GDC 2008: Prototype Revisited

Yesterday, we highlighted the latest progress on Prototype, Radical's upcoming open world action game. During a conference today at GDC entitled "Prototype: The Artistic Vision Uncensored," Maurice Kimball, the art director for the game, highlighted a few details that we hadn't heard yet. As he showed off various concept art pieces designed to visually tell the story of Prototype and bring the game's script to life, Kimball once again stressed that the game is based in reality with one fantasy element. Kimball delineated this fantasy element into two phases: a who and a what. The who was Alex Mercer, the main character of the game, whose existence as a shape shifter is grounded in fantasy. The what, on the other hand, is the virus that has infected the city and is the root of Alex's consuming and shape-shifting powers. The virus is also the cause of The Infected, which is slowly taking over the city and spawning creatures known as Hunters. Hunters, Kimball noted with his drawings, have two mouths – one large mouth on the top of their head and a normal one set in their face. Kimball joked that a Hunter would probably eat their target with the larger mouth and save the rest for later for the smaller one.

He also indicated something that we hadn't been aware of with one concept drawing. Entitled, "The Hive is Alive," the sketch showed a pile of dead bodies arranged in an odd configuration of flesh and bone. However, Kimball alluded to the fact that while this seemed odd or disturbing, the virus itself is much more sentient that people typically think. Kimball mentioned that the virus needs water, dampness and darkness to survive, which he tried to indicate in a concept drawing showing a water tower being absorbed by some red veiny-looking substance.

What's more, he also pointed out a possible plot detail on how the virus became so widespread in New York, something which we hadn't heard yet but seemed to build on the "Web of Intrigue" system that the game is featuring. Kimball mentioned that millions of people in New York would have to be inoculated against the virus itself, but that it would be pretty difficult to do with the size of the population. The solution was crop dusting of New York City, which would easily spread the vaccination around. Sure, it's a strange concept, but it can be done in a videogame instead of real life where that would never happen in any city, much less New York City. Such a gameplay facet, if it is part of the final game, would easily expand on the conspiracy backstory that Mercer will uncover as he destroys New York City.

We'll have more on Prototype soon.

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