With Stellar Blade’s releasing on April 26, a Behind The Scenes video was released by Shift Up, discussing the inspiration and challenges surrounding the game development journey.
Stellar Blade’s inspiration was drawn from a real-world event. Director Kim Hyung Tae, while watching a taxi strike news, was struck by the protest of drivers facing replacement by AI. On further reflecting, the game director envisioned the concept of humanity being replaced by artificial life forms. And this became the concept behind Stellar Blade.
And I was thinking, what if this happened to me? If humans can be completely replaced, then what does it mean?
Kim Hyung Tae, Game Director, Stellar Blade
The video revealed the greatest challenge behind the development of a AAA title in South Korea to be the dominance of mobile gaming. Thus, introducing a solo-player console game such as Stellar Blade in such a market is a benchmark for Shift Up in itself.
While discussing the design approach, the game director disclosed the team’s commitment to stand out. Since Kim Hyung Tae was intrigued by the monster designs of the film, The Host, he reached out to Jang-Hee-Cheol, monster designer for the film. With the addition of Cheol to the team, emphasis was given to details and sculpture mockups were created to maintain better proportions while designing Naytiba.
In addition to a well-crafted concept and storyline, the game hides existential questions for the players. The team revealed the subtle incorporation of such questions in the decision-based choices in the game.
Is humanity something that can be lost? Or can it be replaced?
The BTS video surfaced after Stellar Blade went gold ahead of its expected release date. The game will be launched on PS5 and is already available for pre-order.
