The director of The Callisto Protocol explains the influence of cartoons, such as SpongeBob SquarePants, on the making of his new horror game. Inspiration can be taken from the most unlikely of places, even if the thing used for inspiration is the polar opposite, such as the difference between a children's cartoon like SpongeBob SquarePants and a gory horror game like The Callisto Protocol.
The release of The Callisto Protocol is right around the corner, and a season pass with new death animations for the Dead Space-inspired game has already been announced. As a result, the marketing for The Callisto Protocol has revolved around the realism that is expected from such a game, which has even raised questions about The Callisto Protocol's "real life horror and gore" used for inspiration. Recently, the director has come out to talk about some of the more light-hearted influences of The Callisto Protocol.
Glauco Longhi, the game’s director most known for his work on horror movie sets, and games like Uncharted 4 and God of War Ragnarok, spoke with The Sun regarding The Callisto Protocol. In the conversation, he described that the gore is what pulled him to the game and expressed that some inspiration for animations and enemies was taken from cartoons, citing SpongeBob as an example. SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the most iconic Nickelodeon characters, but even so, using it as inspiration for a horror game may raise a few eyebrows on just how exactly these mediums of entertainment mix.
“Even some cartoons, like SpongeBob. We look at cartoons on stylization and movement because, although it's super real and immersive, we stylized a lot of things to make them more appealing. So some of the movements, and in the case of the gore, the blood, and how we remove the limbs, there's a push of style to emphasize some of these actions. Cartoons do that very well. Disney, Pixar, or whatever – they give you the message right away. If there’s a fast character, you get it right away [from the] strong silhouettes.”
Glauco Longhi says that cartoons are a great inspiration for how to emphasize style, as they are designed to communicate a message and feeling that is portrayed immediately to its viewers. So although SpongeBob SquarePants may be designed to communicate different messages, the same technique can be used for an entirely different medium of entertainment, such as the horror and violence displayed in The Callisto Protocol. The interview goes into further detail regarding The Callisto Protocol body horror and its inspirations, as well as the gameplay realism of its design, but it is certainly interesting to see how something on the completely other end of the entertainment spectrum was used to create this highly anticipated horror game.
It may be that fans of both genres, lighthearted cartoons and horror, will be able to enjoy the upcoming game. The Callisto Protocol trophy list is now online, and unfortunately, there is nothing SpongeBob SquarePants related. But even so, it is interesting to get first-hand knowledge of how the creative process works for a game of this magnitude.
The Callisto Protocol releases on December 2, 2022, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: The Sun