Why Dead Space is still the best horror even after 15 years
What do we know about Dead Space? This is a universally recognized horror, the plot of which in a pair of sentences can be described as follows: the main character falls on a giant spacecraft, whose crew has turned into monsters. Now the protagonist needs to stay alive and leave this damned place. At first glance, it sounds like a typical tie of a typical Hollywood militant category “B”. But the more you play, the more clearly you understand that Dead Space is much deeper than it seems at first glance. Making their way along the winding corridors of Ishimura, it is hard to imagine what kind of reason and by crook the developers sought permission to take up the project. Watching how cruelty the main character cuts off the opponents of the tentacles, you cannot even think about how and with the help of which the sounds of a bloody battle were recorded. So what is Dead Space – the best horror over the past 20 years or a somewhat changed Resident Evil 4, with which it is constantly compared?
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From this material you will learn what in common in infants, lions and necromorphs? Why no one has yet been able to surpass Glena Scofield of the 2008 model and what does the Texas Capus of the Chainsaw have to do with it? And until we started, I will remind. You are on the blog “Breathe deeper”, my name is Lesha. We will not lose a minute, because today we have extremely voluminous and interesting material.
Development history
What are EA Redwood Shores or if you prefer Visceral Games, you know? Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is Dead Space . But in fact, the studio managed to work on Titles such as James Bond 007: from Russia with love, The Godfather and several others. However, at some point, the team was tired of riveting action of the middle hand on the famous franchises and decided to make something of their own-a game that will become the best horror from ever created.
You know, working on this material in 2023, it is difficult to even assume that, do not release CAPCOM in 2005 Resident Evil 4, no Dead Space would have happened. But it seemed that this series has always been and would be. But on the other hand, if you think about it, she has much more in common with the same System Shock than with the Japanese zombie chorror. Confused? It’s okay, I’ll tell you everything now.
Ben Vanat, one of the designers of the space Odyssey, said that at one time he remained completely delighted with the fourth part of the “abode of evil”. According to the developer, he was extremely surprised that the Japanese did not focus on only one aspect of the game. Resident Evil combined kinematographic scenes, unusual gameplay solutions connecting action-mechanics with horror elements, as well as “cool enemies” were also present in it. If that, it was a quote.
For me personally, a big discovery was that at the stage of the early concepts Dead Space was a completely different game. Initially, the developers thought to make System Shock 3 (the sequel was created by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios). To do this, Vanat even asked all employees to play the second part, and only then decide whether they want to do the continuation. But, as I said, everything changed the release of the game from Capcom.
Redwood Shores began to roughly understand what game they still want to see. But suddenly the sticks in the wheels decided to insert EA, which at that moment had the rights to the brainchild of Warren Spector and Ken Levin (System Shock and System Shock 2, respectively). At that time, the publishing house did not strive to create original IP. The idea was simple: why touch something new if the old brings money. Hello Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed.
Ben Vanat admitted that he was very worried about the current state of affairs. He saw that everyone around was trying to invent something new, and his team should stomp in one place. And then Glen Skofield – senior producer and one of the managers EA Redwood Shores enters the stage. He wanted to create a game that was radically different from what Electronic Arts did. A game about the escape from the space prison. And, as we know, after many years he succeeded. But, as they say, an idea on the top five, the result … not per unit, but estimates and sales clearly leave much to be desired.
Return to our conversation. The company’s bosses did not understand what they were demanding money for. To at least somehow explain his idea, Scofield said simply: “Dead Space is like the Resident Evil 4 in space”. The publisher asked to make a demo, allocating for him for several months and a small team. Having prepared a 15-minute slice, the studio returned to EA for green light and green banknotes. And received both. Rumor has it that the episode was especially attracted by the President of Electronic Arts John Richitello.
At the same time, the new game should not have repeatedly repeated the zombie. The developers wanted to finalize a series of mechanics, who, as they seemed, only interfered with gamers. So, for example, the possibility of moving in aiming mode was added to the horror. But we will discuss the mechanics a little later.
