On stage at E3 2014, Microsoft revealed a project helmed by famed developer Platinum games to be released on their newly announced Xbox One console, an open world Action-RPG directly lead by Hideki Kamiya, one of the greatest makers of action video games to ever grace the medium.
On January 9th, 2017, a little under 3 years later, the project was canceled, the official website was removed, and for many, a game that seemed the stuff of dreams was forever lost.
The purpose of this thread is to serve as hub where people who were interested in this project can come and learn about the video game that would have been known as Scalebound.
I. Origins
Upon the completion of Bayonetta in 2009, Hideki Kamiya began discussing a longtime dream project of his with the team at Platinum. Originally starting as a dinosaur filled motion control game for the Nintendo Wii, it actually wasn't until much later that the version of the game we would eventually see would be started. During these preliminary stages, the protagonist of the project was set to be a young girl, and would see the player take a much more reserved role in combat. The child's frailty would make using the dragon as a conduit to defend her from the world around her the focus of the gameplay, something not dissimilar to a title like The Last Guardian.
However, the game was simply not destined for full-scale development at that point in time. Platinum began crafting the prototype on PC, where they realized the ambition and the scope of the game made releasing on the current generation of consoles not a possibility without serious compromise, a decision Platinum did not intend to make:
While Scalebound was put on the backburner, they shifted focus and began development on what would eventually become the Wii U-Exclusive The Wonderful 101. Following that titles release in 2013, Platinum had a newfound interest in working with new partners in the industry. It's then when Atsushi Inaba, former CEO of Clover Studios and producer at Platinum, suggested pitching the idea to Microsoft. From their perspective, the deal was advantageous: On Microsoft's side, they would receive a AAA product from Platinum to promote their console with, meanwhile Platinum would gain experience working with a big western publisher on a AAA project, while also getting to work on a longtime passion project.
II. The World Of
Scalebound's setting was going to be the world of Draconis, a fantasy-inspired world filled with giant monsters, knights, and floating islands. Speaking to the origins of the designs, Art Designer for the project Yeng-Kee Cho discussed there were originally several themes Draconis was experimented with, including both a more sci-fi inspired world as well as a steampunk approach. The decision to focus on a more fantasy setting arose from an iterative process the art team followed, as well as an interesting although minor clash in how to approach the aesthetics:
Governing the world of Draconis was a mysterious energy known as "The Pulse", compared by the lead art designer to Star Wars "The Force", in that it's a defining energy that forms the base for the entire universe. The pulse is both a literal and figurative shaper of the world of the Draconis, being responsible for some of its more exotic features like the floating masses of earth that decorated the skyline as well as bearing responsibility for the situation that found our main character in this foreign land, although the specific details on why or how were never revealed.
Early concept art of the protagonist:
Speaking of the protagonist of the story, players would have been in control of a fashionably questionable young man named Drew. While his in-game backstory remained sparse, the character of Drew was born when Platinum desired to increase the players sense of immersion while in the world of Draconis. Drew was from our reality, a young man thrust into a foreign and hostile world, and like many young people around Drew's age his character was reckless and hot-headed, a result of the overestimation of his youth. From the footage we had of the game in-action, this certainly seemed to be an important theme that would have been explored in the final game. (For those curious, Drew's VA was actor John Omohundro.)
Growing up heavily interested in the worlds of fantasy inspired RPG's, Kamiya had always wanted to create a game where the player controlled character would fight alongside a dragon, and so the dinosaur from the original version of Scalebound was switched to a dragon. Partnering up with Drew was to be Thuban, a majestic dragon that is the last of its kind in Draconis. Even less was known about Thuban's backstory, but what was known is that the dynamic between these two characters is what would have formed the backbone of the game, especially considering they were linked together (no doubt due to the aforementioned "Pulse") in quite a serious manner: If Thuban died, so did Drew:
As Drew grew, both in terms of power and his development as a character, Thuban was to be present and grow right alongside him. More than just a story however, the partnership between the two would have been represented in-game in several ways, such as the banter between them as they wreak havoc on a battleground, or Drew's mysterious dragon arm, which acted as an in-game health meter for Thuban.
