PlayStation.Blog » Fred Dutton

Watch_Dogs: Behind the Scenes with PS4′s Rule-Breaking Action Epic

Fred Dutton — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:01:55 +0000

As with any jump from one console generation to the next, PlayStation 4 owners will expect to see hardware that sits at the very cutting edge of innovation, offering unparalleled processing power and an arsenal of exciting new features.

However, the onus on game developers to bring bold new gameplay innovation to the table is every bit as integral to that generational leap, and it’s a responsibility that the whipsmart team behind Ubisoft’s future-tech open world action title Watch_Dogs are really tearing into.

As detailed in our coverage last week, the game’s core conceit – that its central hero, hacker Aiden Pearce’s primary weapon is not a gun, but an entire city – is one of the boldest, most ambitious ideas to come along in some time. To find out more about the game’s attempts to re-write the action rulebook, PlayStation.Blog sat down with the game’s creative director Jonathan Morin.

PlayStation.Blog: What was the first seed of an idea that later grew into Watch_Dogs?

Jonathan Morin: It started as a conversation. Four years ago we were talking about humans exchanging their lives and their details through their phones, and about how that could change our everyday lives.

When you make a new game where the mandate is broad and you have the right to create something new, you want to make sure that the people around you are all working on a subject they’re passionate about – something they really want to explore. So listening to those conversations helped come up with ideas. Like, “we all want to dig into these issues, so let’s try it out.” As the conversation grew, we started to add crazy ideas, like the profiler, and when you start prototyping those things, that’s when it explodes.

PSB: You started development four years ago. To many people, that might seem like a very long time to devote to one game…

JM: Well, there’s always a conception phase where there’s not a lot of people involved. We were only 10 for a long time, then we were 20 or 30. You need a certain kind of people – people who like to dig into subjects and research, try elements out and be comfortable with failure. Those were the kind of people we had.

It was a long process to define what was going to be special about the game. It was pretty early on when we ended up talking about controlling an entire city. The traffic light hack was one of the first prototypes we did. That really generated an emotion. “Woah, what? Can I do it on the other one too?”

That’s the kind of thing where you say to yourself “the promise of doing this is insane.” But you need to make it real and build a system around it that works. So those four years became a big challenge for some very smart people.

PSB: The core idea of having a whole city as your weapon is hugely ambitious – were you ever forced to make compromises to make the concept work in practice?

JM: Not really. There’s no real compromise there. It’s a very broad subject and had a tendency to create an infinite number of ideas when you brainstorm it. There’s a moment when you have to say “let’s stop here, let’s not go there”.

I don’t see that as a compromise, I see that as a necessity. If you want to make a game that has quality and in which everything reacts with each other in an elegant way, the only way to pull it off is to understand the barriers.

Constraint can be seen as a negative from the outside, but when you’re on the inside, having clear constraints helps people produce ideas faster. The constraints are re-assuring. This is where we stop. Then the rest is like, if there’s a subject that is bigger than just one game and there are a lot of ideas, and it’s successful, well… that’s not a problem, it’s a good thing.

PSB: And what about Aidan Pierce? How did his character take shape?

JM: One of the big things about Aidan Pierce is that he’s very street smart. We had a lot of conversations about that. It sounds straightforward, but very early on we looked at a game like Assassin’s Creed and how characters are and how they move. One of the things we felt was missing in every game was contextualisation. All those guys feel like robots. They move in the same way regardless of the situation.

Can we change that? Someone who is smart and is supposed not to attract attention to himself is going to walk in a certain way, and is going to be aware of his surroundings. So we put a lot of effort into that contextualisation. And that influenced everything, especially his look.

Like his mask. If there’s press and media in the game universe, he needs to react to it. Contextually he’s going to put his mask on when he starts doing bad things so that he’s not noticed.

The hat? He doesn’t want to be seen, so he can pull the brim down – like all those actors in Hollywood trying to avoid the paparazzi. They always have caps on. It’s cool, it’s different. The hoodie has been done to death.

The coat – same thing. It hides a lot of his body and he can hide things underneath. It’s also a cool way to interact with the wind physics and create nice continuity of movement. It creates a second wave of movement. It feels a lot more realistic for the player.

It sounds very easy and smart but it took years to have these ideas. Iteration upon iteration.

PSB: Can you talk a little about the ‘PS4 difference’? How does next-gen enhance your game?

JM: The experience is the same. We’re not removing anything from the core experience on either platform. We’re not eager to create a game for a machine. We’re making a game because we think it’s cool. When you create an idea you shouldn’t base that idea only on what’s possible or impossible to do on a machine. If you do I don’t think you’re doing the right thing.

When PS4 showed up, there was definitely a portion of the game we could push forward – the wind simulation, the water, the realisation of certain AI behaviours. So those elements are magnified versions of the core experience in the next gen.

PSB: What aspect of PS4 has surprised or excited you most?

JM: One thing I like about the PS4 is its philosophy, which from a creative perspective is an important thing. I think the next generation of games will be more than ever at the service of the player. Players are now the ones who drive what next gen should be. They’re connected all the time. The way they live their lives are different. So we need to pay attention to how society changes to give them a form of entertainment that is a natural extrapolation of that. I think that Sony understands that.

PSB: I know you’re leaving your big multiplayer reveal for another day, but can you talk in general terms about how you’re approaching that part of the experience?

JM: You can play single player or multiplayer in the game. You’re always in your own session. If you’re playing alone, you’re playing alone. So it means there are millions of people alone in their own sessions. We’ve simply added the ability to merge those sessions together at the pacing of our choice.

You can be free-roaming and naturally getting into some kind of activity that makes you intertwine with another player. You interact with them, then you’re done and it goes away. It’s not like you have someone in your game the whole time who can mess with your game, but it’s definitely the beginning of a solution to tackle those taboos.

Players often worry that another player is going to come into their game and break their experience. That’s an old school statement. We need to fix that, and it’s a design problem, not a technical problem – how do you bring two players together and let them interact in a way that’s pleasing?

One thing I can say is that when we watch people play together in Watch_Dogs, most of the time they don’t even realise that it was another player. There are no signs. There is a great thing there that someone can be in the experience and naturally enter a situation. They become part of the story. “That was another player? No way! That’s awesome!” They didn’t notice. That’s spectacular!

