Now that “Destiny 2” has launched, players are expected to be occupied with the sequel. Meanwhile, there are still some nostalgic gamers out there that are taking their time to formally bid goodbye to the original title. Interestingly, a former employee from Bungie took time to share some intriguing facts about the original game’s development.
The information was reportedly from when the sci-fi shooter was in its concept phase. This meant that nobody outside of the company knew about their early ideas and plans for the game.
It was revealed that “Destiny” was supposedly intended to be something like “Overwatch.”
Elements of ‘Overwatch’ in ‘Destiny’
While most gamers are probably busy with their copy of “Destiny 2,” a book titled “Blood, Sweat, and Pixels” written by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier revealed some interesting details about the development of “Destiny.” Schreier detailed his talk with Jaime Griesemer, a veteran Bungie employee who was involved with all the “Halo” games published by the company.
Additionally, the developer claimed to have worked on the early stages of the team-based multiplayer FPS. Griesemer revealed that the game’s original codename was “Project Tiger” and was allegedly similar to Blizzard’s in-development game called “Project Titan,” which was supposedly the MMO that would be repackaged into the shooter we now know as “Overwatch.”
According to Griesemer, he only noticed the similarity during the time he visited Blizzard’s headquarters.
He was reportedly allowed to test an early version of “Project Titan” and discovered that it was uncannily alike to “Tiger.” Likewise, the “Halo” developer was still unsure if “Destiny” would be a third-person or first-person game just yet. Nonetheless, these two games were eventually refined to become the popular FPS games they are now.
Parting ways with the developer
The book also detailed that the idea which made “Destiny” what it is today was originally proposed by Jaime Griesemer. He wanted Bungie to make the title into a shared-world shooter. Instead, the company supposedly reworked the game multiple times until it was much closer to “Halo."
This obviously didn’t sit well with him and finally resulted in his separation from the studio.
It’s hard to imagine a game like “Destiny 2” playing a lot like “Overwatch” but it came quite close based on his story. Griesemer’s next gig would be the lead designer for “inFamous: Second Son." Afterwards, he co-founded Highwire Games, an indie studio.
