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343 Industries on building the Halo universe

Comic-Con 2010: Creative director Frank O'Connor talks with Greg Bear, Karen Traviss, Peter David, and more to discuss upcoming novels, comics, and animated films set in Microsoft's acclaimed franchise.

Who was there: 343 Industries' creative director Frank O'Connor was joined onstage by a host of contributors to the Halo-dedicated establishment. Among them were novelists Greg Bear and Karen Traviss, Tor Books editor Eric Raab, and famed comics writer Peter David. 343 Industries producer Alison Stroll and managing editor Kevin Grace rounded out the panel.

Halo won't end after the fall of Reach.

Halo won't end after the fall of Reach.

What they talked about: Bungie's Halo: Reach panel, which delved into user-generated content and new modes for the September 14 release, wasn't the franchise's only presence at Comic-Con 2010. Microsoft's 343 Industries was also on hand to provide a deeper look into the developments and people behind the Halo universe, in a panel titled, aptly enough, "Halo Universe Panel."

The session opened with a brief trailer recounting some of Halo's non-gaming exploits, ranging from the Halo novel The Fall of Reach to the Halo Legends anime. Of course, it also showed previously released footage from Halo: Reach, the final Bungie-developed installment in the franchise.

Stroll, who moderated the session, asked panelists what it was that kept them wanting to contribute to the Halo universe. Raab led off, saying that world building offers the ultimate sandbox, because it lets a writer take a universe that is self-contained and flesh out the limitless stories within it. David concurred, saying that the nice thing about Halo in particular is that all of his contributions are canonical, and its satisfying to be part of something that's bigger than himself.

Nebula and Hugo award-winning author Bear then discussed what brought him into the fold. He said that the Halo universe offers the classic hard-boiled military sci-fi that he grew up on and that it is entertaining for him to carry on the tradition of writing about extraordinary characters accomplishing extraordinary feats.

Traviss, who is also a primary contributor to Microsoft and Epic Games' Gears of War story, noted that her draw to the universe is that there are very dark, disturbed characters in the Halo universe, and those are exactly the types of stories that she likes to tell. She said that she feels like a tribal storyteller and feeds off the way people react to her stories.

David was then asked about the process of taking the Halo universe from the realm of games and bringing it to another medium--in his case, comic books. He said that it was actually quite easy, because Halo was born as a visual experience and was geared for being conveyed in such a manner. The Halo universe is especially nice, he continued, because of the massive amount of feedback he receives from the people who created the lore.

The conversation then turned to some of the upcoming releases in the Halo universe, with Raab noting that Tor will be reissuing all of the Halo novels with bonus content, the first of which will arrive by the end of August. He also said that a new collection of short stories will arrive in November and December.

The next new novel, which is being penned by Bear and focuses on the Forerunners, is expected to arrive this holiday. Delving into what fans of the novels can expect, Bear said the story focuses on humanity's origins in the Halo universe, as well as the construction of the massive space rings themselves. The story will be told over the course of three novels.

With Reach due on September 14, Grace said that gamers can also expect to get more information on Dr. Halsey (who created the Spartan program) with the game's limited-edition package. Included in the release will be Dr. Halsey's journal, which will recount her experiences with creating the supersoldier program, of which the iconic Master Chief was a member.

Stroll then queued up the next animated film in the Halo franchise, which will be titled The Mona Lisa. The brief trailer showed a group of humans happening upon a pod structure near the remnants of a destroyed Halo space station. On full alert and guns raised, the soldiers pop the seal, and out bursts a humanoid figure, blood-soaked and screaming. Stroll indicated that the flood will be central to the film.

Quote: "We would have to be the world's biggest a******* to not follow through. You're all applauding, but I didn't say we weren't the world's biggest a*******."--Frank O'Connor, responding to whether Master Chief's story will continue after the cliff-hanger ending of Halo 3.

Takeaway: The Halo universe is one that offers near-limitless possibilities for those who want to play in the Bungie-created sandbox. And Microsoft has certainly tapped some of the top sci-fi writing talent around to ensure that those stories come to life. Those who want more Halo beyond just the games should have a lot to busy themselves with for some time to come.

158 Comments

  • cjburnfist

    Posted Jul 21, 2011 12:07 pm GMT

    Let's play halo, where every weapon is a power weapon, and you never jump less than 10 feet off of the ground. Not only this, but you can also survive your own rockets being launched at your own feet. This game may not be great, but at least they try new things, and if it weren't for weird lag and dumb weapon powers/overpowered characters, I would definitely look into playing another Halo game. It deserves credit for being much better than CoD is all shapes forms and fashions, but alas does not hold any type of completely unique multiplayer that has not been seen before.

  • skywalkerforce

    Posted Nov 23, 2010 10:44 am GMT

    @etusfart18

    Thats not Halo....That Call Of Duty. At least Halo has made more than FPS. Its tapped into a few things. COD is so friggin dull. I dont see the purpose of buying anymore CODs in the future.

  • ZombieHunter000

    Posted Aug 5, 2010 4:17 pm GMT

    racetrack with forklifts lol

  • FlamingNinja77

    Posted Aug 4, 2010 1:56 pm GMT

    already have lots planned to do in forge with all the new stuff maybe i should make a forklift racetrack that would be epic

  • DarkNinja09

    Posted Aug 4, 2010 12:37 pm GMT

    cool. cant wait for halo reach.