As a developer, I can immediately tell when it’s another player in a game – jeez, that guy doesn’t walk like an AI, that’s a player. But in Watch_Dogs, players won’t notice that immediately. It’s a new form of emotion and it fits perfectly in the Watch_Dogs universe where everybody watches everyone else.

God of War: Ascension Q&A: Taking Kratos to the Next Level

Fred Dutton — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:01:31 +0000

With God of War: Ascension’s launch just a few days away now, we sat down with the game’s Lead Combat Designer Jason McDonald and Lead Game Designer Mark Simon to find out how they’ve kept the formula fresh six games into the series, and what challenges the addition of multiplayer presented to the team.

We’ll have more insight from Game Director Todd Papy next week before Santa Monica’s lean, mean new actioner hits the shelves on March 12th. In the meantime, over to Mark and Jason…

PlayStation.Blog: How difficult is it retro-fitting a prequel story onto the existing God of War trilogy?

Mark Simon: It’s kinda nice actually. At the end of God of War 3 Kratos is completely rage-filled. His sole-focus has been figured out. With Ascension, we can go back to a different time period before he was this character. He has a wider range and you can explain things about him that you didn’t know before. You get to find out what turned him into the guy that he is – what makes him snap, and why is it that breaking a bond with a god like Ares does this.

PSB: If I was to plot Kratos’ anger on a graph, I’d say he starts at ‘seriously ticked off’ for God of War 1 and climbs to ‘ball of latent fury’ for God of War 3. But from what I’ve played of Ascension, he starts this prequel with a serious rage on. What gives?

MS: Sure, he does! But that’s due to the way the story is told. It’s like Slumdog Millionaire, or something like that. He’s not at the beginning of the story when you start the game. It’s told in a non-linear fashion. It builds up to why he is in the prison – why he was taken there by The Furies.

PSB: Do you ever worry that you’re going to run out of Greek gods for Kratos to beat up?

“That’s the great thing about our studio – ideas come from everywhere.”

MS: Every game is a challenge, but the Greek mythos is so wide and varied. We could never do every myth that it has for us. We don’t find it limiting; it’s more exciting to explore more areas of it – new gods, new titans, new locales.

Take the Furies. They’re primordial. They’re from before the gods – they’re more powerful than the gods. Some of their abilities are just ridiculous – so powerful. They make really great nemeses for Kratos.

PSB: Do you have an in-house expert who spends all their time going through Homer looking for new myths and characters?

MS: The cool thing about the studio is that some ideas come from the director, and then a lot of it comes from the rest of the team. Someone comes in and says ‘Y’know this would be really cool!’ Suddenly you’re in a brainstorming session, and before you know it you’re building it into the game. That’s the great thing about our studio – ideas come from everywhere.

Jason McDonald: But if you look at the typical desk in the office you’ll see Greek mythology books, random Greek materials – we do often reference that so we have to have those around.

MS: And the movies! Immortals, Jason and the Argonauts – all of them. We can’t get enough!

PSB: There are no office fact-finding outings to Greece then?
JM: No, but you should recommend that!

MS: Santorini, maybe. There’s got to be some myths around that island, right?

PSB: Every God of War game has had a different director. How hard is it to maintain a consistent feel in every game?

JM: Even when the director changes, the core of the team remain the same. There’s a number of people who’ve been there for every title. Each director, when they assume that role, was really skilled to begin with, so it’s not like ‘Oh my god, what do I need to do?’ They know exactly what they need to do. Every director puts their spin on it. Like [Ascension director] Todd Papy was a designer, so with this game he kept a close eye on mechanics.

MS: I think that after a project this size and scope, it’s not unhealthy thing to go ‘You know what? The director is going to move onto another thing if he wants to’. We’re a team full of leads. So if one director decides he doesn’t want to do it on the next project, there are a lot of people who can help out.

PSB: The series is known for its visceral violence and I’ve already seen some brutal kills in Ascension. Was there ever a moment during development where you said ‘Okay, we went too far with that one…’?

MS: It’s got to feel impactful. If you swing a club and hit someone it’s got to feel like you’ve just hit them with a club. If it doesn’t, it feels gamey. We don’t want that gamey feeling – we want it to feel like you’re actually impacting someone’s head. It makes that sound, it feels like that – you kind of cringe thinking about it, but that’s what melee combat should feel like.

PSB: Which of the additions that you’ve made to the God of War formula this time around are you most happy with?

JM: The Rage system turned out really well. Everyone uses it differently and it’s nice to see that come together. The multiplayer though – seeing all that come together and people having fun – that’s an experience that is very unique to this game and I’m very proud we were able to accomplish it.

PSB: How did the decision to add multiplayer come about?

JM: I don’t remember anyone saying ‘it’s multiplayer time, let’s do it!’ It was more that we were curious about it. We hadn’t tried multiplayer before so we were asking ourselves ‘can it be done? Is there fun to be had?’

So we tried out a few tests using Kratos, as he was already built. What we found was that people would sit down with two Kratoses and have a lot of fun. They’d sit there for hours. It was un-tuned and very rough, but when we saw people enjoying it we thought it had merit. After that it was all about putting the God of War spin on it – making sure the scale reaches what we expect, and not just eight players bundled into a room fighting each other. We had to design modes and rules to make sure it wasn’t repetitive.

“We found that players really wanted to keep the action going as long as they could.”

PSB: How difficult was it to keep the combat balanced?

MS: You always start with something very simple – people fighting one another. Then you start adding new things and you watch the balance go out the window. Then you try desperately to get it back again before introducing another new thing. That’s how we iterate. We didn’t start with everything all at once.

PSB: How useful was the beta? Did players’ behavior take you by surprise?

MS: I learned a lot just looking at the data that comes in. I’d be like, ‘Woah, I can’t believe this guy opened 17 chests’ or ‘this guy actually killed three guys at once?!’

And the thing that I was surprised by was some of the stuff that I thought would be cool. Like, I thought it would be cool when the god throws the spear down in the middle of a match – everybody would get the same cinematic and we would have this big spectacle in the middle of a match.

I thought that would be cool. And it was cool… the first time. But it wasn’t cool the second time or the third time. We found that players really wanted to keep the action going as long as they could. And when the match was over they generally wanted to get right back to it again. So we took the camera cut out so as not to stop the action. The beta was really helpful for that kind of feedback.

PSB: Finally, I’ve got ask for your take on the PlayStation 4 announcement last month. What do you make of the new system?

