Bungie Weekly Update - 01/17/2014

This week at Bungie, I hunted Cabal.

At the end of a long day, Pete Parsons strode into my corner of the studio with a call to arms.

"I want to play a Strike." he said, "Who's with me?"

"I'm in!" OJ said.

Then their gaze fell on me. I killed a browser window and gave an eager nod.

Just like that, we found ourselves planting footprints in the sands of Mars. After weeks of playtest, and untold hours devoted to progressing over the winter break, our Guardians had become deadly. Clad in armored raiment with exotic weapons in hand, we began our safari. Despite the windswept ruins all around us, the hunting grounds were fertile.

On steeds fueled by light, we sped across the hard pan, bearing down on our prey. Cresting the first set of dunes, we saw our first Cabal milling about the gangway of their mountainous tank. With acrobatic grace, we leapt from our transports and unslung rifles from our backs midair.

Then came the shooting.

With every satisfying gasp of freshly punctured pressurized armor, another Cabal slammed down hard to the crimson dust. When we finished up, their hulking forms littered the oil-stained ground. Only we weren't done, but just getting started.

We took our pearls of loot as parting gifts, and from there, the Strike unfolded as Strikes often do. But that, my friends, is a story for another time.

War Stories from the Winter Build

My romp on Mars was not the only story that unfolded this week that was worth telling. Every day, the breakneck pace of development is interrupted by some play. It's how we make sure that we're making something you'll want to play. The way we see things, if we want to play it... Well, you get the idea.

Check out what passes for a lunch break at Bungie.

As I explored the ruins of an ancient Moon base, I came across some Fallen miners drilling for resources. I ran over to stop them and ran into Luke Smith. Naturally, he's a badass. Waves of Fallen tried to protect their mining equipment. The bastards were tough, and they just kept coming. I went down a couple of times but Luke revived me right away. When it didn't look like we'd survive, Luke went into beast mode, using his damn bare hands to launch a barrage of melee attacks. We finally took out their Captain. Just as I was feeling great about myself and what I had done, an instant message window popped up on my other screen. It was Luke: "GET CARRIED SON!"
Nick Heikkila, BVT Lead

The summons rang out like a klaxon: "Multiplayer needs test assistance!" I responded, knowing I'd be going in to battle against some of our studio's most deadly players. Toss a grenade out the door. Kill. Sprint over the rubble and take aim with my scout rifle where an ally is in trouble. One shot. Two. Kill. Jump down from my perch, back to shotgun as someone runs into the building I had just left. I turn the corner (split seconds to decide) and I jump. The melee attack from my opponent kills nothing but the air beneath my Titan's feet as I glide overhead. I brought this shotgun for a reason, right? Kill.

Daniel Auchenpaugh, Investment Test Lead

"What's that stuff that's killing us?"
"Do we shoot it?"
"No wait, don't shoot it. See what happens."
"We died again."
"Okay, definitely shoot it."
"Wait, who is covering the right side?"
"OH MY GOD WE ARE GOING TO DIE!"
"We died. Again."
Brendan Thorne, Designer

I was alone in Old Russia. I fought some Fallen crews, but was running low on ammo. Reinforcements came too quickly for me to retrieve loot from the Fallen corpses. Two Fallen Captains closed in. As I rifled through my last clip, another Fireteam stormed through the crowd to help me. The four of us threw everything we had at them. Mission success. After receiving our bounty, we waved and parted ways to continue our own adventures.
Will Edgette, Desginer

"To your left, to your left, look at the Hive! They are sprinting right for you!" I shouted.
"Don't worry, I got them" the Warlock said, just as a Nova Bomb soared through the air.
"Behind you, look out! Run!" My Hunter pal raised his hand into the air, gun suddenly catching fire, and fired shot after shot by my head. I heard the familiar sound of each enemy on my tail being disintegrated. Then, for a moment, the only sound was us reloading our rifles. I knew that was only the beginning.
Greg Requa, Tester

Shots Fired

When we yielded the floor to Game Informer, we gave them a sweet bundle of imagery from a recent build of Destiny. Now that they've had their say about their epic adventure in our studio, those windows into our brave new world are free for all to enjoy. So, download them. Slap 'em onto your desktop. Use them to create your own content.

Our Explore Destiny galleries are home to everything we've released to date in high-definition glory.

Postage is free, and you don't need to find a steel box to make your voice heard. All you need to do is ask a question that tickles our fancy. Let's open the Sack.

Ducain23 Can I give Bungie a huge when I come to PAX?

What?

Handysabe There will be weapons we have to find, so if someone finds a really good weapon and posts it online for everyone, will we see everyone with the same weapon?

The thing about really good weapons is that there are a lot of them. Sure, there will be some crowd favorites, but we expect some healthy diversity in the implements of war that you see aimed at you when the time comes for Guardian vs. Guardian action. If there is one thing we've learned over the years, it's that the Bungie Community doesn't agree categorically on anything.

MADRABBIT117 DeeJ! What are you thinking when you take that last step to upload a podcast?

"Please work, please work, please work... Why do I suck at using XML? Oh, God, please work."

reydar117 We can kill others guys in the open world area?

If by "other guys" you mean "vile invaders who have taken up residence in the worlds that are rightfully ours," the answer is "Yes!" If your question is aimed at battling other Guardians, you'll need to enter a completely separate activity to test your competitive mettle. You'll make a lot of choices in Destiny, including when you want your allies to turn their guns on you. We can't have Guardians attacking each other in the wild. The wild is a dangerous enough place already, without you turning your guns on one another.

Chorrizo Tapatio May we have a ninja sack again soon? It'd be cool to see them step out of the shadows once more (with feeling).

You never know when the Bungie.net Ninja will strike. Just this week, we invited them back out of the shadows to extol their unique brand of justice on the forum. Their attack has been swift and final. It's been good to see them in action again. You need only report the prey of the Ninja to begin their hunt. With feeling.

GunRunner48 Are we going to get a Destiny Drawing Board any time soon?

Yes. Soon. It's high time that we returned to the Drawing Board. Don't expect any more guns, however. The rest of the armory will be a thing for you to discover. Stay tuned. We're about to propel the series into its next phase.

Syren Will there be community play dates? What's better than playing a game with its awesome creators.

The only thing better than playing a game you love with the people who made it is playing a game that you made with the people who love it. By that logic, we can promise you chances to play Destiny with Bungie. The Ride Alongs will ride again. Step One is putting a build on your machine. Hang in there. It'll come.

Someday, we'll play this game together. We'll be a community rooted to a Tower. We'll overlook the City we're sworn to protect, and we'll fight for the right to call ourselves Guardians.

Until then, we sure do enjoy these chats about the thrills that await us. Join us next week, and the week after that (and so on for a while), for more of the same. Someday, on a long enough timeline, we'll be telling your war stories.