Fun fact: Thuban, for those interested in astronomy, is a star in the constellation Draco. That stars Bayer designation? Alpha Draconis.
One of the more interesting pieces of gameplay showing the extent of Drew and Thuban's relationship came from the live demonstration at the Xbox fanfest in Tokyo towards the end of 2015. During the demonstration, Hideki Kamiya (who was playing live) mistakenly caused the mantis monster from previously released gameplay demos to jump off the in-game cliff, killing itself before he could show off Drews "dragon mode" and Thuban's "ultimate attack". While figuring out the best way to show off Drews fighting abilities given the incident, Kamiya decided to make Drew attack Thuban.
And the result? Thuban wasn't happy:
III. Gameplay
As stated above, Scalebound was an action role playing game first and foremost, so those who came no doubt interested in the hundred-hit combo style of action game PG gained fame with would have probably been served better elsewhere. This is not to say the combat featured in Scalebound was to be a simple affair, this is still Platinum we were talking about, but what made Scalebound so at odds with people who are fans of the extreme action genre is the very thing that makes it special in the first place; Thuban, your partner dragon. The fact is, in games like Bayonetta for example, the player is in complete control. An experienced player laughs in the face of adversity because they understand their player character is the powerful one in this world, so while there might be a particularly difficult enemy or encounter, it comes down to mastering the powers of this character to succeed and nothing more. In Scalebound, that focus was on the synergy between two beings, rather than the mastery of one. Not only that, but Thuban is capable of acting independently of Drew, the exact opposite of that level of control you see in an extreme action game. Not only would the player have had to manage powers and equipment for Drew over a longer period and to a level of detail deeper than your typical action game, but there's a much larger and much stronger partner you must build a relationship with to succeed.
That all said, basic combat with Drew seemed like familiar territory to those who have played similar genre games: You mixed up between a variety of different attacks, strong and weak button presses switching (preferably in a row with no damage taken to interrupt you) the type of attack and other factors like speed, damage, and range all based on the button pressed and the weapon equipped. Prior to the games cancellation, we had seen a few of these weapons in-game, including what appears to be a greatsword, a longsword, a bow, a spear, and a usable shield:
Spear/Greatsword
Bow (With explosive tips)
Shield
Longsword
Multiple Weapons/Multiplayer
Mines (electric/paralyzing)
(From the version we had seen gameplay of, it seemed weapon durability was also a thing)
Next, we had Drews "Dragon Arm". I mentioned early that it served as an in-game reminder of Thuban's health, but it also came with its own nifty bag of tricks. First, a tether of sorts used to propel you towards the enemies in order the mount them, like an odd hybrid of Just Cause and Dragon's Dogma, for example:
Secondly, the arm also allows Drew to rapidly fire blue orbs out of it, damaging enemies it can hit.
Lastly, the Dragon Arm can overtake the rest of Drew's body, granting him enhanced speed, damage, and overall abilities. This "Dragon Mode" is managed by a meter located under the current health bar, and only lasts a brief time (Can be upgraded to last longer, of course) during which Drew can fight on par with Thuban, tackling giant monsters up close and personally:
Outside of the player character, we would have had the massive dragon Thuban to assist us on the battlefield. Thuban was to be a powerhouse capable of outrageous outputs of damage, breathing fire, crushing foes, and delivering kick ass flash kicks were just a few of the possibilities, and adding even more is the fact that Thuban was quite customizable. Change his fire breath to an icy roar of frost, customize his horns and his skin color to your liking, equip him with metal blades attached to his tail to enhance his close quarters capabilities. You can even change the very dragon-type Thuban is, perhaps making him a slower, ground based dragon, or possibly making him a high-speed aerial monster. It also seems the player can give Thuban basic instructions to guide him a bit on the battlefield, such as attacking a specific enemy or base.
