Posted December 05, 2024
When it comes to classics and their remasters, this one was the most anticipated.
The Thing: Remastered, the 2002 third-person survival horror shooter that serves as a sequel to the genre-defining 1982 film is back, remastered by Nightdive Studios and available on GOG!
We’re thrilled to welcome this amazing addition to our platform! Plus, we had the chance to chat with our friends from Nightdive Studios and ask them some of the questions from our community.
Grab this terrifyingly beautiful remaster, start downloading, and enjoy the interview with Nightdive's Studio Head, Stephen Kick, and Art Lead on The Thing, Joel Welsh, in the meantime!
(Keihltrein) I noticed that there's some quality-of-life improvement to the game, does any of this affect how boss fights are done? Or do some parts of the game have any major changes compared to the original one?
SK: With all our remasters our goal is to deliver the game you remember playing, not necessarily the game you actually played. That means updating and fixing legacy bugs, glitches, and sometimes the gameplay itself if it hasn’t aged as well as other aspects of the game. We’ll touch just about anything that could use some fine-tuning.
(raptorj16) I'm super excited for this Remaster! How much access did the Remaster team have to material from the original developers/the film studio? Was there anything discovered in those materials that enhanced the Remaster?
SK: We had a treasure trove of assets to work with! Out of all the games Nightdive has worked on, The Thing had the biggest archive to go through. Our developers had access to source code, concept art, original models, textures, and design documents. We were also extremely fortunate to have two of the original developers join our team and help guide us in creating the definitive remaster.
(Sargon) First of all, I would like to thank you for remastering The Thing and for bringing it to digital stores. I really did not expect to see this classic for sale ever again, as I was under the impression that film and game studios had little to no interest in re-licensing old video games, based on licensed IPs. You have now rekindled hope for many other video games to see the light of day again.
SK: You’re welcome! I grew up a huge fan of the movie and played the game when it originally came out, so The Thing was always something on my radar after I started Nightdive. We’ve had such a great relationship with Universal Products & Experiences and when the opportunity came up we jumped on it. I believe our love for The Thing will immediately be apparent when people get their hands on the remaster.
(Thanos) Thank you for your work in restoring classic games so that they aren't lost to time and can be experienced by new generations of gamers.
SK: It’s my firm belief that games are art, and if the developers and creators of games want to be in the same conversation such as traditional art, movies, and music we have to do a better job of preserving the seminal works that built the foundations of our medium. I am beyond honored that our partners have trusted us with such important games and it’s my hope that we continue to release long-forgotten classics with the care and attention they deserve.
What aspect of the game did you have to change most heavily, and what was almost perfect as it was in the original game?
JW: The aspects we changed most heavily were environments, gameplay, and AI. The setting of a US Army Special Forces team sent in to investigate the aftermath was really well done, along with original locations like the UFO dome in mid-construction and lab at the end.
Were you able to restore any content cut from the original game such as creatures or extra game areas?
JW: We restored as much cut content as possible through environmental storytelling. For instance, the exterior of the weather station was a lot more detailed. Same for the US and Norwegian camps. Movie set designs influenced those as well. The game was initially open-world and featured different locations like the UFO interior, Navy ship, and desert town.
It was an entirely different experience on paper, but we did what we could with design docs and concept art by borrowing anything cut late in development that wouldn't conflict with the established setting. For enemies, we had access to several models and textures that were much better than previous retail versions. We also updated a few that Ron Ashtini dubbed "Jam Monsters". For example, the Drag Walker in the opening movie.
(Berzerk2k2) The Thing (hahaha) I want to know is if you have improved the whole "your teammate can be infected" mechanic in the game and if you have, it would be interesting to know what has been done.
JW: We'll say this much... When you administer the blood screening device (Artwork's version of MacReady's blood test) to your teammate in the remaster, the result won't come back negative if they've been infected. From day 1, Mark Atkinson, one of the original devs who worked with Nightdive, dubbed it a major fan complaint and found a great solution.
(Angelblue) I'm delighted to see the return of this great forgotten game. I have a question about a game mechanic that, at the time, looked promising but, in the end, perhaps didn't work as well as hoped:
I'm talking about what I call the “everyone is a potential enemy” mechanic, with the trust and sanity of our allies to manage. That an ally can become an enemy at any moment. This mechanic was very promising, but in the end, it didn't work as well as we'd hoped (the original studio certainly couldn't go through with it, due to lack of resources). Did you leave these gameplay elements as they were, or were you able to improve them?
JW: The dynamic infection system was explored more by Artworks in the canceled sequel that Ron directed. For the remaster, we adjusted the squad mechanic to make it more user-friendly and improved the AI. Ron also redrew the icons so they're easier to understand. On that note, it was pretty advanced for the era - did you know that you can point your gun at your teammate's head and get a reaction? They also urinate and defecate on themselves, and vomit under stress.
I've always found this mechanic very promising for future horror games. And I regret that I haven't seen other studios use an improved version of this mechanic. If this gameplay element couldn't be improved for the remaster. Did you at least learn something important about this gameplay element that will be useful for other games? Perhaps for a remake if the remaster is a success?
SK: I guess we’ll see how well The Thing Remaster is received and we’ll see!
(Angelblue) What was the most difficult thing that had to be done on the remaster?
JW: By all accounts, the code was extremely complicated compared to previous Nightdive titles. As usual, Kaiser and the KEX team found a way to make it all work, with Mark and Ron providing invaluable support along the way.
