Making games is a complicated process, to say the very least, and it gets progressively more complicated as technology advances, as the industry and its audience grow, as developers and publishers get more ambitious with their projects. Even the simplest of games have so much going on behind the scenes, so many systems and mechanics in place and working in conjunction to deliver what you see on the screen and get on your controller. Often, developers are quite creative in how they choose to solve problems or accomplish specific things with the things they do behind the scenes, and here, we’re going to talk about a few such things.
P.T. AND LISA
It’s ridiculous that a short demo of a game that never got made made as much of an impact on the industry as large as Hideo Kojima’s P.T. did, but there’s just so much going on here. It’s a masterclass in scaring the crap out of players at every turn, and it does that in incredibly simple yet effective ways. For instance, you’re constantly hearing terrifying noises and seeing shadows that make it look and sound like something is right behind you- but of course, when you turn around, there’s nothing there. Well, as it turns out, the developers made it so that Lisa will always be behind the player constantly, so when you’re hearing and seeing things, that’s because she’s right there at your back. And when you turn around to see if she’s there- well, she’s still behind you.
