Timeline of development
- For the full story of Oni's development, see Oni. For detailed information on the continued updates for Mac after release, see History of Mac Oni.
The Oni project started development in April of 1997 and ran for approximately 3 years, 9 months, ending in January of 2001. Through this time, the Bungie West team ran into unexpected technical and design hurdles, resulting in a much longer development period than planned. The initial internal deadline for the game, October 1999, was gradually pushed back quarter by quarter until the game was finished in the time period from November 2000 to January 2001, depending on the platform, and shipped simultaneously for all platforms on January 29, 2001 in North America.
The development of the game was accompanied by unexpected events such as a financial blow to Bungie from the Myth II uninstaller bug, a partial buyout by Take-Two Interactive, turnover on the staff and a change of project lead, and then a complete buyout by Microsoft. Only a sustained crunch period at the end of development, pushing the Bungie West staff to their limits, allowed the game to be finished to a degree where it was ready to ship, and cuts to the game were still required such as the removal of multiplayer mode, one single-player level, and a boss character.
The dates below are sometimes approximate but are mostly supported by hard evidence, as seen in the citations.
| Apr. 2, 1997 |
Engine quietly begins development under Brent Pease per dates in source code Projected release date is "October 1999"[1] |
| July 1997 |
Bungie West announces they are hiring[2] |
| Dec. 31, 1997 |
Bungie West gets their content authoring pipeline working[3] |
| May 28, 1998 |
Oni is announced along with Myth II at E3[4][5] |
| Dec. 28, 1998 |
Myth II uninstaller bug is discovered, costs Bungie about $800,000[5] |
| May 14, 1999 |
Oni appears at E3 with hands-on demo running in multiplayer mode[6] Release date is estimated as early 2000[7] "Blam" project is shown three days later to a select group behind closed doors[8] |
| Jul. 21, 1999 |
Oni appears at Macworld NY running in multiplayer mode[6] Halo is announced[9] |
| Aug. 12, 1999 |
Take-Two Interactive announces that it will purchase 19.9% stake in Bungie, becoming the distributor for Oni and Halo;[10] purchase occurs in November[11] Oni's stated release date is "before Christmas" 1999[10] |
| Sep. 29, 1999 |
Sell sheet gives "Q1 2000" as release date[12] |
| Nov. 19, 1999 |
GameSpot email gives "summer 2000" as release date[13] |
| Dec. 20, 1999 |
Brent Pease leaves the Oni team[14] |
| Jan. 5, 2000 |
Oni appears at Macworld SF; on BungieTV, the game is demonstrated in multiplayer mode by Bungie staffers[6] |
| Feb. 20, 2000 |
Oni's release date is listed as "summer 2000" by Take-Two[15] |
| Mar. 16, 2000 |
The PlayStation 2 port is officially announced.[16][17] The port had actually begun a short while earlier.[18] |
| May 13, 2000 |
The announcement is made that multiplayer mode has been canceled[19] |
| Jun. 19, 2000 |
Microsoft purchases 100% stake in Bungie and Take-Two gains full IP rights over Oni and Myth[20][21] |
| July 10, 2000 |
IGN's list of PS2 launch titles states, as of July 10, that Oni's release date is "one week after launch" of the PS2 in North America, which would be the very beginning of Nov. 2000[22] |
| Aug. 17, 2000 |
IGN updates their list and Oni's launch date has been pushed to "December 2000"[23] |
| Aug. 28, 2000 |
Oni enters beta phase of development[24] |
| Sep. 11, 2000 |
A GameSpot UK article covering the European Computer Trade Show reports a show floor statement that Oni's release date is March 2001,[25] which is then disputed by Bungie employees and others. (In the end, it turns out to be accurate for the European releases but not the North American release.) |
