Textures


"...a distinctive flair for decor that just screams galactic arm."



The original plan for Marathon Infinity's solo scenario "Blood Tides of Lh'owon" was that it was going to be an add-on to Marathon 2. So new aliens and no new textures.

Reflecting on game 25 years later Greg Kirpatrick wrote:
"Infinity wasn't really supposed to have a story, but we couldn't do that, right?! And we didn't have many assets or money to do art, although we did end up doing some anyway. So we had to tell a story with effectively the same art assets and presumably the same characters. So the storytelling for it was hampered by all those things."
The story did require one new texture set however which would be called Jjaro.

Bungie released the first Infinity screenshot using these new textures on their website on 16 April 1996.



Then on 12 June 1996 they released another screenshot showing the new textures this time on an Infinity net level.



They also released two textures from the new texture set.

   


But why were all the Marathon 2 textures redone in Infinity?

Tuncer Deniz (Infinity Project Manager) takes up the story:
"Randy Reddig, one of Greg's co-workers, decided one night in July to redo the water texture collection. We all thought the original water collection in M2 sucked, so he worked on it. The end result was great, Randy did a great job.

Toward the end of July, we started to work on the demo. We wanted to get one out for Macworld Expo in Boston in early August, so we worked feverishly on it. Unfortunately, we missed Macworld but we did ship the demo on the last day of Macworld. The response to the demo was great. A lot of people like the M1-like levels and the new textures.

Soon after Randy decided to redo all the textures in Marathon Infinity."




Concerning the Marathon Infinity textures Aaron Freed <aaronjfreed@gmail.com> writes:
"They're all completely remade; most of them share elements with their M2 counterparts, but the aesthetic is completely different. In general, M2 is more colourful but also more... cartoony, for lack of a better term. Also, M2 sewage is predominantly brown while M∞ is predominantly green, and M∞ Pfhor is predominantly a desaturated blue while M2 is predominantly... the entire visual spectrum, basically."
Aaron has put together a very useful side by side comparison of the textures used in Marathon 2 (top row) and Marathon Infinity (bottom row). Click to enlarge.


Water



Lava



Sewage



Pfhor



Jjaro



Aaron writes:
"Jjaro is included to show that many (though not all) of its textures fulfil the same functions as their corresponding sewage textures."

Aaron makes the following interesting observation:
"There are a few Pfhor textures in Infinity that have the Jjaro pattern overlaid, but if the Pfhor stole as much of their technology from the Jjaro as we're led to assume they did, that probably fits."

Aaron continues:
"The textures are a large part of the reason Infinity took place on Lh'owon, and thus a large part of the reason for the time travel and multiple timelines; Double Aught didn't think they'd have time to remake all four texture sets, and it would've been ridiculous to set the sequel on a planet that looked exactly like Lh'owon, but wasn't. Randy remade all the textures near the end of Infinity's development cycle. This is also why most of the terminal images in Infinity show the maps with Marathon 2 textures."

"Since the new textures were a last-minute addition, they also had to fulfil the same purposes as their Marathon 2 counterparts - it wouldn't have been productive to retexture dozens of levels that late in development. However, the aesthetic of the game changed a lot. I personally am glad each game has its own textures; M∞ looks off to me with M2 textures, and vice versa."

You can see some of the Infinity terminals that have legacy Marathon 2 textures below.









Apart from legacy terminal textures you can also see the Marathon 2 textures used in this officially released screenshot for the game. It first appeared on Bungie's website on 12 June 1996.



Even though it was using the Marathon 2 textures it would eventually end up on the front of the Marathon Infinity box.

This is what it would eventually look like.






Aaron Freed provides the landscape textures for Marathon 2 (top) and Marathon Infinity (bottom). Click to enlarge.

Day



Night



Moon



Space

Aaron writes:
The "Moon" collection appears in both games, but is only used in M2. The "M2 Space" collection is only used in one level, "Requiem for a Cyborg", which is a pity, because it may be my favourite out of the lot.

Overall, I again think each game looks weird with the its counterpart's landscapes. I did run through M∞ once with M2 textures replacing the Water/Lava/Sewage/Pfhor collections, and with the M2 landscapes, and although very little felt out of place, the atmosphere just felt off.





The appearance of legacy textures in terminal graphics is not just common to Marathon Infinity. Marathon 2 has its share. Right at the start on Waterloo Waterpark we have the legacy daytime Lh'owon texture.



As explained on reddit Marathon (r/marathon):

In the Marathon 2 Preview and Marathon 2 Demo the first level Waterloo Waterpark used the daytime Lh'owon skyline (yellow sky). This allowed it to fit with the other two levels which also used the daytime Lh'owon skyline.

In the full game it was changed to nighttime Lh'owon so it would fit the next level. By the time you got to the 3rd level it was daytime Lh'owon. Nicely showing you the passing of time.

Just how many more legacy textures/map changes appear in Marathon 2 terminal graphics? Seven or more?




Where are Mark Bernal's initials?

The Marathon Scrapbook states:

Mark revamped and created a large portion of the textures,
making them not only useful individually but also as a unified group.
(He managed to hide his initials in one of the switch textures.)

They were found of course... see the Mark Bernal's initials section for details.




Thanks to Aaron Freed on the Marathon Discord for a side by side comparison of how some of the Pfhor ship textures in Marathon (1) were modified and reused in Marathon 2: Durandal.

In some cases the changes were just color changes.

Marathon 1       Marathon 2

 
Marathon 1       Marathon 2

 


In this texture, Aaron points out: "the darkened part was lightened up, but otherwise it's the same design."

Marathon 1       Marathon 2

 


Others textures had actual design changes. Aaron writes: "this has different insigniae and coloring but still remains basically the same."

Marathon 1       Marathon 2

 


More complicated changes can also be seen. Aaron writes: the changes to this one are more complicated, but the M1 texture is still clearly the basis for the M2 version.

Marathon 1       Marathon 2

 


Similarly, Aaron notes: same basic idea with these two, though it's not 100% clear if the M2 version is actually based on the M1.

Marathon 1       Marathon 2

 


Aaron writes: these are definitely distinct from each other, but the M1 texture might've inspired the M2 texture somewhat.

Marathon 1       Marathon 2

 


Nice analysis from Aaron as always.

Only the Pfhor ship textures were modified for Marathon 2: Durandal as the UESC Marathon itself did not feature in the sequel.

The UESC Marathon was left to languish at Tau Ceti until the Pfhor arrived. As Durandal remarked.
I would surmise that the Pfhor have some plans for old Deimos; they bought the colony ship for sale.
But back to those textures.

You are either a fan of the Pfhor ship textures in Marathon 2 or you are not. You had to wait until Marathon Infinity for Durandal to make his joke about the Pfhor ship decor.
Does it feel good to be back? you will recognize a distinctive flair for decor that just screams galactic arm.
You are either a fan of the garish galactic arm decor or you are not.

Those in favor of the original Pfhor textures point to the darkness, pulsating lights, narrow twisting corridors, claustrophobic, organic, breathing... ship.



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Last updated April 17, 2024