The Destiny universe still has some secrets up its sleeve: A developer recently asked on Twitter about the most popular examples of assets being reused in games. A former developer from Bungie responded, declaring that Raid boss Aksis in Destiny 1 isn’t actually a boss, but a vehicle.
Which boss are we talking about? On Twitter, developer Xalavier Nelsen Jr. recently asked fans and colleagues for their favorite examples of how studios have reused existing models or other assets in games. Several users responded and shared exciting or funny stories about “recycling.”
One of them was Kelly Snyder, who worked at Bungie during the time of Destiny 1. She revealed that Bungie got a bit creative with Aksis, the boss from the Wrath of the Machine raid, and repurposed existing designs.
Aksis was, in the story of Destiny 1, a former Archon Priest of the Fallen who merged with SIVA and emerged as Archon-Primus. The leader of the Devil Splicers had six legs and moved similar to a vehicle that already existed in the game.
What’s wrong with the boss? If Aksis’s description sounds familiar, you’re right: Bungie used existing runners, the tanks of the Fallen, as the base for the boss.
According to Kelly Snyder, this is also the reason why Three of Coins never worked on Aksis. The boss isn’t actually a boss but a vehicle.
Three of Coins were a consumable in Destiny 1 that Guardians could purchase from Xur, which increased the chances of exotic engrams.
Runners can also be found in Destiny 2, for example, in public events in the EDZ and on Titan.
What do the players say? The community finds the statement about Aksis quite amusing.
Many players share their own stories of bosses or enemies in Destiny and Destiny 2, where they can imagine recycling.
As early as December last year, a designer from Destiny 2 explained that the bosses in the game often are just regular enemies that have been inflated to XXL size. Players are alluding to this again, as they still wish for the giant version of Protheon, the boss of the Spire of the Watcher. Or as players call him: Swoletheon.
Why is so much being recycled? In the Twitter post, many developers present their own tricks and reused assets. This shows that it is no longer a phenomenon that only affects Bungie.
Reusing assets, or “recycling,” is an important tool for designers to create content efficiently. Designing and animating “new assets” consumes immense amounts of time.
If developers were to give up reusing assets, there would likely be even fewer game contents than there already are.