| Sep. 25, 2000 |
Around this date, unbeknownst to the public, Bungie West is given the chance by Take-Two to develop Oni for one more month even though it means missing the holiday season. The team uses the month of October to add the training level and to generally polish the game[26][27] |
| Sep. 29, 2000 |
Oni's release date is reported by a gaming site as Jan. 10, 2000, the first time that a post-December release date has been reliably reported. The Gathering rep states this is a "firm" date[28] |
| Oct. 25, 2000 |
Gathering officially announces a release date of "January 2001"[29] |
| Nov. 4, 2000 |
Creation date on game data files in the Windows retail release |
| Nov. 8, 2000 |
Gathering of Developers announces the final North American release date of January 29, 2001 for all three platforms[30] |
| Nov. 17, 2000 |
Oni is gold mastered for Windows[31] |
| Nov. 20, 2000 |
Creation date on game data files in the Windows demo and Mac retail release (in .sep format) |
| Dec. 15, 2000 |
Bungie West officially moves to Microsoft's headquarters at Redmond[32] |
| Dec. 17, 2000 |
Windows demo released[33] |
| Dec. 20, 2000 |
Oni is gold mastered for Mac, based on the date on the retail application and the release of the Mac demo[34][35]
|
| Dec. 21, 2000 |
Mac demo released[36]
|
| Jan. 22, 2001 |
Oni is gold mastered for PlayStation 2[37]
|
| Jan. 29, 2001 |
Official release date for Oni in North America on Mac, Windows and PS2[38][39][40]
|
References
- ↑ See Oni/Positioning
- ↑ Marathon Story Page: Blasts from the Past. Note that this copy of the Bungie West job ad is stated to have the wrong date at the bottom of the page.
- ↑ Inside Mac Games: "Sneak Preview: Oni"
- ↑ Marathon Story Page: Blasts from the Past. Note that this official press release was months late.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chicago Reader: "Monsters in a Box"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 See Multiplayer for video evidence
- ↑ IMG: "Feature: The E3 Report - Page 2"
- ↑ IMG: "Feature: The E3 Report"
- ↑ Bungie: "Halo Brings Action Gamers a World Without End"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 IGN: "Take-Two Take Bungie"
- ↑ SEC 10-K filing for Take-Two Interactive
- ↑ See Image:Info sheet.jpg
- ↑ Oni Central Forum: "New Oni Preview Coming Up..."
- ↑ Oni Central Forum: "Brent Pease leaves Bungie?"
- ↑ Oni Central: News for February 2000
- ↑ Oni Central: "Oni is coming for the PS2"
- ↑ Bungie.com: "Take-Two Interactive Software's Rockstar Games Announces Oni for the Playstation 2"
- ↑ Oni Central Forum: "Re: Question asking time...."
- ↑ Oni Central Forum: "Rant here... I think its a good rant ;)"
- ↑ IGN: "Microsoft Buys Bungie, Take Two Buys Oni, PS2 Situation Unchanged"
- ↑ SEC 10-K filing for Take-Two Interactive
- ↑ IGN PS2: "The PS2 Launch Titles"
- ↑ Oni Central: "Oni pushed back to December?"
- ↑ Oni Central Forum: "New news groups?"
- ↑ Oni Central Forum: "What the...?!?"
- ↑ Oni Central: "Matt's Oni update for October 20"
- ↑ mrixrt: "Hardy LeBel Interview", 33'47"
- ↑ MacCentral: "Oni release in January, Bungie comments on development"
- ↑ Oni Central: "Interesting details revealed by Marty O'Donnell"
- ↑ IMG News: "Oni Release Date"
- ↑ Oni Central: News for November 2000
- ↑ HaloPlayers.com: "Matt's Halo Update - December 15, 2000"
- ↑ Oni Central Forum: "ONI DEMO!"
- ↑ See Image:Classic Mac Oni Get Info window.png
- ↑ Oni Central Forum: Mac Demo News
- ↑ Inside Mac Games News: "Oni Demo Released"
- ↑ Daily Radar: "Oni Gets SCEA's Approval ", Jan. 22, 2001
- ↑ Oni Central: News for January 2001
- ↑ Godgames.com: "Gathering of Developers Ships Oni Nationwide for the PC and Macintosh"
- ↑ GameSpot: "Oni Receives Final Approval"