JM: Very excited! We don’t get hardware leaps like this that often, so to have one coming up is very exciting. The social stuff in particular. The power is going to be awesome and we’ll have amazing artists and engineers who will be able to draw so much out of it – but the social stuff is great. It’s something gaming is moving towards so the more features that support people playing together, the better.

Piecing Together the Weird World of Tearaway

Fred Dutton — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:00:36 +0000

Hopefully you all took the time to enjoy the new trailer for Media Molecule’s forthcoming PS Vita adventure, Tearaway, last week. In the eyes of PlayStation.Blog, it’s one of the loveliest titles inbound for any platform, bursting at the seams with invention, wit and creativity.

We stopped by Mm’s Guildford HQ late last month to check up on progress, and grabbed director Rex Crowle for a quick chat about the game’s unusual inspirations and influences. Read on to find out more about the eccentric themes that the team are pulling in an effort to make a truly unique video game…

Paper

First things first: paper. The entire game world is built out of the stuff, and you’ll be manipulating it with your virtual fingers.

“I think it married together the main things I wanted to do with the game – of it just feeling very tactile and being something you really wanted to hold in your hands,” explains Rex.

“And then we also wanted to provide players an interesting way of taking stuff from inside the game, outside the game, so they can build their own version of the experience and expand it out into their own physical space.

Surprisingly, Rex adds that he’s never had any particular interest in papercraft, per se.

“I’m a real doodler. I just can’t stop drawing all over it. It was quite an exciting change of direction for me to think about this surface that I’ve always treated as a totally 2D surface, and fold it so that it becomes a 3D object. It’s kind of like a drawing coming to life!”

Mother Nature

As you may have noticed in the two trailers released so far, Tearaway is a game that’s obsessed with nature and the great outdoors. The environments are lush and verdant, and populated by a colorful cast of woodland creatures, including elks, chipmunks, squirrels and mice.

“Some of the early stuff we were making from paper, we made it in quite a low poly way – that’s how you start making things in papercraft,” explains Rex. “But we soon realised that paper can actually be really high-poly. It’s incredibly curvaceous – it can bend and flex and do all this stuff.

“Our models actually became more interesting as the glue started to dry and the joins started to peel back. That started to show how paper is best-served dealing with quite organic shapes. It’s more interesting making a tree out of paper than it is an office block – that’s just a cube, y’know? So that ‘nature’ feel helped us best exploit the movement of paper.”

The Mail

Tearaway’s story revolves around the efforts of iota – or atoi – delivering a letter to the player. Yes, a letter. Remember those? Why did Rex choose to focus on such a seemingly archaic notion?

“I think maybe I’m a bit of a romantic when it comes to paper and the various ways it’s been used in the past. It feels like it’s slowly disappearing so I’d like to celebrate it a bit before it goes completely.”

Myths and Legends

Alongside all those familiar woodland critters, Tearaway’s universe is also inhabited by a colorful cast of beasts taken straight of popular folklore – including wendigos and mer-men. In general, the game seems to tip its hat to the folk-tale tradition at every turn.

“I wanted to make sure that we didn’t just have a paper world – but we had our paper world,” says Rex.

“We’ve deliberately tried to avoid a lot of the big gaming conventions – the lava planet, the ice world and so on – in part because they don’t make any sense when you make them from paper anyway. So we tried to look at new themes that hadn’t been visited as much in the past.

“I really like Sogport because it’s this little island of paper surrounded by glue that’s getting smaller as its inhabitants rip up the land and use up the resources. It felt like we could get a really nice little ecosystem running on this island in how these creatures play together and fight together.”

Classic Adventure

Tearaway is an adventure in the truest sense of the term – a plucky young hero embarking on a noble quest in an unusual, dangerous world. Think H Rider Haggard or Conan Doyle, shot through with a healthy dose of Terry Gilliam…

“To me ‘adventure’ means having a goal – the big quest of delivering this unique message – but it’s all the little surprises along the way that are really important,” says Rex.

“You’ll meet strange characters and learn about them. A whole mountain range folds up out of nowhere or a river appears – it’s slightly more like the old Odyssey-style stories, where someone is on a big quest and meeting all sorts of strange people along the way.”

Sailors and the Sea

Sogport, the region of the game shown off in the new trailer and the section we got to play through, is packed with nautical references and folk who clearly make their livelihood from the sea.

“I’m from a small little fishing town so maybe I’m channelling a bit of my upbringing into the game at the moment!” he explains.

“But Sogport is just one region in the game. The stuff we showed at Gamescom was a different slice of our paper world and we’ll be revealing more areas as we go on. But each one tries to have an interesting twist on the whole papery construction. In Sogport, it’s the glue – and wind is a big deal too.”

Folk Music

Just as it did in LittleBigPlanet, music and sound play a key role in building Tearaway’s quirky universe. In keeping with that aforementioned ‘folklore’ feel, the game’s soundtrack takes its cues from traditional folk music. Check out the ruthlessly catchy number in the new trailer for reference.

“The thinking behind that is again trying to tie in with the whole forgotten folklore feel,” explains Rex.

“We wanted to create music that felt like it came up from the soil, almost. The kind of music that the characters in the game might have created themselves.

“And then we also juxtapose that with you playing the game as a ‘godly being’ – so when you get to have your big dramatic effects on the landscape of pushing your fingers into the game world, the audio ambience can be very ethereal and different from the more earthy music elsewhere in the game.”

LittleBigPlanet

Media Molecule’s last title was, of course, LittleBigPlanet. Do the two games share any common themes?

“We’re a small team and we all put a lot of our own personality into our games. The biggest link is that a large amount of the LBP team are working on Tearaway, so you will see inevitable stylistic similarities,” confirms Rex.

“But I think the main similarity is a general playfulness in the world, and wanting to play with conventions by breaking the fourth wall all the time and actually referring to you, the player, as a character outside the game.”

Killzone: Mercenary – Behind-the-Scenes Interview, Single Player Details

Fred Dutton — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:00:13 +0000

For a series that’s always been at the bleeding edge of modern FPS design – both in terms of technical performance and muscular gameplay – it’s fair to say that expectations are sky high for Killzone: Mercenary – the first PS Vita entry in Guerrilla’s acclaimed franchise.

