When
Halo® hit the shelves with the launch of the Xbox® in 2001, it was an immediate sensation. This action-packed, military-science fiction game, set on a distant, war-torn, artificial planet, became an instant triumph with gamers–and scored numerous awards for its innovations, irresistibility, and sheer thrills.
The Art of Halo is a showcase of its stunning visual style, a fascinating guided tour through the making of the phenomenon, from bright idea to brilliant result, and a testament to the creativity of the artists at Bungie Studios.
Eric Nylund, author of the best-selling Halo novels, Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike, (recently re-released, along with William C. Dietz’s Halo: The Flood, in a Del Rey boxed set) took some time to interview Eric S. Trautmann, author of The Art of Halo.
Eric Nylund: How did you approach the writing of The Art of Halo? Did it start by looking at the artwork Bungie had created?
Eric Trautmann: That was the idea at first. I had seen several pieces of production artwork–concept sketches, mostly–several years ago, and was struck by how evocative and detailed it was. I thought it would be fun and interesting to take a peek under the hood and see where it all came from, visually. Of course, I actually didn’t see any artwork for several months. The process of sorting and scanning years’ worth of sketches and paintings took far longer than originally predicted.
EN: So, if you hadn’t seen a lot of the artwork, what did you write about?
ET: I spent several weeks interviewing every Bungie artist willing to talk to me (a logistical nightmare thanks to the demands of the Halo 2 production schedule, and a process that wouldn’t have been possible to complete successfully without the able assistance of “Bungie Princess” Alta Hartmann). Despite the artists’ grueling schedule, they graciously took the time to give me all sorts of inside dope on the creation of the games. I decided that, while I hadn’t seen a lot of what eventually ended up in the book, I could still find out what the artists’ process was like–what choices they made, why they made them, what worked, what didn’t.
I lucked out, as it happens. They gave me all kinds of insider tidbits that act as a sort of textual “commentary track” for the games.
EN: Did you have a favorite piece of Halo artwork?
ET: I had several, particularly a number of paintings by Eddie Smith and Craig Mullins. They’re simply insanely talented painters, and the work they did was just brilliant, moody, atmospheric.
I think my absolute favorite piece in the book is a sketch of the game’s hero, the Master Chief, drawn by Marcus Lehto (Bungie’s Art Director). The sketch was one of the first refinements of the concept art that solidified the “look” of the Master Chief, but it had been water damaged. Streaks of rainwater smeared the ink in a very unusual way, and gave the whole piece a sort of Japanese water-color feel that’s very unique and interesting. It’s quite distinctive.
EN: When working on the Halo books, it seemed that there was a tremendous amount of background material–even more than appears on screen. Why?
ET: Bungie has always prided itself on the richness of the back-story for their games; it’s part of what built their fiercely loyal fan community. Mostly, it’s because the folks at Bungie like good stories and want to tell the tales they’d most enjoy.
It serves a practical purpose, too. By understanding the various characters in the story, it informs the game’s design on virtually every front. By designing, for example, a detailed philosophy for various Covenant species, it affects how the aliens’ technology, speech, motion, and behavior is crafted when one of these aliens appears on screen.
EN: Is it unusual for a game to have such an elaborate back-story, and so meticulously-developed a universe?
ET: Story has become incredibly important in game design, especially now that games are entering into pop-culture awareness at a level that rivals motion pictures. The medium is still in its relative infancy, so while it’s currently unusual for a game to have such a fully fleshed-out mythology supporting it, I suspect it will become the norm.