Jason Jones - The Destiny Interview

An interview with Jason Jones on moving on from Halo, world building in Destiny, The Darkness, player progression and more. This was by far the best article yet.

Yep. Really great! One big important story bit was that the Traveler first came and landed on Mars and taught Humanity. The Darkness also gets a mention and it sounds like humanity helped the Traveler fight the Darkness! It is also said that the Darkness is returning and that makes things more urgent!

Yep. Really great! One big important story bit was that the Traveler first came and landed on Mars and taught Humanity. The Darkness also gets a mention and it sounds like humanity helped the Traveler fight the Darkness! It is also said that the Darkness is returning and that makes things more urgent!

Sounds like I already know how to solve that problem! Just give the Child-Like Empress a new name. Bam. Darkness gone. I'm just worried about when I get to the part where I have to look at my true self.

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Is that a challenge?

;)

Heh.

I foresee you being defeated not by numbers or superior firepower but by one button on one side of the room and a second that must be pressed at the same time on the other. :)

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Heh.

I foresee you being defeated not by numbers or superior firepower but by one button on one side of the room and a second that must be pressed at the same time on the other. :)

He'll find a way. :)

I'm just worried about when I get to the part where I have to look at my true self.

That's the part where you lose your immortality and shrivel up into dust all "Raiders of the Lost Ark" like, right?

:)

Heh.

I foresee you being defeated not by numbers or superior firepower but by one button on one side of the room and a second that must be pressed at the same time on the other. :)

If launched grenades don't flip switches, I'll be sad.

Unless this button is protected by some kind of space magic superior to our own, then shooting it will work just fine, destroying any chance of hitting it again, but let's not think that far ahead. :)

If launched grenades don't flip switches, I'll be sad.

Good FPS games need not avoid being button-pressing simulators.

They just need to ensure that the button-pressing gameplay mechanics are up to par.

Seems like an odd place to pull back the curtain on some of the back story. I've been puzzled by the last few months worth of publicity maneuvers though so, I guess I'll just continue being puzzled.

So far as the story goes trying to revive the traveler was an unexpected motivation, at least for me, but I guess it makes sense because it instills some urgency into what the players are doing. I was under the impression with a 10 year lifespan that we wouldn't know what the endgame was for a while but forces of darkness and all that, sure why not. I figured they'd ramp up the drama a bit more slowly.

I like the apocalyptic battle between the "darkness" and the traveler that left it disabled and hovering above earth, but again I kinda thought they'd leave the exact reason why the traveler is hovering there shrouded in mystery for a while. Sort of like how the forerunners were shrouded in mystery, I thought the traveler would be the Destiny equivalent of that. Mysterious shit is cool. I want Joe Statens old job. I could write the shit out of some mysterious stuff. Am I rambling? I'm rambling aren't I. *stretches* Welp, time to hit the old dusty trail.

It could be that we know we want to revive the Traveler, but actually doing so is 5+ years away. It's not like we're just going to replace a busted catalyzer and everything will be just fine. I'm really liking the idea that Humanity wasn't so much blindsided during the Collapse but rather they fought and just barely won the battle against the Darkness, and now it is coming back with help for round two!

Sort of like how the forerunners were shrouded in mystery,

They are? Could have fooled me.

Sort of like how the forerunners were shrouded in mystery,

They are? Could have fooled me.

I think that "were" was the operative word in that sentence.

An interview with Jason Jones on moving on from Halo, world building in Destiny, The Darkness, player progression and more. This was by far the best article yet.

With the greatest possible respect to the community folks, it's this plain English, addressing readers as adults style of communication that makes Jason Jones' interviews so enjoyable to read. No dressing it up with purple prose; honest about the areas they agonised over getting right, and a lot of really insightful commentary. Great stuff.

Sort of like how the forerunners were shrouded in mystery,

They are? Could have fooled me.

I think that "were" was the operative word in that sentence.

Ding ding, we have a winner.

Sort of like how the forerunners were shrouded in mystery,

They are? Could have fooled me.

I think that "were" was the operative word in that sentence.

Ding ding, we have a winner.

I feel like these 4 sentences should be required reading for 343 going forward.

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If launched grenades don't flip switches, I'll be sad.

Good FPS games need not avoid being button-pressing simulators.

They just need to ensure that the button-pressing gameplay mechanics are up to par.

Compare Marathon to Halo 4.

It didn't help.

It didn't help.

"Ok, so we got ahold of one of the grandmasters of science fiction, and let him expand upon the Terminals from Halo 3. And that worked out pretty good, all things considering. In fact, it worked out so well, we're going to give it another go."

"Only, instead of taking place when the Forerunner were actually relevant, we'll be introducing Forerunner to the modern timeline. And instead of making sense of the two-Didact confusion, we'll just blithely assume that the fans can understand what's going on. And in place of a talented science fiction writer, we're hiring Brian Reed."

"I feel that this game has the potential to be the best Halo game yet. Are you feeling it?"