{"id":1409750,"date":"2025-11-30T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/Ls4SFX3Vedh23E4LHhYPqF"},"modified":"2025-11-30T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T13:00:00","slug":"halos-co-creator-says-bungie-redesigned-master-chief-nine-times-before-coming-up-with-the-now-iconic-look-we-tried-a-lot-of-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/halos-co-creator-says-bungie-redesigned-master-chief-nine-times-before-coming-up-with-the-now-iconic-look-we-tried-a-lot-of-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Halo’s co-creator says Bungie redesigned Master Chief nine times before coming up with the now-iconic look: ‘We tried a lot of things’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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While I’m well aware that finished games often rest atop a mountain of cut or heavily revised work, I’m still regularly surprised by how extensively projects can change over the course of their development. A striking example was recently provided by Halo<\/a> co-creator Marcus Lehto, who revealed that Master Chief’s suit design was revised nine times before Bungie settled on his final look.<\/p>\n

Lehto, who is an alumnus of Ohio’s Kent State University, was speaking to Kent State Magazine<\/a> (via GamesRadar<\/a>) about the impact his education had on his future career. During that interview, he chatted about the process Bungie went through to design Master Chief’s armour.<\/p>\n

“The creation of the Master Chief is something that I went through so many wringers to try to find the right look, the right feel, the right stature for such a character,” Lehto explained. “We tried a lot of things.”<\/p>\n

Some of these initial designs have made it to the Internet, such as Shi Kai Wang’s early concept<\/a> for Master Chief. Apparently, Bungie felt those early designs were too stylised, and Lehto’s later concept<\/a> borrowed elements from the M1 Abrams tank and the lines of an Apache helicopter. Master Chief’s helmet, meanwhile, was inspired by a BMX helmet, which is pretty evident when you look at it side-on.<\/p>\n

Lehto says that his education in illustration at the University helped him “break [the design] down into the most basic visual elements”. Ultimately, the design went through nine different iterations before Bungie got it right. “It took forever, but I wasn’t going to stop because I had learned through the program here that you don’t stop when you’re just on your first iteration.”<\/p>\n

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