Halo's most disgusting enemy was partly inspired by a children's book
It was the 20-year anniversary of Halo 2 at the weekend, which saw the shooter's modern counterparts celebrating with classic multiplayer maps and long-lost levels. But also emerging from the dust of time are insights to the sequel's development back in 2004. Rolling Stone interviewed two key designers of the game and made a fun discovery. The Flood (the sickly pale alien infestation that briefly turns Halo into sci-fi horror) was partly inspired by a colourful and innocent children's book about a nice elephant.
Halo and its sequel had a smaller development team than an equivalent blockbuster today might have. This meant some designers would have to do odd jobs outside of their wheelhouse. This is what led Lorraine and Robert McLees, a husband and wife who worked at Bungie during Halo 2's development, to create various things for the game beyond the requirements of their job description.
Although Robert was a weapons designer, for instance, he was also made responsible for coming up with concept art for the Flood. And he particularly remembers creating the infection form of the creature (the little creepy bug-bois that burst and infect their victims with spores).
The first concept "looked like a cross between a house centipede and a blood sausage," he told Rolling Stone. "That was disgusting, but didn’t look very mobile."
Unhappy with the first pass, the artist discovered the perfect shape for the alien creature in time for another attempt. And it turned out to be an image that had been "skittering around in the shadowy parts of my brain" since childhood.
“When my daughter was born, I gathered up all those Golden Key books I remembered from my own childhood so I could read to her before she went to sleep at night. And there it was, in The Saggy Baggy Elephant, a palm tree launched into the air by dancing elephants — the weird shape that had been haunting my subconscious mind for thirty-odd years. That was the basis for the Flood Infection Form.”
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