Heavy Rain: New Screenshots and development footage*

[Nesh]

It is shaping up as something very very unique. I hope it ends up pretty good. It is very nice to see creative projects get good scores, praise and many sales. It encourages more and more developers to be creative and try something new

edit: any videos available anywhere from the conference?

 

[betan]

edit: any videos available anywhere from the conference?

gamersyde has offscreen gameplay trailer.

 

[jandlecack]

I've seen the gameplay and it looks great, visually.

 

[Arwin]

As I understand it's more like an adventure title (you should probably read a Fahrenheit reveiw), so the QTE should be reserved for the action sequences. That said, I'm not a great fan of them either.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I'm seeing a flaw with what I'm understanding this medium to be. You have moral choices, right? And they affect the outcome, right? But in all the adventures I've played before, you always take the different choices to see what the outcome would be. That is, the player doesn't decide whether to be 'good' or 'evil' but instead chooses which one first to see what the outcome is. This destroys all emotional attachment to the decision-making. Unless the player is made to care about the outcomes and not choose a path because it would upset them, I can only see it being a interesting tech-feat driven by curiosity.

 

[patsu]

It depends ! I felt better leaving the beauties in MGS4 alive. Even though I killed one of them in one of the replays, I switched back to the tranquilizer once I didn't like the new decision. It didn't feel right to me, but I had to live with the consequences in the replay.

 

[Cornsnake]

Here is a description of Fahrenheit for those you wondering what it was all about.

Fahrenheit starts in the mensroom of a small restaurant. Suddenly the maincharacter is possessed by someone, and you flashes of someone performing some kind of ritual. Against his will the maincharacter murders another man. This is where the player gets control for the first time. And small screen pops up showing a policemen about to go to the mensroom. Now a have a limited time and some choices to make. You run out immediately, or you can try to hide the evidence, to hide all the evidence you'll need get rid of the murder weapon, hide the body and up the bloodstain's, and not forget to pay for the dinner you ate on your way out. No matter how many of these thing's you do or don't,it will effect the storyline, your only goal in that part was getting out before the cop arrives.

Time is another important factor. Some choices are only available for a short amount of time, and story will move forward even if you run out of time. Your choices aren't always obvious though, you always know as much as the maincharacter and sometimes that requires finding things out as you go along.

Fahrenheit doesn't have a traditional healthbar, instead you'll need to take care of your character's psyche. If he gets to stressed it's game over. If you get into situations make him feel bad or fail to get out of those fast enough, it decreases, and thing's that will clam him down improve his psyche.

Another part of the gameplay are the many QTE's. Fahrenheit has some spectacular action scenes requiring you to press the correct button as you move along. The downside is that you'll likely miss the button prompts if you focus to much on the action.

The game's biggest strength is that it often succeeds at making you feel exactly what maincharacter is feeling. As the player always put in the exact same position as the maincharacter, trying to do your best in an unlikely situation, and making plenty mistake's as you go along. All those thing's can effect the storyline.

The game's shortcomings are it's ridiculous plottwists at the end, and leaving a lot of important stuff unexplained. The storyline isn't as flexible as it first appears, it has several moments where no matter what choices you make, you end up in the same cutscene. And like I said before, the endings are determined by only what you do in the final chapter.

All in all, Fahrenheit tried to innovate in a good number of ways, it just wasn't always successful, but where it was, it a good step forward in interactive storytelling. Everything I have heard so far about Heavy Rain reminds me of Fahrenheit. Hopefully it can improve upon. It's certainly a game to keep your eyes on.

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

I'm seeing a flaw with what I'm understanding this medium to be. You have moral choices, right? And they affect the outcome, right? But in all the adventures I've played before, you always take the different choices to see what the outcome would be. That is, the player doesn't decide whether to be 'good' or 'evil' but instead chooses which one first to see what the outcome is. This destroys all emotional attachment to the decision-making. Unless the player is made to care about the outcomes and not choose a path because it would upset them, I can only see it being a interesting tech-feat driven by curiosity.

How do you make a player care about the outcomes? The best any developers can do is try to develop the storyline and characters to a degree where the player starts to feel an emotional attachment to them, and I think quantum dreams will do a good job in that regard.

When I play heavy rain I'm not going to concern myself with what outcomes I've missed, I'll just pick what whatever path feels like the right choice. That's how I play all my games though.

 

[patsu]

Another hands-on: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/898/898580p1.html

First, it will be a story-driven experience that is provided not necessarily through cutscenes but through player action. Second, players' actions will have (serious) consequences. Third, the experience will be emotionally driven and will invoke a dramatic response in the player. Fourth, the story and subject matter are very much adult in nature. Lastly, the game will be broadly accessible to a wide variety of players. The challenge will play out in the player's mind, not on the controller.

You will have full "control" over the story, but the overall plot will never be changed through interactivity. Cage compared it to a rubber band. Although you can stretch and deform it, it will always be a rubber band.

About the demo (It's not part of the final game):

After taking a few pictures, Madison prepared to leave. And then (of course) the killer showed up at the home. Once he entered the house, the screen split in two and began to show White's actions on one side and Madison's panicked actions on the other. While White went about his daily routine, you needed to decide how to escape alive. Cage explained that there are a number of different actions you could take, but during the first run-through, Madison tip-toed over the creaky floor, snuck downstairs and made it outside. Jumping onto her motorcycle and with a few well-executed QTEs later, Madison escaped unscathed.

