@32nds The heart sprite had wings originally, right? There’s also the butterfly effect that would emanate from large explosions; I’m guessing that was the precursor to the hearts?
Oral History Note:
The first draft said “Love, Bungie,” an homage to the Halo 3 beta, but I thought it was too intimate and try-hard. We tried a dozen different complimentary closes, but none fit the sentiment we were after. We had a heart-shaped VFX sprite for debugging materials, so at the last minute I suggested using that instead to soften the corniness — like literally the very last minute before we went gold.
Outside of “thirty seconds of fun” and “ninjas on fire,” it might be my stickiest contribution to the Bungie lexicon. It started out encapsulating everything I loved about Bungie but became more ironic and even sinister over time.
Okay, here’s what makes sense.
[suddenly wearing a large cloak which indicates that my evil alter ego ‘Irrational man’ has taken over] Now let’s ignore all that