The work was in full swing, and the closer the game was to Gold, the more it liked it. It got to the point that one day Wright Bagwell looked into the studio, who worked on another project. He went through one of the demo and was so fascinated by Dead Space that he asked him to transfer him to Redwood Shores.
“One of the level designers came up and said:“ Hey, Wright, we are testing something. I want you to go into this dark room, I will turn off the light and make the sound louder. When I passed the episode, I almost put it in my pants “.
Wright Bagwell
Well, it seems to me that Wright made the right choice. After all, the game on which he worked, ea canceled anyway. But then he was entrusted with the creation of Dead Space: Extraction.
Despite the fact that the development went well, the studio still had some problems. Since Redwood Shores prepared a completely new product, the developers had to think for a long time how to make the hero management as comfortable as possible. One of the important solutions was the transfer of a camera from the hero’s eyes, as it was in System Shock, behind his back, and in aiming mode – by the shoulder. Then the spectacular finishing of the protagonist appeared. Surprisingly, according to the developers, the abundance of blood was supposed to help players establish a connection with their wards.
The project gradually acquired its own recognizable style, allowing it to stand out against the backdrop of competitors. Most of all developers are proud of space locations. After all, it was these sections of levels that allowed them to unwind to the full and give Eisek abilities that Leon Kennedy could physically appear.
By the way, a funny fact. The name Isaac Clark refers immediately to two popular science fiction writers. The first is Isaac Azimov. The one that wrote “foundation”. Second Arthur Clark is the author of the book “2001: Cosmic Odyssey”.
“2001: Space Odyssey”
I know what you thought: “Here you talked about new mechanics, but never remembered about cult weapons, series”. Do not worry, we will definitely talk about the plasma cutter, but a little later. In the meantime, a little about how the horror was accepted by critics and ordinary players.
Dead Space release took place in October 2008. The vast majority of journalists wrote laudatory reviews about him, which allowed the project to eventually disperse more than two million copies. The sequel was not around the corner. But here EA intervened again. These guys have a direct ability to insert sticks into the wheels. The corporation’s bosses, seeing the potential success with the mass consumer (and Dead Space still remained with pleasure for the elect), decided to go to the blockbuster direction to attract a wider audience. The role of the creative director was occupied by the previously mentioned Wright Bagwell. And what happened next to the series, I think you already know. And if not, write in the comments, and I will continue. Now let’s move on to the unique features of the game, thereby, about which I started a story a little earlier.
Heads-Up Display
Start the conversation with HUD or Heads-Up https://sportsbettingmedia.co.uk/latest-news/zero-risk-betting-strategy Display. I am sure, even from such an explanation, many spectators, especially those who are not familiar with the game, are unlikely to understand something. So now I will still explain what it is. When we go through some game, we need to display some parameters on the basis of which certain decisions are made. If I’m about a strip of life, manu or the remaining ammunition. If the developers do not want to look for ways to integrate these indicators into gameplay, as a rule, they are placed in the corners of the screen. But today we are talking about one of the best representatives of Horror-Janra. The authors of Dead Space managed to achieve incredible success in integrating the interface into gameplay.
(Who guesses the game, that great fellow)
I will add that many studios after the release of the thriller tried to exclude the components of HUD. But none of them could achieve the same level of immersion. So, let’s start the story with how the authors of Horror managed to give out important indicators for the player for the technological achievements of the world they invented.
First of all, they are located in the obvious places of the Rig or Resource Integration Gear – this is a jumpsuit that the protagonist wears. For example, a health scale goes along the spine of the protagonist. The user at any time can evaluate the state of Isek thanks to the features of the location of the chamber. Blue color means that the engineer has more than 75%of health, yellow – less than 50%, and a constantly flashing red means that his health is below 25%, and the protagonist is close to death.
