This week, the Mail Sack overfloweth with Bungie Love. If you’re no stranger to this weekly orgy of crowd-sourced inquisition, you’re probably anticipating a roster for the Bungie Panel that squared up to answer some questions. On this occasion, they’re too numerous to list, lest this opening beat start to resemble the closing credits for a game. To discover the identities of the developers who were in a sharing mood when your curiosities were revealed, you must delve into the questions, much as they did.
Let’s open the Sack.
TheSpiderChief Do you, DeeJ, actually look through all the pages of questions we give you or do you just go through the first few due to precious time?
My promise to you is that I read every single question that you commit to our virtual mail room. It’s a great way to read your minds. This labor of love results in an internal monologue that sounds something like: “Can’t answer that without getting fired… Can’t answer that without getting in trouble at home… Won’t answer that on general principle… Can’t even think about how I’m supposed to answer that... Oh, look at this one!” (cut and paste)
chubbz What are Bungie's favorite superheroes?
David Candland, Artist
Alex Loret de Mola, Engineer
Nate Hawbaker, Technical Artist
Mark Flieg, Artist
Joseph Fernandes, Production Engineer
Rachel Swavely, Motion Capture Tech
Troy McFarland, Motion Capture Lead
Rick Lico, Art Lead
Travis Pijut, Test Engineer
Joshua Rubin, Writer
John Stvan
UphillMercury What is the main motivational factor that makes you want to go into work every day?
Creating awesome things with awesome people!
Alex Loret de Mola, Engineer
My alarm clock.
Alexis Haraux, Engineer
Making something you want to play.
David Candland, Artist
To get away from the crazy creature that is living in my closet!
Rachel Swavely, Motion Capture Tech
DMX1337 Are there any daily traditions for you guys at the studio (either collectively or individually)? If so, what?
Drinking coffee, followed by drinking more coffee.
Alex Loret de Mola, Engineer
3PM coffee break. If your order has more than two words (including size of the beverage), you lose.
Alexis Haraux, Engineer
I rage against “the man” over coffee round 3PM.
Rick Lico, Art Lead
3PM chocolate milk time (followed by 3:15 nap time).
Pat Jandro, Cinematic Designer
Scotch Friday. Hey, you asked!
Troy McFarland, Motion Capture Lead
I like the group circle we sit in and talk about our feelings. Really helps clear the air.
John Stvan, Graphic Designer
LordMonkey In a haiku, describe a day at Bungie.
Blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah Awesome
They should have sent a poet. Panel, be any of you poets? If so, issue forth!
My days are filled with
Email and bug fixes
Haiku are stupid
Derek Carroll, Designer
Caffeine-driven code
Prepare for twenty thirteen
World domination
Alex Loret de Mola, Engineer
code monkey write code
code monkey wait for slow build
code monkey debug
Alan Stuart, Engineer
ascending stairway
leads to the forge of new worlds
hammers shaping ideas
Austin Spafford, Engineer
United we build
A creative new landscape
To entertain you
Mark Flieg, Artist
Pew pew, playing games
Tighten graphics, level 3
We get paid for this
David Candland, Artist
Taf dans la bonne humeur
Grosse pause café a 3 heures
C’est que du bonheur
Alexis Haraux, Engineer
Kitchen full of snacks,
Delicious, bountiful gift?
Or plot to kill us?
Joseph Fernandes, Production Engineer
Creativity
Unleashed Imagination
Crushed Technology
And, later…
Innovative fix
Technology works again
Ambition achieved
Steve Lopez, IT Overlord
Wish Jerome good day
Tell no one of what comes next
Goodbye Bungie hello Seattle traffic
Pat Jandro, Cinematic Designer
Working super late
What day is it again please
Someone bring caffeine
Travis Pijut, Test Engineer
Roses are red
This line doesn’t rhyme
I’m not good at poems
John Stvan, Graphic Designer
Kivell What will you dress up as for Halloween?
I like to dress up like Uncle Fester due to the resemblance.
