The Art of Halo: Creating A Virtual World [Paperback]

Eric S. Trautmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2004

When Halo® hit the shelves with the launch of the Xbox® in 2001, it was an immediate sensation. This action-packed science fiction—military combat game, set on a distant, war-torn, artificial planet, became an instant triumph with gamers–and scored numerous awards for its innovations, irresistibility, and sheer thrills. The Art of Halo is a showcase of its stunning visual style, a fascinating guided tour through the making of the phenomenon–from bright idea to brilliant result–and a testament to the creativity of the artists at Bungie Studios.

• Meet the brains behind Bungie, the birthplace of Halo
• Feast your eyes on a panorama of all-new artwork from its spectacular sequel Halo 2–one of the most eagerly-awaited games of 2004
• Discover the art of game design from the inside out, in interviews with–and illustrations by–the Halo creative team
• Learn the secrets of designing gear from the artists themselves
• Follow the construction of a crucial sequence from storyboard to completion, along with pages from the actual script
• Thrill to a gallery of glorious Halo artwork, including action figure designs, game packaging, cartoon strips, posters, T-shirts, and more

It’s all here–the story behind the sensation that GamePro declares “above and beyond what console gamers have come to expect”–in one virtuoso volume!

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (November 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345475860
• ISBN-13: 978-0345475862
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 0.4 x 10.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #535,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eric Trautmann is an American writer best known for his work at Microsoft Game Studios, DC Comics and Image Comics.

For nearly eight years, Eric Trautmann contributed to Microsoft Game Studios properties such as Allegiance, Crimson Skies and Halo: Combat Evolved. He also wrote prose fiction and non-fiction related to those properties, including a Crimson Skies novella and a non-fiction art portfolio book, The Art of Halo. In 2006 he left Microsoft to become a full-time freelance writer.

His first comic book work was for Prima Games, a comic series based on the Perfect Dark franchise. His six issue miniseries titled "Perfect Dark: Janus's Tears" debuted in August 2006.

In August 2007 he wrote issue #17 of the DC Comics series "Checkmate", with series writer Greg Rucka.

As a result of his work on Checkmate #17, Trautmann became the regular co-writer of the series alongside Greg Rucka, beginning with issue #21 and continuing through issue #25.

Following this, Trautmann and Rucka collaborated again on the one-shot FINAL CRISIS: RESIST, illustrated by Ryan Sook and Marco Rudy.

During this period Trautmann and fellow comics writer Brandon Jerwa started a collaboration, co-writing a 9-page short titled "WIDE AWAKE: BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP," which appeared in the second volume of Image Comics' POPGUN anthology series. The story can be read in its entirety (and with commentary!) at Comics Waiting Room. This story has become the basis for what will be an ongoing webcomic , Wide Awake, which launched a teaser chapter for Free Comic Book Day 2009. On the strength of the teaser, Wide Awake was recently optioned for feature film development by independent film company, Do-Over Productions.

Jerwa and Trautmann are currently under contract to produce a stand alone original graphic novel for DC/VERTIGO.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Art, November 17, 2004

By 

B. Sullivan (Halifax, NS Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Halo: Creating A Virtual World (Paperback)

This has to be one of the most fascinating and amazing collections of artwork I've ever seen... and it's from a videogame! The artwork produced by Bungie is nothing if not spectacular. The artistry, imagination, and dedication needed to bring those ideas to life in a game is beyond what one would expect from a game. Halo is truly a work of art in itself. The look into character development and design is something a gamer doesn't always get to see. This will make them appreciate the amazing work that Bungie does even more.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pretty good art book, August 16, 2005

By 

J. Holder - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Halo: Creating A Virtual World (Paperback)

Packed with plenty of eye candy for the reader to look over and interesting writings about the development of the game. I was pleased to find a decent amount of conceptual sketches and beautiful environmental renderings.

As far as the down side of the book, a good portion of the art is cut outs of in game 3D characters and weapons, which is fine in it's own right, but what really caught my eye is the amount of stretching and poor quality anti-alias 2d images all over the place. I wouldn't mind them so much if this was a general HALO book, but seeing that this is the ART of HALO Book, it leaves something to be said about the editors.

That aside, i am really pleased with this book. I wish it were somewhat thicker but for it's size it really does provided plenty of good stuff to look over and read about.

4 out of 5 from me.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better to google for the images, June 9, 2007

By 

Critic Lad - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Halo: Creating A Virtual World (Paperback)

My advice is for the buyer to look over the actual book before purchasing.

I had expected the book to be filled with awesome illustrations previously exclusive to Bungie employees, but most I had already found through Google. I was disappointed that they fill a good portion with space-filler character templates. The quality of some pictures printed don't match up to the quality of the same images uploaded onto the net by the company.

The writers could of placed some effort in detailing how Bungie created the virtual world, considering how its part of the title... Its not as well written as other reviewers would lead you to believe. I'm not hating, the art work is GREAT. It's just not worth the money as it's currently priced (That's why I gave a rating of three).

I bought this as a gift for a Halo addict, who loved it. A must have for devoted fans, but never buy it for yourself.