Developer and publisher Scott Miller explains why Prey became a long-term project for 3D Realms Entertainment and how the game has changed over the years of its creation.
According to Miller, the team had a demo for E3 in 1998 and had a lot of ideas. The main mechanism in Prey is arguably the portals, which can be used with virtually no restrictions. But the studio was unable to perfect the game engine, even with the help of third-party developers. They then decided to focus on Duke Nukem Forever.
The publisher was returned its $900k investment, explaining that Prey was being shelved. We returned to this game after an offer from publisher Gathering of Developers. As a result, many ideas discussed in the late 90s were not adopted. Miller's own biggest regret is that the portal gun didn't survive to see Prey launch, even though it was in demo version.
Despite development problems, Prey has received love and recognition from fans throughout the years. PC Gamer magazine recently included it in the top 100 best PC games.
