The Halo franchise is one of the largest science fiction universes out there. Hundreds of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:external material and multiple games have expanded Halo's humble beginnings into a massive name for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Microsoft and the Xbox. Multiplayer gaming and common FPS tropes such as two-weapon limits and regenerating health can find their roots within Halo: Combat Evolved.
It took a significant amount of work for the franchise to reach this point, though. Whether it was Halo 2's nightmarish crunch or canceled projects, this franchise has had its fair share of behind-the-scenes stories to tell. From its RTS roots to more recent titles, here are ten behind-the-scenes facts about the Halo franchise.
10 🅰 Halo Was Originally An RTS
Before Halo became the FPS icon it is widely known as today, the franchise was originally going to be an RTS title released for PC and Mac platforms. As development continued on Halo, Bungie would c🅺hange the game to a third-person shooter.
Around this stage, Bungie was approached by Microsoft about turning Halo into an Xbox launch title. The company accepted, turning the third-person shoote🍃r into the FPS juggernaut fans know today.
9 ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ🔯ᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ Halo MP Was Almost Cut
Halo: Combat Evolved's multiplayer component was almost cut from the title entirely. According to with Bungie developer Hardy LeBel, competitive multiplayer was on the chopping block for almost the entirety of development. Most of Bungie's resources went into creating the campaign for Combat Evolved, leaving two members, Hardy LeBel and Michael Evans, to create the multiplayer experience including weapon balance and maps.
The end result was a hastily-created multiplayer component that would set the groundwork for Halo 2's industry-changing multiplayer component. This hasty development is also why Combat Evolved didn't support Xbox Live at launch.
8 Halo🎀 2 Went Through A Complete Redesign
Halo 2 is known for its legendary crunch that 16💎8澳𒁏洲幸运5开奖网:occurred during most of its development. While the game was a sꦜmash hit, it went through some major overhauls during development.
Some might remember the E3 2003 demo that showed Bungie's new engine and technical features for Halo 2. These features would end up being cut due to performance issues and time constraints. That demo was almost everything Bungie had developed at the time, which meant the game was almost entirely rebooted afterward. An entire third act where Master Chief and the Arbiter would fight the Prophets on Earth was cut, later reused in Halo 3. A massive-scale multiplayer mode named Warfare was also cut. There were even plans to have Theater mode implemented in this installment, as seen in the Halo 2 .
7 ꦇ Microsoft ODST Deal
When Microsoft purchased Bungie during the development of Halo, they were made a subsidiary of Microsoft. Bungie would work on titles for Microsoft while Microsoft got all of the rights to the Halo IP.
Right after the release of Halo 3, Bungie separated from their parent company Microsoft, although they were still contractually obligated to make titles for them. Microsoft gave them a deal: create two full Halo titles and let Microsoft keep the IP and Bungie can go their separate way. This is why Halo 3: ODST, originally named Halo 3: Recon, was shifted from being a DLC for Halo 3 to a separate game entirely. After Bungie released 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Halo: Reach, they broke off from Microsoft and the Halo franchise to make Destiny.
6 🧔 Halo 4 Internal Demo
With Bungie planning to leave Microsoft to work on their own titles, Microsoft set their sights on a sequel to Halo 3 that would be developed by a new studio. 343 Industries would be founded to work on Halo titles after Bungi🍌e's departure, comprised of some of the industry's most talenteꦜd developers.
When the team first came together for Halo 4, they developed various prototypes to learn how to work together. One of these demos, according to Halo 4's creative director , felt incredibly similar to Bungie's own Halo titles. The studio decided to scrap the prototype, feeling that innovation was going to make-or-break Halo 4. Not only would this cement the morale at the studio that they can work well together, but it also helps explain why Halo 4 made 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:many controversial changes to the franchise that most hard🌜core fans were not ꦚreceptive to.
5 Halo 5 C❀ut Content
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Halo 5: Guardians has little public information regarding its development and any cut features. However, the talented Halo modding community has found some interesting assets in the PC version of the game named Halo 5: Forge.
Assets that were cut include Brute prototype weapons and various requisition items that never made it to Warzone. More interesting, though, is the game's concept art. Many concepts were created for Forerunner foes including a return of Halo 4's Didact. Considering the negative reception fans had with Halo 5's campaign, it's safe to say that massive changes occurred to the campaign before the game was released. What these changes are, exa🔯ctly, are currently unknown.
4 🦋 🌳 Halo 3 And Halo: Reach's Global Battle System
During a developer's conference in 2010, Bungie showed off a few cut concepts from previous Halo titles. One of the most inte🐷resting systems was named "Global Battle."
Shown in Halo 3, this system shows a Scarab dynamically dropping into a level while artillery explosions occur throughout the level. It seems to be 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:focused on simulating a battlefield, complete with dozens of vehicles and AI. This system seems to have been simulated in Halo: Reach's skyboxes, but this system was never properly implemented into any Halo title.
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3 H෴alo 3 Cut Levels
Modders in the Halo community have recently uncovered plans for three additional 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:levels in Halo 3's campaign. According to the game's leftover files, there was go💮ing to be a level after "Floodgate" where players would infiltrate a Flood ship, a cut level where players would fight a Forerunner Guardian, and a level after the Guardian fight that has little information left in the files.
Speculation around these levels alludes to the "Floodgate" level involve a bo🎐ss fight against Gravemind where players would rescu𒁃e Cortana and control a damaged Scarab. This explains why all levels past "Floodgate"—excluding "Cortana"— do not have Cortana interrupt sequences. The Guardian fight in the second cut level also has a leftover AI package that mostly works, although it's quite buggy in its current form.
The third cut level might be the proposed Forerunner City level that was created by Bungie artist Paul Russel during the development of Halo 3. Most of these levels were cut due to time constraints and to prevent the same overambitious mistakes that occurred during Halo 2's developm꧟ent. Those interested in Forerunner City can read more about .
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2 Canceled Ha💯lo Movie
Microsoft wanted to bring the Halo franchise to the big screen by creating a dedicated Halo movie. Planned to be directed by N🔴eill Blomkamp, little is known about the film except for its development in 2005 and sudden cancellat🐓ion in 2006.
However, this film's cancellation wasn't for nothing. District 9 would arise from the scrapped Halo film as a small-budget science-fiction film.
1 ꦑ Canceled Halo MMO
Before Ensemble Studios created Halo Wars, they were responsible for a unique Halo title. Codenamed "Titan," not to be confused with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Blizzard's canceled MMO, this Halo title was going to be a Massive Multiplayer Online title that was meant to compete with Blizzard's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:World of Warcraft. It was canceled in 2007. The team would then be shifted towards creating a Halo RTS named Halo Wars.