Not much of a radical change in visuals, but in terms of scope and design Alan Wake was heavily changed from its initial reveals. Oddly enough I think it actually helped the game out, as the environments were originally designed to be part of an open world so they have a good sense of connection and place.
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Radically redesigned/overhauled games prior to release?
- Thread starter Iced
- Start date
The poster child for corporate meddling:
was of course:
So sad... Game was still shallow fun with a group.
Came to mention this.
dancrane212
Member
Rayman: Raving Rabbids.
Even the issue of Nintendo Power published a couple months before the game released had info on a bunch of non-minigame content that didn't make it on the final disc.
Even the issue of Nintendo Power published a couple months before the game released had info on a bunch of non-minigame content that didn't make it on the final disc.
Not on a PS2. It would probably look like SotC most the time with a framerate just as bad while Okami as it is still looks amazing in HD and has a pretty constant framerate.
Exploratory
Banned
Destiny.
wild wild rice
Member
Subscribed for later perusal. I wonder if Federation Force will end up on this list.
Firmus_Anguis
Banned
Resistance was originally called I-8. It had a grittier and more realistic look to it.
https://youtu.be/YIXnkjFEoiE
https://youtu.be/YIXnkjFEoiE
CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls
Banned
Halo 1
Started as a TPS for Mac before being bought by Microsoft
Started as a TPS for Mac before being bought by Microsoft
LifeBrandRobot
Member
Until Dawn is extremely different now. It used to be for the PS3 move and you would go into first person to shoot and look for clues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oZ--dtdH1E
Also the Half-life 2 beta leaked so Valve changed the story and Cut a bunch of assets.
http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Half-Life_2_Beta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oZ--dtdH1E
Also the Half-life 2 beta leaked so Valve changed the story and Cut a bunch of assets.
http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Half-Life_2_Beta
dancrane212
Member
I remember a screenshot from that I-8 demo getting attached to Resistance articles even years after the fact.
Always noticed it.
Muchi Muchi Pink
Member
Does this not count?
Hm was the former even ever in production?
pinkurocket
Member
ZombiU went through some stuff.
It was first shown as “Killer Freaks from Outer Space" where you fight off aliens after they invaded Earth. With lots of guns and over-the-top action. Turned into a zombie game relying on minimal gun usage and realistic survival elements. Reading the Wiki, I just learned that before it was an alien game it was also prototyped with having evil bunnies as the enemies (raving rabbids spin-off? lol).
It was first shown as “Killer Freaks from Outer Space" where you fight off aliens after they invaded Earth. With lots of guns and over-the-top action. Turned into a zombie game relying on minimal gun usage and realistic survival elements. Reading the Wiki, I just learned that before it was an alien game it was also prototyped with having evil bunnies as the enemies (raving rabbids spin-off? lol).
KeyChainDude
Member
Kingdom Hearts.
Sora was supposed to be a lion boy who wielded a chainsaw instead of the Keyblade. lol
Before it was a TPS, it was actually supposed to be an RTS.
John Kowalski
Banned
That's just lightning. I doubt it was ever significantly different than its final release.
This was the first Trailer for Thief before that was its name. In fact it wasn't until the project change its name well into development that the game actually gained solid ground to become the stealth icon it is these days.
Yeah, they had been showing it off at shows and everything. They brought in Platinum because it had been taking way too long and it wasn't coming together as a game.
There are videos showing how level and enemy design was modified, geometry was downgraded too.
John Kowalski
Banned
That's just assets and level design... was the combat ever truly different? Any substantial mechanics that were changed mid development? How many iterations did the story have?
RE4 immediately comes to mind.
Good find, i completely forgot about this.
If you're referring to Super Mario 128, that was never Sunshine iirc. It later "became" Pikmin.
How dare you
Good find, i completely forgot about this.
Borderlands would be a case of the graphical heavy change. There was no cell shading initially when the game was announced. But it's pretty crazy to think of that game without its cartoony cell shading at this point.
Here is the video from E3 '08 showing the game before the cell shading was added. Very different vibe.
Here is the video from E3 '08 showing the game before the cell shading was added. Very different vibe.
arhra
Member
Spyborgs on the Wii is the most extreme example I know of. Compare its announcement trailer with themonstrosity it ended up becoming,
Before/after
I remember coming accross the blog of one of the devs, who said the game was "one of the worst experience in his life". I'd like to see a detailled post-mortem of its development - must have been one hell of a trainwreck.
Before/after
I remember coming accross the blog of one of the devs, who said the game was "one of the worst experience in his life". I'd like to see a detailled post-mortem of its development - must have been one hell of a trainwreck.
Drilbit777
Member
RE4 definitely especially with the first castle trailer.
http://youtu.be/DFCLu1OVmp0
I still really enjoy the final game but it's a shame capcom didn't use this concept for another title instead if they didn't want it to be a resident evil game.
http://youtu.be/DFCLu1OVmp0
I still really enjoy the final game but it's a shame capcom didn't use this concept for another title instead if they didn't want it to be a resident evil game.
Dictator93
Member
Just shows how cheap the artstyle change was for that game... aka poorly done.
Adding a stencil outline to objects =/ good cartoon art. That decision caused a lot of internal contradictions in the art in terms of textures and materials that were only rectified in later games.
