Honky dory TAB

"June 12, 2008 saw the simultaneous worldwide release of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (MGS4) for the PlayStation 3. Gamers all over the world were waiting eagerly for this ultimate stealth mission game. No doubt they have already been captivated by its powerful gameplay.



MGS4 was a huge project that took Hideo Kojima, the virtuoso director, about three and a half years to complete. The Metal Gear series has been around for 21 years, with many people regarding it as a masterpiece in terms of its scenarios, gameplay and realism. Making a particular impact is its world-class graphics that go beyond the boundaries of a conventional game. These graphics give the action such realism and immediacy that players feel like they have been transported to a real battlefield.





In the development of MGS4, about 100 staff members were involved in the 3D content production. Extra personnel were added during busy periods, and by the final phase of development over 180 people were working on the project. By the end there were as many 40 programmers working on MGS4, including the work required for online compatibility. From the fact that such a large number of people were involved and it took three and a half years to finish, we can see that MGS4 truly was a mega-project.



The main tool used in this game with its world-class video graphics was SOFTIMAGE|XSI. We interviewed the Kojima Productions team after they had finished development and as the release date for MGS4 was approaching. In this interview, we were lucky to be able to speak with staff from all the major development units, including characters, background, machines, 2D, event demos, motions and programming. We learned a lot of interesting information, so this article has been split into two parts" - Source Yoshiyuki Watanabe

The article is about 2 pages long but manages to cover almost every thing from artdirection, animation to tips and tricks of the trade. A MUST read if your are at all interested in the inner-workings of this magnificent game or just curious about game process in general.

Read it here:
http://www.softimage.com/products/xsi/customer_stories/metal_gear_4/

Labels: design, games