{"id":684543,"date":"2026-04-06T17:42:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T17:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"urn:uuid:092c02b4-9230-4f75-b7b9-d0df3da34e32"},"modified":"2026-04-06T17:42:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T17:42:54","slug":"the-callisto-protocol-glen-schofield-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-callisto-protocol-glen-schofield-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"The Callisto Protocol: Glen Schofield interview\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our first encounter with The Callisto Protocol was back in June, when its creator Glen Schofield shared an exclusive look at the horrors<\/a> that would await PS5 players on the surface of Jupiter\u2019s moon. The Striking Distance Studios CEO took us on a tour emphasizing the tech powering this return to the sci-fi horror space: the subtle strength of Horror Engineering that\u2019d perfect each shock and scare, the near-future weaponry that gives Jacob Lee a fighting chance against the mutated Biophage, and how 3D Audio and haptic feedback would pull us deeper into the danger-filled corridors of Black Iron Prison. <\/p>\n

Today at Gamescom, he returned to dig deeper into how the game\u2019s combat will work and share new gameplay. Prior to that reveal, we sat down to talk about the journey towards the game\u2019s launch on December 2, its soundscape, story, and more about his team\u2019s techniques to craft a horror story you\u2019ll be unable to forget. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

PlayStation Blog: While the game\u2019s still a few months out from release, that will mark (just under) two years since it was originally announced. Have you had much chance to come up for air and reflect on that journey thus far, or do you keep your focus solely on those pre-launch milestones?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Glen Schofield: <\/strong>The last few years have been a blur. We\u2019ve built a new studio, created a new game based on a new IP, with a new team, on a new engine, for a new generation of consoles \u2026 during the pandemic. What a ride!  The team at Striking Distance Studios can\u2019t wait to finally share The Callisto Protocol with the world!<\/p>\n

The support that we\u2019ve received from players\u2014and especially the PlayStation community\u2014has been one of the things that has inspired us to finish so strong. The feedback has been incredible, and it means the world to me and the team.  This game is a labor of love.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s left between now and going gold?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve reached what we call \u201ccontent lock,\u201d which means that basically everything is in the game at this point. Levels, creatures, visual effects, cutscenes\u2014it\u2019s all in there. Right now, we\u2019re making all those last little tweaks. Changing the timing on a sound here, brightening up a light there, tuning the difficulty, stuff like that. And of course, we\u2019re optimizing performance and squashing bugs every day.<\/p>\n

This last phase of development is a lot of work, but it\u2019s when the game really starts to shine. It\u2019s very satisfying to see the light at the end of the tunnel.<\/p>\n

Can you go into more detail as to your approach to the game\u2019s score? Is it primarily diegetic, backed with cues from The Apprehension Engine?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t overstate how important audio is to a horror game. It\u2019s half the experience. In fact, I consider audio to be a feature, like combat or anything else. It\u2019s that critical.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s interesting about audio for a horror game is that you have a ton of room to experiment and do some really wild stuff.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say you have a machine off in the corner of the room. We think about how we can make that machine scary. How do you turn people\u2019s expectations for what an industrial machine sounds like, and just tweak it a little bit, so it sounds foreign and intimidating? We want the world to feel familiar but threatening and a little off.<\/p>\n

These diegetic elements really help immerse the player in the world, but keep them off balance.<\/p>\n

Music and other non-diegetic elements then serve as punctuation marks for what\u2019s going on in the world.  A quick hit of dissident music when there\u2019s a jump scare can really help deliver the moment of terror.  But the timing has to be just right. A little too early or too late, and it won\u2019t land.<\/p>\n

Tools like the apprehension engine are a ton of fun because you can just create these crazy sounds that just aren\u2019t possible from regular instruments. It\u2019s a great way to use sound to make players uncomfortable and set them up for when we want to throw a big scare at them.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a> <\/p>\n

Is perfecting in-world diegetic sounds for a horror game as metalicious a process as I imagine? I picture the audio team iterating on every area\u2019s layout, weighing up every creak of the station\u2019s structure, every chain rattle to get the audio suspense alongside the visual note-perfect. <\/strong><\/p>\n

We spend a lot of time on the audio in The Callisto Protocol. And I mean a lot.<\/p>\n

Most players are surprised to learn how much work goes into creating the audio for a game.  For example, there are more than 200,000 individual sounds in our game. To put that into context, we have more than 60 unique sounds just for the various parts of Jacob\u2019s spacesuit.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s crazy to think about the level of detail that goes into making something feel alive and scary.  We spend weeks and weeks looking at every nook and cranny in the world making sure it doesn\u2019t just sound great \u2013 but that it sounds scary.<\/p>\n

