The sad story of the Dead Space franchise still lingers, but for brief moments, you can see just how big the franchise was (and could have been). A recent post by a Twitter user about such a topic caught the eye of former Level Designer at Visceral Games Ben Johnson. Visceral, if you didn’t know, were the folks behind the series. Johnson mentioned that the original Dead Space engine was a branch off of an engine for another popular franchise for EA, Tiger Woods PGA Tour.
Not only that, the rig (aka the skeleton for the model) used for Dead Space‘s protagonist Isaac Clarke was the same rig used in Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Skate 3 and the 2010 version of NBA Jam, making it pretty simple to import the model.
Hey, Dead Space LD here. All these games used the same basic model rig, so adding Isaac was as simple as importing the model. Dead Space’s engine was a branch off of Tiger Woods, which was made in the same studio as Dead Space back then.
— Gᴏᴏsʏʟᴠᴀɴɪᴀ (@GameDesignerBen) October 12, 2019
Johnson also stated that a handful of the team at Visceral Games (which ended up closing two years ago this month) made their way to Double Fine, which is currently working on Psychonauts 2 (due out next year). So, until EA decides to resurrect the series, in a small way, the spirit of the Dead Space series lives on.
