of St. John the Divide - ''"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead."''<ref name="trautmann117">[https://twitter.com/mercuryeric/status/883832744936996864 ''Twitter: Eric Trautmann Twitter thread on the origins of John-117 and Halsey'']</ref> These names recieved pushback from Bungie, who didn't want to call their main character "John" in the game. A meeting with Griesemer, Jones, McLees and Staten turned out the suggestion from McLees to name him after a military rank, with Griesemer suggesting Sergeant. McLees pointed out John would be in the [[UNSC Navy|Navy]], so a Naval rank would be appropriate. Griesemer instead suggested Commander, similar to ''[[Wikipedia:James Bond|James Bond]]'', though McLees also countered that Commander would be too high a rank for someone being sent into battle like the player does. The team then looked at real world military rank structures, and found "Master Chief Petty Officer" as the highest non-commissioned officer rank in the Navy, and gave that name to the Master Chief. Many people in the team didn't like the name, but it stuck.{{Ref/Reuse|untold}} At one point, Microsoft urged the team to change the name from Master Chief to "The Commando" to better reflect the tone of the game.<ref>[http://halo.xbox.com/Content/assets/en-us/Podcast/343Sparkast_006.mp3 ''343 Sparkast #6''] (Archived copy available [https://web.archive.org/web/20120201111637/http://halo.xbox.com/Content/assets/en-us/Podcast/343Sparkast_006.mp3 here]</ref> | ||
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==Campaign== | ==Campaign== | ||
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. | 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/Reuse|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 first level developed for the game was B30 - The Silent Cartographer. B30 began as a test map for the developers at Bungie to test weapons, models, textures, effects and other aspects of development on.{{Ref/Reuse|AOH79}} This terrain was rebuilt several times over the course of development,{{Ref/Reuse|commentary}} and was later used for early demonstrations of the game. This mission was the one in which the Forerunner art style was truly developed by artist Paul Russel.{{Ref/Reuse|AOH80}} The mission's original objective was to feature the player hunting down and assassinating a Covenant [[Prophet]] who was trying to find the Silent Cartographer, an idea later reused in ''Halo 2''. The swaying of the dropship in the mission's intro was done just to "look cool", while the marine sat opposite the player in the Pelican in the intro sequence would originally stare forward at the player rather than look out of the drop bay. A level was originally supposed to take place between The Silent Cartographer and the following level "[[Assault on the Control Room]]", but the level was cut and instead replaced by the cutscene of the Pelican descending into the ring's depths through the structure in the center of the Silent Cartographer island. The Pelican did not actually fit inside the structure, and the cutscene never shows the Pelican going through the hole but instead clips between the Pelican on either side to give the illusion of doing so. Despite this, Assault on the Control Room retains the name B40. The decision was made to send the Pelican underground due to lack of matte painting resources available to show the ship flying from a tropical island to a snowy canyon.{{Ref/Reuse|commentary}} | The first level developed for the game was B30 - The Silent Cartographer. B30 began as a test map for the developers at Bungie to test weapons, models, textures, effects and other aspects of development on.{{Ref/Reuse|AOH79}} This terrain was rebuilt several times over the course of development,{{Ref/Reuse|commentary}} and was later used for early demonstrations of the game. This mission was the one in which the Forerunner art style was truly developed by artist Paul Russel.{{Ref/Reuse|AOH80}} The mission's original objective was to feature the player hunting down and assassinating a Covenant [[Prophet]] who was trying to find the Silent Cartographer, an idea later reused in ''Halo 2''. The swaying of the dropship in the mission's intro was done just to "look cool", while the marine sat opposite the player in the Pelican in the intro sequence would originally stare forward at the player rather than look out of the drop bay. A level was originally supposed to take place between The Silent Cartographer and the following level "[[Assault on the Control Room]]", but the level was cut and instead replaced by the cutscene of the Pelican descending into the ring's depths through the structure in the center of the Silent Cartographer island. The Pelican did not actually fit inside the structure, and the cutscene never shows the Pelican going through the hole but instead clips between the Pelican on either side to give the illusion of doing so. Despite this, Assault on the Control Room retains the name B40. The decision was made to send the Pelican underground due to lack of matte painting resources available to show the ship flying from a tropical island to a snowy canyon.{{Ref/Reuse|commentary}} | ||
