Halo Co-creator and “Father” of Master Chief, Marcus Lehto, answered fan questions on the anniversary of Halo: Reach.
Lehto worked at Bungie from 1997 to 2012 as a Creative Director. He was last reported to work on Destiny for a few months after leaving to start his own Indie studio called V1 Interactive.
There’s some really neat information for Halo fans here giving an inside look at the game’s development.
He was immediately asked about the what if scenario that keeps Halo fans up at night which involves Bungie still making Halo games. Lehto was asked how he would have continued the series after the events of third game.
It would have been with the Chief, but would have gone a very different direction.
— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) September 15, 2018
343 Industries, the folks in charge of the series now, changed things around with Halo 4 that some fans loved while others hated. Lehto continued:
I have the utmost respect for 343 and what they did with the Chief’s story. Sure would have done something different, but that’s in the past
On where the “Combat Evolved” tagline came from for the original game.
To be fair, the term “Comabt Evolved” came from the M$ marketing team. We bristled at it.
But also, in a franchise like Halo, there’s no easy path through later iterations, where some want the core game and some want something entirely new. It’s a no win situation.— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) September 15, 2018
On if Bungie ever planned on the player being able to fight against AI Scarabs:
No, but we had an awesome prototype mission where you drive a Scarab and destroyed a city.
— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) September 15, 2018
On cut content:
We cut lots of stuff. Water combat, squad commands and several other things.
— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) September 15, 2018
On what happened to Jun after the events of Reach:
He was Halsey’s escort back to Earth. Sent specifically to kill her if she went astray, but only as a last precaution.
— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) September 15, 2018
Favorite Spartan:
Kat, Catherine-B320. I have an entirety different scene in my head for how she really died.
— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) September 15, 2018
Bonus banter with Destiny 2 Game Director Christopher Barrett:
Not quite as fun as the Destiny rollercoaster
— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) September 15, 2018
There’s a lot more interesting stuff in the full thread here.
