Climbing the Colossus

Gamasutra has a great piece with the highlights of a Q&A held with the creators of Shadows of the Colossus. The piece offers insight into the games's creation and design from Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido. From the article: "Speaking about the industry in general, Ueda lamented, 'If you look right now the industry, it's full of sequels. Which is fine, I play a lot of sequels, because they're fun, but I don't think we can leave it like that. If that's all there is, I'm afraid the market will start to diminish. We need new games that we can challenge ourselves to.' As far as recent examples of game designs Ueda has enjoyed, he had a few kind words for Valve's Half-Life 2. 'It's a such a natural setting, and the puzzles are incorporated in that natural setting, and the players don't get lost. And that's something we put a lot of effort into for Ico, so I understand what went into that.'"

Comments

Another refreshing shot into VGs?

[dreemernj]

Ico was Refreshing. I had not played a game like that before, and I greatly enjoyed it. I just wish it had been a bit longer. I love the fact that there was almost no story and no understandable dialog (until you unlock the other language at least). The main character was a child stumbling into a situation without really understanding it, and the artful way the game was created allowed the player to feel the same.

I was very pleased back when they first announced Shadow of the Colossus (I think it was called Icon? or something else similar to Ico), and the more I see of it the more hopeful I am that it will be as unique and experiential as Ico was.

Although, I do kind of wonder how good the graphics will turn out. Ico was initially under development for the PS1, not sure if it was originally exclusive to the PS1, but there sure is a lot of footage of the PS1 test versions of it. I think one of the reasons it was so stunning when it first came out (other then the artistic prowess of the designers) was that it was already being optimized for a far less powerful system. I wonder if Shadow of the Colossus can be as awe inspiring. I think it will, but I am also an optimist.

Let's Dig Deeper into Worlds

[LionKimbro]

Why make sequels, when you can tell a different story, in the same world?

I'm fine with reusing worlds.

Re:Let's Dig Deeper into Worlds

[Ayaress]

They aren't in the same world, super- or otherwise. Several of the FF games end apocalyptically, and would render the later storylines impossible. Final Fantasy VI, for example, ends in a dying world with little hope for the future and magic has been completely destroyed. Final Fantasy VII, however, opens in a mostly thriving world where magic is so commonplace that it's an industrial product. 8, 9, and 10 all have magic too, for that matter, despite both 6 and 7 ending in magicless worlds. There's only a couple actual sequels in the Final Fantasy series - FFX2 and one game that was actually in the Secret of Mana series, just with the Final Fantasy name tacked on.

Technical Information behind making SotC

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is a wonderfully indepth article on the techniques used in making Shadow of the Colossus. It covers HDR (High Dynamic Range), self shadowing, the fur, etc. Amazing how they were able to do such things as HDR in *software* on the PS2 and achive the framerate they do.

http://www.dyingduck.com/sotc/making_of_sotc.html

Furthermore, crazy Japanese gamers have been explioting shortcuts on each colossus in a race for lowest times. The shortcuts for #16 are mindblowing. There are also neat shortcuts on #3, 4, 5, 8, and 15.

http://bgr44.cool.ne.jp/wanda/movie/movie.html