One of the best things about making Aliens Vs Predator was the access we’ve enjoyed to all manner of original development materials used to create the monsters on film…
Jason Kingsley

Not surprisingly, the whole team are fans of all the Alien and Predator movies but while we all thought we knew a great deal about the films and their characters, it was vital that we conducted research to make sure that our collective memories were accurate.

To this end, we watched every film ‘til we could more or less repeat the scripts verbatim (the things we do to make a living). This necessary ‘chore’ proved that not only were our own conflicting views only roughly accurate, but also that even within the films themselves there existed a number of changes and inconsistencies, for artistic reasons no doubt.

In the original Predator film alone there are several separate sequences where the Predator uses his ‘invisibility’ cloak, each one slightly different to the last (presumably there were several different special effects companies used). Also, from Alien to Alien 3, the alien creature goes through a number of small, but important transitions in shape, proportion and colour.

Our task, therefore, was to work as closely as possible with Fox’s archive department to develop a standard model for each of the three main characters, using the best and most ‘game-friendly’ elements from each of their respective on-screen appearances.

While this task was a sheer delight for a bunch of science fiction fans, it was also more difficult than you might imagine. Every piece of equipment had to be researched thoroughly and then a decision had to be reached as to how (or, indeed, if) it could be incorporated into the game.