Marcus Lehto on The 1099 (Interview Podcast) (Gaming)
by cheapLEY 
, Monday, November 13, 2017, 20:54 (2567 days ago)
Soundcloud link. Obviously also available on whatever podcast app you use.
On this week's episode, former creative director at Bungie, a co-creator of the Halo franchise, and the president and creative director for V1 Interactive, Marcus Lehto, joins host Josiah Renaudin to talk about AAA development. Marcus details his time at Bungie, the evolution of Halo throughout the years, early Destiny dev stories, what he's learned about development crunch (and how to improve working conditions), the problems with modern microtransactions, and what he's currently working on at V1 Interactive.
I haven't listened to it yet, but I'm sure it's interesting. The 1099 is a pretty great podcast about the industry, featuring interviews with developers and journalists. It's always a fun listen for me, and I'm definitely looking forward to listening to it tomorrow.
Marcus Lehto on The 1099 (Interview Podcast)
by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Tuesday, November 14, 2017, 17:48 (2566 days ago) @ cheapLEY
Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to checking this out. Marcus has a level of insight into the Halo franchise that goes beyond almost anyone else. Plus he’s an incredibly friendly and gracious guy. Should be a fun interview.
Marcus Lehto on The 1099 (Interview Podcast)
by cheapLEY , Tuesday, November 14, 2017, 18:06 (2566 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY
Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to checking this out. Marcus has a level of insight into the Halo franchise that goes beyond almost anyone else. Plus he’s an incredibly friendly and gracious guy. Should be a fun interview.
It was a good listen, for sure. Just lots of discussion about making games, both "in the trenches" and from a high level top down view.
He talks about the boat that was basically a sea-Warthog that got cut from Halo 3. He says it was cut because they had to choose between that and the space combat in Long Night of Solace--they didn't have the resources do both and get them right, and they felt that the space mission was better for the pace of the story they wanted.
The biggest tidbit was that he returned to Bungie after he left the first time and worked on a secret project for like 6 months. He said it was something completely new, they had a working prototype, and then Bungie decided that they needed all focus to be on Destiny (can't remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of wanting no distractions and wanting everyone to be focused on shipping Destiny and not thinking about whatever might be next).
Finishes up with a bunch of talk about leaving Bungie and starting a new studio.
Marcus Lehto on The 1099 (Interview Podcast)
by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 06:47 (2566 days ago) @ cheapLEY
The biggest tidbit was that he returned to Bungie after he left the first time and worked on a secret project for like 6 months. He said it was something completely new, they had a working prototype, and then Bungie decided that they needed all focus to be on Destiny (can't remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of wanting no distractions and wanting everyone to be focused on shipping Destiny and not thinking about whatever might be next).
Yeah he was posting vaguely about that on Twitter at the time... no details, obviously. Just that he and a small team were working on a separate project from the rest of the studio.
Marcus Lehto on The 1099 (Interview Podcast)
by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 08:37 (2566 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY
The biggest tidbit was that he returned to Bungie after he left the first time and worked on a secret project for like 6 months. He said it was something completely new, they had a working prototype, and then Bungie decided that they needed all focus to be on Destiny (can't remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of wanting no distractions and wanting everyone to be focused on shipping Destiny and not thinking about whatever might be next).
Yeah he was posting vaguely about that on Twitter at the time... no details, obviously. Just that he and a small team were working on a separate project from the rest of the studio.
As far as I can remember, and I'm doing this from memory and not from notes, is that after Reach he was allegedly expecting to work on Destiny, but Chris Barrett was already doing it as art lead. He was offered a technical art position, but preferred to be lead on a project and so went on to the new game.
Marcus Lehto on The 1099 (Interview Podcast)
by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 09:01 (2566 days ago) @ Cody Miller
The biggest tidbit was that he returned to Bungie after he left the first time and worked on a secret project for like 6 months. He said it was something completely new, they had a working prototype, and then Bungie decided that they needed all focus to be on Destiny (can't remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of wanting no distractions and wanting everyone to be focused on shipping Destiny and not thinking about whatever might be next).
Yeah he was posting vaguely about that on Twitter at the time... no details, obviously. Just that he and a small team were working on a separate project from the rest of the studio.
As far as I can remember, and I'm doing this from memory and not from notes, is that after Reach he was allegedly expecting to work on Destiny, but Chris Barrett was already doing it as art lead. He was offered a technical art position, but preferred to be lead on a project and so went on to the new game.
I actually ran into Marcus just outside the Bungie studios once... this would have been during PAX, in 2012, I believe. If I recall correctly, he had just recently rejoined Bungie to work on a new project. I know he left Bungie for a chunk of time after Reach, then rejoined the company for another 8-9 months or so. Your breakdown of events is certainly plausible, if nothing else. Bungie definitely had small core team working on Destiny while Reach was still in active development, and given Marcus' role as creative director on Reach, many of Destiny's lead roles may have been filled by the time Marcus was done with Reach.
At any rate, I can't wait to see what Marcus' new studio is up to. I'm a huge fan of his work :)