Ars Technica - War Stories Season 1, Episode 4: How Serious Sam's Demo Saved the Game From Extinction

1

How Gamers Killed Ultima Online's Virtual Ecology

When creating Ultima Online, Richard Garriott had grand dreams. Richard and Starr Long planned on implementing a virtual ecology into their massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It was an ambitious system, one that would have cows that graze and predators that eat herbivores. However, once the game went live a small problem had arisen...

7 min

2

How Thief's Stealth System Almost Didn't Work

1998's Thief: The Dark Project was a pioneer for the stealth genre, utilizing light and shadow as essential gameplay mechanics. The very thing that Thief became so well-known for was also the game's biggest development hurdle. Looking Glass Studios founder Paul Neurath recounts the difficulties creating Thief: The Dark Project, and how its AI systems had to be completely rewritten years into development.

7 min

3

How Stardock's Elemental: War of Magic Failed

Brad Wardell, founder of Stardock Corporation, details the difficulties in the development of Elemental: War of Magic, a game that shipped in a largely broken state. A memory error caused the development team to pull features from the game in order to fix the issue, but the concern wasn't resolved by the time the game released. As a result, the original vision for Elemental: War of Magic was never fully realized.

8 min

4

How Serious Sam's Demo Saved the Game From Extinction

Croteam founder Davor Hunski discusses the long development history of the first game in the Serious Sam series. Starting development all the way back in 1996, Serious Sam went through many different iterations, with big shifts occurring every time a new ground-breaking game released. With money running out, Croteam went for a Hail Mary. They crafted a vertical slice that packed all the best bits of the game into one demo.

10 min

5

How Star Control II Was Almost TOO Realistic

Toys for Bob's Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford talk in-depth about the development history of Star Control and Star Control II.

13 min

6

How Aliens versus Predator's Late Design Change Made It a Classic

Tim Jones, lead artist and producer for the classic PC game "Aliens vs. Predator," talks about the risky development choices that ultimately led to the game's incredible success.

17 min

7

How Total War: Rome II's Ambition Was Almost Its Undoing

With 150,000 possible land battle locations, 2,500 river crossing locations, 20,000 possible ambush locations and much more, Total War: Rome II was quite the ambitious project. Pawel Wojs, lead battlefield artist on Total War: Rome II, discusses how the plan to integrate land, sea, and siege battle elements into the game was nearly too ambitious a task.

10 min

8

How Dead Space's Scariest Scene Almost Killed the Game

Glen Schofield, the co-founder of Sledgehammer Games and the creator/director of Dead Space, goes in-depth on the development of the classic third-person horror shooter. Glen set out to create the scariest video game of all-time, borrowing gameplay elements from Resident Evil 4 to create a product with a unique blend of horror and action. Always upping the ante, the Dead Space team decided to create a massive dreadful tentacle that attacks and drags the game's protagonist around the environment. Little did they know, this element would prove far more difficult to develop then they had ever realized..

19 min

9

How Blade Runner Reinvented Adventure Games

In 1995, Westwood Studios set out to make a game based on one of the most beloved science fiction films ever made. They took a big risk, applying unproven technology and storytelling methods. Blade Runner wold go on to become of the highest-selling action-adventure games of all time.

11 min

10

How Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun Solved Pathfinding

Westwood Studios co-founder Louis Castle talks about the development of the classic RTS, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.

13 min

11

How MechWarrior 5's Team Fixed Their Player-Killing Level Generator

Reactor Online. Sensors Online. Weapons Online. All Systems Nominal! In this Special Edition of War Stories, Russ Bullock (President, Piranha Games), Derek James (Designer), and Brian Windover (Lead Engineer) discuss the development of the upcoming MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. We also speak with Jordan Weisman, founder of FASA Corporation and creator of the BattleTech universe, and get a little bit of a history of the MechWarrior and BattleTech franchises.

11 min

12

How Amnesia: The Dark Descent Tricked Players Into Scaring Themselves

Frictional Games' Thomas Grip, designer of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, discusses the development of one of the most frightening games ever made. Thomas talks in-depth about the game's unique sanity system, as well as how the team continually tricked players into scaring themselves.

13 min

13

How Slay the Spire’s Original Interface Almost Killed the Game

Mega Crit Games co-founders Casey Yano and Anthony Giovannetti set out to combine the roguelike and deck building genres into one game, but found themselves faced with an obstacle: how to reveal the enemies’ intent. With the help of an active playtesting base on Steam, they realized that to make the game succeed they would need to scrap the ‘next move’ system for something more Twitch Streaming friendly. And thus, the ‘intent’ system was born.