Players were also capable of playing the game cooperatively with friends, and utilizing the different style options for both Drew and Thuban to create your own unique combination of player and partner would have been a heavy focus in cooperative play. At the Microsoft E3 2016 press conference, Hideki Kamiya was bought on stage to premier the first official Scalebound multiplayer gameplay, as well as the first look at how the games larger bosses were supposed to be handled. During the gameplay, 4 player controlled Drew's, all with their own personalized Thuban's, battled together to defeat a goliath sized enemy Scorpion, were we saw a couple of new gameplay mechanics such as:
Dragon riding (and what appears to be "thrusting")
And Dragon "propelling" (which can be done outside of boss battles if you can get Thuban to agree)
Shortly after, it was during Gamescom 2016 that an entirely new mechanic in the game was revealed, although no footage exists of it in action:
While it's a shame we never got to see this particular mechanic in action, players familiar with the PS2 classic Robot Alchemic Drive might have a solid idea of what they were going for:
IV. Death
Less than 5 months after its last showing in a private session at Gamescom 2016, Scalebound was canceled. In the time since the games cancellation, we have seen a lot of ideas floated around as to what could have went wrong. Regardless of my own opinions of the situation, or the opinion of others, id like to keep this post limited to what we do know, and I think it would be best to give the information we have from both Microsoft and Platinum games.
On Microsoft's end we have had a few different interviews but they all essentially boil down to the same reasoning offered in the beginning:
And on Platinum's end, a much simpler response:
Of course, the sad reality is we might never the know the real reasons that resulted in the games cancellation.
Now, I hope that those of you who were interested in Scalebound learned something from this thread, and on the slight chance any of you might have been involved in this project, know that despite how things turned out, I truly believe you were on to something special.
Concept Art:
Screenshots:
Flying .gifs:
Media:
Gamescom 2015 Gameplay
E3 2016 Multiplayer Gameplay
Articles:
Everything You Need to Know – IGN First
Scaled back - Microsoft confirms: Xbox One exclusive Scalebound has been canceled
On January 9th, 2017, a little under 3 years later, the project was canceled, the official website was removed, and for many, a game that seemed the stuff of dreams was forever lost.
The purpose of this thread is to serve as hub where people who were interested in this project can come and learn about the video game that would have been known as Scalebound.
I. Origins
Upon the completion of Bayonetta in 2009, Hideki Kamiya began discussing a longtime dream project of his with the team at Platinum. Originally starting as a dinosaur filled motion control game for the Nintendo Wii, it actually wasn't until much later that the version of the game we would eventually see would be started. During these preliminary stages, the protagonist of the project was set to be a young girl, and would see the player take a much more reserved role in combat. The child's frailty would make using the dragon as a conduit to defend her from the world around her the focus of the gameplay, something not dissimilar to a title like The Last Guardian.
However, the game was simply not destined for full-scale development at that point in time. Platinum began crafting the prototype on PC, where they realized the ambition and the scope of the game made releasing on the current generation of consoles not a possibility without serious compromise, a decision Platinum did not intend to make:
While Scalebound was put on the backburner, they shifted focus and began development on what would eventually become the Wii U-Exclusive The Wonderful 101. Following that titles release in 2013, Platinum had a newfound interest in working with new partners in the industry. It's then when Atsushi Inaba, former CEO of Clover Studios and producer at Platinum, suggested pitching the idea to Microsoft. From their perspective, the deal was advantageous: On Microsoft's side, they would receive a AAA product from Platinum to promote their console with, meanwhile Platinum would gain experience working with a big western publisher on a AAA project, while also getting to work on a longtime passion project.
