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The Making of Horizon Zero Dawn

Noclip - Video Game Documentaries・2 minutes read

Guerrilla Games transitioned from sci-fi to open-world games, deciding to pursue Horizon despite similar games being announced. The team faced challenges in transitioning to open-world development, focusing on narrative, quest design, visuals, and sound design to create a cohesive and unique game world.

Insights

  • Guerrilla Games transitioned from sci-fi shooters to a large-scale open-world game with Horizon: Zero Dawn, showcasing a shift towards narrative-rich, naturalistic settings.
  • The development of Horizon involved overcoming challenges like transitioning to open-world gameplay, enhancing storytelling, and creating lifelike machine designs inspired by animals, emphasizing player understanding through distinct audio cues and intricate weak points.

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Recent questions

  • What is Guerrilla Games known for?

    Guerrilla Games is known for the Killzone franchise and the successful Horizon: Zero Dawn. The studio transitioned from sci-fi first-person shooters to creating a large-scale open-world game with a rich narrative and naturalistic setting.

  • How did Guerrilla Games transition their game concepts?

    Guerrilla Games transitioned from a decade of working on the Killzone franchise to exploring colorful, positive, and meaningful game concepts. In 2010, the studio invited all employees to pitch game ideas, receiving around 40 pitches with a focus on new genres and concepts. The most significant pitch was an open-world game with a post-apocalyptic setting, leading to the development of Horizon: Zero Dawn.

  • What challenges did Guerrilla Games face during Horizon's development?

    Guerrilla Games faced challenges in transitioning from linear to open-world game development, particularly in streaming and memory management. The team had to overhaul technology to meet the demands of building quests and graphics. They also had to adapt tools for quest design from linear to open-world level design, focusing on procedural placement to create a rich world.

  • How did Guerrilla Games approach machine design in Horizon?

    Guerrilla Games approached machine design in Horizon by creating complex weak points and functionality while maintaining visual clarity and readability. The team focused on simplifying gameplay by shooting things off machines, like plates and armor, for player understanding and fun. The Thunderjaw was chosen as a prototype robot to integrate fun elements into smaller robots like Watchers.

  • What inspired the design of machines in Horizon?

    The design of machines in Horizon was inspired by animals, incorporating organic lines and curves to create a more lifelike appearance. Sound design for machines was also inspired by animals, with specific audio cues for different attacks and behaviors. The team aimed to have distinct audio cues for player understanding, even when machines were offscreen, creating a cohesive and immersive experience.

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Summary

00:00

Guerrilla Games: From Killzone to Horizon

  • Guerrilla Games, based in Amsterdam, is known for the Killzone franchise and the successful Horizon: Zero Dawn.
  • The studio transitioned from sci-fi first-person shooters to creating a large-scale open-world game with a rich narrative and naturalistic setting.
  • Guerrilla Games was formed in 2000 from three Dutch companies, starting with a small team of 30 people.
  • They secured a deal with Sony to develop Killzone, which evolved from a budget title to a full-fledged AAA game.
  • Killzone's first release faced technical issues but set the stage for future success and learning opportunities for the team.
  • The team's internal vision video for Killzone 2 accidentally made it to E3 2005, showcasing the game's potential on the PlayStation 3.
  • Killzone 2's success led to further franchise expansions, including titles for PSP, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita.
  • After a decade of working on Killzone, the team felt the need for a new direction, exploring colorful, positive, and meaningful game concepts.
  • In 2010, the studio invited all employees to pitch game ideas, receiving around 40 pitches with a focus on new genres and concepts.
  • The most significant pitch was an open-world game with a post-apocalyptic setting, featuring a young girl exploring a world filled with mystery and overgrown ruins.