11 min

14

How Localizing Return of the Obra Dinn Nearly Sunk the Game

Lucas Pope, creator of Return of the Obra Dinn, explains how the localization of the game's logbook put the game in some seriously dangerous waters.

10 min

15

How This War of Mine Plays on Your Emotions

Aleksander Kauch, lead game programmer for This War of Mine, goes behind the scenes of the game's development and explains how they turned a management sim into a visceral experience about civilians at war.

12 min

16

How Subnautica Succeeded Without Weapons

Charlie Cleveland, design director for Subnautica, goes behind the scenes of the game's development and explains how they crafted an exciting and dangerous experience without allowing the player to fight back. Charlie shows some early prototypes for Subnautica, and describes why they decided to create a game with primarily non-violent gameplay.

19 min

17

How Dead Cells Cheated to Make the Game More Fun

Sébastien Bénard, lead designer at Motion Twin, goes behind the scenes of Dead Cells' development. Sébastien explains the challenges they came across and how they made the game feel so good to play.

11 min

18

How Sid Meier Almost Made Civilization a Real-Time Strategy Game

Sid Meier, the creator of the popular Civilization video game series, goes behind the scenes of the development of the franchise's first entry. Sid explains some of the challenges they came across while transitioning the game from real-time to turn-based strategy.

12 min

19

How Mind Control Saved Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

When Lorne Lanning first conceived of what would become Oddworld, he wasn't necessarily setting out to make video games. What he needed to do was tell a story. On this episode of War Stories, we hear from the co-founder of Oddworld Inhabitants and learn all the ups and downs of Abe's journey to the screen over the past 22 years, including what comes next for the franchise in Oddworld: Soulstorm.

23 min

20

How Myst Almost Couldn't Run on CD-ROM

Cyan Worlds co-founder Rand Miller goes behind the scenes of the development of one of the best selling PC games of all time, Myst. The HyperCard-developed title ran into some snags when trying to run on the CD-ROM format. "I had a really powerful Mac, with a lot of memory and a lot of hard drive space, and we were still working in mud," said Rand, discussing the game's performance early-on. Rand and his brother, Robyn, compressed the image and audio data as much as they could so the game could run smoothly on 1x CD-ROM drives.

23 min

21

How Crash Bandicoot Hacked The Original Playstation

For today’s episode of War Stories, Ars Technica sat down with Naughty Dog Co-founder Andy Gavin to talk about the hurdles in bringing the original Crash Bandicoot to gamers around the world. When Andy and his partner Jason Rubin made the decision to bring the action platforming genre into three dimensions, it required living up to their company ethos of “leaving no stone unturned” in the search for memory - even if it meant hacking Sony’s library code.

32 min

22

How Prince of Persia Defeated Apple II's Memory Limitations

For today’s episode of War Stories, Ars Technica sat down with Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner to learn about the challenges he faced while bringing his ambitious vision for the game to life. As the 1980's wound down, Mechner found himself fighting against not only the limitations of the Apple II hardware but the impending death of the platform itself. Decades later, Prince of Persia remains a classic example of how the constraints of early gaming led to solutions that advanced the artform.

21 min

23

How Homeworld Almost Got Lost in 3D Space

On this episode of War Stories, Ars Technica sits down with Rob Cunningham to revisit the groundbreaking 1999 3D real-time strategy game, Homeworld. When Rob and a group of friends founded Relic Entertainment, they set out to marry the gameplay of Command & Conquer with the feel of Battlestar Galactica - all in a full 3D environment. On top of the everpresent memory limitations of the day, the team needed to get creative in figuring out how to orient players when, in space, no direction is up.

17 min

24

How Netflix's "Extraction" Engineered a 12-Minute, One-Shot Action Scene

For today’s episode of War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by Sam Hargrave, director of the Netflix action film “Extraction.” Hargrave breaks down the technical challenges he and his crew overcame in conceiving, choreographing and executing a breathtaking, 12-minute action scene with star Chris Hemsworth. Taking lessons learned from his time as the stunt coordinator of blockbusters like "Captain America: Civil War" and "Avengers: End Game" Hargrave engineered a kinetic and ambitious urban battle sequence - but needed to figure out how to capture it. Hear directly from the man behind the camera as he details every factor that needs consideration when stitching a series of chaotic set pieces into a single, uninterrupted shot.