Until last week’s reveal, all the studio has shown off was a brief teaser clip at Gamescom last September. But earlier this month, in a very snowy Amsterdam, it finally took the wraps off the game, showing off big chunks of both the single and multiplayer modes.

And you can breathe easy – it looks absolutely stunning, packing all the visceral grit and gristle of its home console brethren into PS Vita with real style. Don’t believe us? Remind yourself of the new trailer below.

We sat down with Piers Jackson, who’s leading development at Guerrilla Cambridge (the same team responsible for the exemplary LittleBigPlanet PSP), to find out more about the game, with particular attention paid to its generous single player campaign. Read on below, and come back next week for a closer look at multiplayer. And if you’ve got any questions relating to how the game plays, feel free to ask away in the comments.

PlayStation.Blog: Where does Mercenary fit in the full Killzone narrative?
Piers Jackson, Guerrilla Cambridge: Mercenary starts shortly after the beginning of Killzone 1. We commence the game with the battle for Vekta in full flow – you actually start out in a destroyed Vektan city and the opening few levels are all about liberating the planet. We then transition into the Killzone 2 universe and the invasion into Pyrrhus. The story itself wraps up at some point in the Killzone 2 universe.

“We’ve tried not to shrink it at all”

PSB: The game looks phenomenal on PS Vita. Was it a challenge shrinking the full console experience onto a handheld device?
PJ: In some regards we’ve tried not to shrink it at all – we’ve tried to get a full Killzone experience running on PS Vita. The system is incredibly powerful – we’ve got graphics that are comparable to Killzone 3 running on a handheld.

PSB: How easy was it getting the Killzone game engine up and running on the system?
PJ: It’s optimised in a lot of locations but the core AI system is based precisely on Killzone 3. We’ve had to replace a few of the audio and rendering systems but the back-end leading into them is pure Killzone engine architecture. We’ve also got certain things in the renderer that are unique to our system – we’ve added reflection mapping on the floor and particle systems can actually be lit as well.

There may be a few areas we’ve had to tone back a bit, but we’re pretty convinced that we’ve come up with something that touches most of the technical features from the main Killzone engine.

PSB: You’ve managed to retain that crunchy, weighty feel to the controls that really helped define the game on PlayStation 2 and 3…
PJ: So much of it is in the acceleration curves on the controllers and, obviously, as we were using the Killzone control input system, a lot of that came over for free. We needed to rebalance it slightly for the PS Vita stick inputs – which are slightly different than the DualShock – but that is the feeling you expect from Killzone; that weightiness. If you don’t have that, you’re not making a Killzone game. It was imperative that we kept it.

“If you don’t have that, you’re not making a Killzone game.”

PSB: How do you change your thinking when you’re designing an FPS for a portable system rather than a home console?
PJ: There are elements in terms of visibility that you have to pay attention to – how far away you’re positioning enemies, and what you’re positioning them against. When you’re playing on a large TV screen you can get away with more. Having said that, we have a really high-resolution screen on the Vita so the characters stand out very well, even at a distance.

PSB: Multiplayer is obviously important but I know Killzone fans are really hoping for a meaty solo campaign too. How much content can they expect?
PJ: We have nine single player missions. On average, on a first-time play-through, they’ll take between 40 minutes and an hour each to complete. So, it’s a lengthy game. It’s got a full narrative too – every mission brief is set up as a full story. There are twists and turns. It’s a very detailed single player experience; it’s not cut back in any way.

PSB: How are you encouraging repeat play-throughs?
PJ: When you first get to a level, there’s a standard play-through mode. Once you’ve completed that you’ll unlock three challenge modes – Covert, Precision and Demolition. Each challenge mode will dictate that you need to play the level in a different way. You may have gone in guns blazing first time, but if you take the Covert challenge you’ll need to be much more stealthy – you can fail it if you get detected.

Precision is usually about accuracy and how you’re taking out the enemy – headshots, melee kills, interrogations. There can also be a timed element to it. We also have gun challenges in there as well, so you may have to play the mission using a certain weapon.

Demolition is largely about exploding things, as you might expect! You’ll have additional requirements in the mission that you’ll need to destroy.

“Each challenge mode will dictate that you need to play the level in a different way.”

PSB: Big action set pieces are a key component of any great shooter. Is it harder to pull those off on a handheld device?
PJ: We’ve got some pretty hefty set pieces in there. We have a halo drop, as you might have seen – that’s a pretty epic way to open a mission! We really don’t skimp on set pieces. We blow up giant cruisers, we have flight sections – there are all sorts of big moments.

PSB: What new gameplay mechanics can fans of the series expect?
PJ: The shop is the biggest one for us really – the fact that you can go into a level kitted out however you want. You can then purchase new weapons as you go, to tailor the experience as you see fit.

Stealth is another big one – we have light stealth in the game. If you’re being quiet and using silenced weapons the AI will not pick up on you. If you kill a trooper and the body is left lying around and another enemy finds it, they’ll come and hunt you down. We’ve extended the AI to cater for additional play-styles.

Those are the big ones, but obviously the melee system now uses the touch interface. And outside of the core mechanics, I think the fact that we’re showing the Killzone universe from a different angle will appeal to core fans as they get to see the universe in a different light.

PSB: You’re the first studio outside of Guerrilla HQ to develop a Killzone title. That’s a lot of pressure!
PJ: It’s worth pointing out that a good number of our art team have been working on previous Killzone titles so it’s not like the franchise is entirely new to us. When we embarked on Mercenary obviously we worked very closely with the guys in Amsterdam to maintain the continuity, and we’ve had a very tight relationship throughout the process.

But it’s been great. It’s been a rush! It’s a big project, and a very exciting one – it feels great to finally be showing this to people outside the studio.

Interview: Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert descends into The Cave

Fred Dutton — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 18:00:15 +0000

If, like me, you grew up in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s it’s likely that Ron Gilbert is responsible for many of your formative gaming experiences. While at LucasArts he was responsible for a red-hot run of bona fide adventure game classics, including Maniac Mansion, Zak McKraken and the beloved Monkey Island series.

In January, he returns to the fray with The Cave, a delightful Sega-published 2D romp that, in true Maniac Mansion tradition, sees you picking three characters from a wildly diverse line-up of seven oddballs and descending into the titular caverns for all manner of puzzle-centric adventure.

