Heavy Rain
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| Heavy Rain | |
|---|---|
| File:Heavy rain.png Possible poster of Heavy Rain | |
| Developer(s) | Quantic Dream |
| Publisher(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment of America |
| Platform(s) | Playstation 3 |
| Release | Expected fall 2008 |
| Genre(s) | Mystery/Thriller |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Heavy Rain (possibly subtitled The Origami Killer[1]) is an upcoming video game, developed by French studio Quantic Dream as a PlayStation 3 title.[2] The game is being directed by Quantic Dreams founder and CEO David Cage[3], who also wrote and directed the studio's two previous games, Omikron: The Nomad Soul and Fahrenheit. The game is scheduled to be released in fall 2008.[4]
A technology demo titled The Casting was presented at E3 2006.
History and background
Quantic Dream started working on Heavy Rain in February 2006.[5] The project was announced on May 7, 2006, and three days later, a real-time 3D prototype technology demo was presented at E3 2006 on Sony Computer Entertainment of America's booth[3][4]. The demo, titled The Casting features a virtual actor, while showing various technical features of the game engine in an almost five minutes long emotional scene, although the story and setting of the demo has nothing to do with the story of Heavy Rain itself. The prototype was allegedly created in less than three months, including writing the script, developing the engine for the console, making auditions to find the virtual actress, recording the scenes, etc. The demo was initially supposed to be an internal prototype, not to be shown outside the company, but after Sony saw the team's work-in-progress a few weeks before E3, they've been asked to finish up a working demo to be presented to the audience, while the team had originally planned to finalize the demo before the end of June.[4]
The game is scheduled to be released in Fall 2008.[4]
Details
Details about the story and gameplay of Heavy Rain itself remain scarce. It is known that the game is not a sequel to Fahrenheit, but a completely new game, with new story and new characters.[4] Director David Cage noted that Heavy Rain "will be a very dark film noir thriller with mature themes", without any supernatural elements.[4] The game will feature a story that is interactively "bendable", similarly to Fahrenheit.[4] It's been told by the creators, that "the character control mechanism is an essential part in playing Heavy Rain", and is different from the system used in Fahrenheit. The player will be able to control different characters in the game.[4]
Some game physics will be made available by the use of PhysX by AGEIA. It is used for console physics in general in the game.[5] For the PC, there will be versions to handle cases of a computer being equipped with the appropriate physics processing unit, and when it is not present on the system.[5] In the demo, the physics of the hair made use of the AGEIA technology.[4][5][6]
The Origami Killer poster
Some time in early 2007, a poster of Heavy Rain appeared on Quantic Dream's under-construction website.[7] It features an origami model with blood dripping from one of its corners, and a new subtitle to Heavy Rain, reading The Origami Killer. Also notable is a list of (presumably virtual) actors (Ethan Mars, Scott Shelby, Madison Paige, Norman Jayden), and a tagline: "How far are you prepared to go to save someone you love?".[1] The factuality of the poster is unclear, as it may be a fake teaser poster.
The Casting technology demo
The Casting, shown at E3 2006, is an almost five minutes long non-playable real-time 3D prototype technology demo. It was running on a non-final PlayStation 3 console development kit in 720p display resolution[4]. The demo's main feature is the presentation of a virtual actor (hence the other name "Virtual Actor Demo"), showing numerous expressions. It also shows various technical features of the game engine, all embedded in a short emotional story. However, the plot of the tech demo has nothing to do with the story of Heavy Rain itself. The story was written and directed by David Cage (the director of Heavy Rain itself).
The virtual actor in the demo is based on young French American actress Aurélie Brancilhon. Not only her likeness was used in the prototype, but her complete acting performance.[3]
Quantic Dream highlighted, that the technology demo is just a sample of things achievable in a limited amount of time, and that during the making of the prototype, they still were in the middle of research and development efforts.
