![]() "From the start, we set out to do something that was bigger than a single game" Angie Smets, PlayStation Studios We sacrificed some coders to the gods," he laughed. We were like, 'Do we need to cut the whole feature of the game? That's going to make such a mess' but we got it to work. It was almost up until the last moment that we didn't know whether we could support the flying on PlayStation 4. Those were very, very challenging from a technical point of view. "A large part of that was also adding the two layers of exploration, underwater as well as aerial. "People now know the IP, so if you had something so built on mystery, can you create another mystery again or do you fall into repetition? That was definitely challenging, to keep the surprise, the momentum and the awe of the first game going through the second game. "The biggest challenge with any sequel is can you recapture that original magic?" said van Beek. With Zero Dawn and Aloy both established as hits, the studio needed to prove it could maintain its momentum. Even iconic developers like Hideo Kojima and Shigeru Miyamoto were asking to see the behind-closed-doors demo at the show.įast forward to Horizon: Forbidden West and the Guerrilla team found themselves facing new challenges. At E3 2015, where the game was first unveiled, van Beek expected the team to be "laughed out of the room" – but the unveiling was met with such excitement that the studio knew it was onto a potential hit. The trio remembered the nerves around the original E3 reveal, about the expectation that Guerrilla would be making a new Killzone. Pictured left to right: Jan-Bart van Beek, Angie Smets, Mikiel van der Leeuw and session host Sam Loveridge There were many things we could do with the same universe, different games, different styles." Everyone was really excited about robots. We'd been making ruins for a little bit too long, and the studio got really excited about making nature. "After Killzone: Shadow Fall for PlayStation 4, we knew we wanted a bigger, broader IP. Michiel van der Leeuw, technical director at Guerrilla, described Killzone as a good testing ground, especially as the team was building new tech and processes. I think we were quite ambitious, thinking back." We really thought about it as a franchise from day one. "When we decided to do something new, from the start we set out to do something that was bigger than a single game. "Idiosynchronacies that meant it never really gelled with them, so when we were making Horizon we were looking at a much broader audience, and telling a bigger story that's relevant to a lot more people."Īngie Smets – previously studio director and executive producer, now head of development strategy for PlayStation Studios – added that Guerrilla learned through Killzone how much effort it takes to create a new IP. Looking back, he also suggested Killzone was "maybe a little too Euro-centric," suggesting there were elements that may not have resonated with American audiences. ![]() Van Beek added that Aloy was an "intrinsic part" of the pitch, and the team reminisced about first seeing fans cosplaying as the Horizon hero, finding tattoos of her, and even learning that babies have been named after the character. "We'd been making ruins for a little bit too long, and the studio got really excited about making nature" Michiel van der Leeuw, Guerrilla Games That was something we definitely took on board." So when you're making a whole IP about the baddies, it's hard to do good storytelling. "We had this idea that was based upon franchises like Aliens, where it's all about the bad guys and what we found out was that people still really need a hero to clamp onto and identify with. There were some great ideas in there, but also some that never really worked," said studio director and art director Jan-Bart van Beek. "Killzone was our first IP, testing all our ideas, seeing how things worked. The studio known for the Killzone series dropped its linear levels, guns and space Nazis for a sprawling open world, more primitive weapons, and robot dinosaurs.Īt Develop:Brighton this morning, three members of the studio's leadership reflected on this journey to mark the studio's 20th anniversary, sharing the motivations that led them to create PlayStation's blockbuster series. Horizon: Zero Dawn was a dramatic shift for Guerrilla Games. Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox
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