How the MGS 2 killer appeared: the creators of Splinter Cell told about the idea, design and sound

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell is still considered one of the most classic video games. The first part of the series was released in 2002, and the last one was ten years ago. And since Ubisoft is now working on a remake of the first part of Splinter Cell, it is interesting to know how it all began.

In a recent interview with Game Informer, the developers of the original game remembered the process of its creation, talked about its original idea, design, sound and how it was supposed to become "a killer" Metal Gear Solid 2.

This game was the first serious project for Ubisoft Montreal, which at that time was known as the creator of children’s games. There were a lot of inexperienced youth in the Splinter Cell team, and it all started with the fact that Francois Kulon, who later became an assistant producer and creative director of Splinter Cell, proposed a co -founder of Ubisoft Iva Guimo the idea of ​​a shooter. The game, called The Drift, was not so easy to imagine, but in the end the idea came to my liking.

Game Informer describes The Drift as follows:

The earth was torn to pieces, the remnants of civilization were built on flying ruins, which hung high in the sky. On giant air islands, there were retro-futuristic buildings, as well as flying cars, clumsy analog gadgets and crowds of people with a dynamic reaction. In the hands of the protagonist of the game was a massive gun with a TV, a manual swan graph and a newly remote control to manage its main feature – the presentation of a video signal to use various opportunities to improve the view and use of distance cameras -condenses.

How could you guess this passage, the project turned out to be too ambitious for a small team with little experience. After some time, Ubisoft asked her to integrate the presentation into an existing franchise. After the company received a license for Tom Clancy, this became possible. Then Konami introduced Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – a game similar to the one developed by the Splinter Cell team. Therefore, Ubisoft wanted this project to become "a killer" Metal Gear Solid 2.

There was no one director in Splinter Cell: the team united level designers with artists surrounded and instructed each group to make its scene. What the game could offer is the game of light and shadows thanks to Unreal Engine, which has become a large part of the project reflected in sketches.

Sound is also one of the most important components of Splinter Cell. This is a stealth game, and listening to what is happening around, makes the sensations even more exciting. Fabyen Noel created "a system that imitates the movement and dispersion of sound waves throughout the game space, taking into account the architecture and layout of each room". He also led the process of voice acting Fisher performed by Michael Ironside, another integral part of the game, the design of which was developed by Martin Kaya.

Once, when I made sketches, a cool idea suddenly surfaced in my head, ”says Kaya’s leading artist Kyia’s characters. I saw the outlines of a dark silhouette hidden in the shade, and the only thing that could be seen was a reflection of some lights reflected from the lenses of night vision glasses. I immediately realized that I found the basis for the visual image of Sam. It doesn’t matter that from a realistic point of view, this did not have the slightest sense in the stealth game. I just thought it was damn cool.

The fact that an inexperienced studio, consisting for the most part of inexperienced developers, was able to make a full -fledged competitor from the canceled game of MGS, is simply amazing. Five sequels and more than 20 years later, Splinter Cell remains a worthy imitation of a video game.

One can only hope that in the upcoming remake of the first Splinter Cell, developers will be able to repeat the excitement and inspiration with which the creators of the original game did this.