Prerelease:Shadow of the Colossus (2005)/2002

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Shadow of the Colossus (2005).

January

According to producer Kenji Kaidou, once development on ICO was finished, the developers had to come up with their next project. There was general discussion of creating a sequel, but they struggled with the fact that, because ICO had been wrapped up so nicely, both story- and game-wise, creating a sequel might present great difficulty. There was also the question of whether players would really want a sequel to the game. Following much thought, the team decided to take on the challenge of making a new game. After pursuing a number of ideas, in January, 2002, director Fumito Ueda came up with the basic idea of "fighting against giant enemies".

The first draft of a storyboard for a cutscene to be used for presenting the game was completed in the final third of January. Images that were in the mind of director Fumito Ueda were compiled into this storyboard.

March

On March 10th, Team Ico staff attended a training camp for horseback riding at Mt. Fuji. Developers moved around while observing the horses, and their level of motivation increased.

May

In the middle of May, the real-time cutscene to be used for presenting the game was completed. Elements such as techniques and expressions that would appear in the game itself were scrutinized. The appearance of the world would also be determined.

The cutscene, visible at right, was later included in a bonus DVD that came with Japanese pre-orders of Shadow of the Colossus for the PlayStation 2. It featured a group of sword-wielding horned boys, reminiscent of Ico's protagonist, riding on horseback across an arid landscape towards a Colossus that resembles Mammoth, the second boss of the final game.

Narrowly avoiding being trampled, two of the boys leap from their mounts to side of its body, climbing its stone-like hooves and gripping onto its fur in order to ascend. The first boy stabs his sword into the side of the Colossus, causing it to shake and sway in an attempt to throw him off. His friend, still on horseback, shoots an arrow towards the monster to distract it. The second boy clinging to the creature manages to reach the head of the Colossus and plunge his sword downwards, delivering a final blow. Black blood billows from the wound, and the creature takes a few steps further before collapsing onto the sand. Jumping back onto his mount, the victor rejoins his companions as they ride off into the distance.

June

In June, a small number of staff members began development on the prototype of Nico, a temporary name for the game that was used prior to the determination of its official title.

The name Nico connects the game to Ico, its predecessor, and also works as a pun: in Japanese, "iko" sounds like "一個" (ikko), which can be translated as "one object [of a group]", while "二個" (niko) can be translated as "two objects [of a group]". Thus, Nico brings to mind the idea of a second Ico.

Similarly, the development name for the third title by Team Ico, The Last Guardian, was "Trico", a mix of the prefix "tri", meaning "three", and "個" (ko), meaning "object". In addition, it is also a pun on the word "虜" (toriko), meaning "captive", "鳥子" (toriko), meaning "baby bird", and "Toriko", the Japanese spelling of Trico, the giant winged creature who is freed by and serves as a companion to the game's protagonist.

July

Additional staff members for the project were recruited via the Internet and magazines. Because the game's development would be more expansive compared to that of Team Ico's previous title, a general public appeal was put out for staff who would be able to start working at once.