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An approximately 20-person team at Ion Storm developed ''Deus Ex'', a cyberpunk-themed action-role playing video game, over the course of 34 months, culminating in a June 2000 release. Team director and producer Warren Spector began to plan the game in 1993 after releasing ''Ultima Underworld II'' with Origin Systems and attempted the game both there and at Looking Glass Technologies before going into production with Ion Storm. Official preproduction began around August 1997, lasted for six months, and was followed by 28 months of production. Spector saw their work as expanding on the precedent set by Origin, Looking Glass, and Valve. In preproduction, six people from Looking Glass's Austin studios focused on the setting ahead of the game mechanics, and chose a story based around prominent conspiracy theories as an expression of the "millennial madness" in ''The X-Files'' and ''Men in Black''. Spector felt that the development process's highlights were the "high-level vision" and length of preproduction, flexibility within the project, testable "proto-missions", and Unreal Engine license. Their pitfalls included the team structure, unrealistic goals, underestimating risks with artificial intelligence, their handling of proto-missions, and weakened morale from ''Daikatana'' bad press. The game was published by Eidos Interactive and released on June 23, 2000 for Windows 95 and later versions, whereupon it earned over 30 "best of" awards in 2001. == Preproduction == After Warren Spector released ''Ultima Underworld II'' with Origin Systems in January 1993, he began to plan ''Troubleshooter'', the game that would become ''Deus Ex''. Noting his wife's fascination with ''The X-Files'', he connected the "real world, millennial weirdness, () conspiracy stuff" topics on his mind and decided to make a game about it that would appeal to a wider audience.〔 In his 1994 proposal, he described the concept as "''Underworld''-style first-person action" in a real world setting with "big-budget, nonstop action" starring an ex-cop "security specialist".〔 He described the project as "high" risk for its "technological unknowns" as "probably the toughest project on his wish list".〔 It failed to get to production. He later left Origin for Looking Glass Technologies, but kept the idea in mind. He continued to change his character and game system plans, though the game he then called ''Junction Point'' did not reach production at Looking Glass. Spector wrote that the timing was not yet ripe because the business teams were not interested, the technology was not yet feasible, he did not have an interested team or the resources to make one, and that publishers did not want a "first-person, cross-genre game".〔 Spector, himself, was also just tired of unrealistic fantasy and alien settings.〔 When John Romero of Ion Storm approached Spector to offer him a chance to make his "dream game" without any restrictions, Spector was immediately on board.〔 Preproduction for the game that would become ''Deus Ex'' began around August 1997 and lasted about six months. The six-person team came from Looking Glass's Austin studios. Spector, the team's director and producer, saw their work as improving upon the foundation provided by Origin, Looking Glass, and Valve by doing what those companies did not. The game's working title was ''Shooter: Majestic Revelations'', with a scheduled release of Christmas 1998.〔 They worked on the setting ahead of the game mechanics, and decided on a conspiracy-style story that referenced existing conspiracy theories such as Area 51, CIA drug trafficking, the John F. Kennedy assassination, the Majestic 12, and an Masonic underground bunker beneath Denver International Airport. Spector said their research helped them understand how conspiracy theorists think. They also used this time to work out the backstory for constancy. The team designed over 200 characters without associated in-game roles, which was both helpful when designing missions and unhelpful as they attempted to reduce their scope. In the third quarter of 1997, Spector wrote a "manifesto" on his ideal game and the "rules of role-playing" that was later published in the February 1999 ''Game Developer'' magazine. His principles included "problems, not puzzles", "no forced failure", "players do; NPCs watch", and "areas with multiple entrance and exit points".〔 Reflecting, Spector felt that ''Deus Ex'' accomplished the intent of his manifesto. The ''Shooter'' design document set the player as an augmented agent working against an elite cabal in the "dangerous and chaotic" 2050s.〔 Its subtitle was "roleplaying in a world of secrets, lies, and conspiracies".〔 It was written to be similar in concept to ''Half-Life'', ''Fallout'', ''Thief: The Dark Project'', and ''GoldenEye 007'', and to mix the highlights of ''Colossus: The Forbin Project'', ''The Manchurian Candidate'', ''Robocop'' in an environment between ''The X-Files'' and ''Men in Black''—examples of "the millennial madness that's gripping the world ... and a general fascination with conspiracy theories and the desire to play with high-tech espionage toys".〔 Spector added that the working title was meant to be ironic because they did not want the game to be solely a first-person shooter.〔 The preproduction team also tweaked the game systems. They chose a skill system that used nanotechnology augmentation "special powers" instead of "die-rolls" or skills that required granular management. The augmentations were unique to the player-character. They also built a conversation structure based on console role-playing game setups, and drafted the augmentation upgrade, inventory, and skill screens. They also designed an in-game text editor for taking notes, and "reward systems" for skill points, reduced weapon and tool cooldowns, and augmentation upgrades. Preproduction had generated 300 pages of documentation by March 1998. The document grew to 500 pages with "radically different" content by their April 1999 Alpha 1 deadline. Of Spector's original design document, the marketing section was the only part left unedited.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Development of Deus Ex」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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