Former Bungie staff announce Moonshot Studios

By Stephany Nunneley

Three former Bungie members announced today the formation of Moonshot Games development studio.

Based in Boston and Seattle, it was formed by Michel Bastien, production lead for Halo 2 and Halo 3, Damián Isla, and creative director Rob Stokes, mission designer on the Halo series.

The official announcement from the company website is past the break.

Thanks, GI.

Guidance is internal. Ignition sequence starts. All engines running. Liftoff. We have liftoff of Moonshot Games.

Formed by Bungie alumni Michel Bastien, Damián Isla, and Rob Stokes, Moonshot is dedicated to exploring the uncharted spaces of high-quality downloadable games, bringing to those worlds our years of experience with AAA productions. With launch and support facilities in both Seattle, WA and Boston, MA, the Moonshot program poises itself to pull top talent from either coast.

From mission control in Seattle, Managing Director Michel Bastien oversees the trajectory of this brave new endeavor. As production lead of Halo 2 and Halo 3, Bastien developed the long view and grasp of complexity necessary to see our birds safely from launch pad to lunar soil, time and again.

Director of Technology Damián Isla heads up Moonshot’s research and fabrication labs in Boston. At Bungie, Isla served as AI and gameplay engineering lead, and he is a foremost expert in the field of Artificial Intelligence for Games. But he promises there are no Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computers aboard Moonshot’s maiden flight.

Finally, guiding Moonshot’s forays into the unknown is Creative Director Rob Stokes. Another seasoned veteran of Bungie, Stokes logged hundreds of hours as a writer, mission designer, and design lead on the Halo franchise. From the command module, Stokes indicates that altitude and velocity are on the line. “Roll is complete. We are pitching.”

The Moonshot team firmly believes that the stars need not be limited to multimillion-dollar projects supported by armies of ground crew. There is a place in history for that small, nimble craft, built smartly on a modest budget, and piloted by expert hands.

We are now passing into the lunar shadow. Stay tuned for transmission when we emerge from the other side.