Development Timeline of Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus, like any game, had several different development periods. This is a list of all of the known ones, with details for each one. The dates were taken from the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection Booklet.

They are divided into "World Eras", each marking a major change in the shape of the game.

• World Era 0 = Planning > Prototype
• World Era 1 = Test Stages > Parts Library Map
• World Era 2 = Height Map > 24 Colossi Map
• World Era 3 = Colossi & Map Reduction > Final Shape

Period names are subject to change

World Era 0

Planning Period

In September 2001, the presentation of the new concept to the staff was done. Two types of games were conceived, a 3D action game for a male audience (男ゲー) and a 2D puzzle game for a female audience (女ゲー) that would have made use of a touchpad peripheral. The game for a male audience was chosen as the team's next project.

Sketches of designs drawn by Kazuhiro Numata for the boss design of the pilot movie, shared on the developer's twitter account.

In late-January 2002, the first storyboard draft for a presentation demo was completed.

In March 10th 2002, the staff rode horses on a training camp at Mount Fuji. The horses were observed and their movements studied. The motivation of the staff was increased.

Prototype Period

Nico tech demo - Shadow of the Colossus

In mid-May 2002, a real-time demo depicting a group of horned boys taking down a colossus was completed. It is available in the Nico bonus DVD, showing the battle against the colossus that would turn into the 2nd colossus. However, the background soundtrack in the video from the Nico DVD wasn't yet created. As stated in the World of Fumito Ueda artbook, originally the demo used the opening track of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man as Fumito Ueda thought it would be perfect for it.

In June 2002, Team ICO began trial production of "NICO (Tentative name)" and developed a test version with a small group of people. Ueda worked with coders on the deformation collision for six straight months which involved creating a flexible pole, "kind of like a plant" and having the player character climb on it.

In July 2002, started recruiting staff on the web and in magazines. Since the scale of development would be larger compared to the previous work, Team ICO was recruiting ready-to-work staff from the general public.

World Era 1

Masked Boy Period

In May 2003, Team ICO began production of "NICO" and presented a prototype at an internal meeting. Development approval was given after the first presentation. This is the time in development when the player was still a horned boy in a mask. The colossi were few and still rather simple and were tested in separate stages with no seamless map; that is, the open world divided by quadrants from the final game.

Clips of it are available in the Nico bonus DVD.

The masked boy fighting against the first in-game model of the 2nd colossus, "Boss A".

The masked boy riding towards the 2nd colossus' arena.

The first model of the 5th colossus.

The first model of the 9th colossus.

The first model of the 13th colossus, "Snake A".

Overcast Sky Period

At some point in 2003, the clear sky was replaced with an overcast one that would shape the game's visual identity going forward. This iteration of the sky featured cloud billboards that would be removed going forward. The only evidence of this period is a single short clip in the production reel, showing the player character and their horse in an unknown test stage.

The masked boy and horse in an unknown test stage, looking out at the sky.

Horned Boy Period

Later in 2003. Many colossi were in the works and their environments were taking shape. The player character lost the mask, while still keeping the horns, blue shirt and pants. Development on the unused colossus named Saru stopped around this period.

In July, the first monitor meeting was also done, which was a survey of the public's reaction to the game's core design.

Some pictures of the artbook and clips featured in the Nico bonus DVD show this phase.

The player character being thrown by Boss A. His horns can be noticed on the last frames.

Updated model of the 9th colossus, notice the different horns. A glimpse of the player can be seen at the bottom.

The player climbing onto the unused colossus named Saru. Note how the HUD is now on the top right.

The second model of the 13th colossus, "Snake B".

The first model of the unused colossus named Griffin, "Griffin A".

The first model of the 8th colossus, before it was named "Yamori B".

The early model of the unused Colossus named Spider.

Full-scale Development Period

By September 1st 2003, the staff was moved from the building on Nakano-Sakaue to Aoyama. Full-scale development began in the new studio. The player character had developed further, losing the horns, and having a 'tunic' instead of the shirt and pants of earlier phases. One of the key aspects of identifying this phase is by looking at the simplistic HUD.

Pictures and clips of it are available in the artbook, in the Nico bonus DVD and in trailers.

Footage of the battle against the second model of the 13th colossus, barely changed from the previous phase.

This early version of the 1st colossus. It had much hairier legs and the arena's shape was much simpler.

The early version of the 4th colossus' arena.

The early model of the 16th colossus, known as Buddha, before it was the final boss.

Buddha's face. This picture shows what the HUD looked like, with the player's on the right and the boss' on the bottom left.

Footage of a forest test resembling the one from the introduction cutscene, with the player's full HUD on the right.

Parts Library Map Period

At the start of 2004, the HUD was changed again, this time lasting a long time, only being replaced in the final phases. The first seamless map was also created around this period using the "parts library", which was mostly flat. Many colossi were placed on a quadrant with no arena, such as the case with Spider. Any footage that was taken on a vast dry area was in this first seamless map. G0, B2 and the old I7 found in the preview version and earlier are all remnants of this time. Development on the unused colossus named Griffin stopped around this period.

Pictures and clips of it are available in the artbook, in the Nico bonus DVD and in trailers.

Early version of the 3rd colossus.

Spider on the first seamless map in F1.

