Quite frankly, I’m all for motorcycle parkour.
Infamous developer Sucker Punch is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the franchise by sharing some behind-the-scenes details of the game’s conception and development. These include some simple logistical facts, like name changes, but also some incredibly significant changes to gameplay that could have spelled a very different direction for the franchise.
1) The original working title for inFAMOUS was True Hero. We tried out many titles, and even at the E3 2007 reveal we were awaiting legal clearance for “inFAMOUS.” We had a backup trailer ready with an alternate title just in case, but luckily inFAMOUS was approved in time. pic.twitter.com/mqTHhh2jo3
— Sucker Punch (@SuckerPunchProd) May 26, 2019
Most notably, Infamous featured some dramatically different gameplay elements, like the ability to change your hero costume in a phonebooth ala the classic Superman trope, or customizing buildings with various shops to keep citizens happy. The weirdest gameplay prototypes included citizens speaking a rough gibberish, much like The Sims franchise’s “Simlish”, but also had motorcycle parkour. A video shared by Sucker Punch shows a clip of the player character driving through a small crowd on a motorcycle and quickly leaping onto the edge of a bridge and driving over a river and bunnyhopping over the heads of other people.
2) In an early version, you could switch out of your superhero outfit into civilian clothing by changing in phone booths. pic.twitter.com/YM0lteQ2Ep
— Sucker Punch (@SuckerPunchProd) May 26, 2019
3) Early on, the pitch included super-heroic actions like customizing buildings to give a neighborhood new types of shops to keep citizens happy. pic.twitter.com/8NGG11nGKv
— Sucker Punch (@SuckerPunchProd) May 26, 2019
4) At one point in production before a name for the hero was chosen, the studio referred to him by the nickname “Gearwolf” and he had a completely different hair style. pic.twitter.com/D3z9R6NXXZ
— Sucker Punch (@SuckerPunchProd) May 26, 2019
7) During development, the hero could use telekinetic powers to draw “throwable” metal objects like license plates, hubcaps, stop signs and bicycle sprockets into his hands to use them as weapons. pic.twitter.com/nyEbORvAEY
— Sucker Punch (@SuckerPunchProd) May 26, 2019
Sucker Punch also experimented with an ability to skate through the city using an energy field, and it looks somewhat similar to the hover skating that Jak 2 introduced into its own franchise a generation earlier.
If Sucker Punch fans ever find themselves calling the company’s offices, they might also hear the voice of Zeke, Cole’s friend and accomplice from the first two games, as the outgoing voicemail message.
IGN gave the original Infamous a 9.2 out of 10, and Greg Miller called it “one of the best offerings on PS3 to date.” We last heard from the Infamous franchise with Infamous: Second Son and Last Light on PS4, and Sucker Punch is currently developing the samurai adventure game Ghost of Tsushima.
Joseph Knoop is a writer and web producer for IGN, and he just wants his boy Sly back for one more ride. Light up his day on Twitter @JosephKnoop.
