“SinceSerious Sam 4gives a big
nod towards Hollywood blockbusters,
we’ll add [a] contemporary cinematic
feel to the soundtrack, with orchestra
having a more prominent role this
time,” he says. “Bombastic movie
sound wouldn’t be complete without
epic drums and rhythms, and those
will form the base of the new
in-game music, with rock guitars that
will [have] fans and newcomers to
the series grinning with joy.”
But let’s go back to the field of
jumpsuited monsters which you
macerate with a combine harvester. I
recognise enemies like the werebull
and the iconic kamikaze bombers
(the screaming folk with no heads
and bombs for hands) from
elsewhere in the demo but these are
new. Ladavac tells me that they’re
called Processed.RIGHT: Nature-
spotting in the French
countryside.“When Mental comes in contact
with a new civilization, he either tries
to make them join him voluntarily
(like Khnums) or he converts them
by force (Kleers, Harpies),” he
explains. “Since humans are a
stubborn race and not cooperating,
Mental is sending the Harvester
Motherships (huge spaceships
hovering over cities) to convert
humans into his fighting force. In the
Harvester Ships captured humans are
transformed into the ‘Processed’
enemies and they are ‘deployed’ back
to Earth.”UNIQUE MOCAP
As part of my studio visit I get shown
into a room brimming with odd,
homebrew tech accessories. It turns
out that this is Croteam’s in-house
mocap solution. Instead of theAcoser l o Ser ous ’s iconic kami aze
SeousSam la Badass
COV
2
DRAWN FROM LIFE
In Sam lore these enemies
are reanimated Sirians – they
look similar to humans so
Croteam can look to real life
for references. Some elements
are modelled by hand, like the
gloves. Others, like the shoes,
are scanned using
photogrammetry techniques
before passing through the
rest of the art pipeline.3
SAY
AAAAAAAAAAAAA!
The original scream was
recorded by CEO, Roman
Ribari ́c. The headless bombers
lack mouths, due to the
aforementioned headlessness,
so the screams actually
emanate from a Life Control
Unit (LCU) which handles basic
motor functions and also
includes a speaker.1
ORIGINAL SOURCE
Croteam explained that CEO, Roman Ribari ́c, “came up
with a design of a headless guy running straight at you
carrying two bombs that looks straight out of on old Peter
Sellers comedy”, adding, “He usually just handles
documents and contracts. Go figure!”4
GETTING IMPLANTS
According to the art
team, the hardest part was
“designing and inserting the
metal implants, removing the
spinal column along with the
head, placing the bombs in his
hands and still retaining the
realistic appearance of a
model that was derived from
the photogrammetry scan”.5
FASHION FAUX PAS
The bomber had one
memorable attempt at a
whole different look for
Serious Sam 2 when the team
experimented with a blue
leotardlook.Askedwhether
this look would ever come
back Davor Tomi i , lead
designer of Serious Sam 2,
offered an unequivocal:
“Never. Lesson learned.”