Matt Soell from Bungie Studios has given us his Halo update for this week. And here it is!

This is another art-heavy update because the various reconstructive programming tasks are still not finished. This one might have been a little longer but I am severely pressed for time today. So, let's go!- Marcus showed me one of the interiors heТs working on. The interiors are put together in a very rough form Ц just enough to get the basic outlines of the space down Ц and then refined. Over the course of this process, the level transforms from something that looks like it could have come out of Marathon into...well, into a level that looks like it came out of Halo. The artists are testing out how big the levels can be, what sort of balance to strike between geometric and textural complexity, that sort of thing. The level Marcus showed me was HUGE: we looked over a ledge and saw an enormous underground labyrinth. Then he showed me the concept art Eddie drew of what the level will look like when it's finished. If youТve ever seen storyboards for a well-designed science fiction movie (Aliens, for example) youТll have an idea of what some of the Halo interiors will look like. (Not in terms of Giger-esque weirdness but in the sheer complexity and scale.)- TheyТre testing lighting stuff, although a lot of it doesnТt work yet

Sounds like it could use a few throw pillows, though.