Alan Stuart, Engineer
Undecided. Either retired Master Chief or zombie something. You tell me.
Robert Kehoe, Tester
The event horizon of a black hole.
Nate Hawbaker, Technical Artist
In my imagination, I lose some weight so I wouldn't be embarrassed wearing an EL-wire stick figure costume (black spandex is required for the best effect).
Austin Spafford, Engineer
A robot.
David Helsby, Artist
I don’t know, gimme ideas!
Alexis Haraux, Engineer
Mark Flieg, Artist
Derek Carroll, Designer
Pat Jandro, Cinematic Designer
Xd00999 What is your favorite part of the workday?
The nice quiet mornings before everyone is here, and I can safe-guard myself from impromptu requests. I’m too reactionary to say no.
Nate Hawbaker, Technical Artist
When everything's going well and coding feels more like a rhythm game (mostly chiptunes, hard dance, DnB).
Austin Spafford, Engineer
When a collaborative creative endeavor clicks into place.
Mark Flieg, Artist
Playtest time!
Derek Carroll, Designer
New hire lunches
Pat Jandro, Cinematic Designer
Sven Nietzsche What's your favorite room in Bungie studios?
The rooms that have “lab” appended to them.
Robert Kehoe, Tester
The kitchen, where we store our sweet, sweet caffeine supplies.
Alex Loret de Mola, Engineer
I really like our bathrooms. We play loud music in the bathrooms which helps cover up the bodily functions. I think this should be a rule for all bathrooms.
Alan Stuart, Engineer
I like the big room that we all share – except for the Audio recluses.
Nate Hawbaker, Technical Artist
Hmm, it's hard to choose... does an alcove with a fireplace and hammock-seats count?
Austin Spafford, Engineer
The Bungie Thunderdome, yet for some reason the Rock Wall gets all the attention.
Joseph Fernandes, Production Engineer
Spandex Palace, of course.
Rachel Swavely, Motion Capture Tech
The Theater, glorious AV nerd toy that it is.
Steve Lopez, IT Overlord
Marty’s office.
Pat Jandro, Cinematic Designer
MURDUR 587 What is love?
Love is evil spelled backwards. And misspelled.
Robert Kehoe, Tester
Rachel Swavely, Motion Capture Tech
Mark Flieg, Artist
Love is the integral of the intensity of the romantic feeling over time. I learned this in a lecture called ‘The Mathematics of Love’ in a high school summer program (true story!). Yet another way we can use calculus in life!
Tom Sanocki, Staff Artist
Speed.
Nate Hawbaker, Technical Artist
Blindfolded hatred.
Alexis Haraux, Engineer
A wife and son who both outlast me in a weekend Borderlands 2 marathon.
Rick Lico, Art Lead
Alex Loret de Mola, Engineer
Austin Spafford, Engineer
David Helsby, Artist
David Candland, Artist
Joseph Fernandes, Production Engineer
Brittany Lichty, Administration
Travis Pijut, Test Engineer
John Stvan, Graphic Designer
Derek Carroll, Designer
I bet someone in the studio is going to respond with that Haddaway song…
Pat Jandro, Cinematic Designer
Yeah. You think?
XoG Suppressor What is the best prank you've ever played on someone? Don't hold back.
I once Photoshopped my boss’ face onto a picture of Conan the Barbarian and had it printed as a 5’ wall poster.
Joseph Fernandes, Production Engineer
Since you didn’t specify office prank. Back in high-school when there was construction going on, I told a friend that our buddy was using the port-o-potty and had left the door unlocked. I convinced him it would be hilarious if he were to go and open the door of said potty in-front of the entire school. (This was a military school so almost the entire school was out for formation and could see the port-o-john.) Not only did my friend open the door with a huge grin on his face, but he yelled as loud as he could. Our buddy was not in there but instead a construction worker in the middle of pulling up his pants. My friend, cheeks beat read, ran back to his room to the sound of 200+ teenagers laughing at him. By lunch time an orange net fence was blocking off the traveling crapper.
Robert Kehoe, Tester
I like to scream really loudly in the elevator while simultaneously pushing the alarm button. My kids asked me to scare their friends. Hilarious.
Alan Stuart, Engineer
My boss at a previous job was pregnant and starting to show. She'd told a couple of people (including me), but not everyone. A co-worker confided in me that she thought our boss might be pregnant. I said I wasn't sure. The next day, I told my co-worker that our boss wasn't pregnant, but that she'd heard people talking about her weight, got pissed off, and was now trying to find out who started the rumor. I told her I covered for her, but to watch out...
Mark Yocom, Release Engineer
Googlz What is the most irritating part of map design?
Map designers.
Alexis Haraux, Engineer
For a tester, finding that the designer has blocked off my favorite shortcut/exploit with invisible physics. For the designer, hopefully it’s the bugs that show where he/she thought they wouldn’t need invisible physics.
Robert Kehoe, Tester
Derek Carroll, Designer
Im SteelAssassn The Marty Army was promised a Humpday way back when. Gonna pay up?
Oh no you don’t. I
delivered on that ancient debt. Well, it wasn’t a Humpday Challenge (those are so old-fashioned) but Marty showed up and played some games with his Army. Maybe I can lure him onto the battlefield again in another ten years. Stay tuned.
coolmike699 What's the strangest way you've ever been injured?
Slicing zucchini with a machete.
Steve Lopez, IT Overlord
Swinging from a flimsy tree branch and splitting the skin on my forearm wide open.
Joseph Fernandes, Production Engineer
My brother sat on me.
Robert Kehoe, Tester
I can’t believe I’m going to admit this to a large audience. When I was four, I cracked my head open by falling onto the corner of a table. This occurred because I was dancing to the music of Fraggle Rock at the time. I still carry the scar on my forehead!
Alex Loret de Mola, Engineer
It was first or second grade. I was very excited to be first in line. I didn’t want anyone to get ahead of me, so I stretched out my arms to the doorframe. Then someone slammed the door behind me – yup, that was my pinky finger stuck in the hinge. I pulled it out and ran to the nurse’s office. Ended up losing the pinky nail that afternoon and wore a thick wrapping around it for weeks. My mom still made me practice the piano, and that was the worst part of the whole experience.
Tom Sanocki, Staff Artist
In middle school, a girl I had a crush on tickled me while I was hanging upside down from the monkey bars. I fell and chipped my front tooth, but I had to act cool about it. I still have a chip in my front tooth.
Alan Stuart, Engineer
The Statue of Limitations doesn’t allow me to discuss this in 43 states, and Puerto Rico.
Nate Hawbaker, Technical Artist
Getting hit by the tail of a friend's overly enthusiastic Great Dane. Those things hurt!
Austin Spafford, Engineer
I split my forehead on my parent’s coffee table at 3 years old playing He-Man on the couch. By the power of Greyskull, indeed.
Mark Flieg, Artist
Being a stupid teenager. We were goofing off and I jumped off the hood of a moving car going about 25mph. Busted my nose and bit through my tongue.
David Candland, Artist
In the eighth grade, I punched a bus seat in an attempt to kill a bee and ended up breaking my left pinky in the process. Bonus #1: I'm not even left handed, so it's not my strongest punching hand in the first place. Bonus #2: I missed the bee.
Mark Yocom, Release Engineer
Tried to push a sewing needle into a chair leg by dropping the chair on it, the needle shattered and went through my finger. Don’t ask why I tried that. I was six.
Alexis Haraux, Engineer
Shot an EpiPen through my thumb by accident.
Rachel Swavely, Motion Capture Tech
I cut myself on a throw pillow once.
Derek Carroll, Designer
In a mocap session prototyping our new IP. I was doing a backwards turn into a run, and craned my ankle on a pillar in our old mocap studio. Which proves that parents do not, in fact, have eyes in the back of their heads.
Rick Lico, Art Lead
Please wait How often does the studio have meetings where the entire studio meets together?
