Where are we with development on The Last Guardian? It’s been six years and you would expect a release date, but it’s still a little vague.

Yeah, so the video we showed [on Monday] is totally playable. It’s a small section of a larger level. And we chose to do video because the press conference is really tightly scheduled and because the nature of the game is an adventure game. So the AI involved, the bird, might not do what we want it to do. So in order to make that tight press conference schedule work, we just recorded video. But the game runs like that. Performance-wise it’s going very well.

The move from PS3 to PS4 was difficult. Actually, making the game on PS3 was super difficult so basically we gave up. Because it was too slow, the progress. And the team did an amazing job porting the code onto the SPUs. But still the game didn’t perform to the required levels and some features are still missing. And the PS4 was approaching and the dev kit became available. So it was obvious for us to move it to the PS4. So the old engineering effort had to go back to the drawing board and be remade for PS4. And that took a long time. But since last year, the development has been going very well. So we have a good amount of confidence in terms of this window for next year.

What about the visual style? Personally, I enjoy it. But there was a lot of reaction on social media where people were saying, when you look at Horizon versus The Last Guardian, it seems very much like a new-gen game versus a PS3-era game. So are the visuals going to get an upgrade?

No, that’s the vision for the project. The vision hasn’t changed since the PS3 era. It’s just that we couldn’t achieve that on PS3. [Fumito] Ueda-san doesn’t view the need for any changes.

In an interview with Kotaku Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida has now expressed, in what condition the game was at the time – finally it took a few years until the renewed presentation in E3 2015 (Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015).

Yoshida said that when the game was announced in 2009 for PS3, they thought they were making good progress.

“But in 2011 the progress became super slow. There were lots of technical issues. The game was not performing at speed. The video we showed, the trailer on PS3, was specced up. The game was running at a much lower frame rate. Some features were still missing.

“So it was clear that the team had to make a compromise in terms of features and number of characters so while they were taking time, the engineering team ported the code on the SPU [processors of the PS3] to improve the performance, but it was taking lots of time.

“But, in the meantime PS4 arrived, the development environment was available. So in 2012 it became apparent we should move it to PS4 to achieve the visual [ideal.]”

Yoshida said that the rumor that veteran game designer and programmer Mark Cerny had been brought in to save the project were incorrect. “Mark has been consulting many of the first-party teams and projects, giving advice on the tech side—not just him but other central tech groups we have from the U.S. and U.K. have been helping the team as well.”

Ueda, who technically left Sony in 2011, is still very much involved in the game. Yoshida said he is in charge of art direction, animation direction, game design direction, among other things.

The Last Guardian – E3 2015 Trailer | PS4

Why finally show the game?

“The game is totally playable,” he said proudly, noting that Sony simply didn’t play it live during their E3 presentation because the artificial intelligence behind the big animal can’t be expected to behave in the most stage-demo-friendly way all the time. “We have a certain level of confidence about the launch window, which is why we showed it.”

The Last Guardian will be out next year on PS4.

Photos: Edgar Alvarez

The crowd erupted at Sony’s E3 press conference this evening when the announcement was made. Team Ico’s massively anticipated game has been in development hell since it was announced way back in 2007 for the PlayStation 3, with many fearing it would never see the light of day at all.

The re-reveal came in the shape of a gameplay trailer, showing off the interaction between the giant bird-dog creature and the player-controlled character. We saw some of the puzzles you’ll be tasked with solving, and how the massive creature will help you in your quest.

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@derstandard.at

About the Game:

The Last Guardian, to be released in Japan as Hitokui no Ōwashi Trico (人喰いの大鷲トリコ, Hitokui no Ōwashi Toriko, literally “The Great Man-Eating Eagle Toriko”) is the third game by Team Ico. The game features elements from both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, though it is unknown whether the game is related to either one.

Gameplay:

The game centers on a young boy, who must navigate a complex environment of ruins with the aid of Trico, a giant griffin-like creature. On occasion, he must also deal with several fully-armored guards, be it sneaking by them or dealing with them directly. He can climb up and hang onto the creature, much like Wander could a colossus. In addition to its speed, the creature is capable of swimming and climbing up walls.

Development:

The creation of The Last Guardian stemmed from the interaction between Wander and Agro in Shadow of the Colossus. Fumito Ueda wanted to make the interaction between the two characters a much more prominent focus, and spent a lot of time on Trico’s design. There are elements of a cat, dog, bird, and many other animals in the creature, with a goal of having it look strange but very familiar, lifelike, and realistic.
The team also wished to incorporate a thorough physics engine into the game. A few scenes in the trailer shows the boy throwing a barrel at Trico, who then bites down and eats it. The entire process is fully based on that physics engine, including the contact of the barrel with the creature’s beak and the contents of the barrel as it goes down its throat. Each of the creature’s feathers is a separate entity in the physics engine, creating a very realistic effect when they ripple in the wind or when Trico moves swiftly.

The Last Guardian Press / Development

2005

October 18th, 2005 – Team Ico releases their last original game, Shadow of the Colossus

2006

It’s reported that Team Ico was just experimenting with new ideas in this time period, like deciding between a PSP and PS3 project, etc.

Fumito Ueda: “If we were to make our next game, it would, naturally, be on the PS3″

2007

February 2007 – Team Ico suggests that its new game was in the early phases of design

May 18th, 2007 – Sony reveals that Team Ico is developing two games

2008

January 24th, 2008 – Team Ico releases teaser image about their next big project, states it’s heading to PS3.

