Patricia Hernandez writes: "Earlier this month, I got a chance to fly up to Washington and try Bungie's upcoming sci-fi shooter, Destiny. Walking through the Bellevue office for the first time, I'm struck by all the accolades lining the walls near the reception area. Here, a giant, life-sized statue of Master Chief stands tall, casting a shadow."
A few weeks ago, I went to Bellevue, Washington to visit the offices of Bungie and see Destiny. I hoped to come away with a better sense of what Destiny is, and why I should be excited about it. I wanted to know what's going to set this game apart from other shooters. Alas, much of Destiny is still shrouded in mystery, and there were many promises that a good deal more will be revealed about it at this year's E3, but here's what I learned about Bungie's latest game.
Traveler's tales
My time at Bungie began with a presentation by studio COO Pete Parsons, who described in broad terms the universe in which Destiny takes place. "In the very near future," he said, "humanity is visited by a mysterious, moon-sized sphere. We call it the traveler. It breathes new life into our solar system, paving the way for massive human expansion. We rush into the stars, building great colonies on Mars and Venus. It's an amazing era of unbounded human progress. We call it the golden age. It's a time of miracles. But it doesn't last, for the traveler has an enemy. It's a great evil that's been haunting it for eons. It's a darkness you couldn't possibly imagine. And when it finds us here on Earth, it nearly destroys us. And just when all hope is gone, just when the darkness has taken everything, the traveler sacrifices itself to save us all, and the darkness is defeated, at least for a while. The traveler's sacrifice leaves it silent and immobile, hanging above Earth. Beneath it, we begin to rebuild."
Public events will give you the option of cooperating with other nearby players in the world, but Bungie wants to make sure those other players can't ruin your experience.
For Reed, involving the community is a necessary part of making Destiny as good as it can be. "This game is absolutely going to be the community's," he said. "We are going to be reacting with the community, we're going to be working with the community to continue to support this game, and develop it and evolve it." He also wants to make sure that this is a game and a universe that players can stay invested in for a long time, and he doesn't want the fact that it's being released on consoles from different generations to stand in the way of that. "We're really interested in making sure that a last-gen character can move to next-gen" he said, "just because there's gonna be a lot of people that buy Destiny on, say, a PS3 or a 360 and then they get a PS4 for Christmas and it's like, well, 'Don't tell me I've just wasted my last hundred hours there.' We don't want to lock people in."
Another feature Reed wants Destiny to include to empower its players is a player economy, though this won't be part of the game at launch. "We're really excited about doing a player economy," he said, "but for launch, we're going to be restricting it to trading items between your own characters. We have a lot to learn about the way the economy works, and also the security situation, both for our own systems and platforms."
I still don't have quite as clear a sense of what Destiny will be as I would like. Player-versus-player combat will be a big part of it, but Bungie is waiting until E3 to reveal details about how this aspect of the game will work. Still, the universe in which it's set already fascinates me. I'm intrigued by the image of the traveler, that massive sphere hanging in the sky, and by the secrets of the long-lost period of human history known as the golden age. We'll find out if Bungie has truly given us a solar system worth exploring when Destiny is released in September.
A few weeks ago, I went to Bellevue, Washington to visit the offices of Bungie and see Destiny. I hoped to come away with a better sense of what Destiny is, and why I should be excited about it. I wanted to know what's going to set this game apart from other shooters. Alas, much of Destiny is still shrouded in mystery, and there were many promises that a good deal more will be revealed about it at this year's E3, but here's what I learned about Bungie's latest game.
Traveler's tales
My time at Bungie began with a presentation by studio COO Pete Parsons, who described in broad terms the universe in which Destiny takes place. "In the very near future," he said, "humanity is visited by a mysterious, moon-sized sphere. We call it the traveler. It breathes new life into our solar system, paving the way for massive human expansion. We rush into the stars, building great colonies on Mars and Venus. It's an amazing era of unbounded human progress. We call it the golden age. It's a time of miracles. But it doesn't last, for the traveler has an enemy. It's a great evil that's been haunting it for eons. It's a darkness you couldn't possibly imagine. And when it finds us here on Earth, it nearly destroys us. And just when all hope is gone, just when the darkness has taken everything, the traveler sacrifices itself to save us all, and the darkness is defeated, at least for a while. The traveler's sacrifice leaves it silent and immobile, hanging above Earth. Beneath it, we begin to rebuild."
Public events will give you the option of cooperating with other nearby players in the world, but Bungie wants to make sure those other players can't ruin your experience.
For Reed, involving the community is a necessary part of making Destiny as good as it can be. "This game is absolutely going to be the community's," he said. "We are going to be reacting with the community, we're going to be working with the community to continue to support this game, and develop it and evolve it." He also wants to make sure that this is a game and a universe that players can stay invested in for a long time, and he doesn't want the fact that it's being released on consoles from different generations to stand in the way of that. "We're really interested in making sure that a last-gen character can move to next-gen" he said, "just because there's gonna be a lot of people that buy Destiny on, say, a PS3 or a 360 and then they get a PS4 for Christmas and it's like, well, 'Don't tell me I've just wasted my last hundred hours there.' We don't want to lock people in."
Another feature Reed wants Destiny to include to empower its players is a player economy, though this won't be part of the game at launch. "We're really excited about doing a player economy," he said, "but for launch, we're going to be restricting it to trading items between your own characters. We have a lot to learn about the way the economy works, and also the security situation, both for our own systems and platforms."
I still don't have quite as clear a sense of what Destiny will be as I would like. Player-versus-player combat will be a big part of it, but Bungie is waiting until E3 to reveal details about how this aspect of the game will work. Still, the universe in which it's set already fascinates me. I'm intrigued by the image of the traveler, that massive sphere hanging in the sky, and by the secrets of the long-lost period of human history known as the golden age. We'll find out if Bungie has truly given us a solar system worth exploring when Destiny is released in September.
