While developers often turn to unsettling fleshy architecture for game levels, the original creators of System Shock 2, Looking Glass, took this concept to an unprecedented and rather intimate extreme in the 1990s. According to artist Nate Wells, the distinctive biological structures inhabited by the hostile alien faction known as The Many had a surprisingly personal origin: art assets for the game included photos from a fellow developer`s colonoscopy.
During Nightdive`s Deep Dive podcast, Wells recounted the revelation to Locke Vincent. “When we were working on The Many, if you remember, it has this very biological vibe to it,” Wells explained. “It`s this fleshy mass that has taken over the Rickenbacker. We did these things called `sphincter doors,` this sphincter that opens up. I was making the doors and doing the concept.”
Wells elaborated that his search for “gross biological images, like endoscopy sort of stuff,” for textures led to an unexpected offer. “[Looking Glass producer] Josh Randall approached me and said he had a video of his colonoscopy,” Wells stated.
Indeed, Randall provided Wells with images from his personal medical procedure. Wells confirmed he utilized a frozen frame “from somewhere in his large intestine” to generate a foundational texture for the game`s infamous sphincter doors. “If you look at those doors, you`re seeing Josh Randall`s colon—audio genius Josh Randall`s colon,” Wells revealed.
This bizarre detail remained unknown to the public when System Shock 2 launched to critical acclaim in 1999. Players explored the terrifying environments, blissfully unaware they were navigating levels textured with images of human internal anatomy while battling the game`s worm-like adversaries. This pre-dated the Planet Express crew`s similar journey in Futurama by many years.
The legacy of System Shock 2 continues today. Its 25th-anniversary remaster recently debuted for PC, followed by a console release in July after a brief delay. This remaster was a significant undertaking for Nightdive Studios, as they lacked the complete original source code and had to meticulously reconstruct the game through extensive reverse-engineering.