Insomniac has revealed the original character concept sketches for Ratchet and Clank. In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Insomniac chief operating officer John Fiorito describes the process for developing PlayStation’s iconic duo, including Ratchet’s original form as a bald alien reptile.
“The idea was to create a spunky alien with a crazy gadget gauntlet and some bionic commando traversal abilities,” Fiorito said about Ratchet. “While he barely resembles the final character, Ratchet 1.0 already has many of his characteristics in place – oversized hands and weapons, a gadget glove, three-toed feet, and pilot headgear. Eventually his reptilian body gave way to a more relatable cat form.”
Ratchet evolved from a lizard into a cat.
Clank, meanwhile, was originally set to be a mechanical lizard. “Only his eyes and articulated legs carried through to the final design,” Fiorito said. He also showed off original environment sketches, commenting that “our environment team was exploring a variety of directions for Ratchet’s universe. In these early sketches it’s easy to see that we were still moving away from Spyro’s fantasy worlds and into Ratchet & Clank’s sci-fi style.”
Clank's original form.
The sketches were revealed as part of Ratchet & Clank’s 10th anniversary, which Sony will celebrate with the Ratchet & Clank Collection later this month. Sony announced last week that Ratchet & Clank’s latest adventure, Full Frontal Assault, will be headed to both PlayStation 3 and Vita. Both characters will also appear in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale in November.
Check out even more Ratchet & Clank concept art below, or head to Insomniac’s official site for even more, including a look at enemies, environments and even early prototype footage.
