In the latest episode of Nightdive Studios' Deep Dive podcast, System Shock 2 artist and industry veteran Nate Wells shared stories of his time working on the PC gaming classic—including how he sourced an unlikely art asset for the structures built by nasty worm aliens, The Many.
"This is a funny moment, I don't know if it's a proudest moment," Wells said in response to a question from Nightdive's Locke Vincent. "When we were working on The Many, if you remember, it has this very biological vibe to it. It's this fleshy mass that has taken over the Rickenbacker." The Many's freakish hybrids make for a sharp contrast with Shock 2's sterile corridors throughout the game, while the second to last level changes things up with a dive into The Many's growing biomass.
"We did these things called 'sphincter doors,' this sphincter that opens up," said Wells. "I was making the doors and doing the concept. I think I was searching through some gross biological [images], like endoscopy sort of stuff. [Looking Glass producer] Josh Randall approached me and said he had a video of his colonoscopy.
"He gave me his colonoscopy video, or some stills from his colonoscopy video, and I ended up taking a frozen frame from somewhere in his large intestine, and then bringing that into Photoshop, flattening it out, and using that as the base texture for those sphincter doors. There was a lot of attention to it, but if you look at those doors, you're seeing Josh Randall's colon—audio genius Josh Randall's colon."
This story has been floating among System Shock 2's fan community already, but it's nice to get the confirmation and play-by-play from Wells. I did have the thought that Randall's colonoscopy 25+ years ago is arguably one of the most artistically significant ever performed. The one from the beginning of Uncut Gems is certainly up there, whether it was Adam Sandler's on the feed or a stunt double. My own certainly pales in comparison, though I'm happy to report that I've got a healthy chute, and we should all be so blessed in this life.
For a little epilogue, I decided to see how the textures in the Body of the Many compare between the original game and Nightdive's recent remaster. It's clear the assets were redone from scratch, Randall's contribution to the game now limited to participation trophy stuff like "actually getting it made" and "collaborating with Eric Brosius on its iconic soundtrack."
The System Shock wiki quotes "many of the textures" in the Body of the Many as being sourced from the colonoscopy, and Wells' recounting of it applying to the sphincter doors isn't necessarily exclusionary. Scrutinizing them side-by-side, the walls and sphincter in the original game have a glistening, veiny look to them that I slightly prefer. I still love the look of the remaster overall, though, and even some stuff in the updated Body of the Many wins out for me: The opening in the second shot now has a distinctly puckered quality to it that's absolutely revolting, but dare I say it also carries a touch of whimsy and cheek.
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