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Recurring characters of ''Halo'' are organized below by their respective factions in the fictional universe. The multimedia franchise's central story revolves around an interstellar war between future humanity under the auspices of the United Nations Space Command or UNSC, and an alien theocratic alliance known as the Covenant. The artifacts left behind by an ancient race known as the Forerunner play a central role, particularly the massive weapons, dubbed Halos, built to contain the parasitic Flood. Beginning with developer Bungie's 2001 video game ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', the franchise expanded to include the sequels ''Halo 2'', ''Halo 3'', ''Halo Wars'', ''Halo 3: ODST'', and ''Halo: Reach''. The Reclaimer Saga created by 343 Industries includes the sequels of ''Halo 4'', and Halo 5: Guardians; the novels ''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', ''Halo: The Flood'', ''Halo: First Strike'', ''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'', ''Halo: Contact Harvest'', ''Halo: The Cole Protocol'', ''Halo: Glasslands'', ''Halo: The Thursday War'', ''Halo: Cryptum'', ''Halo: Primordium,'' and ''Halo: Silentium''; and ''The Halo Graphic Novel'', among other works. In the foreword for a collection titled ''The Art of Halo'', Bungie founder Jason Jones noted that bringing together the elements of a video game is unmistakably "art". However, Jones also noted that the character designers and artists had to make a "living, breathing world" and populate it with interesting characters and places. The game's development which spanned four years brought numerous evolutions and revisions to the character's designs and personalities. Characters were also updated to take full advantage of new graphics technologies; for instance, the Master Chief's armor was redesigned in a lengthy conceptual process and the final model was bump mapped. Each video game offered opportunities to refine the character's appearances and design. ''Halo''s commercial and critical success has led to large amounts of merchandise featuring the franchise's characters to be produced. The Master Chief, the most visible symbol of the series, has been heavily marketed, with the character's visage appearing on soda bottles, T-shirts, and Xbox controllers. Other merchandise produced includes several sets of action figures, produced by Joyride Studios and McFarlane Toys among other manufacturers. ''Halo''s characters have received varying reception, with characters such as the Chief, Cortana, and the Arbiter well received by critics, and Gravemind and Avery Johnson derided as corny. == Character design and creation == ''Halo''s characters were continually refined through development, as the company was bought by Microsoft and the platform shifted from the Macintosh to the Xbox. Other Bungie developers would often add input to the progress of characters in ''Halo'', even if they were not working on the game itself.〔Trautmann, 19.〕 For example, an outside artist, Shi Kai Wang, developed the early concept sketches of what would eventually become the Master Chief. However upon developing a 3D model, the artists decided the Chief looked too slender, almost effeminate, and subsequently bulked up the character.〔Trautmann, 20.〕 Early Covenant Elites had a more natural jaw rather than the split mandibles they would later sport; at one point, Jason Jones was also insistent about having a tail on the Elites, but this idea was eventually dropped.〔Trautmann, 38.〕 Designers decided to hand-key animations, rather than attempt motion capture.〔Trautmann, 14.〕 The animators also often videotaped themselves to have reference footage for the movement of game characters. Art Director Marcus Lehto had his wife videotape him "running around a field with a two-by-four" for footage for human marines. By ''Halo 3'', Bungie staff had a special room designed for capturing reference material.〔 Many of the subsequent human character's features were based on Bungie designers,〔Trautmann, 27.〕 while character animators looked to simian, ursine, insectoid, and reptilian features for the various races of the Covenant.〔Trautmann, 53.〕 The artificial intelligences of the characters was also deliberately limited to make sure they acted realistically to environmental changes and situations. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Characters of Halo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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