"Prototyping Through Video
"When we decide on a project, what we do is create a pilot movie, sort of like an inspirational video, where we say, well this is the type of game we would like to create, and if the game can be developed the way we want it to, then this is what the end result will be like," said Ueda. "And that´s what we use to sell this concept internally."
Ueda animated these pilot videos himself, taking upwards of months of straight labor for each one. "And I didn´t create because it was most effective, but because my background is as a CG animator. And because it was so effective, we did the same thing for Shadow."
"And actually when Ueda-san created the pilot video for Ico, he sat there in front of a desktop for four months to create this video. He did it all on a desktop PC. This was in 1997, and even back then I could tell that this was very high quality. I thought, oh, this is different, this is really good stuff. This is something I would love to be involved in. I could tell the type of game he wanted to create from that one video."
At this point the team showed the pilot video for Ico, never previously seen in its entirety in public. The video opened with the game´s infamous castle glimmering on a pulled back, external view of the island, stretching far beyond the constraints of the final game. Ico wanders around lost, looks around, and sees female protagonist Yorda sitting on a couch below. At this stage of conception the bearer of the horns is reversed: Ico´s a normal looking boy, Yorda has horns in her head, and appears older and less pale. Ico claps to get her attention and runs, like a child. She doesn´t notice, and continues relaxing on the couch.
Slowly she looks up, sees him, and despite the situation, isn´t startled at all. Suddenly the video cuts to something entirely unlike the solitude of the final game; a montage of a crowded village street, with people going about their day to day lives, much like the beginning of Casablanca. Back in the castle, another early surprise: red armored knights with swords shoot lasers out of their hands at Ico, entirely unlike the shadow creatures of the final game. At one point Ico and Yorda run through fields, and away from mysterious explosions. The video ends with Yorda touching Ico´s cheek, tenderly, almost sensuously.