Near the health indicator there is a round scale of stasis. She shows the remaining energy for the corresponding module. And again the player does not have a dissonance in his head. After all, Isaac is an engineer, which means that he often has to slow down the work of rapidly moving elements in order to repair and adjust. Also on the back there is an indicator of oxygen in case the hero needs to go into the airless space.
It is also important for users to understand how many ammunition they have left. This information is displayed on the screens of each of the guns available in Dead Space. By the way, it is this method of display that is most often trying to steal developers of other games. Hiding all the inventory in the gameplay, Dead Space frees a lot of space on the screen, allowing the players to plunge deeper into what is happening. Users now do not need to look away from the protagonist and look for the necessary indicators scattered in the corners of the screen.
If you think that the features of the integration are over, then you are very mistaken. Let’s remember how the interface in various games works. In s.T.A.L.K.E.P. We “climb into the backpack”. In the Resident Evil, the “type of type wears” bag with ammunition and useful things. Of course, the developers try to stylize this as much as possible to the game. But we will be honest, it turns out not very. And in order to change the sword in the third “witcher”, we have to climb almost on the menu. Agree, this is strongly knocked out of immersion in history. Visceral Games went a little further. Inventory is displayed in a separate holographic menu. As if the costume himself understands what lies in the pockets of the protagonist. The actual list of tasks looks in a similar way. Remember when you open the inventory, the world around you does not freeze. This means that Necromorph, which has been creeping from the back, can become an unpleasant surprise and take a lot of health points. And this system would not work so well if the developers did not adhere to one simple rule. The hero is always on the left, the information is always on the right. Thus, the player’s eyes find the necessary information without unnecessary difficulties.
In general, in science, a similar approach is called Diegage interface. This is a huge layer of very interesting and useful information, especially if you create or think to create your own game. Unfortunately, it is impossible to talk about him as part of the video about Dead Space. Therefore, if you want to see the material about the existing types of interface, please write about it in the comments. Then I will make a detailed analysis.
Without going far, I note that the dietage interface was not invented by the authors of Dead Space. However, from the very beginning of the development, it was for him that the executive producer of the first part Glen Skofield was drowning him. According to rumors, to convince the leadership, he cut out a piece from the film “Texas Casket of a Chainsaw” and put on top of traditional icons for games.
How the dismemberment of opponents helped Dead Space become a cult horror
Of course, Dead Space differed from other horror not only the Intefees. Personally, I always remember the narrow corridors of Ishimura, where you can easily stumble upon necromomorphs.
I already threw a little information about the fighting mechanics at the beginning of the video, but now it’s time to talk about it in details. Isaac is an engineer, not a soldier. Therefore, he can fight the monsters only with the help of a limited set of tools. Someone will say, “Hey, it is just like in the rest of the survived horror!”. And with this statement, I do not agree until the end.
Yes, the protagonist receives his main means of defense, and sometimes attacks at the very beginning of the game. You understand everything correctly. I’m talking about a plasma cutter. But it is important to understand that this is not a machine gun, not a gun, but a futuristic analogue of the usual saw. In my opinion, it looks like a mockery of a player.
We are used to the fact that in most shooters or horrors the enemy receives the greatest damage when entering the head or body. The guys from EA Redwood Shores demanded from users to forget how they played before. Now getting into the head or body practically did not inflict damage. To defeat the advancing enemy, it was necessary to shoot the rays of energy cutting off the limbs. This is also called “strategic dismemberment”. At first, when your hands are not used to this mechanics, you will die over and over again. But gradually the brain adapts, and the monsters will be cheerful to overwhelm.
Despite the fact that the types of necromorphs differ from each other, each monster can easily be “disassembled” into pieces, if you know where to shoot. The executive producer of the game Glen Scofield never hid the fact that the authors were inspired by Resident Evil 4. But even the Capcom classic could not make the players feel so helpless in the face of danger.
As you pass, Aesyek’s arsenal will be replenished with new weapons, however, no matter how the developers try to re -inate the shooting mechanics, the “shoot and cut” formula always remains, the plasma cut of Isaeca Clark has always been left. To praise the players who went through the game with only one weapon in Dead Space added the achievement of “Favorite Rezak”.