II. The World Of
Scalebound's setting was going to be the world of Draconis, a fantasy-inspired world filled with giant monsters, knights, and floating islands. Speaking to the origins of the designs, Art Designer for the project Yeng-Kee Cho discussed there were originally several themes Draconis was experimented with, including both a more sci-fi inspired world as well as a steampunk approach. The decision to focus on a more fantasy setting arose from an iterative process the art team followed, as well as an interesting although minor clash in how to approach the aesthetics:
Governing the world of Draconis was a mysterious energy known as "The Pulse", compared by the lead art designer to Star Wars "The Force", in that it's a defining energy that forms the base for the entire universe. The pulse is both a literal and figurative shaper of the world of the Draconis, being responsible for some of its more exotic features like the floating masses of earth that decorated the skyline as well as bearing responsibility for the situation that found our main character in this foreign land, although the specific details on why or how were never revealed.
Early concept art of the protagonist:
Speaking of the protagonist of the story, players would have been in control of a fashionably questionable young man named Drew. While his in-game backstory remained sparse, the character of Drew was born when Platinum desired to increase the players sense of immersion while in the world of Draconis. Drew was from our reality, a young man thrust into a foreign and hostile world, and like many young people around Drew's age his character was reckless and hot-headed, a result of the overestimation of his youth. From the footage we had of the game in-action, this certainly seemed to be an important theme that would have been explored in the final game. (For those curious, Drew's VA was actor John Omohundro.)
Growing up heavily interested in the worlds of fantasy inspired RPG's, Kamiya had always wanted to create a game where the player controlled character would fight alongside a dragon, and so the dinosaur from the original version of Scalebound was switched to a dragon. Partnering up with Drew was to be Thuban, a majestic dragon that is the last of its kind in Draconis. Even less was known about Thuban's backstory, but what was known is that the dynamic between these two characters is what would have formed the backbone of the game, especially considering they were linked together (no doubt due to the aforementioned "Pulse") in quite a serious manner: If Thuban died, so did Drew:
As Drew grew, both in terms of power and his development as a character, Thuban was to be present and grow right alongside him. More than just a story however, the partnership between the two would have been represented in-game in several ways, such as the banter between them as they wreak havoc on a battleground, or Drew's mysterious dragon arm, which acted as an in-game health meter for Thuban.
Fun fact: Thuban, for those interested in astronomy, is a star in the constellation Draco. That stars Bayer designation? Alpha Draconis.
One of the more interesting pieces of gameplay showing the extent of Drew and Thuban's relationship came from the live demonstration at the Xbox fanfest in Tokyo towards the end of 2015. During the demonstration, Hideki Kamiya (who was playing live) mistakenly caused the mantis monster from previously released gameplay demos to jump off the in-game cliff, killing itself before he could show off Drews "dragon mode" and Thuban's "ultimate attack". While figuring out the best way to show off Drews fighting abilities given the incident, Kamiya decided to make Drew attack Thuban.
And the result? Thuban wasn't happy:
III. Gameplay
As stated above, Scalebound was an action role playing game first and foremost, so those who came no doubt interested in the hundred-hit combo style of action game PG gained fame with would have probably been served better elsewhere. This is not to say the combat featured in Scalebound was to be a simple affair, this is still Platinum we were talking about, but what made Scalebound so at odds with people who are fans of the extreme action genre is the very thing that makes it special in the first place; Thuban, your partner dragon. The fact is, in games like Bayonetta for example, the player is in complete control. An experienced player laughs in the face of adversity because they understand their player character is the powerful one in this world, so while there might be a particularly difficult enemy or encounter, it comes down to mastering the powers of this character to succeed and nothing more. In Scalebound, that focus was on the synergy between two beings, rather than the mastery of one. Not only that, but Thuban is capable of acting independently of Drew, the exact opposite of that level of control you see in an extreme action game. Not only would the player have had to manage powers and equipment for Drew over a longer period and to a level of detail deeper than your typical action game, but there's a much larger and much stronger partner you must build a relationship with to succeed.
