343 hires Jeremy Cook (Halo Wars 2) as new Art Director.

wwm0nkey · Nov 28, 2017

This is some VERY good news for a lot of people since I know there were a lot of mixed feelings about the art design of the 343 Halo games. 343 hasn't posted anything yet, but Jeremy has updated his artstation and twitter to reflect his new role.

Here is a link to his artstation account to check out his non-Halo works.

Going by Halo Wars 2's art style, he does have a pretty good eye for what classic Halo "looks" like, so hopefully we will see his work in Halo 6.

This picture gives me hope for sure though

TheXbox · Nov 28, 2017

Wasn't Sparth the last man in charge? I thought he was excellent, at least in concept.

Railgun · Nov 28, 2017

Halo Wars 2 CG cutscenes art look great, whereas I'm no fan on the in game art. Curious what this will mean for Halo 6.

wwm0nkey · Nov 28, 2017

TheXbox said:
Wasn't Sparth the last man in charge? I thought he was excellent, at least in concept.

On twitter he is also listed as Art Director so idk maybe they are both working on 6?

Wetwork · Nov 28, 2017

Black under suits!

Rickenslacker · Nov 28, 2017

I'm pretty excited to see what he has in store. 343's definitely had their vision on the Halo aesthetic that differentiated them from the past, but I would love to see what a more authentic approach would look like.

Soj · Nov 28, 2017

Oh thank god. Hopefully this means no more Crysis looking undersheath crap.

Razgriz-Specter · Nov 28, 2017

I'd be more excited if it was whoever did Halo Wars 1, that game had the best aesthetic since Halo CE.

freaking love the Marine designs in that game.

Falcon511 · Nov 28, 2017

That is exciting. I enjoyed Halo Wars 2 art style. It did feel more Halo 3 to me.

jediyoshi · Nov 28, 2017

I remember 343's Halos designs all making sense to me once I realized it was from Doom's art director

wwm0nkey · Nov 28, 2017

jediyoshi said:
I remember 343's Halos designs all making sense to me once I realized it was from Doom's art director

Kenneth is great, but his style was a pretty stark contrast to Bungie's Halo. I actually think he would be fantastic on a Metroid game

blue_phazon · Nov 28, 2017

B L A C K
U N D E R S U I T S

Pls let it happen. Halo needs this to be relevant again

ThatMeanScene · Nov 28, 2017

I sincerely hope this means 343 starts making mainline Halo games that look like Halo.

They should hire a new sound director, too.

Gitaroo · Nov 28, 2017

yeah, HW2 looks more like Halo than 4-5.

Crossing Eden · Nov 28, 2017

Damn lead art director of Halo Wars 2? That game's art direction was fantastic.

jediyoshi said:
I remember 343's Halos designs all making sense to me once I realized it was from Doom's art director

Mind blown.

Blueblur said:
I sincerely hope this means 343 starts making mainline Halo games that look like Halo.

They should hire a new sound director, too.

343 sound design>Bungie sound design. The weapons sound so much more impactful.

Razgriz-Specter · Nov 28, 2017

blue_phazon said:
B L A C K
U N D E R S U I T S

Pls let it happen. Halo needs this to be relevant again

Forget undersuits, someone please give Chief his belt pouches back

Kalentan · Nov 28, 2017

If I have to imagine what this will mean for Halo going for isn't a complete shift to the Halo Wars 2 art style but odds one that combines both the new look and old look.

Then again, Halo Wars 2 already sort of did that.

Abrasion Test · Nov 28, 2017

Not to derail the thread, but were there any other major lead changes at 343i? Writing in particular being a major point of concern. Was not a fan of Brian Reed's direction with the narrative.

Lentic · Nov 28, 2017

This sounds like good news. Hopefully they ground the art style and make it cohesive again. The last few games were a mess in this respect. Halo has lost its simple but distinct art style. They also really diluted the look of spartans. There have been times when I've seen a Halo action figure and not even been able to tell it was from Halo.

Railgun · Nov 28, 2017

Crossing Eden said:
Damn lead art director of Halo Wars 2? That game's art direction was fantastic.

Mind blown.

343 sound design>Bungie sound design. The weapons sound so much more impactful.

If I recall the art director for the cutscenes at Blur was different from the in game art director at Creative Assembly. Anyone able to chime in on this? I want Halo 6 to look like Halo Wars 2's cutscenes (which were also Halo 2 Anniversaries cutscenes).

nihilence · Nov 28, 2017

Sounds good to me.
Sparth produced some nice concepts, but I felt the artists had a hard time translating into engine.

Finaj · Nov 28, 2017

Level 9 CPU said:
Not to derail the thread, but were there any other major lead changes at 343i? Writing in particular being a major point of concern. Was not a fan of Brian Reed's direction with the narrative.

