Some members of the Sly modding community recently got a number of documents from the original pitch for Smart 4which gives us a rare behind-the-scenes look at how developers are able to get permits / money from big companies like Sony to develop their games.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time was finally released for both the PS3 and Vita in 2014, but this presentation is from 2008-09 and focuses solely on the handheld version, whose platform is simply referred to as “NGP” at the time (the original working title for the Vita before Sony finally decided on its name
The main point of interest is a 6-minute video presentation that runs through the story of the series, outlining why the Vita would have fitted so perfectly with its gadget-heavy gameplay, then everything has to be designed around the simplest conceivable conditions for PlayStation to convince can officially give the game the go-ahead.
The team went out of their way – with video footage to make it clear – to show that the Vita’s more nifty features, like the touchscreen, motion controls, and back pad, can be used with all kinds of in-game systems , from moving Sly to driving, performing hacking mini-games.
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Since this game eventually came out, it’s not as important to see early footage of it, such as seeing a pitch document for a game that was never released at all. But there’s tons of interesting footage from the early days of the Vita, when it was basically just a giant black lump prototype, with cables and connectors all over the place
Also included were some screenshots and, better still, concept art:
In addition to the main pitch video, there are also a number of smaller, commercial demonstrations of some of the game’s most cutting edge features, including a QR code idea where users can scan a code from the PlayStation blog and then unlock in-game items.
If you want to download the archive and see for yourself, you can find the files Here. Including this intro description which shows that the game’s original release schedule was … just a little off.
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