Bungie opens the Destiny floodgates at GDC

Bungie-GDCOne of the most anticipated events at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference was Bungie’s presentation on their ambitious new project, Destiny.  The entire panel is now available online, along with a virtual mountain of concept art and test footage.  Read on to see for yourself.

The panel ran just under an hour, and was hosted by Bungie veterans Joseph Staten and Chris Barrett.  Over the course of the presentation, they cover many aspects of Destiny’s development, from the earliest brainstorming sessions, to the technical aspects of bringing their vision of “mythic science fiction” to life.  Describing Destiny as “a world where we can tell any great story we want. A place millions of people will want to visit again and again, for the next 10 years and more,” Staten and Barrett delve into the inspiration for the game, how they settled on the game’s setting and style, and how they were able to bring their ideas to life in the game world.  They also show detailed art and in-game footage of the game’s four main enemy classes for the first time, as well as expanding on what Bungie previously revealed about Destiny’s playable races and classes.  It’s an incredible presentation, chronicling the studio’s journey from producing games with a single predetermined hero, to creating a brand new universe which will eventually be populated with millions of unique heroes.   It’s a must watch for any Bungie fan.

That being said, it actually might be too much of a good thing in some ways.  Bungie went out their way to be secretive about Destiny, going years without revealing even the slightest hint about the project.  This presentation covers pretty much everything that happened in those years, so it’s a little like drinking from the fire hose.  Luckily, Bungie put together a highlight reel which covers some of the more important reveals in the panel.  Scroll down a little ways to watch that highlight reel first.  Check out the full panel directly below, which was uploaded to YouTube courtesy of Gamespot.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUxRTCTr7ic]

It was totally worth the hour, right?  I cannot wait for this game.  Seriously cannot wait.  If there was a safe and cost effective way to induce a coma for a predetermined amount of time, I’d be all over that.  Now if your head is spinning, and you want to get another look at some of the most impressive character reveals of the panel, here’s that highlight reel Bungie put together.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKOY8zJx2Q4]

Damn. That four armed Fallen is a total BAMF.  And I’m totally playing as a human female hunter.

As you know by now, Bungie’s panel contained an enormous amount of concept art.  Some of the more high profile images have been made available in the wallpaper section of the Bungie homepage.  But if you want to revisit all of the images, you’ll have to look elsewhere.  Luckily, collections on imgur and NeoGAF both contain nearly everything shown in the panel.

We’ll hopefully be seeing much more from Destiny at E3 in a few months, so make sure check back then to see me completely lose my cool.


About the Author: (@Joe_of_the_Dead) Lead Editor, Writer

Joe was born in a time of war. A console war. Two electronic titans were locked in a heated battle for the living rooms of America. Which titans, you ask? Well, the Fairchild Channel F and the Atari 2600 of course. You see, Joe is old. So many of his favorite games tend to be on the older side as well. But that hasn’t stopped him from developing unhealthy obsessions with such modern franchises as Halo and Mass Effect. Just don’t tell him how long it’s been since the original Metroid was released. His aging heart can’t take the shock.

generic lexapro