Well, we know that Brian Reed isn't working on Halo 6, but we don't have a definitive answer for who's writing the story next.

Kalentan · Nov 28, 2017

Finaj said:
Well, we know that Brian Reed isn't working on Halo 6, but we don't have a definitive answer for who's writing the story next.

For all it's faults I wish they could get Chris Schlerf to come back to do Halo 6. He did good imho with Halo 4.

Finaj · Nov 28, 2017

Kalentan said:
For all it's faults I wish they could get Chris Schlerf to come back to do Halo 6. He did good imho with Halo 4.

Well, it's not like he'll be working on Mass Effect anymore.

:(

Kalentan · Nov 28, 2017

Finaj said:
Well, it's not like he'll be working on Mass Effect anymore.

:(

Sucks too. From what I heard he left long before Andromeda shipped out. Not even sure how much of his work remained due to him being replaced as Lead writer.

Hardvlade · Nov 28, 2017

I didn't mind the art on H5 much, but definitely liked the HW2 art over H5.

I cannot wait for Halo 6.

Flipyap · Nov 28, 2017

jediyoshi said:
I remember 343's Halos designs all making sense to me once I realized it was from Doom's art director

"Doom's art director" implies a fun colorful game (with a touch of plagiarism). Kenneth Scott was the art lead on Doom 3 (the one that looked the least like Doom).

Crossing Eden said:
343 sound design>Bungie sound design. The weapons sound so much more impactful.

No way. Louder doesn't mean better.
Bungie's Haloes excelled at audiovisual clarity, every sound was instantly recognizable, which not only made them memorable, it also gave you increased situational awareness.
Then 343 stepped in and you couldn't even tell enemy barks apart anymore and weapon sounds overpowered literally every other element of the sound design. They've improved quite a bit in Halo 5, but that's only because they went back to the drawing board on their original plan to dump everything that came before and actually started emulating the art, sound and game design that defined the series they were supposed to curate.

KillLaCam · Nov 28, 2017

Awesome

Poison Jam · Nov 28, 2017

Fantastic! Halo Wars 2 looks fantastic. One of the best looking Halo games in terms of art-direction in my opinion!

jediyoshi · Nov 28, 2017

Flipyap said:
"Doom's art director" implies a fun colorful game (with a touch of plagiarism). Kenneth Scott was the art lead on Doom 3 (the one that looked the least like Doom).

You don't see the connection between Doom 3's art and 343's Halos? The Covenant are straight up demons from that game.

Van Bur3n · Nov 28, 2017

Yes, please, yes. Anything to get rid of the hideous shit of Halo 4 and Halo 5.

jediyoshi said:
I remember 343's Halos designs all making sense to me once I realized it was from Doom's art director

Goddamn it. No wonder.

Flipyap · Nov 28, 2017

jediyoshi said:
You don't see the connection between Doom 3's art and 343's Halos? The Covenant are straight up demons from that game.

Of course I do. I'm just saying that "Doom's art director" is a bit of a misleading label when he only worked on the last game anyone thinks of when talking about the look of Doom.

Samba · Nov 28, 2017

Brilliant news. Halo 5 visual design was (to put it mildly) uninspiring. Can't wait to see what they're cooking up.

Chettlar · Nov 28, 2017

wwm0nkey said:
This is some VERY good news for a lot of people since I know there were a lot of mixed feelings about the art design of the 343 Halo games. 343 hasn't posted anything yet, but Jeremy has updated his artstation and twitter to reflect his new role.

Here is a link to his artstation account to check out his non-Halo works.

Going by Halo Wars 2's art style, he does have a pretty good eye for what classic Halo "looks" like, so hopefully we will see his work in Halo 6.

This picture gives me hope for sure though

Do you have a link? Where did you get that picture? This is awesome news.

JINX · Nov 28, 2017

Jeremy Cook already worked for 343 as art director, he was lead art director for Halo Wars 2. He's even done concept art for 343 since MCC, Sparth is still lead concept artist and lead art director after taking over from Kenneth Scott (lead art on Halo 4 and 5.)

Chettlar · Nov 28, 2017

JINX said:
Jeremy Cook already worked for 343 as art director, he was lead art director for Halo Wars 2. He's even done concept art for 343 since MCC, Sparth is still lead concept artist and lead art director after taking over from Kenneth Scott (lead art on Halo 4 and 5.)

...So is this non news?

LoyalPhoenix · Nov 28, 2017

My question would be how much would we actually see of him in a Halo 6.

Halo 6 is releasing in less than a year (if they follow the 3 year pattern). No way they would all of a sudden completely redo the visuals. If anything I think we will see a slight change in whatever is after. Whether it be a Halo 7 or spin off like Reach/ODST/Wars.

