5 Sep, 2011
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is huge enough, but before everything was whittled down, Eidos Montreal was prepared to put even more into it. In an interview with Edge, Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête said that they were planning on fleshing out the futuristic Montreal. Lead Game Designer Frank Lapikas said that they were even prepared to have more city hubs in this insanely gorgeous and entirely immersive shooter.
“There were definitely supposed to be some streets to Montreal,” said Belletête. “There were outdoor locations set in one of the most famous neighborhoods of Montreal, called Plateau. It’s got very specific architecture, called tri-plexes, with twirling exterior staircases made of this old metal.”
If that’s what the city looks like in real life, then think about what it would have really looked like in Deus Ex. Thanks to time and a budget though, a great deal of detail work had to be scrapped, including all those extra cities. Yeah, we’re disappointed too. “…we’d drawn concept art of how [Montreal's] streets would look in 20 or 30 years from now,” continued Belletête. “We even tried them in-game. Walking around them felt quite special – that architecture had never been in a game before, and never realized alongside a vision of 2027. It was really cool.”
“We had planned for a lot more city hubs,” added Lapikas. “Montreal was supposed to be one. Upper Heng Sha was actually built, but it was never finished.
“At the beginning of the project we even planned to go to India. But as we constructed the city hubs, and understood the amount of work it took, we had to pare it down.”
In the end, it’s safe to say that fans are happy with what they got. With all the love that went into making sure the tiniest details were in place in all the environments, Belletête explained that it really was no easy task. All those days spent, trying to design the perfect chair, stools, and cushions. And interior designers think they have it hard these days.
“I studied a lot about interior decoration and industrial design,” said Belletête. “We could fill an Ikea catalogue with all he furniture we designed. I should thank all my bosses for allowing me to spend so much time designing chairs and stools and cushions.”
There’s probably a fan or two queueing up outside to have a look at this Deus Ex Ikea catalogue. Seriously. We’d buy a couple of those bad-a** looking chairs. All joking aside, Belletête hopes that fans get a kick out of the environments as much as it took him to make them. “[My bosses] allowed me to dive into this heavy design research aspect of the game which I think is awesome and, even if the players don’t notice, I’m utterly convinced your subconscious registers these things,” he said.
Do you like the environments? The next time you’re making your way through the streets, stop a moment, and reflect on just how much love and time went into designing it. Then you can blow it up.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is now available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. If you haven’t already heard.
Read the full interview with Edge here.
Via VG 24/7.
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