Finally, a little more about the necromorphs met by Isaac. In order to come up with their design, the developers watched many films, including “Alien”, “The Horizon of events”, of course, “Cosmic Odyssey”, as well as many others. Moreover, they looked at the photos of the victims of the car accident to understand how mutilated bodies look like.
Perfect sound accompaniment
It is difficult to call me an audiophile. Of all the components of the “good game”, I pay attention to the sound design last turn. At least it was before Dead Space. Exploring Ishimur, I first realized that I did not know the surrounding world with the help of vision. The palette of sounds turned out to be simply incredible, and to thank for it there is a man that I’m going to tell about. Meet, Don centuries, audio officer Visceral Games. It is thanks to him and his Dead Space team that no game can sound for so many years. Important clarification, I do not downplay the role of other developers. For example, Jason Graves wrote a magnificent soundtrack. But we will talk about him somehow next time.
In an interview with the century, he admitted that in order to record audio effects, he had to go to the supermarket, abduct nothing suspecting customers, take them to the ranch, and then dismember them in the basement, while writing everything on the recorder at the same time. Kidding. In fact, the sound designer went to the nearest supermarket, where he bought melons, tomatoes, celery, corn, as well as other vegetables and fruits for $ 400. Returning to the studio, the man for several hours, tore, broke, bit and mocked them in every possible way. If what the centuries did with vegetables saw Vegan, he would definitely have enough blow. The effects of the torn flesh turned out that it is necessary. But, as the sound engineer admitted, he still did not take into account something.
“We tried very hard to remove everything after we finished the record. But with vegetables and fruits in the studio stank for another three months. In the end, the owners are tired of it and they hired a professional cleaner “.
Don centuries
Of course, frightening sounds appeared not only from the destruction of vegetables. Musical instruments, such as saxophones, plates and some strings, were also used to record the material. Rumor has it that centuries even forced two trainees to climb into the garbage tank to record characteristic sounds. When I went through the game, I could not even assume something like that. Write in the comments if you guessed what tricks the developers were running to.
Ok, I can assume what you were thinking about now. Indeed, many sounds in horror (and we are talking not only about games) are recorded by the destruction of vegetables and fruits. It is much more practical and cheaper than, for example, to buy a real corpse. But the centuries went further, and the word “went” I used in the literal meaning.
“I have a small Sony recorder in which there is nothing special, but I can carry it with me anywhere. You never know when you hear a sound that you need to save. You can sit in a bar or toilet and hear, for example, the murmur of water in the pipes. Believe it, you want not, but many sounds in Dead Space were recorded when I just walked along the corridor “.
Don centuries
That is, just imagine. For centuries, Ebbi Road did not rent in London, did not tank millions of dollars to popular composers, but simply retained what he came across daily.
But still, anyone can simply record sounds, or almost any person. But compile them in such a way that they work on the atmosphere, not everyone is capable of.
Then I read the article about an interesting experiment for centuries. Scientists included classic symphonies to experimental people, and then observed their brain waves. Researchers noted that in the pauses between music observed changes in the length of the brain waves similar to those that are present in mentally ill. Speaking very rude, people began to go crazy.
Then he decided to crank a similar focus in Dead Space. But he couldn’t understand in any way in which location this would have the maximum effect on the player. And you know, he still came up with. Nowhere in Horror, the contrast between silence and sound manifests itself as clearly as in the moment, when Isaac leaves the ship’s borders and first enters space with zero gravity. This is one of the most quiet episodes in the game;Users can hear Aiseka’s breathing and the knock of heels of his shoes on the ship. And all.
Returning to Ishimura, the protagonist falls into a small compartment filled with flashing lights and stunning with a cacophony of a metal clang. The authors of the game admit that they received a lot of messages from gamers who had to postpone the gamepad for a while. Since these sounds simply stunned them, preventing them from concentrating.