That all said, basic combat with Drew seemed like familiar territory to those who have played similar genre games: You mixed up between a variety of different attacks, strong and weak button presses switching (preferably in a row with no damage taken to interrupt you) the type of attack and other factors like speed, damage, and range all based on the button pressed and the weapon equipped. Prior to the games cancellation, we had seen a few of these weapons in-game, including what appears to be a greatsword, a longsword, a bow, a spear, and a usable shield:
Spear/Greatsword
Bow (With explosive tips)
Shield
Longsword
Multiple Weapons/Multiplayer
Mines (electric/paralyzing)
(From the version we had seen gameplay of, it seemed weapon durability was also a thing)
Next, we had Drews "Dragon Arm". I mentioned early that it served as an in-game reminder of Thuban's health, but it also came with its own nifty bag of tricks. First, a tether of sorts used to propel you towards the enemies in order the mount them, like an odd hybrid of Just Cause and Dragon's Dogma, for example:
Secondly, the arm also allows Drew to rapidly fire blue orbs out of it, damaging enemies it can hit.
Lastly, the Dragon Arm can overtake the rest of Drew's body, granting him enhanced speed, damage, and overall abilities. This "Dragon Mode" is managed by a meter located under the current health bar, and only lasts a brief time (Can be upgraded to last longer, of course) during which Drew can fight on par with Thuban, tackling giant monsters up close and personally:
Outside of the player character, we would have had the massive dragon Thuban to assist us on the battlefield. Thuban was to be a powerhouse capable of outrageous outputs of damage, breathing fire, crushing foes, and delivering kick ass flash kicks were just a few of the possibilities, and adding even more is the fact that Thuban was quite customizable. Change his fire breath to an icy roar of frost, customize his horns and his skin color to your liking, equip him with metal blades attached to his tail to enhance his close quarters capabilities. You can even change the very dragon-type Thuban is, perhaps making him a slower, ground based dragon, or possibly making him a high-speed aerial monster. It also seems the player can give Thuban basic instructions to guide him a bit on the battlefield, such as attacking a specific enemy or base.
Players were also capable of playing the game cooperatively with friends, and utilizing the different style options for both Drew and Thuban to create your own unique combination of player and partner would have been a heavy focus in cooperative play. At the Microsoft E3 2016 press conference, Hideki Kamiya was bought on stage to premier the first official Scalebound multiplayer gameplay, as well as the first look at how the games larger bosses were supposed to be handled. During the gameplay, 4 player controlled Drew's, all with their own personalized Thuban's, battled together to defeat a goliath sized enemy Scorpion, were we saw a couple of new gameplay mechanics such as:
Dragon riding (and what appears to be "thrusting")
And Dragon "propelling" (which can be done outside of boss battles if you can get Thuban to agree)
Shortly after, it was during Gamescom 2016 that an entirely new mechanic in the game was revealed, although no footage exists of it in action:
While it's a shame we never got to see this particular mechanic in action, players familiar with the PS2 classic Robot Alchemic Drive might have a solid idea of what they were going for:
IV. Death
Less than 5 months after its last showing in a private session at Gamescom 2016, Scalebound was canceled. In the time since the games cancellation, we have seen a lot of ideas floated around as to what could have went wrong. Regardless of my own opinions of the situation, or the opinion of others, id like to keep this post limited to what we do know, and I think it would be best to give the information we have from both Microsoft and Platinum games.
On Microsoft's end we have had a few different interviews but they all essentially boil down to the same reasoning offered in the beginning:
And on Platinum's end, a much simpler response:
Of course, the sad reality is we might never the know the real reasons that resulted in the games cancellation.
Now, I hope that those of you who were interested in Scalebound learned something from this thread, and on the slight chance any of you might have been involved in this project, know that despite how things turned out, I truly believe you were on to something special.
Concept Art:
Screenshots:
Flying .gifs:
Media:
Gamescom 2015 Gameplay
E3 2016 Multiplayer Gameplay
Articles:
Everything You Need to Know – IGN First
Scaled back - Microsoft confirms: Xbox One exclusive Scalebound has been canceled
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