EazyB said:
If by "work" for Bungie you mean "join them in eating pizza and playing Xbox Live", then yes.
Kirkland is a relatively small town, someone needs to keep the local joints in business. Eating pizza is just another extension of community service.
I know that this has been belabored
ad nauseum, but until yesterday my opinion and guesswork regarding Sandbox has been in flux and evolving, just like everyone else's I suppose. Now I feel like I've settled on a warm and juicy center, so I thought I'd jot down here
exactly what I think Sandbox will be able to do. I'm definitely not trying to churn up anyone's expectations, so absolutely keep them where they lay, but this is my take.
I could be wrong, but I really feel strongly that Bungie would have come out with statements about the end of the Edge footage like they did the campaign characters in Rats Nest. As I am aware, they have not, which tells me that the Edge footage showing Sandbox on a grid is actual gameplay. I think at its core, Sandbox is exactly what we see in the IGN pictures: a great map with a large palette.
In addition to this and true to its name, I believe that you will be able to remove/delete/make invisible, the core geometry (dunes, stone, rim, towers) and the skybox (mountains and the sun set) and
retain the grid itself and if you so choose to, all of the Forge objects on it (spawns, weapons, vehicles, blocks). From here, I believe objects can added/removed and placed on the grid, spaced out accordingly in this open world -- players will build their floors, ramps, doorways, tunnels and the entire environment. I also believe that Falagards statement of multi-tiered layering is likely, with the grid being able to be used to create levels on top of levels, minus the stacking we are required to do in Forge now.
When player exits Forge the grid goes with it. Perhaps the old skybox returns, but I think it would make more sense for there not even to be a skybox or any terrain, apart from the installed geometry added by the player in Forge -- which would explain why the tunnels have flooring and why there are so many flat pieces of geometry which look like floor pieces. It would also explain why the Edge footage is so well lit, even without an apparent lighting source.
I believe this is what they meant when they used the term open world.