August 4th, 2008 – Shuhei Yoshida: “Team Ico has something really, really good on the way.”

August 6th, 2008 – Fumito Ueda says the new project has a long way to go before finishing development

August 28th, 2008 – Shuhei Yoshida: “The project isn’t ready to show at TGS 2008″

2009

March 25th, 2009 – Fumito Ueda says the essence of the new project will be similar to Ico

May 19th, 2009 – First footage of the game “Project Trico” leaks online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF3fED8EXl4

June 2nd, 2009 – Sony reveals the above video in greater length at E3 2009, calling the game “The Last Guardian” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHzHoMT5eRg

June 3rd, 2009 – Fumito Ueda talks about The Last Guardian’s gameplay

September 23rd, 2009 – The Last Guardian shows up at TGS 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fAHqFrH79Y

2010

February 3rd, 2010 – Fumito Ueda says that we will learn more information about TLG soon

June 22nd, 2010 – TLG doesn’t show up at E3 2010

September 16th, 2010 – TLG shows up at TGS 2010 with a new trailer and a promise for a Holiday 2011 release http://www.viddler.com/embed/7050afe…t=0&autoplay=0 http://www.viddler.com/file/7050afe2/html5/

September 24th, 2010 – Fumito Ueda talks more about TLG

2011

March 2nd, 2011 – Team Ico was going to include a TLG demo in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection, it doesn’t work out

March 2nd, 2011 – A demo of TLG was apparently shown to Sony employees / press internally

April 20th, 2011 – Fumito Ueda delays TLG from Holiday 2011

September 8th, 2011 – TLG is nowhere to be found at E3 2011 or TGS 2011, Sony states that the development team is hard at work to deliver “the very best gaming experience possible”

September 22nd, 2011 – The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection releases, a few staff members from Team Ico oversaw the project but it was mainly developed by Bluepoint Games

November 30th, 2011 – Reports surface that Fumito Ueda leaves Sony and becomes an independent freelancer, still working on the project

December 12th, 2011 – Sony confirms the game is still in development, Sony confirms that Executive Producer / Director of the project Fumito Ueda has quit Sony but stays attached to the project as a freelancer

2012

February 10th, 2012 – Shuhei Yoshida states TLG is making “progress, but slow progress,” and it’s “tough,” but “it’s still a really important project” so “there’s some scrapping and rebuilding – iteration in the process”

February 14th, 2012 – Fumito Ueda confirms that development for the game is challenging, but it will come out

February 16th, 2012 – Sony states that Sony Santa Monica will help finish the game

June 5-6, 2012 – Nothing at E3, Yoshida blames “technical difficulties” as the reason, Scott Rhode says TLG will release “when it’s done”

August 9th, 2012 – Sony re-registers trademark, reconfirms game is in development

August 15th, 2012 – Shuhei Yoshida: “They had to redo some of the work they had done”

November 7th, 2012 – Doesn’t show up at TGS 2012, Shuhei Yoshida: “They’re working hard on the project,” refuses to commit to a 2013 release

2013

February 13th, 2013 – Rumours start to emerge that TLG has been shifted development to a PS4 title for a while now and that it has been restarted a number of times

February 13th, 2013 – Fumito Ueda confirms the game is still in development under his supervision

February 22nd, 2013 – Shuhei Yoshida: “We’re waiting for the right time to re-introduce TLG”

June 11th, 2013 – TLG doesn’t show up at E3 2013, and Jack Tretton states the game is “on hiatus” but “has not gone away”,” Shuhei Yoshida quickly rebuts that with “the game is in active development”

August 21st, 2013 – Fumito Ueda: “The Last Guardian is still in development, but other projects such as Puppeteer and Knack currently taking higher priority”

October 10th, 2013 – Doesn’t show up at TGS 2013, Shuhei Yoshida: “A smaller team is re-engineering the game”

November 19th, 2013 – Fumito Ueda states that he is “terribly sorry” it has taken so long to finish The Last Guardian, and that “my creative work was mostly finished a long time ago,” but “the details of when, where, and how it will be completed are beyond my control.”

2014

March 12th, 2014 – Scott Rhode: “We’re not not going to announce what platform it’s coming on, who’s working on it, who’s involved. But that is still a title that’s absolutely in the mix at Worldwide Studios. That’s the most you’re gonna get.” He also adds that he “loves that people are still interested in it.”

June 8th, 2014 – IGN starts a rumour that TLG has been cancelled in an internal meeting the prior week, cites Sony Russia exec. as the source, Scott Rhode + Yoshida “laughed at this rumor over dinner” and reiterated on Twitter “TLG has NOT been cancelled.”

June 9th, 2014 – TLG doesn’t show up at E3 2014, and Shawn Layden says that, “on an occasion in the future,” he will “talk more about what that progress looks like / what that route to market is going to look like” regarding TLG

June 12th, 2014 – Shuhei Yoshida: “It exists. The team is working hard on it. When we cancel a title and it is something we have announced already, we’ll say so.”

2015

February 17th, 2015 – The Last Guardian trademark has been reissued by the original name holder, marked as the fourth time it’s been re-protected.

Source @wikia.com

Trailer: