Canadians Make their Mark on Halo 3: Jade Talks with Bungie “Cananimator,” Mike Zak

“Halo 3” is almost here. The game lands on September 25^th, but I got a chance this week to sit down with Mike Zak, Canuck and Environment Art Lead at Bungie. Eager to get my “Halo” fix, I jumped on the opportunity!

Originally from Victoria, B.C., Mike was in Vancouver visiting friends and family and taking some well deserved time off now that the game has wrapped. We were able to convince him to take some time to hang out with Master Chief in a posh hotel suite and talk about his role in creating this destined-to-be classic video game, how he got into gaming, his take on the popularity of the Halo franchise, and what it means to be a Canadian at Bungie Studios.

Jade: How did you get into game development? Looking at your bio it looks like you took quite a path to get there.

Mike Zak: Well, I have a formal art background that wasn’t really games focused at all. That qualified me to be a garbage man, *laugh* and so I worked empting trash cans on the lovely streets of Victoria for a few months. Then I decided that maybe I should get some practical training that didn’t involve smelly things, so I went and got another degree. I just started working on games – a lot. Pretty much all day, and all night. Back then there wasn’t really a whole lot of game education available.

J: Yeah, now there are a lot of official college and university programs in game development and design available. So what did you take when you went back to school?

MZ: It was a Master’s degree in digital media. It was a new program essentially that focused on games. Prior to my class it had been more traditional; they even had some of the old $15,000 Silicon Graphics machines which nobody uses any more. Those were still kicking around in my classroom when I started working on games. I was lucky – the year I started was the year when hardware acceleration on PCs actually became commonplace and cheap and so 3D programs could run on home computers. And that really ushered in an explosion of options for game enthusiasts and aspiring game developers.

J: How did your garbage man days prepare you for what you do now at Bungie?

MZ: *laugh* Being an environment artist, pretty much anything I do outside of the office I consider research. It gives you the opportunity to actually look at things, and observe the way nature and humanity is constructed. Ultimately, you have to rely upon what you’ve seen or what you can imagine when you need to create everyday. So, when I was a garbage man, I spent lots of time snooping and peering into people’s backyards.

J: When you’re not designing great environments for “Halo,” what other games are you playing? Have you always been an FPS (first-person shooter) fan?

MZ: Yeah, that’s what I play the majority of my time; well, I probably split half-and-half between FPSes and RTSes (real-time strategy). Other games that I’ve spent a ton of time with? Definitely the Age of Empires franchise! Earlier in my career, when I was first getting in to games, I was playing a lot of Wolfenstein, Unreal Tournament and Battlefield – basically all the shooters that changed people’s idea of what a shooter could be. And obviously I played a ton of multiplayer games when that became so fun and easy.

J: What's one tip you'd give to someone in the community who's looking to break into the games industry?

MZ: Nowadays there lots of formal options for training. But I would caution anyone against thinking that that’s enough. Not to discourage them – I think a formal foundation is invaluable, whether you’re going to be an engineer or an artist, so I strongly encourage anyone to pursue those options. But I think a critical component, which used to be the only approach, is getting involved in modding.

There are so many ways that you can start your own projects, come up with your own ideas, and try and learn things on your own. And really, the industry is always in an evolving state. You’re always learning, and writing and designing new things, and that type of thinking and being comfortable with constantly inventing things and learning new things is really important.

J: In your time working on H3, what is your proudest moment? Or was it when the game went gold? ;)

MZ: When the game went gold I was already taking vacation! There were a lot of guys working really hard to test the game and fix bugs when the art staff was locked out and not allowed to touch it anymore. *laugh*

For me, I don’t think there was actually one single moment that made me proud. Because it’s such a long process – it’s three years of dedication. And there’s not really one critical turning point. It’s not like a match point in a sporting event. You have to play like it’s a match point every day.

I am definitely proud of the way we pulled together as a studio. We really just kind of hit our stride, and we managed to make a game that we’re all really proud of, but we are also still friends. It’s one thing to make a great game, but it’s another thing to be able to come back to the studio the day after it ships and want to make another one and we’re completely stoked to keep working together.

J: That’s really exciting – that’s great news for gamers!

MZ: Yeah, I think there is going to be more greatness after Halo 3.

J: Now, I won't even TRY to ask any of the stuff I know you can’t talk about (number of levels, length of single player campaign, what happens to Master Chief...), but what do you think of all the excitement about the launch of Halo 3?

MZ: It’s odd how you actually connect with it directly. There are moments when you just sit there and you’re working on the game and it’s just you and the guys next to you ... and you don’t really realize that there are millions of people that are going to see this and pour hours and hours into it; you’re really just making it for yourself. And then there are moments where you come face-to-face with the impact of it, and you see sales figures in a news article, or hours logged on Xbox Live ... those always sort of astonish you. You almost can’t wrap your head around it.