Despite the futuristic setting, there\u2019s the sense everything is grounded in some sense of reality. Did that extend to level design? Did you approach Black Iron Prison as if it were a real place, so each area – even if unseen by the player – has purpose?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Great question. One of the pillars for the art team is something that we call \u201cdesigned realism.\u201d Since our game is set 300 years from now, there\u2019s naturally a lot of futuristic stuff in the world that hasn\u2019t been invented yet. But we want everything to at least feel real, believable, and make contextual sense in the world. <\/p>\n

The player might be in a maintenance section of the prison and see a bunch of strange machines. As designers, we don\u2019t need players to understand exactly what they do, but they need to feel real. They might have rusty edges and chipped paint and be near a vehicle, which gives them some context. <\/p>\n

This attention to detail and thoughtful approach to design helps players stay immersed in the experience.  If any of those details feel out of place, it can pull people out of the world. And when that happens, it\u2019s really hard to land a great scare.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

A follow up to that question: we see the sewage system setpiece in the Gamescom demo. Did some setpieces come organically when designing the prison layout, or was the layout tailored to fit the sequencing of setpieces? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s really an iterative process early in the design phase. We start with the story and then start to create levels in a whitebox environment to see what\u2019s fun and compelling. As we spend more time talking about the world and the player\u2019s journey we go through a lot of different ideas for \u201cbig moments\u201d like this.<\/p>\n

In this case, we knew we wanted to have this particular setpiece pretty early in development.  In fact, we included a rough version of it in an early demo build that we showed the executives at Sony.<\/p>\n

The slide down the sewage pipes had a lot of challenging technical problems for us to solve, and we knew if we could make that work early on, we\u2019d be able to tackle pretty much anything else later in development.<\/p>\n

The generative design process, processing human-made objects through AI to make them feel alien-like, sounds fascinating. How did that come to be used for the game? Has it turned up any peculiarities that the team thought too out there? <\/strong><\/p>\n

We fell in love with the generative design aesthetic as we were building out the \u201cart bible\u201d for the game. The results are familiar and recognizable while still looking totally alien and otherworldly. By using generative design as a visual bar we were able to transform everyday objects like chairs or prison bars into unique, futuristic details that immerse players in this sci-fi world.<\/p>\n

That said, we tried not to overdo it with generative design. Too much would have been distracting. We wanted to use it to make the world feel special and designed, but ultimately believable and practical.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The game uses the DualSense controller\u2019s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers to communicate the feel of futuristic weaponry. What was that process like, and who was involved in deciding what the right \u201cfeel\u201d was for fictitious weapons such as the GRP were?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We use the haptics to immerse players in the world and create a heightened sense of realism, urgency, and terror. So much of the horror experience is the visceral connection to what\u2019s happening on the screen, and haptics take that to the next level. <\/p>\n

Like everything in the game, the best horror moments come from the gut and require a lot of trial and error to get right. Haptics are no different. Our design and systems team spent months getting the feel just right. From the hum of the GRP gravity weapon to the feedback when landing a crushing blow onto a mutated monster with the stun baton, you just do it over and over and over again until you get it just right.<\/p>\n

In your announcement PS Blog article, you talked about resources being scarce to strip the player of any power fantasy: are there different difficulty options built into the game, and if so how and what do they scale? <\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll have different difficulty settings so players can play the way they want to play.  But that said, we\u2019re making a pretty tough game on the normal setting. <\/p>\n

Harder settings will give players fewer resources to work with and make enemies stronger, more aggressive, and more aware of the player\u2019s movements.<\/p>\n

We want players to feel challenged and accomplished, not frustrated and defeated.<\/p>\n

Obviously you\u2019re keeping story specifics close to your chest. But are you able to discuss constructing the story? Did you come in with a clear idea of where or how this story would conclude or have you found it during production?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I came up with the idea for the game when I was spending a few weeks in the desert after I finished my last project. I knew I wanted to tell a science fiction horror story set in a deep space prison, and had a few of the key plot beats. I knew how I wanted the story to end, but there were a lot of details to work out.<\/p>\n

I came home, got to work, and a few days later had a ten-page treatment that I was ready to start to pitch. From there, I started working with my writing team, including our creative director Scott Whitney, who I\u2019ve worked with for more than 20 years. In fact, we worked together on the original Dead Space.<\/p>\n

The team really helped me flesh it out. I think of myself as more of a storyteller than a writer. The team helped me bring my ideas to life. <\/p>\n

\n