Minimally, we will still talk about musical accompaniment. The fact is that many tracks that the gamer hears last two to three minutes. And they continue to cyclicly play until Isaac goes to the new area. It would seem that it may not be arranged here. However, Visceral Games understood that users who like to explore the world of the game will definitely understand, the audio file is simply reproduced over and over again. Centuries wanted to invent a way to end this repetition.
“I watched the“ saw ”and, I remember, thought how surprisingly, these senseless sounds can be reproduced in horror films. In any other film, if you hear the surrounding sound, this is because something makes this sound. But in horror films, it seems that these terrible things are literally swimming around. In Dead Space, I wanted these moving and soaring sounds to complement our streaming planted embibio “.
Don centuries
For centuries, he asked the team helping him to remove all the noticeable effects from the embosses that the player would definitely pay attention to when passing. In addition, sound experts created a program that changed the height and volume of individual sounds as they moved around the space around Isaac. The idea worked perfectly. Each element of the scene sounded in the new one, regardless of how much time the protagonist spent nearby. By the way, a funny fact. As it turned out, he recorded the creaking sounds of the century with the help of a saxophone brought from the house, on which he played in high school. Then he loaded them to the server and forgot. Much later, testing the build, sound engineer noticed that some creatures published long and piercing screeching. When he asked his colleague named Andy Laki, where the audio recordings came from, he admitted that he found them on the studio server.
What else do we value Dead Space? Definitely for cinema! And no, this is not a transition to the next section. While we are still talking about sound.
When a film is created, a team with the help of a certain sequence of sounds can control the feelings of the audience. For example, make them get scared. But here is the problem, there is no interactivity in the cinema. The sound engineer has clear timings: if the actor approaches the door, then it’s time to add the sound of creaking of the claws from the other side. The gamemeracies, alas, does not have such an opportunity. It is impossible to predict how much time the hero will spend near the closed door before opening it. And here, as you probably guessed, scripts come to the rescue. The developers placed markers in all sections of the locations where the protagonist enters. Moreover, each marker contains several layers of sound. The closer the player comes, the sharper the effect becomes.
The surrounding effects help to catch up, but as soon as the player sees the enemy, the sound ceases to play an important role, since vision becomes the main organ of perception. To make the user as uncomfortable, the century wanted to make monsters truly terrible not only from a visual point of view. For this, animals began to be used in voice acting.
Scientists say that the howl of a wild dog is still able to awaken primitive instincts. The brain sends the body signals, preparing it for an attack. Of course, necromorphs do not bark, do not yap and do not whine. Dog voices were changed by various effects, imposition and other methods.
Hidden, laurel, hidden, I don’t know exactly what you call it, but I am ready to argue that you hate it as well. The voice acting of this creature has become a real headache for developers.
“We wanted him to sound disgusting, frightening. It was not easy, because it should have sounded childishly, but at the same time to catch up. As a result, I used a mixture of the frightening sounds of a leopard and a lion, carefully edited and mixed with childish cries and infant exclamations. One tenth seconds is a baby, then a mixture of a royal of a leopard and a children’s scream, and the end is a lower lever of a lion, with a slight processing of some elements ”.
Don centuries
Larkers are really a good example of how to lay down the sound. According to Dead Space mythology, these creatures were once babies who were mutated in necromorphs. They crawl along the walls and release three long antennae, as well as throw spikes into the player.
All these sound tricks serve in order to take the players by surprise or make them feel uncomfortable. The authors of the game fool us, inspire fear. But we, surprisingly, are happy to continue to succumb to such tricks.
Of course, the game has a huge number of aspects that influenced its success. These include graphics, simplifying level design compared to the same Resident Evil, of course, the atmosphere. Wow, how I hate this word. But still it cannot be denied that in 15 years the game has aged. And I really hope that I like remake.
And for today that’s all. Thank you for reading to the end. It will be interesting to discuss the game with you in the comments. Until new meetings!