Master Chief creator Marcus Lehto has recalled his preliminary design course of for the now-iconic character, saying he and the staff at Bungie “tried lots of issues” earlier than selecting the look everybody now is aware of.
“The creation of the Master Chief is one thing that I went via so many ringers to attempt to discover the appropriate look, the appropriate really feel, the appropriate stature for such a personality,” Lehto stated in an interview with Kent State Magazine. Lehto attended Kent State.
The report stated among the early designs for Master Chief have been “too slender, too stylized.” To give you the ultimate design, Lehto stated he take a look at a wide range of issues for inspiration, together with an M1 Abrams tank, the road of an Apache helicopter, and a BMX helmet.
“After which from a visible design standpoint, I actually did deal with among the issues I realized right here at Kent State to interrupt it down into essentially the most primary visible parts,” he stated. “It is such a key factor to get proper with a view to not overly complicate a design.”
Lehto stated he went via 9 completely different variations of Master Chief earlier than selecting the one everybody is aware of at this time. “It took endlessly, however I wasn’t going to cease as a result of I had realized via this system right here that you do not cease whenever you’re simply in your first iteration,” he stated.
Lehto is speaking concerning the unique Master Chief design as seen within the first Halo recreation in 2001. The character’s look has undergone some adjustments within the 20+ years since, however the common look has stayed largely the identical.
Additionally within the interview, Lehto mentioned how Bungie got here to be owned by Microsoft, and never Apple. Some could recall that the unique Halo was revealed on the Macworld 1999 occasion, with Steve Jobs personally saying the sport for Mac and hyping it up. After this, Lehto stated Microsoft got here calling and stated to the staff at Bungie, “Steve Jobs cannot have that,” referring to Halo.
Microsoft then supplied to purchase Bungie, transfer the staff from Chicago to Washington, and make Halo for Xbox. The sport turned out to be an enormous hit for Microsoft, and it spawned quite a few sequels.
2026 marks the twenty fifth anniversary of the Halo sequence, and Microsoft is marking the event with the discharge of Halo: Marketing campaign Developed, a brand new remaster of the unique recreation. Along with Xbox and PC, the sport is releasing on PS5, which marks the franchise’s debut on Sony’s platform. Microsoft has a number of new Halo initiatives within the works, and one other title is alleged to be a “Fortnite-like” live-service recreation.