Everyone with a passing interest in games probably recognizes the green man that usually reps Xbox and Halo – for a time, in the Xbox 360 era, he was almost as ever present as Mario. But before Master Chief (AKA John 117 or John Halo) became a gaming mascot, his creator rebuilt his design nine times to get it just right.
Halo co-creator and Bungie’s former art director Marcus Lehto recently spoke with Kent State Magazine, the university he once attended, about his long career. Lehto recalled that he was first attracted to the FPS hit maker after playing the original Marathon and was quickly doing UI work for the company on Myth: Fallen Lords.
But what Lehto would become most known for was, arguably, the Master Chief. “The creation of the Master Chief is something that I went through so many ringers to try to find the right look, the right feel, the right stature for such a character,” Lehto said, adding that the design was changed nine times before landing on the suit we see in Halo: Combat Evolved.
“And then from a visual design standpoint, I really did focus on some of the things I learned here at Kent State to break it down into the most basic visual elements,” he continued. “It’s such a key thing to get right in order to not overly complicate a design.”
What were those “basic visual elements,” then? According to the Kent State report, Lehto took inspiration from seemingly random places, like the shape of an M1 Abrams tank and a BMX helmet, which sort of makes sense when you see Master Chief’s orange-visored helmet by itself.
“It took forever, but I wasn’t going to stop because I had learned through the program here that you don’t stop when you’re just on your first iteration,” Lehto said. (Good spot, Gamespot!)
Of course, the Master Chief’s gone through more redesigns since 2001’s seminal shooter. Almost every single sequel has made adjustments big and small to his super soldier armor, and next year’s remake, Halo: Campaign Evolved, is set to once again reimagine the design 25 years later.
Halo co-creator says Campaign Evolved “looks and feels genuine”: “It’s gorgeous in a way I wish we could have built it originally back in 2001”
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