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User:989Nintendo898/Prerelease:Alan Wake/2005-2008

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E3 2005

Hmmm...
To do:
there's more differences, go over some early aspects in more details, get screenshots.

The game was first shown in E3 2005 behind closed doors to few people. Back then, it was first conceptualized as a sandbox game, and was planned to be released on both Windows and Xbox 360.

  • The game's story was rewritten before it was released. The trailer states that "Alan was a successful writer, until he lost his muse and love. He came to bright falls to rest. He writes a book about his nightmares, but something goes wrong. His nightmares start to become true."
  • Alan's model was different: he originally wore a brown jacket and a long red scarf.
  • The church had two towers rather than one.
  • The taken were completely different: instead of being normal humans with darkness around them, they were ghostly figures with black robes.
  • The lighthouse is in a different location. It also looked different.

Screenshots

2005 Screenshot Final game
640px 640px
  • The original design for Bright Falls was quite a bit different, and more reminiscent of a bigger midwestern town.
2005 Screenshot Final game
AW 2005 AlanModel.jpeg 640px
  • Alan is wearing different clothing: a long green jacket, a red scarf and a red sweater.

E3 2006

Hmmm...
To do:
screenshots, there are more differences.

  • The game was still being developed as a sandbox game.
  • Alan now had his final model in the end of the trailer.
  • Alan was shown holding a lantern in the end of the trailer. In the final game, the lanterns are just really powerful flashlights.
  • Alan seemed to have a slightly different facial model.

IDF 2006

Remedy prepared a short tech demo of Alan Wake for IDF 2006, showing some removed elements at the same time.

The demo itself focuses on Remedy's open world tech, showcasing the impressive weather effects, including a stormy weather which went unused in the final game, the volumetric lighting and tornado physics. The demo takes place around the Bright Falls dam, as well as the vicinity of a small warehouse building near the dam. The warehouse itself is completely unseen in the final game.

  • Alan's walk cycle was wildly different than what's used in the final. He ran more upright, leaning backwards and flailing his arms more.
  • The Bright Falls dam was different, with the power station nowhere to be seen. This actually carried to the final game's menu screen background!
  • The area the demonstration is set in is never seen in the final game.
  • The tornado seen in the end of the demonstration seems to be an actual force of nature instead of another form of the dark presence. It was grayer in shade and interacted dynamically with the environment, while the final one is scripted.

X06

Hmmm...
To do:
Upload the screenshots, go over the mission as described, describe the differences in the trailer.

At X06 in Barcelona, Spain, Remedy showed the game behind closed doors once again. They showed the physics demo from IDF 2006 again, as well as a story mission from that point in development. The story mission itself was much more of a proof of concept rather than a vertical slice of the game.

The mission begins with Alan driving up to a small gas station to pick up the keys for his cabin. He is greeted by Ben Mott, the original station owner who would be replaced by Carl Stucky in the final game. Alan and Ben would have a small chat, after which Ben would close the conversation with eerie words: "Must be tough, knowing that your words will change things." These arc words would be repeated in later trailers.

On the way to his cabin, Alan would pick up a hitchhiker. He would then talk to the hitchhiker about his writing and Ben's eerie words. Before the conversation could be finished, Alan finds a body of a woman lying in the middle of the road. Alan stops his car to check out the body, when all of a sudden an 18-wheeler comes out of nowhere and crashes into Alan's car, killing the hitchhiker inside. Alan looks back at the body on the road, and sees that it's actually him, and loses consiciousness.

Alan wakes up presumably hours later. It's already nighttime, and his car, the 18-wheeler and the body on the road have all vanished. He finds a revolver and a flashlight and starts to make his way over to a small cabin nearby. He crosses a rickety bridge. Once he makes his way to the cabin, he finds himself surrounded by strange hooded figures and the dead hitchhiker, at which point the demo ends.

The demo was never shown to the public. Press and a few select people got a peek of the game behind closed doors. Inexplicably, Remedy had planned and finished a trailer for the game as well, which was never shown to the public either. As a result, all the public got was a few screenshots and a 5-second-long gameplay snippet from a sizzle reel. After X06, Remedy went quiet for over 2 years.

Screenshots

X06 Demo Final game
AW X06 hud.jpeg 640px
  • A gray 3D arrow points towards the mission objective.
  • The arrow is surrounded by a circle showing the compass directions.
  • The current objective is present under the arrow, using a font mimicking handwriting.
X06 Demo Final game
AW X06 AlanModel.jpg 640px
  • Something something model is a bit different