Today is launch day for Halo: The Master Chief Collection! This is by far the biggest game I’ve worked on in terms of ease of recognition and popularity. Some of the games I worked have been popular and well-liked by a small core or cult audience but Halo is in another universe altogether. I don’t even have to explain to people what the game is about, they just hear Halo and they get it. I don’t believe any of the games I’ve worked on had a midnight release but Halo did, across several continents. I am estimating that more people will play the new Halo game in one week than any of my other games combined. I am extremely lucky to have had a very small part in making this title. My name is just one of many in the credits. In fact, you can see the credits here. The UFG section is right near the bottom so it’ll be easier if you just use “Ctrl-F” and search for “Erwin”. It’s weird that they put us in the Halo 2 section since technically the work we did is in the unified front end which is used by all the games.
While I’m very grateful to have been a small part of the Halo universe, making this game was not easy. Making games is never easy, no matter how easy it might have seen when you’re interviewing for the position. There were times of frustration during the summer but I suppose that’s part of making games. If you ever see me in person, I’d be more than willing to share some stories from the development cycle.
It is interesting to note that as I write this, the entire world, with the except of the Pacific time zone now has full access to the game. It appears that searching through social media, lots of people are reporting that the multiplayer features are very broken for them. Here’s one particular example. I would love to comment on this but a blog isn’t the best place for that. Perhaps over beers while we trade stories of game development? I am sure over the course of the next several weeks these issues will be ironed out but I will watch with great interest to see how the public reacts to these problems. I find that gamers in general are very patient and reasonable people, especially over the Internet.
I’m super happy my latest game is now out! I hope everyone enjoys it!