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Titan (canceled game): Difference between revisions

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m (Major revamp. Blog referencing Titan no longer host that info; using third-party sources and interviews. Also, "Psion" is MP or mana-points, not a class as revealed in interview.)
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{{Title|Untitled ''Halo'' MMO}}
{{Title|Untitled ''Halo'' MMO}}
{{FOF-1}}
[[File:MMO.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Screenshot mock-up, with ''[[Wikipedia:World of Warcraft|World of Warcraft]]'' HUD superimposed.]]
[[File:MMO.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Screenshot mock-up, with ''[[Wikipedia:World of Warcraft|World of Warcraft]]'' HUD superimposed.]]
{{Quote|Ensemble has been wanting to make an MMO for a long time. That was in production for a long time. The Halo IP was a great IP to launch an MMO with. Microsoft... hasn't had the best track record with those. <br>And we worked on it for a long time--we had staffed up an almost-40 person team. And then there was some reorganization at Microsoft, and the new bosses thought it wasn't the best idea anymore. It had actually been green-lit, and then it got cancelled after that.|Dave Pottinger<ref>[http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=1047 Age of Empires Dev Ensemble Speaks Out on Studio Closure, Microsoft, and the Cancelled Halo MMO]</ref>}}
{{Quote|Ensemble has been wanting to make an MMO for a long time. That was in production for a long time. The Halo IP was a great IP to launch an MMO with. Microsoft... hasn't had the best track record with those. <br>And we worked on it for a long time--we had staffed up an almost-40 person team. And then there was some reorganization at Microsoft, and the new bosses thought it wasn't the best idea anymore. It had actually been green-lit, and then it got cancelled after that.|Dave Pottinger<ref name="shacknews">[http://www.shacknews.com/article/55941/age-of-empires-dev-ensemble '''Shack News''': ''Age of Empires Dev Ensemble Speaks Out on Studio Closure, Microsoft, and the Cancelled Halo MMO'']</ref>}}
'''Titan''' was a codename for a cancelled Halo MMO that was in development in between [[2004]] and [[2007]] by [[Ensemble Studios]].<ref name="interview1">[http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/264/windstorms-dusty-monk-interview---part-one/2 '''IncGamers''': ''Windstorm's Dusty Monk Interview - Part One - Page 2''] (Dusty Monk: ''"For two years, before we all moved onto Halo Wars, we were working on an MMO prototype, and it was codenamed Titan."'')</ref> Following the project's cancellation in 2007, Ensemble Studios focused all of its resources into developing ''[[Halo Wars]]''.


Between [[2005]] and [[2007]],<ref name="Titan">[http://ofcourseillplayit.com/?p=131 Lessons from Titan - 2 Years on a cancelled MMO]</ref> during the development of ''[[Halo Wars]]'' by [[Ensemble Studios]], another three teams worked on other projects. One of these was an '''untitled ''Halo'' MMO''', which seems to have been codenamed as either '''Project Titan''' or '''Project Orion'''.
==Overview==
Titan was a prototype game developed to compete against [[Wikipedia:Blizzard Entertainment|Blizzard Entertainment]]'s [[Wikipedia:World of Warcraft|World of Warcraft]]. The project was internally cancelled in mid-late-2007 with no formal announcement of its development by Microsoft.<ref name="oneremains">[http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20153 '''Gamasutra''': ''Exclusive: Ensemble Studios' Canceled Project Was Halo MMO'']</ref>
 
Around 40 staff in three teams worked on Titan whilst other Ensemble's staff focused on developing ''Halo Wars'', though one team remained in the project six months after.<ref name="shacknews"/><ref name="oneremains"/> The project drew heavy inspiration from World of Warcraft for the basic structure and style in the earlier stages of development.<ref name="interview2">[http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/264/windstorms-dusty-monk-interview---part-one/3 '''IncGamers''': ''Windstorm's Dusty Monk Interview - Part One - Page 3''] (Dusty Monk: ''"We weren't necessarily making WoW in space, but we were certainly adopting a lot of the things that we saw working in World of Warcraft and then putting it in a sci-fi genre."'')</ref> The project was said to be radically different in the later stages, exploring novel concepts and gameplay additions such as "heroic stylized artform" and cover system (currently used in ''[[wikipedia:Star Wars: The Old Republic|Star Wars: The Old Republic]]''), and public quests (currently used in ''[[wikipedia:Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning|Warhammer: Online]]''). In addition, instead of mana-points as used in World of Warcraft, a character's special ability is referred as psion.<ref name="psionmana">[http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20153 '''Gamasutra''': ''Exclusive: Ensemble Studios' Canceled Project Was Halo MMO''] (Michael Zenke: ''"The character pane shows a health bar and 'mana' -- or Psion, as is referred to in this title... The upper right icons are for basic character functions."'')</ref>
 
