System Shock 2's Gross Doors Were Based on a Colonoscopy

Can you name something more fun than the '90s game dev? No, and I have a story that can prove my point. It turns out some of the textures in System Shock 2 were based on a colonoscopy video from one of the developers.

Artist Nate Wells recently revealed that back in the late ’90s, he was working on level design for System Shock 2. At one point in the game, players enter a biomechanical environment – basically, you explore a grotesque living organism created by a hive mind of parasites.

Wells needed to design doors that resembled organic openings, and he just couldn't find the right reference. That’s when producer Josh Randall stepped in and offered his colonoscopy tape. A single frame from the footage became the base texture for the game’s now-iconic 'sphincter doors' and visceral corridors.

"We did these things called 'sphincter doors,' this sphincter that opens up," admitted 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. Josh Randall approached me and said he had a video of his colonoscopy."

The developer brought the image into Photoshop, cleaned it up, and used it as the texture for those doors. So if you look closely at the sphincter doors, you don't just see a door from a classic game – you see a butt. 

"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."

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