Deleted member 2254 · Nov 28, 2017

Halo Wars 2 has a gorgeous artstyle so this is welcome news. Not that Halo 5 didn't look fantastic, mind you, but more variety in the art is always welcome, as some games of the saga failed to deliver exciting looks despite great technical achievements.

JINX · Nov 28, 2017

Chettlar said:
...So is this non news?

A couple of years out of date, though the idea of Sparth and Jeremy working together for Halo 6 now that Kenneth's gone makes me very excited. One of the best concept artists in the industry, who's known for his books and teaching leading 343's art team sounds like a great improvement.

X1 Two · Nov 28, 2017

Hardvlade said:
I didn't mind the art on H5 much, but definitely liked the HW2 art over H5.

I cannot wait for Halo 6.

Halo 6 is now two years in development, with preproduction three. I don't think any recent hire will have an impact on the game, this looks more like a change for the trilogy that follows.

JINX · Nov 28, 2017

LoyalPhoenix said:
My question would be how much would we actually see of him in a Halo 6.

Halo 6 is releasing in less than a year (if they follow the 3 year pattern). No way they would all of a sudden completely redo the visuals. If anything I think we will see a slight change in whatever is after. Whether it be a Halo 7 or spin off like Reach/ODST/Wars.

X1 Two said:
Halo 6 is now two years in development, with preproduction three. I don't think any recent hire will have an impact on the game, this looks more like a change for the trilogy that follows.

This is not a new hire, he's been at 343 since doing concept art for MCC. To quote my post from above..

"Jeremy Cook already worked for 343 as art director, he was lead art director for Halo Wars 2. He's even done concept art for 343 since MCC, Sparth is still lead concept artist and lead art director after taking over from Kenneth Scott (lead art on Halo 4 and 5.)"

Theorry · Nov 28, 2017

JINX said:
Jeremy Cook already worked for 343 as art director, he was lead art director for Halo Wars 2. He's even done concept art for 343 since MCC, Sparth is still lead concept artist and lead art director after taking over from Kenneth Scott (lead art on Halo 4 and 5.)

Yeah i was just about to say.

Fuchsia · Nov 28, 2017

Ok... Im listening.

343's vision for Halo really hasn't resonated with me. 4 really dropped the ball and I was desperate for a good halo so I gave 5 a solid shot too. But both were disappointing in the end. They kind of just need to give fans the halo game they actually want. It's time for another Halo: CE type halo. That level of atmosphere, exploration, isolation, wonderment and yes, that combat loop, needs to come back. I almost wish we could just retcon 4 and 5 and start fresh at this point.

And to the person saying 343's weapons sound better, they are more impactful and have massively punchy transients, yes, but I think they do lack just a little bit of character. The overall sonic quality is obviously better and more modern but things like the covenant weapons really don't sound good in 343's halo.

LoyalPhoenix · Nov 28, 2017

So just quick question. Would you be open to the idea of a Halo trilogy after this one that has nothing to do with Chief?

Could be somewhere completely different fighting something else.

I'm open to it but man people love chief (I do too)

JINX · Nov 28, 2017

LoyalPhoenix said:
So just quick question. Would you be open to the idea of a Halo trilogy after this one that has nothing to do with Chief?

Could be somewhere completely different fighting something else.

I'm open to it but man people love chief (I do too)

It's possible but it would mean a lot of new world building, but it would make sense given the precursors.

II JumPeR I · Nov 28, 2017

Sure but until its known that he is really working on 6 and bringing back some proper Halo style i wont get excited.
90% of Halo Wars 2 Artstyle was great but the game still sadly had some of the awful looking forerunner stuff going 343 loves so much

Overdoziz · Nov 28, 2017

jediyoshi said:
I remember 343's Halos designs all making sense to me once I realized it was from Doom's art director

Risev · Nov 28, 2017

hmm wonder what this means about how far Halo 6 is in development at the moment, given that they've just hired a new art director. Could be that the game is very far along in development and he's just putting in the finishing touches + prepping work for DLC and the next Halo game, so it doesn't necessarily mean anything I suppose.

ElBoxy · Nov 28, 2017

No more Metroid looking armor and enemies?

Theorry · Nov 28, 2017

Risev said:
hmm wonder what this means about how far Halo 6 is in development at the moment, given that they've just hired a new art director. Could be that the game is very far along in development and he's just putting in the finishing touches + prepping work for DLC and the next Halo game, so it doesn't necessarily mean anything I suppose.

Scroll up abit. He is working for 343 for a while already. :)

343 hires Jeremy Cook (Halo Wars 2) as new Art Director.

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