==Features==
===Classes===
{| style="border-collapse: collapse; border:1px solid #000; background:#F0F0F0;" width="100%" border="1" valign="top" align="center"
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Assault====
Assault was intended to be a human class.
<center><gallery>
File:HaloMMO25.jpg
</gallery></center>
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Forerunner====
Forerunners were apparently a playable class of Forerunners.
<center><gallery>
File:Forerunner Soldier.sized.jpg
File:ForerunnerMMO.jpg
</gallery></center>
|-
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Marine====
Marine was intended to be a human class.
<center><gallery>
File:HaloMMO Marines (class).jpg
File:HaloMMO Marines (class) 2.jpg
</gallery></center>
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Mimic====
A Mimic was an unknown female humanoid creature. Their name and concept art implies that the Mimic could shapeshift into various forms.
<center><gallery>
File:Mimic Heads.jpg
File:Mimic Lineup.jpg
</gallery></center>
|-
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====PSI====
PSIs were an intended class. It is unknown what their role was though they appear to be humans with some level of augmentations.
<center><gallery>
File:PSI Recruits.sized.jpg
File:PSI Progressions.jpg
</gallery></center>
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Rogue====
The Rogue was intended to be a human class. One may presume that these individuals were designed to have expertise in stealth combat.
<center><gallery>
File:Rogue class.jpg
</gallery></center>
|-
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" colspan="2" |
====Spy====
The Spy was intended to be a human class . One may presume that these individuals were designed to have expertise in espionage.
<center><gallery>
File:HaloMMO Spy (class).jpg
</gallery></center>
|}


==Overview==
===Species===
While concept art was produced, and Bungie planned to work with [[Ensemble Studios]] on the game, the other non-''Halo Wars''-related teams were disbanded to focus on the RTS instead.<ref>[http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20153 '''Gamasutra''': ''Exclusive: Ensemble Studios' Canceled Project Was Halo MMO'']</ref> The project was eventually discontinued as Microsoft "decided that its Xbox platform and XBLA really needed to go more in the direction of appealing to a more casual, broader audience.<ref name=Titan />
{| style="border-collapse: collapse; border:1px solid #000; background:#F0F0F0;" width="100%" border="1" valign="top" align="center"
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Demons====
Demons were an unknown alien race.
<center><gallery>
File:Demons.jpg
File:Demon Gals.jpg
</gallery></center>
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Diggerz====
Diggerz were an extra-terrestrial animal species, intended to be featured in the untitled Halo MMO before it was cancelled. It appeared to be an armored, bioluminescent biped with clawed forearms that served to improve digging capabilities, hence its name.
<center><gallery>
File:Diggerz.jpg
</gallery></center>
|-
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Jaggmaw Sailtail====
The Jaggmaw Sailtail was an animal used for transporting characters around on their backs. It bore a notable physical resemblance to the [[Blind Wolf]], a species that was cut from Halo: Combat Evolved.
<center><gallery>
File:Jaggmaw.jpg
</gallery></center>
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Mob====
The Mob appear to have been intended to be a new species. The creature bears a strong resemblance to Earth's boars.  
<center><gallery>
File:Mob.sized.jpg
</gallery></center>
|-
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Sentients====
The Sentients appear to have been a new species. They appear to have been a humanoid species with mechanical attributes, such as reverse jointed limbs and visors for faces.
<center><gallery>
File:Sentients.jpg
</gallery></center>
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Sigma====
Sigmas were a new species of extra terrestrials that were intended to appear in the cancelled Halo MMO. During the development of the game, the Sigma's appearance would change from a human resemblance to a humanoid shaped alien.{{fact}} Not much is known about them other than the male and female genders each had a distinctive physical appearance.
<center><gallery>
File:Sigma.sized.jpg
File:Sigma2.jpg
File:Sigma3.jpg
File:Sigma Lineup.jpg
</gallery></center>
|}


The details of the game remain unknown though the concept art shows various new additions to the franchise such as the [[Sentients]], [[Runner-class Transport]], [[Aardvark]], [[Diggerz]], [[Grackle]], [[Jaggmaw Sawtail]], [[Rhino (aircraft)|Rhino]], [[Psion]] and [[Rogue (class)|Rogue]].<ref>[http://kotaku.com/photogallery/halommoconcepts/ '''Kotaku''': ''Halo MMO Concepts'']</ref> Former Ensemble employees have commented that, while comments comparing released screenshots and concept art comparing it to "WoW in Space" were accurate and that the early builds of the project drew heavy inspiration from ''World of Warcraft'' for the basic structure and style, the more advanced builds were radically different before it was discontinued.<ref name=Titan/>
===Vehicles===
{| style="border-collapse: collapse; border:1px solid #000; background:#F0F0F0;" width="100%" border="1" valign="top" align="center"
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Aardvark====
The Aardvark was a Human vehicle intended to be featured in the cancelled Halo MMO. It would have possibly be used as a reconnaissance vehicle similar to the M12 Warthog, but with an appearance more similar to the Wolverine.
<center><gallery>
File:Aardvarck.jpg
</gallery></center>
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Warthog====
"2 Tickets to the Gun Show" was the developer name of a vehicle intended for inclusion in the untitled Halo MMO. A variant of the Warthog, it was apparently to be used by Law Enforcement, as evidenced by the word "POLICE" printed backwards on the hood of the vehicle. As can be seen in the concept art, there appear to be two seats mounted on the back of the vehicle, each with its own turret. This brings the passenger capacity of "2 Tickets to the Gun Show" to four.
<center><gallery>
File:2 Tickets.jpg
</gallery></center>
|-
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Grackle====
The Grackle was a human motorcycle, which was going to be featured in the untitled Halo MMO
<center><gallery>
File:Grackle.jpg
</gallery></center>
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Rhino====
The Rhino was a human vehicle, intended to be featured in the canceled Halo MMO. It was intended to be used in the role as a gunship. It bears a notable resemblance to the Pelican dropship series, though with added missiles, chainguns, a thruster over its tail section, and enlarged wings with built-in ducted-air fans. It may have been the conceptual inspiration of the Sparrowhawk, a craft that would have filled a similar role in Halo Wars.  
<center><gallery>
File:Rhino aircraft.jpg
</gallery></center>
|-
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Runner-class Transport====
The Runner-class was a Covenant Naval vessel designed to transport the Hierarchs, known to be featured in the cancelled Halo MMO. One such Runner-class ship was known as the Throne Warden. It was completely manned by the Sangheili, and had a limited planet-to-planet travel distance, with no system-to-system slipspace drives.
<center><gallery>
File:Runner-class ship.jpg
</gallery></center>
| valign="top" style="padding: 0 4px 0 6px;" |
====Scorpion tanks====
Two Scorpion tank variants were intended for the cancelled Halo MMO. Both variants had more of a stylized design that caused the tank to closer resemble the animal from which the tank's moniker derives. The "Lash" Scorpion sports a brown/yellow color scheme and a longer "tail" whereas the "Venom" Scorpion sports a grey/blue color scheme and a shorter "tail".
<center><gallery>
File:Lash.jpg|Scorpion (Lash)
File:Venom tank.jpg|Scorpion (Venom)
</gallery></center>
|}
===Equipments===
====Forerunner combat armor====
The Forerunner combat armor was a armored suit in the cancelled Halo MMO. The armor was designed for Forerunner use but due to humans and Forerunners being the same in the MMO, the armor could also be worn by humans.
<center><gallery>
File:Forerunner Armor2.jpg|
File:Forerunner Psion Armor.jpg|
File:Forerunner Suits.sized.jpg|
File:Forerunner Armor.jpg|
</gallery></center>


{{Quote|Just to give you a couple of examples, we were using a heroic stylized artform. This heroic stylized artform is exactly the artform that you see being used in ''Star Wars: The Old Republic'' right now. It’s timeless. It doesn’t age itself like a game that’s built with a strictly realistic artform does.<br>We were developing a cover system. This cover system is in ''Star Wars: The Old Republic''. We had the idea of quests - and like I said, this was between 2004 and 2007, before ''Warhammer Online'' had been released - but we had this idea of quests where you could participate and pull them together without having to be on the same team. This would be a public quest that everyone in a particular area could work on. That idea went into ''Warhammer Online''.|Dusty Monk, former Ensemble employee<ref>[http://www.incgamers.com/News/21928/cancelled-halo-mmo-details '''IncGamers''': ''Cancelled Halo MMO Details'']</ref>}}
====MJOLNIR combat armor====
These unknown MJOLNIR armor models were variations of MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor for Spartans in the cancelled Halo MMO. Not much is known about the armors, although most superficially resemble the Mark VI, except for the shoulder pauldrons. Several variations were designed, one of which had a chainsaw in place of the left hand. Unlike the armors seen in the actual games, most of these designs are quite extreme and heavily stylized.
<center><gallery>
File:MMO Armour 00.jpg
File:MMO Armour 01.jpg
File:MMO Armour 02.jpg
File:MMO Armour 03.jpg
File:MMO Armour 04.jpg
File:MMO Armour 05.jpg
File:MMO Armour 06.jpg
</gallery></center>


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
<gallery widths="120" orientation="portrait">
<gallery>
File:F11.jpg|A Forerunner city.
File:F11.jpg|A Forerunner city.
File:F33.jpg|A close-up of a Forerunner structure.
File:F33.jpg|A close-up of a Forerunner structure.
Line 20: Line 182:
File:MMO - Species.jpg|Species of the MMO.
File:MMO - Species.jpg|Species of the MMO.
File:MMO Covenant.jpg|Concept art of Covenant species for the MMO.
File:MMO Covenant.jpg|Concept art of Covenant species for the MMO.
File:Psion Female.jpg|A female character showing off her Psion (or mana) abilities
</gallery>
</gallery>



Revision as of 18:41, April 2, 2012

Template:FOF-1

File:MMO.jpg
Screenshot mock-up, with World of Warcraft HUD superimposed.

"Ensemble has been wanting to make an MMO for a long time. That was in production for a long time. The Halo IP was a great IP to launch an MMO with. Microsoft... hasn't had the best track record with those.
And we worked on it for a long time--we had staffed up an almost-40 person team. And then there was some reorganization at Microsoft, and the new bosses thought it wasn't the best idea anymore. It had actually been green-lit, and then it got cancelled after that.
"
— Dave Pottinger[1]

Titan was a codename for a cancelled Halo MMO that was in development in between 2004 and 2007 by Ensemble Studios.[2] Following the project's cancellation in 2007, Ensemble Studios focused all of its resources into developing Halo Wars.

Overview

Titan was a prototype game developed to compete against Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft. The project was internally cancelled in mid-late-2007 with no formal announcement of its development by Microsoft.[3]

Around 40 staff in three teams worked on Titan whilst other Ensemble's staff focused on developing Halo Wars, though one team remained in the project six months after.[1][3] The project drew heavy inspiration from World of Warcraft for the basic structure and style in the earlier stages of development.[4] The project was said to be radically different in the later stages, exploring novel concepts and gameplay additions such as "heroic stylized artform" and cover system (currently used in Star Wars: The Old Republic), and public quests (currently used in Warhammer: Online). In addition, instead of mana-points as used in World of Warcraft, a character's special ability is referred as psion.[5]

Features

Classes

Assault

Assault was intended to be a human class.

Forerunner

Forerunners were apparently a playable class of Forerunners.

Marine

Marine was intended to be a human class.

Mimic

A Mimic was an unknown female humanoid creature. Their name and concept art implies that the Mimic could shapeshift into various forms.

PSI

PSIs were an intended class. It is unknown what their role was though they appear to be humans with some level of augmentations.

Rogue

The Rogue was intended to be a human class. One may presume that these individuals were designed to have expertise in stealth combat.

Spy

The Spy was intended to be a human class . One may presume that these individuals were designed to have expertise in espionage.

Species

Demons

Demons were an unknown alien race.

Diggerz

Diggerz were an extra-terrestrial animal species, intended to be featured in the untitled Halo MMO before it was cancelled. It appeared to be an armored, bioluminescent biped with clawed forearms that served to improve digging capabilities, hence its name.

