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The evolution of Horizon Zero Dawn from 2011-2022 is fascinating
- Thread starter Wrexis
- Start date
When I saw this title I thought "there is absolutely no way Horizon came out in 2011. The march is time is not this cruel, is it? Horizon cannot possibly he 10 years old already."
Very cool to see the prototypes in action.
Very cool to see the prototypes in action.
Interesting that flight seems like it was going to be a major traversal mechanic for a couple of prototypes. I wonder how encounters and the world structure would have changed if you got most places on the back of a flying mech.
As it stands, the terrestrial mounts have to be improvised based on availability and don't move very fast. I spent most of my time with HZD on foot. So the original flight plans stood out to me most.
As it stands, the terrestrial mounts have to be improvised based on availability and don't move very fast. I spent most of my time with HZD on foot. So the original flight plans stood out to me most.
What you're looking at is like..pretty bog standard as far as game development goes. There's a reason why developers make vertical slices and then go ages without us seeing anything else. Games look ugly for a large portion of their development. This was all taken from the GDC talk iirc.
It's because Horizon originally was supposed to be a massive world, probably heavily procedurally generated, which made flight make a lot more sense but later they decided to scale it down to a more standard sized open world game.
Talk about ambitious. Their scope must have been massive to facilitate flight.
I didn't like HZD's open world very much. I found it oddly featureless and unmemorable. This is something I hope to see improved in Forbidden West. I'm really curious what that map will look like.
IIRC even with the map size of the final game flight was planned but had to be cut for performance reasons.
I'm willing to bet that will be a thing in the PSVR2 game, and it will be awesome.
Crazy how development works.
We had flying mounts and mounts inside cities in the 2011 and 2012 prototypes.
The final game has none of them.
Also Helghasts killing a Thunderjaw prototype is awesome lol
Intersting that Aloy has a horse on one of their prototypes, I wonder if at some point they considered natural wild life too.
Really cool video, thanks for sharing.
We had flying mounts and mounts inside cities in the 2011 and 2012 prototypes.
The final game has none of them.
Also Helghasts killing a Thunderjaw prototype is awesome lol
Intersting that Aloy has a horse on one of their prototypes, I wonder if at some point they considered natural wild life too.
Really cool video, thanks for sharing.
Lego Thunderjaw, wish we had an option to fight that one in a holoarena or something.
The GDC presentations on this game are really good too.
The GDC presentations on this game are really good too.
OP
OP
I think the horse was an exception. When they realized that they would need a lore reason for a horse walking around (when other animals in the game are smaller etc) they changed it to a machine.
loved the much more cartoony Loish's concept exploration for very early version of Alloy :
For anyone who actually wants to see the context behind the prototypes.
Should be noted that she was never going to look like this given that Guerilla had always intended for the game to be realistic with digitally scanned faces and such.loved the much more cartoony Loish's concept exploration for very early version of Alloy :
Pretty sure Horizon has natural wild life already (it's been a while since i've played it).
I know, it was exploration and iterative designs. You can see all along that video how the art direction and models got streamlined
I played back in 2017 so IĀ“m also not sure but the OP already stated that we had smaller animals only :
I remember hunting rabbits and other animals for upgrades, good to know i'm not crazy lol.
I mean, more like the opposite of streamlined lol. The final designs were way more intricate in typical GG fashion.
The 2015 version is quite literally identical to the design used in the final game. Although given that it was 2 years from release her hair and clothing looked incredibly janky.
Most games start looking like this:
And when they don't start looking like that it's only because it's probably a sequel or based on an already existing engine within the team so they're starting with reusing the assets from there :D But still would have a lot of white cube shit.
And when they don't start looking like that it's only because it's probably a sequel or based on an already existing engine within the team so they're starting with reusing the assets from there :D But still would have a lot of white cube shit.
Blame the PS4 - it must have been almost incredibly difficult to get flying working in a game with Horizon's graphical fidelity.
It's why Forbidden West probably won't have flying either despite the PS5 most-definitely being capable of it. Same goes for sizeable machine hordes, though those are a bit more likely.
Oh, I love this.loved the much more cartoony Loish's concept exploration for very early version of Alloy :
loved the much more cartoony Loish's concept exploration for very early version of Alloy :
Aw man, I love this. I wish we got a game with a more cartoony art style. Everyone praises the new game for it's graphics but art style means more to me.
I'd love it if Sony had an active IP that is between the extremes of the very cartoony Ratchet & Clank and the insane realism of The Last of Us 2.
OP should watch this - they explained everything. Also why is there is no real horses in game. :)
www.youtube.com
The Making of Horizon Zero Dawn
How does a studio known for linear first person shooters design one of the most well regarded open world games of the generation on their first attempt? Nocl...
www.youtube.com
They experimented with flying mounts but had to cut them for performance reasons.
Notthisshitagain.jpg
Art direction doesn't start and end at whether or not there's a toon shader. Horizon has incredibly striking and distinct art direction. There's no reason to distinguish "graphics" from "art style." They're literally the same umbrella.
It's a shame that French/Dutch/Belgian studios can't draw on their great heritage of graphic novels when designing games, which is what that Aloy sketch implied. Instead we get these dull "as realistic as we can get it within current tech and budgets", which always ends up looking dated in a few years. Imagine a game looking like a Moebius or Mezieres design.
Ubisoft at least tried when they released XIII and Beyond Good & Evil, but those weren't exactly successful. I think modern tech could really make graphic novel style games look amazing though.
Ubisoft at least tried when they released XIII and Beyond Good & Evil, but those weren't exactly successful. I think modern tech could really make graphic novel style games look amazing though.
Awesome to watch the evolution. Or in some cases, de-evolution. Too bad the flying was cut.
(I don't actually know if there is flying in Forbidden West, please don't spoil it for me!)
Just really fun watching the systems get built as they go and seeing the super-crude early areas that are still recognizable (Meridian, for instance). That 2013 proof-of-concept trailer... totally amazing. They should be very happy they never released it, though. Sad, but I can already imagine the death threats from the kind of grown children that engage with downgrade "scandals."
(I don't actually know if there is flying in Forbidden West, please don't spoil it for me!)
Just really fun watching the systems get built as they go and seeing the super-crude early areas that are still recognizable (Meridian, for instance). That 2013 proof-of-concept trailer... totally amazing. They should be very happy they never released it, though. Sad, but I can already imagine the death threats from the kind of grown children that engage with downgrade "scandals."
TIL Horizon's art direction is dull for not looking identical to a Dutch graphic novel and how it's literally just realism and nothing else. I literally hate that specific piece of concept art. Because it always brings out takes like these. š¬
Like I genuinely can't fathom looking at the character design, lighting, foliage, weather etc and going "Man, this game looks pretty dull." Or worse "I care more about art style, implying there isn't one present"
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Man, would have killed to see what Horizon would have looked like in this style.loved the much more cartoony Loish's concept exploration for very early version of Alloy :
In some ways I even prefer the low poly style. If a game looks like that and still becomes popular it usually has something unique in gameplay or story.