From the brief section we’ve played, it’s clear that Gilbert has lost none of his flair for fiendish puzzle design, barmy dialogue and madcap storytelling. It’s shaping up to be a charming, challenging and wonderfully eccentric title that will both delight his core fans while being accessible enough to win plenty of new ones.

We caught up with the man himself when he was in London earlier this week to find out a little more about the project.

You’ve said that the concept for The Cave has been in your head for more than 20 years. Why has it taken so long to get it made?

Ron Gilbert: Well, I have a lot of ideas floating around my head. I’d think about The Cave every once in a while and put another piece of the puzzle in place, so to speak. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago when I was having lunch with [Double Fine founder] Tim Schafer that things really started moving.

We were talking about games and The Cave had just popped into my mind. I told him about it and he thought it was a great idea so he said ‘why don’t you come to Double Fine and make it?’ They had a free team at the time so it was just the perfect aligning of two things. It was just random luck.

You’ve spoken a lot recently about how much you enjoyed Limbo. The two games seem to have a few elements in common – was its release a catalyst for pushing The Cave back into your thoughts?

Ron Gilbert: It was a little bit. Playing Limbo was what got me thinking about The Cave again. I played Limbo and I really liked it. It’s a brilliant game. It’s not an adventure game – a lot of people dispute this – but I don’t consider it an adventure game. But it’s a brilliant game nonetheless. And it did kind of start my mind thinking a little bit, and dredged up The Cave. Especially the 2D element – I always imagined The Cave being this 2D ant farm, you know?

What other sources of inspiration have you drawn upon?

Ron Gilbert: A couple of things. The first adventure game I ever played was set in a cave – the original Colossal Cave. It was very inspiring to be able to follow that tradition.

And caves are just inherently interesting and mysterious. We lived in them 40,000 years ago, y’know. There’s just something about them – they’re really ingrained in our brains on some level.

And then the other inspiration was just what Gary [Winnick, LucasArts designer] and I had done with Maniac Mansion, with the seven characters. I’ve always wanted to revisit that formula and this was the perfect vehicle.

Are you much of a spelunker in your spare time?

Ron Gilbert: No, I’m actually somewhat claustrophobic… going into a cave for real creeps me out a little bit.

What would the Ron who made Maniac Mansion back in 1987 think of The Cave?

Ron Gilbert: Where the hell are the verbs?

Do you think it’s markedly different to those classic LucasArts games?
Ron Gilbert: Well, I think at its core The Cave is just a good solid adventure game. If you look at the puzzle structure of Monkey Island and the puzzle structure of The Cave they share a lot in common. But for The Cave, it was just about streamlining – looking at things like inventory and traversal and just trying to re-examine them. In a similar way that Gary and I looked at Maniac Mansion and wanted to get rid of the parser, and just streamline some of that stuff out of those games.

That’s really what The Cave is about. Maybe we’re right about some of it, maybe we’re wrong. Maybe people really do want inventory. You’re just always trying new things and feeling your way through it and making adjustments for the next game.

Does stripping out the inventory make the game more accessible to newcomers?

Ron Gilbert: I think it does, in a way. Gaming has become much more mass-market. A lot of people play games these days – on their phone, or their tablet, or whatever. They’re not necessarily interested in these fast-reaction, hyper-violent games with lots of neck-stabbing or whatever, but they are interested in slower things and they really do like puzzles.

The best-selling game of all time is Angry Birds. And it’s a puzzle game. You use your brain to puzzle things out. But there is this visceralness to it – you watch these birds smash into stuff.

For the larger mass-market, adventure games are probably a really great thing, but maybe they don’t want a bunch of verbs on the screen or to rifle through hundreds of items in an inventory. So it’s just about streamlining stuff away and seeing whether that’s more in line with what a modern gamer is looking for.

You must have designed hundreds of puzzles over the years. How do you keep them fresh?

Ron Gilbert: Puzzles in adventure games are probably a lot like stories. If you look at adventure games you can probably boil every puzzle down to one of, say, 20 puzzles. It’s the same with movies. You could take every single movie plot ever made and boil it down to 25 basic plots. It’s what you put on top of that – the other scenarios, the characters, all of those things.

If you were to deconstruct all the puzzles in the The Cave’s carnival section you probably wouldn’t find anything too original. But the fact that we wrapped them up in this carnival and gave them to you in different orders makes them seem fresh and new. Like with movie plots, it’s how you dress it up that makes it interesting.

Are there any adventure game clichés that you find really difficult to avoid?

Ron Gilbert: The absurdity of it all. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always enjoyed making adventure games that are comedies. At some level, there’s just the absurdity of using weird items in weird ways.

If you’re doing a game that is completely serious it’s always struck me as odd that I’m combining a pencil with some bubblegum to get a coin out of a sewer, while trying to tell a serious hard-boiled detective story. Those things just don’t match.

If you’re doing a comedy you can get away with a lot of that stuff, as people are more willing to accept it. But that absurdity of using strange items to solve puzzles can be a very hard thing to get away from.

What makes a great video game character?

Ron Gilbert: In some ways the same things that make a really good movie protagonist. There’s something about a protagonist that the player needs to be able to relate to. There’s always some kind of challenge they’re trying to overcome – that’s always a cornerstone of any movie.

That works well in games as you as the player actively help the character overcome it. So, protagonists are a little bit about aspiring to more than you actually are. It’s about getting caught in some kind of a problem and trying to work your way out of a problem.

Out of all the characters you’ve created, which one is your favorite?

Ron Gilbert: Probably Guybrush [from Monkey Island]. He’s a bumbler, right? He’s not the smartest person in the world, he really isn’t. He just bumbles his way through. He’s the butt of jokes, but he doesn’t know it. He imagines he’s a much better pirate than he actually is. That’s fun to write for and fun to make puzzles for because you can really play off it without the character themselves turning into a buffoon. I think Guybrush is really special because of that.

Epic Mickey 2: Behind the Mouse Ears with Warren Spector

Fred Dutton — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:01:07 +0000

As gaming résumés go, few can compare to that of Warren Spector. After starting his career on the fabled Wing Commander series back in 1990, he went on to work on massive franchises such as Ultima and System Shock, before re-inventing the stealth genre with Deus Ex and Thief. In short, he’s a true giant of game development.

