GDC 2012: Quantic Dream “Kara” Tech Demo — Amazing

The Tech Demo heard round the world…

Normally you wouldn’t get excited for a Tech Demo but Quantic Dream may have stolen the show at GDC (Game Developers Conference) 2012.

Quantic Dream, the developers of “Heavy Rain” Took to the stage and showcased a Tech Demo that has sent a wave through the gaming industry. Called “Kara” the demo showcases an android woman being created in a lab for the purposes of being sold as “merchandise” to the general public, pledged to do what men want all women to do, cook, clean, sex — minus the headache (lmbo).  Anyway something terribly goes wrong as the droid decides to think for herself, a glitch in the matrix sort to speak. It goes on from there.

One thing is for certain, Sony and Quantic Dream wanted it to be clear, as evidenced in the video that this is not Quantic Dream’s next project but merely as it states, a Tech Demo.

Here’s a few quotes from  Quantic Dream’s Game Director, David Cage:

After Heavy Rain, we wanted to push the envelope in terms of quality, starting with the visuals. We wanted to improve many things — things that were not possible with the Heavy Rain engine. So we had to develop a new engine from scratch.

We also wanted to improve the quality of the acting. With Heavy Rain, we did what many games do — split performances, recording a voice on one side and a body animation on the other, putting everything together and crossing your fingers that you get a consistent performance. It worked okay for Heavy Rain, but you lose a lot of a performance by splitting into two and rebuilding it artificially.

We wanted to do what Avatar did by having one full performance where we capture everything at the same time. And we wanted to demonstrate these new performance capture techniques and the new engine before going into production, so we developed a short showcase that would allow us to test these ideas and technologies. This is how “Kara” was created.

“Kara” is not our next game. It’s not the character, it’s not the world, it’s not the story. …We do things in a very strange way here, things that have nothing to do with the games we make. But I think that’s a part of the DNA of the studio, and hopefully something that people like about us – they never know what they’re going to get!

Push the envelope! Starting with the visuals! New Engine! Anyone who’s played Heavy Rain knows the magnitude of his statement is scary — in a good way. Can’t wait to see what there “cooking up” in the background.

Here’s the video:

Source: PlayStation Blog