New Retrospective Article on Halo 2 Development

[Siliconmaster]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/better-than-halo-the-making-of-halo-2-article

Sadly (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint), it doesn't go into the mess that was H2V. However, it really is interesting to see how exactly the development process happened, and why we ended up with the game we did. I knew some of the details, but hearing directly from Bungie that they really had no idea what they were doing for a long while is fascinating.

Discuss.

[Resinball]

Interesting read, I wish they [MS] would tell us why they promised so much with the H2V map editor and then changed their mind and stripped out some of the more interesting features such as collision models. I remember in the map editor preview they showed a map with the soccer ball in multi.

I still feel a bit cheated as I only game on the PC so technically I've never finished the fight, or gone back to New Mombasa or Reach for that matter.

Still, its neat to see a bit behind the behind the scenes where they admit they where a bit lost and very overwhelmed.

[Timo]

Of the 25 planned missions for Halo, we shipped 10.

We were building stuff that just couldn't be played, in any engine," says Butcher. "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.

How awesome would it be to get your hands on these plans? :o

[Warsaw]

May I be the first to say "I told you so" in reference to that debate we had awhile back where there was disagreement about whether or not Bungie scrapped the game after E3 '03 and started over.

[Timo]

May I be the first to say "I told you so" in reference to that debate we had awhile back where there was disagreement about whether or not Bungie scrapped the game after E3 '03 and started over.

I thought that was common knowledge?

[flibitijibibo]

Yeah, that was probably the biggest part of their Halo 2 bonus DVD. Of course, we didn't actually see/hear too many things that got cut (I so want to see the entire quarantine area) at the time, but the process of scrapping all that stuff was like a third of the documentary.

[Warsaw]

I thought that was common knowledge?

So did I. Some people on here were hellbent on saying it was impossible to scrap it and start over in the amount of time that they did, despite it all being on the bonus DVD.

Also, I would very much like to see the original Halo 2 script. It sounds like they cut out all of the mystery from the game, which would explain why it feels so blasé compared to the original.

[Siliconmaster]

Also, I would very much like to see the original Halo 2 script. It sounds like they cut out all of the mystery from the game, which would explain why it feels so blasé compared to the original.

Same. Hearing about all the stuff they cut, I'd love to know what their vision was. I never had the H2 bonus dvd, so this is really the first I've ever heard about all this stuff.

[Higuy]

Same. Hearing about all the stuff they cut, I'd love to know what their vision was. I never had the H2 bonus dvd, so this is really the first I've ever heard about all this stuff.
I'd like to see it; along with Halo 1's story. Like they had said, Halo 1 wasn't supposed to be a trilogy.

[Kornman00]

I'd be willing to bet that the editor came out like it did due to a couple of different reasons but namely due to disc space. You can only put so much on a DVD. Like the game. Kind of need the game on there. Yes, there could have been two discs, but you have to think about it from an Exec at MS's perspective (money and resources). Could have been a web based download too, but again bandwidth isn't free. The executive decissions that came about were probably from someone who didn't research or look at how big and long lived the Custom Edition turned out to be.

MS just wanted something to try and restart Vista's heart. But they kind of shot themselves and the port in the foot by doing that. Now they have W7 which doesn't have so much negative jibber jabber with it.


How awesome would it be to get your hands on these plans? :o
Chris is a NZ homie like yourself. Maybe you can use the secret NZ handshake to get him to show you ;o

[Timo]

Who is Chris and what does he do

[Saggy]

Who is Chris and what does he do
Chris Butcher I'm guessing...

[Kornman00]

^ Chris Butcher, one of the engineering leads

[Llama Juice]

Well that was interesting to read.

*puts in Halo 2*

E:/

Hey, just so ye all know, all the maps are free now.. I dunno when they made them all free... but if you wanna grab em, now's pretty much your last chance.

[teh lag]

On a related note:


The Making of Halo 2 - Showing Up Online
Yesterday, Bungie began to fill out its BuTube channel with a bunch of pieces from the Halo 2 Limited Edition bonus disc - if you've never had a chance to watch this disc, here's the first (official) chance online!


Halo Origins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI_hq2KTgbw)
Beyond Single Player, Multiplayer, and Live (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGSuPZVgxLg)
Cutting Room Floor Cinematics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4l0sJqnIU8)
Cutting Room Floor Weapons Vehicles and Characters (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWI7AhQFpTE)
Developing the Game Designing the Levels (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8GMjQyFzEM)
Developing the Game - Visualizing the Story (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcd8a2sB0t0)
First Look Halo 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0yjEi4YnDM)

There are a few compromises Bungie had to make to put these up; if we find time, we may try and rectify these compromises for them.

Neat stuff in there, if you haven't seen it before. I'm probably in a minority here but I absolutely loved Halo 2's campaign, moreso than H3's and almost more than H1's, so that environment and cinematic overview stuff gets me erect. Then there's also the novelty of seeing stuff that got cut or changed for release...

[Siliconmaster]

Neat stuff in there, if you haven't seen it before. I'm probably in a minority here but I absolutely loved Halo 2's campaign, moreso than H3's and almost more than H1's, so that environment and cinematic overview stuff gets me erect. Then there's also the novelty of seeing stuff that got cut or changed for release...

Nice, thanks.

[Llama Juice]

They put up the team's thoughts and memories of Halo 2's design/production.

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=25650

I'm like halfway through it, thought it was interesting.


Hiding the Scarab Gun on newmombasa and thinking "heh, it'll be forever before they find this!" and then having players get up there within a week by pushing Banshee through the BSP transition from the bridge. Damn. Never underestimate the player.