On launch nights, the studio goes out on tour busses and we drive around to some of the line-ups and talk to actual fans and see how excited they are. Seeing the cross-section of people who are enthusiastic ... that’s what really brings it home for me.

J: What's it like being in the middle of all this craziness at Bungie? When you’re working on it, do you have to put aside all thoughts of how BIG this game is actually going to be and just get it done, or it is that everyday you say to yourselves, “OMG, I’m making a masterpiece”?

MZ: *laugh* Well it doesn’t feel like a masterpiece every day, that’s for sure. You can see the masterpiece in your head but you’re taking very small steps towards it everyday.  Making games is a pretty slow process.

J: Why do you think it is that Halo – out of all the games out there – that has completely captured the public imagination?

MZ: I think there are different reasons for different people. I think that’s the biggest thing. Halo isn’t just one game for one type of gamer. I think that’s why it has such a mass market appeal. For the type of person that wants to play really competitive, technical tournament style gameplay, it offers that. For the people who love story and exploration, it offers that whereas maybe other FPSes don’t.

Across the fanbase, you’ll find different people who are obsessed with completely different parts of the game, or a different way to play the game. With Halo 3 we’ve actually built in even more options.

J: What's your favourite weapon in the game?

MZ: Someone asked me that earlier this morning and I said Battle Rifle so I’d better be consistent. *laugh*

J: I agree with you on that one! I’m a Battle Rifle fan.

MZ: I kind of paused, and I didn’t want to admit it, because it’s so straightforward. But it’s just so reliable!

J: I played a lot of the Multiplayer Beta, and I used to scour maps trying to find another Battle Rifle. Completely agree with you. And what’s your favourite vehicle?

MZ: The Warthog is absolutely the most iconic and fun to drive. But, I have a soft spot for the Ghost, too. And we have some new vehicles which I really enjoy blowing up.

J: What do you think is the biggest difference between Halo 2 and Halo 3?

MZ: Ooooo ... in the single player campaign, the biggest difference is the scale of both the visuals and the encounters. Just the number of vehicles and weapons and characters on screen and the interactions they have is just like a massive sort of feast. That’s a big difference. But it also ties into the amount of graphics that we’re pushing. And the number of beautiful pixels. *laughs*

J: That would seem to follow the story arc – that the encounters get more epic...

MZ: I would argue that the Halo story has always been epic. And this continues that arc and probably in a more seamless way than the earlier games. But that isn’t something that you necessarily notice right off the bat. Like, “whoa, the story is so much more epic.” I think your eyes kind of pop when you look at the screen, and the lighting is just blooming, and there are 30 guys on screen, and there are eight vehicles colliding and exploding and jumping and ricocheting off each other.

J: As a developer, is there a big difference developing for the Xbox 360 compared to the original Xbox?

MZ: In my experience as an artist, it definitely took time to adjust. It was just as easy in terms of producing an asset, but the sheer number of assets, and the amount of detail that we can put into those assets was just an order of magnitude greater than “Halo 2.”

J: So it’s considerably more demanding on the artists?

MZ: FAR more demanding in terms of the number of man-hours per leaf on tree, or brick in wall.

J: Interesting – I’d never actually thought, from an artist’s perspective, how much more work goes into producing a high-definition game.

MZ: Oh yeah, HD games are a whole new ballgame.

J: What's something you miss about Canada when you're hard at work at Bungie?

MZ: Obviously my friends and family. I miss a lot of things. *laugh* Well, there’s a couple other Canadians on staff, and we kind of reminisce about some of the junk food that’s available in our home and native land.

J: I have to agree, we definitely win on that score. It always shocks me when Americans don’t know what Pogos are, or Kraft Dinner.

MZ: Hawkin’s Cheesies are something I overdose on pretty much every time I come up to Canada.

J: Have you been able to inject a little Canadiana at Bungie?

MZ: Absolutely. We’re a pretty formidable presence. We wave flags, we wear red, we celebrate July 1^st.

J: Have you guys been able to sneak any Canada into the game?

MZ: I sneak a lot of Canada in my textures, actually. I take a lot of texture photographs when I take trips in Canada up into the mountains. So, if you’re looking at a cliff face in Halo 3, you might be looking at a piece of Squamish, B.C.

Before our time was up Mike added these wise words for those who are eagerly awaiting getting their copy at 12:01am, on September 25:

MZ: Prepare your body in advance. Try to get lots of sleep and hydrate well.

Great advice, Mike! Thanks for taking the time to talk with Xbox.ca.