Footage of the entrance to the 1st colossus' arena on the first seamless map.

Footage of the updated model of the 1st colossus. Note the different HUD.

Footage of the 4th colossus' early arena.

The parts library, shown in the CG World magazine.

World Era 2

Height Map Period

After the start of 2004, the design of the world map was decided to be changed completely. The shape of this new map was first done via a 2D height map, which would then be auto-generated into 3D land that would serve as a base for most of the areas, before being modelled by hand. Wander's model was also changed once again, having improved facial features and leg wrappings.

Wander in a jump test from Athretic. His leg wrappings can be seen.

Facing off against Worm. The model of Dune is loaded at global coordinates 0 0 0 in this screenshot.

Process of utilizing a height map to create the world, from the CG World magazine.

Slow Period

An unknown amount of time later, in-between the previous period and the next, Wander's design was slightly modified to include sleeves instead of not having any like in previous phases, and is only seen briefly in a Leo's Cave clip featured in the Nico bonus DVD. The clip also showed the game was starting to render distant quadrants instead of just the one you're currently at, by utilizing super low (slow) resolution models.

Later model of Wander riding across the top of an early Leo's Cave in F1, looking towards the west.

Pre-Showcase Period

Mid-2004, the game's title was finally chosen as "Wanda and the Colossus". The seamless map was further developed and the arenas were all placed. The seamless loading still didn't look up to par, as the game still lacked the bloom effects from the next phases. The design of the player character was very close to completion, having brown clothing instead of the blue one.

Pictures of it are available in the artbook and in the Nico bonus DVD.

The unused colossus named Phoenix.

G7 from the Nico bonus DVD.

Early B5.

Next to the 10th colossus' arena.

Early E5.

TGS Period

Footage of Roc from rare promo disc

Around July 2004, the bloom effects were finally added, as well as a yellow tinted sky. Many promotional pictures and footage were taken in order to show the press, making it the most famous beta phase. The game was later shown to the public in order to garner reactions and adjust the game in response.

Footage of the updated model of the 13th colossus.

The updated model of the 3rd colossus. Note the tall towers surrounding its arena in the background.

The early version of B3 when it housed Yamori A, near in its unused arena named Sluice.

The unused colossus named Devil.

The early version of the 10th colossus' arena.

More advanced version of early E5.

Early save stones and their unused animation (July 7th).

World Era 3

Reduction Period

Late 2004 to the start of 2005, due to the reception, lack of time, lack of budget and some developers leaving, several colossi and locations were decided to be removed before being finished, eventually leading to the final version we have today. The player character was unchanged from the previous phase.

A short teaser released in December 2004 shows the early design of the 2nd colossus.

The map after the reduction as shown in a texture from early builds.

Reduction of the larger map, from the CG World magazine.

Promotional shot of the map at the time. Only the 9 central quadrants can be seen.

Footage of the early model of the 2nd colossus, dated December 2004, after the reduction.

Arms Period

Throughout 2005, several builds were distributed to the press, game conventions and the like. The game was already in its final touches, with the player character finally being the finished Wander. It is what is known by the community as the "Arms build", as the HUD has the text "Arms" on it.

In the pre-E3 showcase that took place in April 2005, Sony showcased the game and revealed that the name was changed to Shadow of the Colossus to releases outside of Japan.

The stone eyes of previous builds were replaced by animated swirling eyes.

The 12th colossus in the E3 Demo (13th in this version), still having its earlier strategy of using the bow.

Some textures for the logo in the main menu for several builds from this period are listed in the PS3 data sheets, the dates of the build are in their names. Below is a list of them and a short description if information is available:

• April 18th 2005 - E3 Build 1
• April 19th 2005 - E3 Build 2
• April 25th 2005 - E3 Build 3
• May 2nd 2005 - E3 Build 4
• May 12th 2005 - E3 Build 5
  • This is the build dubbed the E3 Demo, as it was the one playable at E3. The bridges and paths are all blocked off, but the rest of the map can be accessed by modding or hacking.
• May 13th 2005 - E3 Build 6

Besides these, there are a few other builds around this period (released officially or not) that are publicly available. They are:

• June 21st 2005 - OPM Demo
  • Despite being also named "E3 Demo" in the main menu, the OPM Demo is not the same as previous E3 builds. Bridges and paths are blocked off like the E3 Demo, although the rest of the world map is not in this build, with only the 9 central quadrants being in the files.
• July 7th 2005 - PSU Preview
  • This build is like the E3 Demo and Preview versions, in that every quadrant is present. Unlike the E3 Demo version however, all quadrants are accessible without any modding or hacking needed. However, only 3 colossi are in this build, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
• July 11th 2005 - PSU Demo
  • Just as the OPM, this demo only has 9 quadrants in total.
• August 9th 2005 - Preview
  • The Preview version, despite not having the "Arms" text in the HUD, can also be considered part of this period.

Release

October 18th 2005, the final American (NTSC-U) version is released, receiving critical acclaim from reviewers. In October 27th 2005 the Japanese (NTSC-J) version released, and then in February 2006 the International (PAL) was released to the rest of the world.

Shadow of the Colossus' american cover.

Shadow of the Colossus' japanese cover.

Shadow of the Colossus' international cover.