The 'bullshot' dates back to Alone in the Dark
In the games industry, a 'bullshot' is a screenshot that's been manipulated to appear prettier and more exciting than the actual game. It happens more commonly than our tag would have you believe.
The thing is, scientists have been trying to determine the genesis of this heinous act for quite some time now -- and we think we've found a prominent example of one of the earliest bullshots in Alone in the Dark.
During his GDC postmortem, designer Frédérick Raynal admitted that he drew the back-of-the-box face for Alone in the Dark's protagonist in MS Paint, back in 1992. The main character doesn't look like he does above in the actual game, though the original packaging still shows the hand-drawn visage.
"We were in September 1992, master state, but we still had no head for the hero." Raynal said that Infrogrames was looking for screens to share at the time, and so Raynal was in a tough spot. He decided he was just going to draw the head in.
"It is funny because if you still look on the first box for the game, you an see those pictures with the fake head on it." Raynal said the bullshot even made it into the game -- if you don't touch the keys in the main menu, a slideshow featuring the touched-up image will start up. Nobody ever bothered to fix it.