And this week sees him return to the fray, with Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two – an ambitious sequel to his epic 2010 platforming adventure, packing in full co-op play and PlayStation Move support. The Junction Point founder was kind enough to lend PlayStation.Blog a few minutes of his valuable time to discuss the game – read on to find out what he had to say.

PlayStation.Blog: There are a lot of PlayStation gamers out there who might not be too familiar with the first game. What did they miss?
Warren Spector: What did they miss? Only the greatest game experience of all time! No, okay, seriously… what they missed was the reintroduction of Mickey Mouse as a game hero the equal of Mario, Sonic, Link or any other platforming or adventure star.

“Each player is the teller of his or her own story.”

They missed the return of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney’s first cartoon star – a great character who deserves better than to be forgotten. They missed what I hope was and is a unique combination of platforming and adventure game elements – with players getting to decide how the game felt and played.

They missed the “Deus Ex” choice and consequence idea applied to completely different genres – in Disney Epic Mickey games, each player is the teller of his or her own story, just as in Deus Ex and all the other games I’ve worked on.

They missed a cool story, a brand new game world and a trip down Disney Memory Lane. They missed all sorts of stuff!

And for those who did play it, what are the key improvements you’ve made for the sequel?
WS: Camera, camera, camera! The team worked really hard to enhance the camera system. And when I say “really hard” I mean “really hard!”. I think we did a better job of player direction – knowing where to go and what to do. Games should be about how to do stuff, not figuring out what stuff to do!

We’ve added full voice for all characters, some of whom even sing. We’ve taken the idea of choice and consequence to new levels – your play-style really matters this time around and your choices may have consequences that last forever and can’t be undone.

Oh, and we’ve added a little thing called two-player co-op. Now, one player takes the role of Mickey, with Oswald as an AI-controlled character, but at any point, a second player can sit down next to you and play as Oswald. It’s all about the Power of Two!

The camera was indeed one of the issues that came in for criticism last time. How have you refined it?
WS: We’ve worked non-stop on the camera since the day we shipped the first game. We made a ton of code changes – including always allowing manual control of camera, while working to ensure you don’t have to take manual control any more than necessary.

“Everything’s better this time around.”

The level builders – designers and artists – were way more experienced this time around building levels that were less likely to break the camera system. And we just understood the ramifications of changing the world, dynamically, with paint and thinner.

Everything’s better this time around. I’m sure you and your readers will tell us if everything’s better enough!

Developers often struggle introducing simultaneous co-op play – was making it work in Epic Mickey 2 a big challenge for you?
WS: I don’t think so, really. I mean, once the team decided to go with Oswald AI throughout the game, we didn’t have to design maps to work with and without Oswald. He was always going to be with you, even in single player.

And I’m not a fan of special modes of play – I mean, there’s no special co-op mode, or co-op story, or co-op specific missions. There’s just the game. Oswald’s there to help. Sometimes he’s AI controlled and sometimes he’s player controlled.

It wasn’t easy – I’d never say that… the team would kill me! But we have a great team at Junction Point, a team that really wanted to tackle the problem, rather than being told to tackle it. That makes a world of difference.

You’ve included PS Move support. Do you see that as the definitive way to enjoy the game?
WS: Well, there’s certainly a lot to be said for the combination of gestural control and high definition graphics! That’s as close to a “definitive” statement as I’m going to make!

We know you’re a huge Disney fan – have you managed to pack plenty of fan service into the sequel? What new characters can we expect to see?

“The entire team embraced their inner Disney geek.”

WS: The key isn’t that I’m a huge Disney fan; the key is that the entire team embraced their inner Disney geek. On the first game, there was a learning period where people who might not have been huge Disney experts became huge Disney experts. I pushed the team to find Disney inspiration for everything in the game but that battle was won on the first game. No need to fight it again. The whole team went after it, Disney-style, this time.

There’s plenty of “fan service” in Epic Mickey 2! As far as specifics go, especially new characters, let’s move on. I want players to discover that for themselves.

Epic Mickey 2 is a big, colourful title that seems both family-friendly but also deep enough for core gamers to enjoy. How hard is it striking a balance between the two?

WS: Man, making games at all is hard! Making games where “play-style matters” is even harder. Luckily, making games where players really get to decide how to interact with the world and the characters makes reaching a diverse audience a little easier. It sounds crazy, but it’s true.

The thing to remember is that, in most, if not all cases, if a player tries something – fighting or erasing or sneaking or platforming – and it isn’t working, or it’s too hard, or they’re not having enough fun, they can just try something else. When there’s more than one way to solve every game problem – or nearly every one – reaching players of different skill levels, different ages, with different interests, is kind of a given. But don’t underestimate how hard it is to make games that offer choices and real consequences! That’s the tricky bit…

Do you think younger gamers – or their parents – have enough choice these days? Epic Mickey 2 seems at odds with a number of the other big Christmas blockbuster releases…

“There’s an amazing amount of choice in games these days.”

WS: Honestly, I do think there’s an amazing amount of choice in games these days, if you look at the full range of platforms and distribution methods. I mean, if all you look at is console titles, sold at retail, then, sure, you might see a lot of games falling into a small handful of genres. But include digital distribution systems like PSN into things and the world looks a lot more diverse – in terms of content, gameplay, purchase price, commitment required, etc. Then, roll Facebook and browser-based games and iOS and Android games into your equation and the world of gaming is crazy broad.

Having said all that, I love the fact that Disney Epic Mickey 2 is one of the few truly family-oriented titles I see coming out this holiday season. And by ‘family-oriented’ I mean ‘of interest to everyone and anyone!’.

Dead Space 3 Interview: Sci-fi Survival Horror Gets a Multiplayer Make-over

Fred Dutton — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:00:02 +0000

Next February sees the release of the third main entry in EA’s critically lauded sci-fi survival horror series, Dead Space. While the first two games followed very similar templates, the latest installment really mixes things up by introducing full co-op play to the main campaign.

The optional drop-in, drop-out multiplayer lets a second player join in the story as new character Sergeant John Carver. While the game is fully playable as a solo experience, if you play with friend you’ll have an expanded story and get to experience a number of extra sequences and set-pieces.

We sat down with the game’s producer Steve Papoutsis to find out how – and why – developer Visceral Games has implemented this new system and what fans of the series can expect from reluctant hero Isaac Clarke’s latest adventure.