29 min

25

How Alan Wake Was Rebuilt 3 Years Into Development

In conjunction with the 10th anniversary of its release, today Ars Technica is joined by Sam Lake, Creative Director of Remedy Games, to share insights on the development of 2010's influential action thriller Alan Wake. When it came time to follow up on the success of Max Payne and its sequel, Remedy had an abundance of ideas and a stable of creators eager to implement them. Years into its development cycle however, Sam and his colleagues felt the project had yet to successfully blend its influences and game mechanics into a cohesive experience. Knowing the bones of a remarkable game was present within the work of the previous three years, Remedy set out to rebuild Alan Wake. Here's how they pulled it off, how Alan's story continues in Remedy's critically-acclaimed Control, and where it's set to go with its upcoming DLC.

21 min

26

How "Robert the Bruce" Continued the Story of "Braveheart" Under Brutal Conditions

On today’s episode of War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by the creators of the film “Robert The Bruce” to breakdown the bone-chilling conditions under which they worked while bringing the story to life. Writer and star Angus Macfadyen first portrayed the outlaw Scottish king 25 years ago in Mel Gibson’s Academy Award-winning epic “Braveheart,” a film Director and Producer Richard Gray was determined to do justice to. Despite having a budget more suited to an independent film than a Hollywood period piece and shooting in sub-zero temperatures with chest-high snow, the cast and crew of “Robert The Bruce” overcame each challenge and delivered a film that feels intimate from moment to moment, but epic in scope. Learn how they pulled it off on this episode of War Stories.

14 min

27

How NBA JAM Became A Billion-Dollar Slam Dunk

Boomshakalaka! Today on War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by NBA JAM lead designer and programmer Mark Turmell to talk about the chaotic birth of an epically successful sports franchise. From the early days of earning the NBA's blessing, to the uncharted territory of digitizing superstars' likenesses into the game, Mark and team delivered an experience that captured imaginations around the globe, altered the landscape of sports simulations, and gave rise to some truly enduring catchphrases. When you collect a billion dollars worth of quarters after just a year in arcades, it's safe to say your creation is "On Fire!"

22 min

28

How Amazon’s “Undone” Animates Dreams With Rotoscoping And Oil Paints

Today on War Stories Ars Technica is joined by Hisko Hulsing, director and production designer of the Amazon original series “Undone.” The award-winning animator breaks down how he and his team achieved the show’s unique look, taking footage of actors shot on a soundstage and transforming them into impressionistic dreamscapes. Combining modern digital techniques like projection mapping with environments handcrafted in oil paints, “Undone” represents a new apex in Hikso Hulsing’s craft and a new frontier in cutting-edge, adult animation.

19 min

29

How One Gameplay Decision Changed Diablo Forever

Today on War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by Diablo lead programmer David Brevik to break down the genesis and development of a PC hack & slash masterpiece. Unbeknownst to some, the original concept for Diablo called for a traditional, turn-based RPG - a genre Brevik came of age with and was heavily influenced by. However, following a fateful vote by show of hands at the Blizzard North offices, Diablo became something new entirely and an initially reluctant David Brevik was on the cusp of creating the first entry in a legendary action role-playing series.

23 min

30

How Forza's Racing AI Uses Neural Networks to Evolve

Today on War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by Dan Greenawalt, Creative Director of the Forza franchise, who takes us through the colossal potential (and many challenges) of utilizing deep neural networks to build sophisticated racing AI. Beginning with the original Drivatar AI in Forza Motorsport for XBOX in 2005, Greenawalt and his colleagues experimented with computer learning, refining their methods from iteration to iteration. It was once the AI system was unshackled from local hard drives and placed online in Forza Motorsport 5, however, that the floodgates truly opened. As the AI rapidly evolved, producing unexpected new behaviors, the Forza team quickly learned how challenging it would be to wield this two-edged sword in creating realistic opponents.

28 min

31

How Deus Ex Blended Genres To Change Shooters Forever

Today Ars Technica is joined by Warren Spector, designer and director of the highly influential Deus Ex. Released in 2000, Spector set out to create the game of his dreams, one that would blend aspects of stealth, role playing, and first person shooters in innovative ways - and the legacy of his success can be seen across all modern shooting games.

14 min

32

How Gears Of War Almost Didn't Have Multiplayer

On this edition of War Stories Lee Perry, Gameplay Designer and Level Designer of the original Gears of War, joins Ars Technica to recount how the legendary shooter that spawned a franchise almost left its multiplayer mode ambitions on the cutting room floor.

14 min