14:01

"Horizon: Risky Sci-Fi Game Development Journey"

  • The pitch for Horizon had cool elements like machines, a far future sci-fi setting, and a sense of danger.
  • A similar game to Horizon was announced in England, causing concern for the studio.
  • Ninja Theory's game Enslaved shared similarities with Horizon, leading to doubts about proceeding with Horizon.
  • Guerrilla initially put Horizon aside to work on a safer project in a gritty sci-fi universe.
  • Roy Postma pitched a steampunk game with historical figures like Jekyll and Hyde.
  • Guerrilla eventually decided to pursue Horizon as their next franchise despite the risks involved.
  • The studio worked on two games simultaneously, using the first to build expertise for Horizon on the new console.
  • A smaller team focused on Horizon during an ideation process to shape the game's direction.
  • The team experimented with different designs for machines, eventually settling on robo dinosaurs.
  • Guerrilla hired a narrative director and a quest director to strengthen the storytelling and quest design aspects of Horizon.

27:08

"Horizon: Enhancing RPG Elements Through Quest Design"

  • Horizon's development focused on enhancing core competencies like combat and open-world RPG elements.
  • The team recruited key hires for quest design and storytelling due to lack of experience in those areas.
  • An overhaul of technology was necessary to meet the demands of building quests and graphics.
  • John, a lead writer, revamped the story, removing large animals like horses to make Aloy unique.
  • The story evolved over half a year, with iterations to fine-tune it for the game.
  • The game aimed to blend open-world RPG scope with authored character depth and cinematic storytelling.
  • David Ford, a key hire for quest design, set up a pipeline prioritizing main quests over side and errand quests.
  • Ford also worked on developing tools for quest design, adapting from linear to open-world level design.
  • Tools for quest design were initially focused on Killzone levels but evolved to suit Horizon's open-world complexity.
  • Streaming and memory management were crucial challenges in transitioning from linear to open-world game development.

40:21

"Procedural Placement and Collaboration in Game Development"

  • Procedural placement is crucial in creating a rich world, with artists defining rule sets for placing meshes, sounds, and entities based on specific conditions like distance and height.
  • A placement system allows for the spawning of entities like fireflies or buzzing bees near rivers based on set parameters.
  • Different types of wildlife in the game are procedurally generated based on context such as forest type or elevation.
  • The team faced challenges in seamlessly streaming large elements like cauldrons underground while maintaining visual quality above ground.
  • Frustum culling is a standard practice in graphics to optimize rendering by only drawing objects within the camera's view.
  • Tools developed by the team were so successful that they were shared with another team working on a highly anticipated game.
  • The team collaborated with Hideo Kojima's team on Death Stranding, providing tools and expertise to enhance the game's performance.
  • An initial concept involving a tribe salvaging machine components with a flying wheel pirate ship was deemed too complex and impractical.
  • The development process involved various teams working on narrative, quest design, art, production, and tech to ensure the game's success.
  • The evolution of machine designs in the game, particularly the Thunderjaw, involved creating complex weak points and functionality while maintaining visual clarity and readability.

52:07

"Robot design focused on player fun"

  • The decision to simplify gameplay led to a focus on shooting things off machines, like plates and armor, for player understanding and fun.
  • The Thunderjaw was chosen as a prototype robot to integrate fun elements into smaller robots like Watchers.
  • Development of the Thunderjaw took 18 months, with extensive scripting to ensure functionality.
  • Detailed design implementation for robots required extensive planning, including tech ranges, behaviors, weak points, and hit reactions.
  • Animation emphasis on predator-like behavior for robots like the Ravager, inspired by real animal movements.
  • Machine design based on animals incorporated organic lines and curves, creating a more lifelike appearance.
  • Sound design for machines was inspired by animals, with specific audio cues for different attacks and behaviors.
  • Machines were designed to have distinct audio cues for player understanding, even when offscreen.
  • Wildlife animations in the game were based on machine animations, creating a cohesive and animalistic feel.
  • The game underwent years of development, with additions like human combat and believable tribal cultures added over time.

01:06:47

Weight limit reached, chaos ensues.

  • The character is unable to carry additional weight.
  • Sounds of explosions and clanking are heard.
  • Typing is occurring.
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