The Thing: Remastered, the 2002 third-person survival horror shooter that serves as a sequel to the genre-defining 1982 film is back, remastered by Nightdive Studios and available on GOG!
We’re thrilled to welcome this amazing addition to our platform! Plus, we had the chance to chat with our friends from Nightdive Studios and ask them some of the questions from our community.
Grab this terrifyingly beautiful remaster, start downloading, and enjoy the interview with Nightdive's Studio Head, Stephen Kick, and Art Lead on The Thing, Joel Welsh, in the meantime!
(Keihltrein) I noticed that there's some quality-of-life improvement to the game, does any of this affect how boss fights are done? Or do some parts of the game have any major changes compared to the original one?
SK: With all our remasters our goal is to deliver the game you remember playing, not necessarily the game you actually played. That means updating and fixing legacy bugs, glitches, and sometimes the gameplay itself if it hasn’t aged as well as other aspects of the game. We’ll touch just about anything that could use some fine-tuning.
(raptorj16) I'm super excited for this Remaster! How much access did the Remaster team have to material from the original developers/the film studio? Was there anything discovered in those materials that enhanced the Remaster?
SK: We had a treasure trove of assets to work with! Out of all the games Nightdive has worked on, The Thing had the biggest archive to go through. Our developers had access to source code, concept art, original models, textures, and design documents. We were also extremely fortunate to have two of the original developers join our team and help guide us in creating the definitive remaster.
(Sargon) First of all, I would like to thank you for remastering The Thing and for bringing it to digital stores. I really did not expect to see this classic for sale ever again, as I was under the impression that film and game studios had little to no interest in re-licensing old video games, based on licensed IPs. You have now rekindled hope for many other video games to see the light of day again.
SK: You’re welcome! I grew up a huge fan of the movie and played the game when it originally came out, so The Thing was always something on my radar after I started Nightdive. We’ve had such a great relationship with Universal Products & Experiences and when the opportunity came up we jumped on it. I believe our love for The Thing will immediately be apparent when people get their hands on the remaster.
(Thanos) Thank you for your work in restoring classic games so that they aren't lost to time and can be experienced by new generations of gamers.
SK: It’s my firm belief that games are art, and if the developers and creators of games want to be in the same conversation such as traditional art, movies, and music we have to do a better job of preserving the seminal works that built the foundations of our medium. I am beyond honored that our partners have trusted us with such important games and it’s my hope that we continue to release long-forgotten classics with the care and attention they deserve.
What aspect of the game did you have to change most heavily, and what was almost perfect as it was in the original game?
JW: The aspects we changed most heavily were environments, gameplay, and AI. The setting of a US Army Special Forces team sent in to investigate the aftermath was really well done, along with original locations like the UFO dome in mid-construction and lab at the end.
Were you able to restore any content cut from the original game such as creatures or extra game areas?
JW: We restored as much cut content as possible through environmental storytelling. For instance, the exterior of the weather station was a lot more detailed. Same for the US and Norwegian camps. Movie set designs influenced those as well. The game was initially open-world and featured different locations like the UFO interior, Navy ship, and desert town.
It was an entirely different experience on paper, but we did what we could with design docs and concept art by borrowing anything cut late in development that wouldn't conflict with the established setting. For enemies, we had access to several models and textures that were much better than previous retail versions. We also updated a few that Ron Ashtini dubbed "Jam Monsters". For example, the Drag Walker in the opening movie.
(Berzerk2k2) The Thing (hahaha) I want to know is if you have improved the whole "your teammate can be infected" mechanic in the game and if you have, it would be interesting to know what has been done.
JW: We'll say this much... When you administer the blood screening device (Artwork's version of MacReady's blood test) to your teammate in the remaster, the result won't come back negative if they've been infected. From day 1, Mark Atkinson, one of the original devs who worked with Nightdive, dubbed it a major fan complaint and found a great solution.
(Angelblue) I'm delighted to see the return of this great forgotten game. I have a question about a game mechanic that, at the time, looked promising but, in the end, perhaps didn't work as well as hoped:
I'm talking about what I call the “everyone is a potential enemy” mechanic, with the trust and sanity of our allies to manage. That an ally can become an enemy at any moment. This mechanic was very promising, but in the end, it didn't work as well as we'd hoped (the original studio certainly couldn't go through with it, due to lack of resources). Did you leave these gameplay elements as they were, or were you able to improve them?
JW: The dynamic infection system was explored more by Artworks in the canceled sequel that Ron directed. For the remaster, we adjusted the squad mechanic to make it more user-friendly and improved the AI. Ron also redrew the icons so they're easier to understand. On that note, it was pretty advanced for the era - did you know that you can point your gun at your teammate's head and get a reaction? They also urinate and defecate on themselves, and vomit under stress.
I've always found this mechanic very promising for future horror games. And I regret that I haven't seen other studios use an improved version of this mechanic. If this gameplay element couldn't be improved for the remaster. Did you at least learn something important about this gameplay element that will be useful for other games? Perhaps for a remake if the remaster is a success?
SK: I guess we’ll see how well The Thing Remaster is received and we’ll see!
(Angelblue) What was the most difficult thing that had to be done on the remaster?
JW: By all accounts, the code was extremely complicated compared to previous Nightdive titles. As usual, Kaiser and the KEX team found a way to make it all work, with Mark and Ron providing invaluable support along the way.