Jaggmaw Sailtail

The Jaggmaw Sailtail was an animal used for transporting characters around on their backs. It bore a notable physical resemblance to the Blind Wolf, a species that was cut from Halo: Combat Evolved.

Mob

The Mob appear to have been intended to be a new species. The creature bears a strong resemblance to Earth's boars.

Sentients

The Sentients appear to have been a new species. They appear to have been a humanoid species with mechanical attributes, such as reverse jointed limbs and visors for faces.

Sigma

Sigmas were a new species of extra terrestrials that were intended to appear in the cancelled Halo MMO. During the development of the game, the Sigma's appearance would change from a human resemblance to a humanoid shaped alien.Template:Fact Not much is known about them other than the male and female genders each had a distinctive physical appearance.

Vehicles

Aardvark

The Aardvark was a Human vehicle intended to be featured in the cancelled Halo MMO. It would have possibly be used as a reconnaissance vehicle similar to the M12 Warthog, but with an appearance more similar to the Wolverine.

Warthog

"2 Tickets to the Gun Show" was the developer name of a vehicle intended for inclusion in the untitled Halo MMO. A variant of the Warthog, it was apparently to be used by Law Enforcement, as evidenced by the word "POLICE" printed backwards on the hood of the vehicle. As can be seen in the concept art, there appear to be two seats mounted on the back of the vehicle, each with its own turret. This brings the passenger capacity of "2 Tickets to the Gun Show" to four.

Grackle

The Grackle was a human motorcycle, which was going to be featured in the untitled Halo MMO

Rhino

The Rhino was a human vehicle, intended to be featured in the canceled Halo MMO. It was intended to be used in the role as a gunship. It bears a notable resemblance to the Pelican dropship series, though with added missiles, chainguns, a thruster over its tail section, and enlarged wings with built-in ducted-air fans. It may have been the conceptual inspiration of the Sparrowhawk, a craft that would have filled a similar role in Halo Wars.

Runner-class Transport

The Runner-class was a Covenant Naval vessel designed to transport the Hierarchs, known to be featured in the cancelled Halo MMO. One such Runner-class ship was known as the Throne Warden. It was completely manned by the Sangheili, and had a limited planet-to-planet travel distance, with no system-to-system slipspace drives.

Scorpion tanks

Two Scorpion tank variants were intended for the cancelled Halo MMO. Both variants had more of a stylized design that caused the tank to closer resemble the animal from which the tank's moniker derives. The "Lash" Scorpion sports a brown/yellow color scheme and a longer "tail" whereas the "Venom" Scorpion sports a grey/blue color scheme and a shorter "tail".

Equipments

Forerunner combat armor

The Forerunner combat armor was a armored suit in the cancelled Halo MMO. The armor was designed for Forerunner use but due to humans and Forerunners being the same in the MMO, the armor could also be worn by humans.

MJOLNIR combat armor

These unknown MJOLNIR armor models were variations of MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor for Spartans in the cancelled Halo MMO. Not much is known about the armors, although most superficially resemble the Mark VI, except for the shoulder pauldrons. Several variations were designed, one of which had a chainsaw in place of the left hand. Unlike the armors seen in the actual games, most of these designs are quite extreme and heavily stylized.

Gallery

Sources

  1. ^ a b Shack News: Age of Empires Dev Ensemble Speaks Out on Studio Closure, Microsoft, and the Cancelled Halo MMO
  2. ^ IncGamers: Windstorm's Dusty Monk Interview - Part One - Page 2 (Dusty Monk: "For two years, before we all moved onto Halo Wars, we were working on an MMO prototype, and it was codenamed Titan.")
  3. ^ a b Gamasutra: Exclusive: Ensemble Studios' Canceled Project Was Halo MMO
  4. ^ IncGamers: Windstorm's Dusty Monk Interview - Part One - Page 3 (Dusty Monk: "We weren't necessarily making WoW in space, but we were certainly adopting a lot of the things that we saw working in World of Warcraft and then putting it in a sci-fi genre.")
  5. ^ Gamasutra: Exclusive: Ensemble Studios' Canceled Project Was Halo MMO (Michael Zenke: "The character pane shows a health bar and 'mana' -- or Psion, as is referred to in this title... The upper right icons are for basic character functions.")

Template:MMO Template:Halo Games