"The whole studio was burning the candle at both ends" - Two of Halo 2's most important designers reflect on the beloved sequel's working conditions

Halo 2 had a bit of a troubled development, and now a couple of important designers have shared their perspective on working on it.

It's well known by this point that there was a lot of crunch on Halo 2 - the first game had been a big success, and Bungie was growing, but not in a way that provided support in all the ways that were needed. Devs have previously spoken about their experience of working on the sequel, and now in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, iconic designers Robert and Lorraine McLees shared what their own experience was like. As you can tell by their surname, the pair of developers are actually married, and had a big impact on Halo as a whole. For one, Lorraine is the designer behind Halo's logo, as well as various other bits of iconic key art, and Robert described himself as "kind of the weapons guy at Bungie."

But Lorraine explained that "Halo 2 was really hard on the team. The whole studio was burning the candle at both ends." Robert shared that up to Halo 2's infamous E3 demo, Bungie "never had good managers. They had creatives that were forced into managerial roles while still remaining in their creative roles - basically working two jobs. This kinda worked when there were 12 of us. It worked less well when there were 30 of us. It collapsed when there were 60 of us." Robert also noted that "it felt like every discipline lead thought that they were running the show," with communication between departments being a struggle, saying that it was "just a bunch of different voices saying, ‘this is what we’re doing’ and a lot of people scratching their heads wondering ‘when was this decided?'"

This was particularly frustrating for Robert given that he was also writing some of the game's foundational lore, while simultaneously being asked to design a new weapon when the game is meant to be in the polishing stages, only for the same weapon to be cut from the final game. Lorraine said that "at the time, we really didn’t know what was going to happen - if we were going to make it or not. It was the make it or break it period for the young Bungie crew. So much burn-out."

At the very least, Lorraine did say she looks back on the games with fondness - "These stories of people staying in touch with friends, though life took them to different parts of the country or the world, meeting up in the lobby, then doing a few rounds in Halo 2 - to me this is what the takeaway is. We helped bring people together. Experience some joy. Have fun. Make memories. That’s the power of these games."

The full story from Rolling Stone is worth a read as the two also go into some other Halo history that's a bit more lighthearted, including how the Flood were inspired by a children's book.