In the MMO shooter Destiny , the raid designer revealed some secrets from the development period of the raid “The Vault of Glass”.
The story of the raid “The Vault of Glass”, the vanilla raid of Destiny, has now been extensively discussed in a podcast. It turns out that it was originally supposed to be called “The Glass Throne”, but that was quickly vetoed: Glass Throne sounded too much like a toilet.
In this early phase, the small team agreed on other things: It became clear where the raid was located, at a key point on Venus. This also made the main enemies, the Vex, clear. And they agreed on the overarching theme of the raid “Descent”.
At first, outside of the raid team, they only knew about the entrance
Initially, “The Vault of Glass” was a big secret even within the studio. A small team within Bungie worked in isolation on it, telling “outsiders” only as much as was absolutely necessary. When they then needed a video, they told the video department: We will only show the entrance! And in the end, the door opens, and that’s it!
Understandably, they reacted with raised eyebrows.
This door, the entrance to the raid “The Vault of Glass”, also played a role in the next step. When they first went public, at least “internally”, and introduced the rest of the Destiny team, they only showed the beginning and said: Find out how it works.
Here they slowly noticed that they had something special when the Destiny employees passionately tinkered with how the damn door opened.
Not just action, but also quiet moments for Guardians to bond
As a special feature in raid design, the head of the whole thing, Luke Smith himself, sees the transition from action to quiet moments. After very action-packed boss fights with many adds, they would then include a “quiet passage”, like a jump puzzle. This provides players with laid-back moments where everyone laughs at the one who just can’t get it right.
These passages then served for relaxation. The Guardians talked to each other, grew closer, and here friendships and bonds formed among the raid teams.
As special design moments in “The Vault of Glass”, Smith describes the “Leap into the Void” or the “Gorgon maze” – both moments where he was considered crazy when he first suggested them, but which turned out to be effective in practice.
After an action-packed battle, you suddenly find yourself at an abyss, without a clear idea of where to go next. Smith and the team hoped that in every raid group, there would be one person who would take the leap into the unknown, the “Leap of Faith”.
Speaking of leaps of faith:
The Gorgon maze is not just a change in the speed of the raid, but also in its mechanics. After teaching players to operate in teams the whole time, it was crucial to stay together here. And for the developers, it was also important to prove that you can create an exciting moment with silence and tension, completely without gunfire.
Weird: As inspiration for certain spots in the raid, Smith cites various influences such as “Machinegun Willy” from Double Dragon, the console classics Megaman I or Megaman II. No question, Smith has played a lot as a kid and teenager.
For Smith, the different raids are like Golden Retrievers
Smith sees the different raids like the Golden Retrievers in his family while he was growing up. They all have similarities but are also distinct. In the second raid, “Crota’s End”, they tried to convey a dense and packed experience, skipping the quieter passages. They continually work on the formula of what makes the raids in Destiny unique.
By the way, Smith debunked a rumor: There was never a serious plan for a raid in “House of Wolves”. They knew after “Crota’s End” that they needed more time for the next major raid and went straight to “King’s Fall”. And here they continued the story from Crota’s End.
There was never more than a placeholder graphic for a raid in “House of Wolves”.