PlayStation.Blog: What goals did you set yourself when you first started work on Dead Space 3?
Steve Papoutsis, Producer of Dead Space 3: When we started work on Dead Space 3 we set a couple of things in front of the team. One of the things we talked about was how do we make the best game we’ve ever done? So, we came up with a weird saying: we want to make a AAAA game. Everybody says they want to make a AAA game. Well, we said ‘you know what? **** that, we’re going to make a AAAA game’. I know it sounds funny, but we needed to set a target for ourselves.

The other thing we set out to do was to really deliver on what the essence of a Dead Space game is. We’re really not into the stereotypes of ‘it’s an action game’ or ‘it’s a horror game’, and so on. It’s a Dead Space game. That means intense atmosphere, engaging narrative, thrilling action, horror, survival, tension. Those are the things a Dead Space game needs to have. Those are the blocks we’re building with.

PSB: You introduced competitive multiplayer in Dead Space 2 which had a mixed response from gamers. Do you think Dead Space 3’s co-op play is a better fit?
SP: We’re not doing competitive multiplayer this time – we’ve done that – but it was a big help in us understanding how to build an online game. With our co-op we wanted to make sure that whatever we did felt unique. We didn’t just want to have an AI bot follow the player around and then when you hit a button and someone starts controlling that guy. That wouldn’t feel like Dead Space.

The other challenge was creating a co-op mode that felt additive to the experience. You don’t have to play it – you can play Dead Space 3 in single player and it plays out in very similar way to what you’ve experienced in the past.

And we needed to create a character that fit into the universe and didn’t feel like a throw-away character. We first announced John Carver through a graphic novel, so he has his own unique personality and backstory. So when you get into the game he actually brings value to what’s going on. You learn about him and his own personal demons. That’s very different, and we feel it’s very innovative.

PSB: Many of the original Dead Space’s scares derived from the sense of solitude and loneliness. Won’t having another player at your shoulder dilute the horror?
SP: As for being alone and walking down a corridor on your own – you still have that in Dead Space 3. You can play the single player and you still have that. But now when you have another character in the scene with you, it’s a different approach to the horror – it’s more psychological. That’s a new feeling that you’ve never had in a Dead Space game. That’s how we’re injecting horror into the co-op.

“If you want to have the intense single player experience, you can still do that.”

I also think there’s a lot more to horror than things just popping out at you. There’s the atmosphere, the sound, the events, the things that you see in the environment – those all have different impacts on people. You can still have all that when you have two people walking around the environment.

Ultimately I think it will come down to who you’re playing with. I like to think of it like going to a movie. Say you and I go to a horror movie – we’ll sit there as horror fans and really get into it. We’re not going to talk during the movie, we’re going to sit on the edge of our seat, and be really into it.

But if you went with a different friend who doesn’t like horror, he or she might choose to talk through the movie or laugh at what’s going on. That’s going to impact how you enjoy the movie.

So, if you want to have the intense single player experience, you can still do that. And if you want to have an experience in co-op like that, I suggest you play with someone who likes to play that way. But if you just want to have fun like you’re at a popcorn movie, laughing and having a good time, play it with a friend who likes to play like that.

PSB: How hard is to make a game that’s genuinely scary?
SP: What’s interesting to me is that I’ll read a lot of the feedback to our game and it’s vastly different. Some people say ‘oh gosh, it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever played’ while others just say ‘bah, I wasn’t scared at all’.

So, yeah, I think it’s hard to say you’re going to scare people. It’s very subjective. We don’t have a magic formula. We take our best guess at what will resonate with players. For us, it’s usually things that are relatable. Look at the character design of the necromorphs – they’re humanoid. You can relate to a guy who doesn’t have a jaw and has weird spikes sticking out of his arm. You can imagine ‘Ooh, that would be terribly painful!’ You can react to that.

PSB: How much of the game will you miss out on if you’re only play the single player?
SP: You’re not missing out on anything. The multiplayer is additive. If you’re playing single player you’re choosing to have that solitary Isaac experience. If you’re interested in learning about Carver, you’re playing with a friend and you’re getting that additive information, but it’s not changing the end of the story. It’s impacting Carver’s story.

PSB: Isaac has had a pretty terrible time over the course of the first two games. Will he finally catch a few breaks in Dead Space 3?
SP: We’ll see! I can say that Isaac was not looking to get himself into an adventure in this game. We’ll leave it at that and see where it winds up.

Need For Speed Most Wanted Interview: Under the Hood of the PS Vita Version

Fred Dutton — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:00:19 +0000

Next week sees the keenly anticipated release of Need for Speed Most Wanted, the latest release from Criterion Games – the legendary UK racing specialist behind the Burnout series and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, the phenomenal 2010 entry in EA’s long-running street racing franchise.

That the PlayStation 3 version is very, very good should come as no surprise, but somewhat more unexpected is the amount of care the studio has lavished on replicating the experience on PlayStation Vita. Producer Matt Webster and his team have squeezed almost the entire experience onto the handheld, and even found room for a little bit of extra content exclusive to the system.

We sat down with Matt earlier this week to find out exactly how Criterion has pulled it off.

PlayStation.Blog: What was your goal when you first started developing the PS Vita version of Most Wanted?
Matt Webster, Producer at Criterion Games: It was to make the same game – that was the goal. As much as we possibly could, we wanted to deliver all the great things about the console version of the game: an open world, freedom, choice, variety, highly connected. All those principles looked like they were achievable on the machine, so that was what we set out to do.

PSB: What were the main challenges you met during development?
MW: You just run across performance challenges. Some of those are fundamental, which you learn to overcome as development progresses, and others you have to make some compromises.

PSB: What kind of compromises are we talking about exactly?
MW: It is exactly the same game [as the PlayStation 3 version] apart from traffic density and number of players online. But I think that the asynchronous play is actually going to be more important.

PSB: How exactly does that work?

“I can push up my Speed Point level on PS3 multiplayer when I’m mobile with PS Vita, and vice versa.”

MW: So, if you play the single-player game, and then play muliplayer, any Speed Points you earn in SP also drive your MP progression, and that’s true when you play the game on PS Vita too. Anything you earn on PS Vita carries across to the console version. It’s a unified scoring system.

Everything you do in the game earns Speed Points. Speed Points determine your position on the Most Wanted list. Am I outscoring my friends; have I reached the necessary score threshold to take on one of the Most Wanted drivers in the solo game; what speed level am I at in MP; what have I unlocked, and so on. I can push up my Speed Point level on PS3 multiplayer when I’m mobile with PS Vita, and vice versa.