But that was just one possibility. Cage brought the demo back and showed us that Madison could be discovered by White, she could fight him, or she could even die. Seeing Madison fight the knife-wielding killer was pretty thrilling, because buttons associated with particular items on screen would animate on top of those objects. For example, after being knocked onto the bed, Madison madly clawed for something to defend herself with. As the killer reared back, the camera shook around and you could make out a button prompt stuck to the side of a nearby vase. Hitting it in time would cause Madison to snatch it up and crash it against White's head, buying her more time to escape.

My descriptions can't properly convey how atmospheric and emotional Heavy Rain (Origami Killer) was. This is a game you need to experience yourself.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

How do you make a player care about the outcomes?

Very hard. You'd need to establish an emotional attachment that surpasses the player's awareness that it's just a game. eg. Have a young child character from the beginning where the player has to care for them to further the story, and have the child react in a perfectly convincing way, so the player imprints on the character. Then when faced with the choice to leave the child to drown and take the money, or save the child, the player feels the same real-world human response, instead of an indifferent curiosity as to how the developers have branched the storyline.

It's far easier to create an emotional attachment in linear media where the audience hasn't got to worry about decision making and can just be swept along. I'm sure some people will choose to role-play and enjoy the experience properly, but I don't think the intention to have an emotionally meaningful game for everyone will really pan out unless they absolutely nail the characterization, story, and mechanics.

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

It's far easier to create an emotional attachment in linear media where the audience hasn't got to worry about decision making and can just be swept along.

I wouldn't say it's easier in other forms of media it's just that with games developers are too afraid to do it. If anything it would be easier to provoke an emotional response in games because of the added flexibility the medium offers.

but I don't think the intention to have an emotionally meaningful game for everyone will really pan out unless they absolutely nail the characterization, story, and mechanics.

No it probably wont but most people don't appreciate art to begin with (regardless of media) so nothing new there. Still though I applaud developers like quantum dream and team ICO for pushing the limits and helping to bring gaming the artistic respect it deserves.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I liked the gamersyde trailer! Though blurry, it shows the whole experience feels like a movie.Is there a video of someone playing it? That would actually convey the feel you get when one plays it .

 

[RenegadeRocks]

The IGn preview says that the QTEs are for action segements only, and the oher actions have varying contextual controls like pressing the directional buttons and ( what I am intrigued by) tilting the controller to make her speak different dialogues! Seems neat to me .

 

[oramay]

... I don't think the intention to have an emotionally meaningful game for everyone will really pan out unless they absolutely nail the characterization, story, and mechanics.

I think ICO showed you don't need all these to create empathy or emotional attachment in games. In ICO, precious little is said about the characters and background. The story doesn't say much more than you want to get out of a castle, there is a girl who seems nice and you two try to leave together. I don't think I'm the only one to feel clear sense of empathy playing through the game.

I'd speculate that empathy naturally emerges after going through a journey together with the characters for hours. The problem isn't creating it in games, but not breaking it, not taking people out of it with gameplay, storyline, dialogue and other quirky little details.

I think by not revealing much, ICO allows the characters to be all things to all people. The sense of isolation and vulnerability probably helps, as does the game mechanic of constantly holding hands.

I'm not saying this same approach can work for Heavy Rain which seems to have a clear lengthy story, but I'm not pessimistic about their chances of making it work. :smile:

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I think ICO showed you don't need all these to create empathy or emotional attachment in games.

Yes, but ICO is a different type of game. Emotional games are definitely doable, but ICO didn't have 'moral choices'. It was a linear path and the player was taken for the ride. Thinking of all the open-ended games out there where you can choose to be 'good' or 'bad', how many people try both? I think most folk give both options a go. Offering the player those choices but having them choose baed on emotions would be an amazing feat.

BTW - Is this game actually called Heavy Rain, or Origami Killer? Was Origami Killer just the name of the demo?

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Their website says:

Heavy Rain : The Origami Killer

 

[Need 2 Know]

Their website says:

Heavy Rain : The Origami Killer

go to their website again (Quantic Dream) click Game Studio then Presentation scroll down and at the bottom they have CONFIDENTIAL (Playstation3, SCE) I know this is most probably Heavy Rain but why would they have the word CONFIDENTIAL in there instead of Heavy Rain, could be somebody at the Quantic Dream webteam has not updated it yet but you never know

 

[RenegadeRocks]

go to their website again (Quantic Dream) click Game Studio then Presentation scroll down and at the bottom they have CONFIDENTIAL (Playstation3, SCE) I know this is most probably Heavy Rain but why would they have the word CONFIDENTIAL in there instead of Heavy Rain, could be somebody at the Quantic Dream webteam has not updated it yet but you never know

Well, this is what it says on their website:

Heavy Rain : The Origami Killer

Where's Confidential?

 

[Need 2 Know]

Well, this is what it says on their website:

Heavy Rain : The Origami Killer

Where's Confidential?

Click on Presentation (above Heavy Rain), then scroll down its at the bottom

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I see it. I think thats an old entry coz it says Heavy Rain right below it.