As Destiny shifted from pure fantasy to more science fiction, Staten says they moved the idea of the center of the world from a city on the surface to a spaceship.
Another image from Destiny's time as a more pure fantasy game. This city was imagined to be Destiny's center, a bright citadel beseiged by evil forces that the player would defend.
Art Director Chris Barrett says this image encapuslated everything they were looking for in Destiny: the hopeful and inviting world; cloaks and armor, personalized guns, and heroes working together. And the space tiger.
This shot of modern weaponry in an ancient tomb is an example of the combination of the two genres that Bungie is calling "mythic science fiction".
Eventually, the Destiny project turns back more towards science fiction and away from pure fantasy.
This migratiion makes some sense; Bungie made their series of medieval fantasy real time tactics games, Myth, after their sci fi shooter Marathon series, and what became Halo emerged out of a next-generation engine for Myth.
Art Director Christopher Barrett:
"If you take an image like this one, with ancient ruins up on a hill, kind of a classic fantasy scene, it asks the question, 'what's buried beneath those ruins?'"
Art Director Chris Barrett:
"Ancient swords with cool names; stuff that's really fun to create."
Another appearance of the "space tiger" that game Destiny its code name.
Castles in the clouds; tents and horses.
An early concept image from Destiny, back when it was a pure fantasy game.