Arkane’s Favorites: Memories from Development
Even from the outside looking in, game development is a rollercoaster ride.
There are ups – when something a developer has been working on for ages finally comes together – and downs – when sometimes all that hard work falls apart. But in all this, the teams at both Arkane Austin and Arkane Lyon are making memories, so just like with characters and weapons and abilities, we’re asking them to recall some of their favorite moments over the years.
Sebastian Mitton, Art Director | Arkane Lyon
I think the most memorable moment for me was when a bunch of my colleagues huddled around one of our designers who had this crazy idea about possessing a rat in Dishonored 1 (that wasn’t originally a planned feature). From there this designer just kept playing with the rats in the game. I remember watching him on another day as he placed a sticky mine on one of the rats, possessed it, and then detonated it near a guard. Yet another thing we hadn’t initially planned for. It’s called emergent gameplay, and it’s fun!
Jerome Kedzierski, Lead Technical Artist | Arkane Lyon
I got a serious case of the giggles while imagining the ugly self-portrait setup that allows players to identify the Duke from his double in Dishonored 2. And it was, of course, even better when we received the painting from the concept team.
Jeremy Catlin, Senior Level Designer | Arkane Austin
I really enjoyed scripting the Looking Glass video in Hardware Labs where Dr. Calvino interacts with a scale to open up a secret compartment. It was a fun way to reward players who were paying close attention.
A close second would be creating Mr. Glooey McGlooface. I created him just for fun but I didn't tell anyone. I remember Ricardo Bare and Seth Shain showing off Hardware Labs to the press before we released the game and they stumbled upon him without knowing about his existence. When he got a good reaction, I knew he was here to stay.
- Wendy White, Principal Gameplay Engineer | Arkane Austin: I loved that guy so much! I never knew who put that in. Good job.
Jonathan Foudral, Game Designer/Producer | Arkane Lyon
At some point near the end of development on Dishonored 2, we discovered that some of the NPCs could fall on the stairs. The explanation was simple: NPCs were running too fast and could end up a few frames above the ground where the ragdoll system would trigger and make them fall. Systemic design at its finest! Pretty much what could happen in reality. We thought it was awesome! We fixed it, but we made sure there was still a small chance of it happening, so you can still see some of the NPCs falling when running on the stairs. Mind the step!
Walter Badgett, Senior Systems Designer | Arkane Austin
I guess I've only worked on one released title with Arkane, which was Typhon Hunter. I thought working on the VR Rooms was super cool. They presented a bunch of unique challenges to normal development like "How do you debug things without a keyboard using only virtual objects?"
- Susan Kath, Business Director | Arkane Austin: [laughs] That reminds me: There was a QA tester on Typhon Hunter who would always record bug videos with Vanna White-esque hand gestures with the VR hands that were hilarious. "Ladies and Gentlemen" [hand flourish] "Regard... a bug!"
Ricky Llamas, Systems Designer | Arkane Austin
For me, it was working on the narrative for Prey. At that time, I was still an intern/contractor, and I remember mentioning to Seth and Ricardo that writing was something I was interested in. Well, over the next few months, Ricardo trusted me with the freedom to craft environmental stories in levels like Shuttle Bay and Power Plant. Opportunities like those made me feel immensely grateful to have started my career here.
Ali Amezziane, Dev Tester | Arkane Lyon
As a Dev Tester, my favorite memories are often related to bugs. At some point during the development of Dishonored 2, we had a bug with the Bend Time power that made NPCs randomly rotate and move despite them being frozen in time, which was hilarious to watch. Another great buy allowed us to suddenly “fly” when carrying a whale oil tank. Probably the first prototype of a whale oil-powered jet pack.
Sadie Boyd, 2D Environmental Artist | Arkane Austin
QA on Prey was my favorite because there were scenarios we didn't initially plan for. “Uh hey, I was running from corrupted Operators and fell two stories and while I was falling I mimicked an Operator and they changed faction status. Is that... allowed?” I’m pretty sure Susan was the one that said “YES KEEP IT IN!”
Susan Kath, Business Director | Arkane Austin
So hard to choose a favorite memory, so I’ve picked a couple.
- The endless variety of VFX as we tried different approaches to the GLOO Gun in Prey. There was one that looked like giant luffa balls and lots of failures that looked... truly disturbing.
- Sadie [Boyd] mentioned this, but the "bugs" that we found that we all went "No no, keep that in, it's awesome!" I love it every single time that happens.
- Telling Ricardo [Bare, Creative Director at Arkane Austin] we didn't have the time or resources to do a ratball power in Brigmore Witches, but promising he could have it in the next game. But there was no logical way to fit a ratball into Prey. Or Mooncrash. Or Typhon Hunter. And now it's just a tradition to never let Ricardo have his ratball.
Gretchen Grasshoff, Senior Animator |Arkane Austin
Animating Aaron Ingram's end in Prey. We had motion capture for Aaron, but I needed to create a hand-keyed animation for the mimic to stalk and attack him based on his timing. It was a fun, creative challenge.
Thomas Mitton, Senior Sound Designer | Arkane Lyon
I remember my very first mission on Dishonored, back in 2009, I had to use some early concept art and make a sound design video mood reel. I had already worked at Arkane on The Crossing and Ravenholm, but here I felt that something very unique would happen. Sometimes I look back at those memories and watch my old stuff, and I’m still amazed. The team was small and I had about 6 years of experience in the industry, but working and integrating myself into such a talented team was an honor. I also remember the very first prototype of the game. Dunwall Tower was different and Corvo had a bow, but the mood and feeling was totally there. It was a truly unforgettable experience.
Amber Hoffman, QA Supervisor | Arkane Austin
Receiving a bug report from the Studio Director that just said, “Mimic stays here like a dick.”
Roy Kaiser, Senior QA Tester | Arkane Austin
Jeremy Catlin’s Prey GameJam video where Morgan Yu falls in love with a Phantom.
