{"id":16736,"date":"2018-04-06T17:08:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T17:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/view\/news\/316250"},"modified":"2018-04-06T17:08:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T17:08:00","slug":"blog-what-i-learned-working-at-halo-developer-343-industries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/04\/06\/blog-what-i-learned-working-at-halo-developer-343-industries\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog: What I learned working at Halo developer 343 Industries"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra\u2019s community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.<\/small><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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This post was originally published on\u00a0@Ryan_<\/a>Darcey<\/a>‘s blog, Making Moves<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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DISCLAIMER:<\/strong>\u00a0 Nothing in this post reflects what 343 Industries thinks or what the future holds for Halo.\u00a0 This is all from my own dumb brain and I have no idea what 343 Industries is currently up to.\u00a0 Lastly,\u00a0I have the utmost respect for everyone that works there and I’m excited to see what they release next!<\/p>\n

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I blogged a while ago about\u00a0working at\u00a0Terminal Reality<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0LucasArts<\/a>, but have held off on writing about my experience at 343 Industries (343i) until I’ve had some more time away from the studio.\u00a0 I just hit my 2 year indie anniversary and it feels like there’s enough space between working on Halo and the present moment in order to judge it fairly.\u00a0 My three years at 343i\u00a0was a period of growth, but by way of some difficult lessons learned.\u00a0 I now know a lot more about what I need to satisfy the game dev inside of me and how important it is to find a studio that’s a culture fit (with no one culture being inherently better or worse).<\/p>\n

Let’s start with something easier first, though.<\/p>\n

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At least that’s what I think Seattle wants you to believe in order to keep its growth under control.\u00a0 It’s absolutely beautiful here, the summers pay off in dividends and the video game industry is very much alive and well.\u00a0 I most recently moved from San Francisco where the development scene has been hit hard w\/ closures and layoffs over the past few years.\u00a0 As much as I love the Bay Area, I think it’d be hard to move back and find what I’m currently looking for in my life or career…let alone find an apartment.<\/p>\n

That said, Seattle is having its own growing pains and there’s much to lament with regard to diversity (or lack there of), but from a video game development stand point I feel like I’m at the epicenter of where all the interesting things are happening.\u00a0 Especially being a part of the indie scene.\u00a0 So many AAA devs have left big studios in the area and are starting up exciting projects.\u00a0 It’s encouraging and it makes the dream seem possible, though I know we’re not all going to make it.<\/p>\n

Anyway…that’s my quick love letter to Seattle.\u00a0 343i\u00a0brought me up here and that alone made a kind of scary move worth it.<\/p>\n

But seriously.\u00a0 Don’t move here.\u00a0 It’s terrible.<\/p>\n

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Halo is one of my all time favorite franchises and the impact it’s had on my career is difficult to quantify.\u00a0 The controls, the joust, the 30 seconds of fun, the sandbox, the precision tuning, the console multiplayer…the CHIEF!\u00a0 As a gamer, these things all had a huge impact on my appetite for play.\u00a0 As a developer, they set a high bar for what I might achieve one day.\u00a0 For those reasons, I came into 343i\u00a0with a lot of excitement, but along with that was a healthy dose of trepidation.<\/p>\n

When Halo 3 came out, I remember sitting in the matchmaking lobby chatting w\/ some other game dev friends and saying “I don’t ever want to work on a Halo game.”\u00a0 At the time, I thought, “How the hell am I going to make this better?”\u00a0 Also, I felt like it was going to be difficult for a franchise that established to evolve in significant ways…cause then it probably wouldn’t be Halo anymore.\u00a0 Turns out, I think this is a real problem for any massively successful franchise over time.\u00a0 Striking that balance between innovation and staying true to your roots is crazy difficult.<\/p>\n

As a developer trying to tackle this problem, you also have to be ready for The Internet.\u00a0 Here’s a sample of some comments from\u00a0my 2016 GDC talk<\/a>\u00a0about designing Spartan Abilities for Halo 5: Guardians.<\/p>\n