Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
How Bungie Teased Destiny In Halo 3: ODST
Halo 3: ODST was a bold game in a lot of ways, but one of the most interesting things about it wasn't discovered until years later. Hidden on an innocuous poster within the game was the line "Destiny Awaits" and an image of Earth with a small white "moon". While this didn't mean much when the game was released in September 2009, everything changed once Bungie officially announced a new game called Destiny in 2013. While visiting the studio for our recent cover story on Destiny, we spoke with art director Chris Barrett on how and why he snuck in such a bold, foreshadowing Easter egg.
Ryan Ellis told me that you threw that in there.
Yeah, I was working on this project at that point. I was helping out [with] the fiction of ODST and making signage. I wasn't sure if I was going to get away with it or not, or if anybody would even know. I figured that we'd for sure change the name [of the project/game], it was so long ago, but it worked out. There's even a little Traveler around the moon.
So you had the Traveler lore ready to go back then?
Yeah, I guess so.
Did Jason Jones and the higher-ups at the company see it?
Honestly, I don't think anybody on the team knew other than me until later. Harold [Ryan, Bungie's president] probably would have said "no."
Were you cruising the forums trying to find people that found it?
I did at one point. Somebody pointed it out that somebody found it, and it was fun reading the thread about people discovering it. I think the other Easter egg I did was in Halo 2. There's a giant sign that says "Tarab Industries," which is just my name backwards. I didn't tell anyone about that.
For any fans out there that plan on scouring every sign in Destiny to learn about what Bungie has planned four years down the road, the odds are slim that you'd find anything. Barrett emphasized that things were a bit more loose back then and that Bungie president Harold Ryan "would kill us now."
Click on the banner below to visit our hub for exclusive content on Bungie's Destiny.
You can also follow our Destiny updates and other stories by following Game Informer on Twitter, Google+,and Facebook. To learn more from Destiny's official channels, check out the game site, Facebook, Twitter, or Bungie site.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