  • kaze347

    Posted Aug 4, 2010 12:40 am GMT

    @fetusfart18 A brand new Madden game comes out every year. Halo does not. Halo has a STRONG campaign. Madden does not. Halo only has a few game out compared to Madden. Halo improves a great deal in every new iteration, again Madden does not. Call of Duty is closer to becoming Madden than Halo is. But I'll still play them, because like the people who keep buying Madden, I AM A FAN. People act like its a bad thing.

  • VFG

    Posted Aug 1, 2010 6:42 pm GMT

    This weekend Microsoft posted jobs for nearly every position of game development at 343 Studios. The listings even specify it's for a new Halo game. So what do you guys think? Halo Wars 2, Halo 4, something new? Link: http://www.microsoft-careers.com/key/343-studios-jobs.html

  • SolidTy

    Posted Jul 31, 2010 10:56 pm GMT


    Besides Halo Waypoint, 343 doesn't really seem like they do much. Cool that they are involved though.

  • pitbull_fathead

    Posted Jul 28, 2010 11:42 am GMT

    @ mgs16925
    I think he was more saying that he finds it hard to understand why you would comment on something you state to not care about. As most would not.

    That being said, who ever thinks they are milking the series? (I don't know if you even said that mgs16925) They obviously are, but why is it such a big deal? CoD is definitely doing it, both the GoW's are doing it (A little more questionable), pretty much every succesful game can be labelled as milking. But like somebody said, the numbers don't lie and people are buying into ALL of this stuff. And for me as a Halo fan, I love it as it's even MORE story!

    Look where milking got Star Wars? No worries SW fans, I'm not comparing I'm just saying that people are buying both... How many Star Wars games are there even? And let's not get into all the other canon outputs.. And that all started from a movie series! That's amazing...

    AKA Haters need to stfu, if you don't like it don't watch videos about it and you shouldn't feel the need to comment (Not directed at you mgs16925).

  • chipichowa

    Posted Jul 28, 2010 8:06 am GMT

    bungie you have outdone yourself with the new and inproved forge and firefight options

  • FatalAffinity

    Posted Jul 28, 2010 1:07 am GMT

    Where can we watch that "The Mona Lisa" trailer that they mentioned? Also, I have faith in 343 Industries to keep the Halo legend alive for the years to come. I have enjoyed and loved every single Halo game to ever be released, from Halo: CE to Halo 2-3-ODST and Halo Wars. The company knows that if they start work on another Halo title, they have Microsoft and the world watching over their shoulders. It's a daunting task, to say the least, but like I said, I have faith. Either way, we will see how the Halo universe evolves in the hands of 343. They have a HUGE universe to play with, from the first missions that the Spartans were sent on against insurgents to later missions during the Human-Covenant war. Good Luck 343! And Good Luck Bungie with Activision :/

  • fetusfart18

    Posted Jul 27, 2010 5:02 pm GMT

    Reach is the only one since Halo 1 that looks like I might like it at all. But dear god, is Halo going to turn into the Madden of first person shooeters? At least we're not seeing any Madden NFL fiction novels..........yet.

  • mgs16925

    Posted Jul 27, 2010 3:04 pm GMT

    @ penpusher this a news item that was linked off the main page when I first commented, not a halo-specific section. I made an off-hand mention of an opinion on the state of this series, an opinion about half the posts here are also showing. Why are you playing this up like I'm trolling a halo site?

  • DuTCHy-Allen

    Posted Jul 27, 2010 1:48 pm GMT

    yes indeed, because one person or a selective few thinks halo sucks than obiously halo sucks.
    Well if halo sucks why are you visiting pages about halo?
    Just wondering ...

  • Shanks_D_Chop posted Jul 27, 2010 1:25 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Shanks_D_Chop

    Posted Jul 27, 2010 1:25 pm GMT (hide)

    Halo sucks! It always has done.
    I know that probably counts as trolling but... it does!

  • DuTCHy-Allen

    Posted Jul 27, 2010 1:11 pm GMT

    @mgs16925 u have a point the franchise has to stop when the time is right but really is that time now?? The halo series has been written in a way that it can take many directions, the only thing im worried about is that if they ever make a film that they choose a bad director.

  • penpusher

    Posted Jul 27, 2010 8:30 am GMT

    @mgs16925 still dont understand its still having a good run. Master cheifs story line has been closed (well possibly ... we'll see) but there is an entire universe of halo to go through I mean theres 20 years of an interstellar war, which alone could spawn an entire series in its own right, but we've only seen details of master cheifs later career and a few bits of the war itself ... You and others may not really want to see anymore but the majority of halo fans do

    Which brings me to my next point, If you dont care about any further entries in the series dude then no one is forcing you to pay attention, no one is forcing you to buy the games and we certainly arent forcing you, nor do we want you, to come onto pages based entirely around halo and bashing the series. If halo 3 was enough for you then thats fair enough but dont come making a nuisance of yourself to the rest of us ....

  • lordrem93

    Posted Jul 27, 2010 8:18 am GMT

    BRING ON THE HALO MOVIE!

  • mgs16925

    Posted Jul 27, 2010 8:01 am GMT

    @penpusher Don't get me wrong, it was a good run. But the story ended with Halo 3. It's been clinging to life with these side stories (DLC that walks like a full-priced sequel), and we should just let it go before the good memories are clouded by the zombie this franchise has become.

  • IrishBulldog93 posted Jul 27, 2010 7:08 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    IrishBulldog93

    Posted Jul 27, 2010 7:08 am GMT (hide)

    oh im so shocked more halo products ? i never saw this coming (sarcasm)