The changes involved almost every aspect of the game, including an extensive story re-write, and in the end, there just wasn't enough time left to actually, you know, finish the game. So they cheated a bit, polished what they could and drew a line at the furthest possible point, which wasn't quite as far into the story as most fans would have liked. Nevertheless, in spite of bringing new meaning to "when it's done," the game still sold over 8 million copies, and Bungie learned a valuable lesson.
"To put it in perspective, when Halo 2 shipped, we had three full-time producers," says Jarrard. "At last count, we have roughly 12 or so. That was one of our biggest takeaways: We need to treat production as a discipline in the same way that we treat art, engineering and design. We need to get better at it, hire some people that are excellent at it and we need to really understand how to work more efficiently as a group."
"I Fucking Cannot Play Halo 2"
Two games into the franchise - and an entire platform saved from irrelevance - it looked to all the world as if Bungie could do no wrong. Even the much-maligned non-ending to the Halo sequel had, a year or so after its release, become merely a fleeting annoyance tolerated both by long-time fans of the series and new recruits, largely because of the game's long legs in the multiplayer community. And then the unthinkable happened: One of Bungie's own broke ranks.
"Even the multiplayer experience for Halo 2 is a pale shadow of what it could and should have been if we had gotten the timing of our schedule right," Bungie's Technical Lead, Chris Butcher, told Edge magazine in January of 2007. " It's astounding to me. I fucking cannot play Halo 2 multiplayer. I cannot do it."
Butcher wasn't the only one who was dissatisfied.
"We drove off [a cliff] Thelma & Louise style," said writer Frank O'Connor, saying the experience of working on Halo 2 was akin to "writing by committee."
The damage control began almost immediately, but in retrospect, Bungie has embraced the criticism. "We've got a group of guys here that are all extreme perfectionists and sometimes maybe to a fault," Jarrard says. "Obviously Halo 2 was a great game, but for these guys who spent three years slaving away on it, it's really hard for them [emotionally] to look back and see [the rough edges].
"Going into Halo 3, we wanted to right those wrongs. We've had the luxury of learning from our mistakes, so we're not going to find ourselves in that position [again]. The main things we really did differently this time around was we really did a strong job of pre-production. Almost every thing we set out to accomplish is exactly what we intend to ship. I don't believe there's anyone in this building who's truly unhappy with [Halo 3]."
"A Pretty Good Start"
It would seem, at first glance, that it's 2004 all over again. Again, the holiday season approaches, again Microsoft needs a system-seller to push their new console and again all eyes are on Bungie and Halo. But with one colossal, successful failure and several years experience behind them, Bungie seems poised to redeem themselves in the eyes of their hardcore fans and finish the Halo trilogy with an actual bang; more so, perhaps, for themselves than for anyone else.
