For over six years now, The Last Guardian‘s dwelt in a fiery development hell from which few assumed it would escape. It was this E3 that the game recently resurfaced after years of silence ahead of an intended 2016 release.
In the meantime, it’s been reported that lead Playstation 4’s lead architect and game designer Mark Cerny was attached to help complete the project. Cerny, a designer and consultant on such series as Ratchet & Clank, God of War, and Killzone, comes off of a legacy of Sony mascot franchises as well as 2013’s ill-received Knack. According to Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida, Cerny will be there simply to lend some professional advice.
Speaking with Yoshida this E3, Game Informer learned that Cerny will only be serving as a consultant on The Last Guardian and only as a consultant.
“The rumor is not true that Mark Cerny came in and is finishing the project,” Yoshida claimed. “Mark is giving consultation on the project. He’s been doing it for many of our projects. He’s been working with many of our studios, especially technically, he knows the ins and outs of the PS4. He’s giving lots of technical advice to The Last Guardian team. The team is primarily in the Japan Studio, but creative direction is done by Ueda-san and members of GenDesign. It’s a new studio.”
GenDesign is further led by Jinji Horagai, the AI programmer behind Ico’s silent companion, Yorda in 2001’s game of the same name.
“After Shadow of the Colossus, Ueda-san and Horagai-san became independent,” Yoshida continued. “Also, some of the leads on the Shadow of the Colossus team became independent and set up a small indie studio. All of them are working with the Japan Studio to make The Last Guardian.”
In addition, Yoshida assures us that The Last Guardian we’ll (hopefully) play in 2016 is indeed The Last Guardian as Ueda originally intended to for us play.
Tell us: has six years wilted your excitement for The Last Guardian or are you still planning on playing it come next year?
Via GameInformer