Plot of the demo
In the demo a young woman (Aurélie Brancilhon) comes into a white room. Her name is Mary Smith, aged 24, and she has come to audition for a part in an upcoming film titled Heavy Rain. Asked about her acting background, she admits that she has only had minor parts because she is often seen as unfit for major roles – in her words, "Too tall, too short, wrong hair… There's always something wrong with me!" The male speaker (now known to be the director) asks if she has her lines down, to which she says yes. A male assistant raises the clapperboard for Heavy Rain to start filming Mary's audition.
When he lowers it again, the set has changed entirely to a small kitchen in which Mary begins a monologue. She talks to the camera and addresses it as being the character of her husband, with whom she once had an idealistic, romantic marriage. However, she started to notice little things about him that were indicators that he was cheating on her. One time after he left his office, she followed him to be sure, and watched in shock as he stopped at a seedy hotel to meet with another woman. Crushed and heartbroken, Mary explains how she went home and cried in sorrow as she stands dejectedly over the kitchen sink, lightning bursting outside the window. Reaching into the sink, she monologues how she took their gun from the bedside table; on the set, she produces a revolver from inside the sink. Holding the gun to her head and shedding a tear, she says that life is cruel to make her cope with such horrors… but she has a change of heart; she wasn't the one who was cheating. She sits back in her chair, saying how she waited patiently for her husband to come home. When he got there, she merely stood up and took aim in his direction (and has just stood and aimed at the camera). She playfully acknowledges that her husband likely believes she doesn't have the courage to pull the trigger, but her mind has been made up; she wants to make an example of him, and show that women refuse to tolerate such behavior. With a final goodbye, she pulls the trigger, accompanied by another great flash of lightning.
And suddenly, the viewer is once again seeing the demo where Mary stands back in the empty white set, holding her fingers in the shape of a gun. She smiles and asks how her performance was, happy that she has a chance. Upon Mary's exit, the male assistant expresses his interest in her acting abilities to the director; in a bit of irony, the director says that there was no point in auditioning her, as she is too tall for the role.
Technology
From a technical and technological standpoint, notable features of The Casting include full body and facial motion capture, real-time tears and wrinkles on the face, advanced skin shades, and some advanced rendering features, such as depth of field, spherical harmonics, auto exposure and high dynamic range rendering. The technology enables animations of pupil dilation, tongue, eyes, fingers, and dynamic hair with physics.[3][8][9]. The game engine also supports real-time post-processing[10][11], with which E3 attendees could interact at the event.[12][13] Hair physics is achieved by the use of PhysX by AGEIA.[4][5][6] Facial motion capture was recorded using Vicon Peak MX40 cameras and system, and was enhanced with a muscle system.
External links
- Quantic Dream website (Under renovation until July 25, 2007)
- Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer poster
- IGN: Heavy Rain Interview
References
- ^ a b "Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer poster". Retrieved 2007-06-16.
- ^ ""N4G: Heavy Rain for PS3 only"". Retrieved 2007-06-16.
- ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference
QD_pressrelease_2006was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Dunham, Jeremy (2006-06-07). "Heavy Rain Interview". IGN Link. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); External link in|publisher= - ^ a b c d e "Mayerem forum questions (from UL) answered by David Cage". 2006-06-14. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
- ^ a b "PhysX by AGEIA Heavy Rain gameplay video". Retrieved 2007-06-16.
- ^ UL (2006-01-09). "Renovating Quantic Dream Official Site". Omikron Game. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); External link in|publisher= - ^ "Next Generation Animation". Retrieved 2007-06-16.
- ^ "Next Generation Rendering". Retrieved 2007-06-16.
- ^ "Real Time Post-Processing (1)". Retrieved 2007-06-16.
- ^ "Real Time Post-Processing (2)". Retrieved 2007-06-16.
- ^ "E3 06: Heavy Rain Impressions". GameSpot Link. 2006-05-11. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); External link in|publisher= - ^ McGarvey, Sterling (2006-05-10). "Heavy Rain Preview". GameSpy Link. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); External link in|publisher=