Finale Fireworker
Member
I know it was mentioned once, but I'm surprised more people aren't saying BioShock Infinite.
I really love the Infinite we got, but there are precisely zero scenes depicted in any of the trailers, right up to the Beasts of America TV spot, that actually took place in game.
It's pretty clear that the plot was originally inspired by the Wizard of Oz, with Booker and Elizabeth traveling to Comstock Tower (Emerald City) to ask his help to return home. The Songbird's sabotages would fulfill the Wicked Witch of the West role. But the only remaining scene from that game is the gates of Comstock tower, which turns away Booker and Elizabeth, similarly to the gatekeeper in Oz. It also uses a whimsical brand of humor that is otherwise unseen in the game itself.
Buying the Art of BioShock Infinite is like looking into a straight up alternate universe.
Powers changed, locations changed, systems changed, characters changed, plot changed, enemies changed: everything changed. It's like every trailer is from a completely different game.
I really love the Infinite we got, but there are precisely zero scenes depicted in any of the trailers, right up to the Beasts of America TV spot, that actually took place in game.
It's pretty clear that the plot was originally inspired by the Wizard of Oz, with Booker and Elizabeth traveling to Comstock Tower (Emerald City) to ask his help to return home. The Songbird's sabotages would fulfill the Wicked Witch of the West role. But the only remaining scene from that game is the gates of Comstock tower, which turns away Booker and Elizabeth, similarly to the gatekeeper in Oz. It also uses a whimsical brand of humor that is otherwise unseen in the game itself.
Buying the Art of BioShock Infinite is like looking into a straight up alternate universe.
Powers changed, locations changed, systems changed, characters changed, plot changed, enemies changed: everything changed. It's like every trailer is from a completely different game.
Baron_Calamity
Member
Yeah Bioshock Infinite for sure.
Speaking of Bioshock, I understand that Raven's Singularity went through a huge redesign when Bioshock came out and it was extremely close to what Singularity was.
Speaking of Bioshock, I understand that Raven's Singularity went through a huge redesign when Bioshock came out and it was extremely close to what Singularity was.
akidnamededdy
Banned
I distinctly remember a very early Sunshine trailer that had Mario running around a town with human NPCs present and wall kicking off buildings (don't think he had the FLUDD at this point). I don't think it had the subtitle yet. It kind of reminded me of the first Sonic Adventure's hub area at the time.
That's...why we're talking about them. I don't get the point of this post.
Drilbit777
Member
I really would have loved if they had kept the horror themes too for the game, it seems like the game was much more ambitious in its early trailers compared to what we got.
SOME-MIST
Member
Team Fortress 2 and Borderlands had huge art style changes. TF2 much moreso.
yup. I remember the TFC community being extremely disappointed per the announcement. It was supposed to be more of a realistic ww2-esque game that completely disappeared and was ultimately scrapped.
the tf2 that did release was still disappointing to the majority of the tfc competitive community, but brotherhood of arms looked like straight garbage in comparison.
While it's not shown in the trailer it is subtitled Super Mario Sunshine (check the desc for more) FLUDD was also in the trailer but wasn't used the whole time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7Z9MzMg9vM
GTA 3 was originally planned for Dreamcast.
Not a Dreamcast shot at all.
GTA 3 was originally planned for Dreamcast.
The jacket looks like it was photoshopped on.
akidnamededdy
Banned
That's the one! Man it HAS been a while, I was wrong about some stuff...I guess there was just one human NPC that I saw, but those giant long legged things...guess I blocked those out, kinda creepy. I definitely remember one particular wall kick he did in that trailer though. Fun stuff.
Yeah...I wonder how it looked before they shook everything up. That is also why some of the level design seems disjointed. Apparently the well in Majula was also in a different spot at one point.
Was it Max Payne that was originally going to release on the Dreamcast? I don't think GTA3 was ever planned for anything besides PS2.
KatamariOnTheRocks
Member
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts-
Started out as a Banjo game and ended up as garbage :/
They switched genres entirely in a mainline game to a degree that's usually reserved for spinoffs, for good reason.
I really hope we get a real Banjo Kazooie 3 someday.
HueyFreeman
Banned
GTA 3 was originally planned for Dreamcast.
Holy shit.
This could have... actually altered the entire course of videogame history.
EDIT: Wait, like the original version, or just a port?
nortonff
Hi, I'm nortonff. I spend my life going into threads to say that I don't care about the topic of the thread. It's a really good use of my time.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
Halo 2 and Destiny both had their stories completely overhauled less than a year from release. Halo 2 might have been as tight as 6 months before.
It actually was. The original title was Attack of the Killer Rabbids from Outer Space
This is a massive simplification of what happened. The goo enemies for example were scrapped because the team couldnt find a clear and satisfying way to have faceless goo creatures telegraph themselves to the player not because Enemy Unknown came out.
http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/8/19/4614410/xcom-the-bureau-development-2006-2013
Sanctuary
Member
The first Diablo was initially a turn based game.
Star Craft was radically changed from its initial "Orcs in Space" design as well.
GTA3 was originally multiplatform like the earlier games. Sony moneyhatted them into (timed) exclusivity. Funny part is they didn't even pay that much IIRC since they didn't think it would be such a system seller.