This week, lovers of science fiction and games with a great deal of narrative and atmosphere are congratulations. And is that, Prey was launched last Friday on Xbox One and has been a pleasant surprise for everyone. We already know Bethesda’s policy of not giving early review copies, but this time, as with DOOM or Dishonored 2 , the play has gone well, as the game has been great.
If you want to know our opinion about Prey , we leave our analysis just taken out of the oven and then we leave you with the interesting interview that Bethesda (a thank you to Bethesda Spain for passing the interview) has allowed us to make two of the members of Arkane Studios .
We were able to chat with Emmanuel Petit (graphics leader of the game) and Jessie Boyer (artist of Arkane), who have shared their experience developing Prey .Something very interesting is that all the images that accompany this interview have passed them, a luxury.
What inspired you to create the Mimic (aliens)?
Rather than inspiration, it was more about process and iterations. Thematically the aliens are mysterious and paranormal, so throughout their visual development we tried to stick to that idea as much as possible. We had a very limited amount of features we could work with, such as their shape, behavior and shader, and we tried to make the most out of these elements.
Design of the Prey aliens and first sketches.
In addition to the aliens, Prey stands out for having a more realistic color palette than Dishonored. How did you create two games so different in the visual almost simultaneously?
«We really are not pursuing realism, it was never a goal. We painted everything by hand, so we could have absolute control over the tone of the story and what we wanted to tell, as well as the level of detail, which is a very long process.
When we started the project we looked at illustrators of the 60s and 70s, like Syd Mead or John Berkey. We were looking for a more pure and illustrative image to reflect the era in which the story is set. The process of balancing that approach with a first-person perspective compatible with Physically Based Rendering was a lot of work for the team that takes care of the scenarios and the setting. «
Speaking of challenges, physicists are very important in the development of the game. What has this element meant to you?
«Indeed, physics is part of the overall approach. We wanted to promote freedom and, above all, the creativity of the player, so the simulation had to be reactive. What did it mean for us? For the artists it meant that we had to put a lot of emphasis on the design of props and in the spaces to play outside nice. Art and code physics should go hand in hand and maintain a balance between level design and architecture. «
You talk a lot about immersion and audio is a key point.Did you work from art and technology with audio managers to create a better experience?
«We were all aiming to get an immersive experience. Regardless of the department, everyone was passionate and committed to the player experience. Mood is something about which we started working from the beginning of development and it was being promoted as we progressed in the project. This includes decisions such as location, visual themes, and subsequent concerns, such as lighting and, above all, sound.
For Prey, when everything was mature enough in development, we designed a board that helped us organize everything. On the board we put information about art, audio and level design and this was something that invited us to reflect, but also inspired us. «
And, finally, something more purely technological.Microsoft has already presented what Scorpio can do, what do you think about the console?
«As artists, we are always looking forward to greater visual fidelity and better image quality! That gives us new challenges and opportunities to develop rich and deep worlds that the players can discover.
As you can see, the last question not only has not gotten wet, but has been tremendously political. For the rest, a luxury to have this interview with two of the creators of one of the best games of what we have in 2017. Again, we thank Bethesda for this interview.