About once a month, if our schedule allows for everyone to share a special moment. Team Meetings are a great way to end a week. Fanfare rings out across the studio floor to call us to arms. The door to the beer fridge swings wide. A mountain of snacks is heaped upon the kitchen island. Rows of chairs invite us to sit and watch as our peers show off their latest and greatest additions to the tapestry we are weaving, with people perched on the grand staircase and every overlooking balcony.
Helveck Is there an Office Motivator? You know, like a Richard Simmons, or an ED-209? Someone that is always saying the right things to help push people to the limits of their talents and beyond?
The biggest office motivator is the game itself right now. It has a life of its own and ultimately reminds us that it’s worth all the effort.
Jonty Barnes, Production Director
You mean besides Richard Simmons who roams our workspace on an Ed-209?
Robert Kehoe, Tester
Yes, and ice cream is frequently involved.
Austin Spafford, Engineer
Pete "Ice Cream Man" Parsons is the go-to guy during crunch.
Mark Yocom, Release Engineer
David Helsby, Artist
WestCoastRonin Are you allowed to bring guests into the studio like spouses, kids, etc.?
The answer is “Yes!” But for the last time, Ronin, I will not marry or adopt you.
defnop552 What's your favorite Pixar film?
Who better to answer this question than someone who worked on some of them? I give you
Bungie Staff Artist Tom Sanocki:
Choosing just one favorite Pixar film? Oh, cruel, cruel world! Have you no pity, forcing us to choose between our dear, precious children?
Cars was one of my favorites to work on because we had such a great Characters team – a team fun-loving enough to build a themed bar ("The Rhino Lounge") in our corner of the office. Rigging Mater was a particular challenge for me, since it blended some hard technical challenges with tricky aesthetic ones. Paul Aichele, one of Pixar's top riggers, stayed late with me one night during a hard time in production to figure out how to get his smile just right. That film was filled with moments like that.
Up is one of my favorites because Pete Docter is one of my favorite people to work with. I can't think of anyone else who could pull off a movie as crazy as Up. It was also the hardest Pixar film for me. The concept art for Kevin the bird came in really late, forcing me to squeeze twelve months of work into three. That was wild and brutal, but sometimes the hardest times are good too - especially when you're doing your small part to build a gem like Up.
And Finding Nemo holds a special place in my heart – not only because it's a wonderful film, but because it was my first film. There's nothing in the world like seeing your first film up on the big screen for the first time, seeing your first character appear, and thinking: "Wow, was that really good enough to go up there?"
But who could leave out Incredibles? Brave? Ratatouille -- where we spent several weeks stressing about subtle creases between rat legs, and then rebuilding them all from scratch? Toy Story 2 -- a film about the choice between death and immortality? Or Toy Story 3 -- also about death?
Do I really have to choose, DeeJ? Did we misunderstand the question? Aha – that must be it!
spawn031 Seriously, can I have blue flames?
If I give you blue flames, you know who else I have to give them to?
LIGHTNING ROUND!
SharkTooth Can you post a few pictures of areas around the studio?
Sure.
Hylebos If I wanted to create a fictitious world, where would be a good place to start?
In your mind.
Garland When can you reveal the release date for Bungie.next?
Soon™.
Elite Predator How do you deal with being away from friends and family for a while when being dedicated to the title being worked on at the moment?
Skype.
Remorazz Which position do you think gets it the easiest out of all of you?
Assistant to the Community Manager.
Gamer Whale What are you not working on?
Halo 4. Pass it on.
YodasCurd What would you say if I told you, that the fate of the world lies in a code hidden in this sentence?
It will take more than a superfluous comma to save the world.
Mythical Wolf That's all folks! See you on Monday for another Mail Sack.
Hey. That’s my job. And this is my desk. Who the hell let you in here anyway?
Thank you for your questions. We do appreciate the chance to talk about something while lovingly toil to create something that we won’t talk about yet. You may ask yourself: How can I get in on this? The answer to that question is discovered in our Community Forum every Monday.