PSB: The easy option would have been to contract an external developer to work on the Vita version but you decided to keep it in-house. Why?
MW: It was something we wanted to do. It looked like the machine was going to be capable of delivering what we wanted to do. And the way that we work is very iterative – build, play, change, build, play, change – that’s how we work. When you go external it generally only works when you’ve got a finished game, otherwise there are too many moving parts.

So, it looked like something we’d be able to do and we were going to be able to push ourselves in some new directions. It was difficult, but we’re not ones to shy away from a challenge.

PSB: Do you think a massive open world racing game like Most Wanted is a good fit for a portable gaming device?
MW: I do. The game is about freedom and choice. We have a saying – ‘not playing the game is the game’. What that means is that not playing the authored experience that most games deliver for you actually is very important and a really significant part of the game.

The way that these devices are used – they’re picked up, they have some play, and they’re put down. It might be high frequency play, but not necessarily high amplitude, where I’m spending long sessions with it. Our game can work in either of those scenarios. I think the asynchronous part of it is going to be really powerful on that device – do something, have Autolog pick it up, and send it back.

“We have a saying – ‘not playing the game is the game’.”

I think it will turn out to be something that PS Vita owners didn’t realize was possible on that machine – it is quite a significant achievement to do an open world game to the level of quality that we’ve managed. And then to have something as highly connected as it is – that’s something fresh and new. I think it will find a really good home on PS Vita.

PSB: What kind of exclusive PS Vita content have you included?
MW: There are some exclusive PS Vita races and events in there for players to discover. It’s another way for players to earn exclusive SP – it’s an extra reward for having the game on multiple devices and it allows us to do something specifically tuned to that device.

PSB: Have you used the PS Vita’s unique features in any way?
MW: We’ll use the touch screen for changing music tracks and in some parts of the interface but the rest of it… you have to use those things where they serve a purpose, otherwise they’re just a gimmick. You run the risk of it not being taken seriously. We’ll absolutely use it when it makes sense to use it.

PSB: Presumably you’ll be supporting the PS3 version post launch with DLC. Will that also apply to the PS Vita version?
MW: Well, we’ll clarify that when the time comes.

Fuse Interview: Ted Price Introduces Insomniac’s Shape-Shifting New Shooter

Fred Dutton — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:00:51 +0000

In terms of things that constitute A BIG DEAL, the arrival of a new Insomniac game is right up there. The California-based studio boasts one of the sturdiest resumes in gaming, with past works including Spyro, Ratchet & Clank and Resistance, and its latest effort – spectacular third-person shooter Fuse – looks every bit as distinctive.

The set-up is simple – you play as one member of a four-strong squad of special agents, each armed with a high-concept weapon powered by a mysterious alien substance called Fuse.

There’s beefy Dalton who wields a weapon that allows him to generate a force field. Naya’s assault rifle generates a mini-vortex which sucks in enemies. Izzy wields a shatter gun that freezes foes on the spot, allowing colleagues to step in and vaporize them. Finally, Jacob sports a crossbow that fires molten projectiles capable of turning the opposition into a pile of ash.

It might sound like a rather familiar set-up on paper, but in action it’s an extraordinary sight to behold, with each outrageous weapon interacting with each other to create uniquely over-the-top action. Take a look at the announcement trailer below then read on to find out what Insomniac founder Ted Price has to say about the project.

PlayStation Blog: What was the seed of the idea that later grew into Fuse?
Ted Price, Founder of Insomniac Games: Brian Allgeier, who’s our creative director on the project, proposed a four player co-op game featuring a team of agents who would travel around the globe infiltrating various facilities, lairs, and such like.

PSB: And when did you add in the fantastical Fuse powers?
TP: That was a relatively recent occurrence. We always had a McGuffin that we were chasing – ostensibly an alien substance but we hadn’t defined it very well. It wasn’t until fairly recently that we realized there was something of a disconnect between story and gameplay. Story was living separately. That was a hard realization for us, because for a game to really impact people, we believe story and gameplay have to be tightly meshed.

“For a game to really impact people, we believe story and gameplay have to be tightly meshed.”

So we started developing Fuse, and we started looking at it as something that powers gameplay as well as story. We made it the driver for the weapons and we made it the core of the progression system. When we did that everything started to click. That was the time when we made the tone shift as well.

PSB: Yes, the game was first revealed at E3 2011 as the more family-friendly Overstrike, but you’ve since given the concept a bit of a make-over. Explain how that happened.
TP: When we showed off the trailer in 2011, that was for the promise of gameplay that we had then. It was very story-focussed and less gameplay-focussed. In the intervening time we started really thinking harder about what the game was and where it was going to get its greatest impact.

That was when we started experimenting with Fuse. We created more visceral impact for our weapons, took a page from Resistance, went over the top with the visceral nature of each of the weapons and rethought the story in a slightly more grounded fashion.

The world is still very ‘Insomniac’ – it’s stylized in its own way and doesn’t adhere to any realistic conventions that we see today, and it is in no way a military sim. And it still has humor, but it’s a very different kind of humor to the campy, cartoony approach we originally took. I understand too that the change upset some of our fans who saw the trailer in 2011 and expected something very different. But what we have now is actually a better, deeper experience where we have gameplay and story tied more closely.

PSB: Gamers are really spoiled for choice when it comes to third-person shooters these days. How hard is it to make your game stand out from the crowd?
TP: That’s where we focus a lot on gameplay, where we do things such as introduce Leap where you can move back and forth at will between our four different character archetypes. It’s why we’ve created these Fuse weapons which have multi-purpose functions where not only is, say, the Shatter Gun is a great crowd-control weapon, but it’s also a great healing device. This creates layered gameplay for each of the four characters that you can control in the game.

But we understand how competitive the environment is; we’ve been there. Just a few years ago we were releasing Resistance games into what was at that time the most crowded market! We roll with the times!

PSB: Each of the four characters has its own distinct gameplay system. How difficult was it balance these mechanics so that they interacted with each other in an entertaining way?
TP: It’s hugely challenging. It took us a long time to get it right. We had a lot of failed attempts at creating weapons that were not only fun to use but also balanced and worked together.

“It’s really easy to take the default approach where you give everybody an assault rifle or a giant cannon and everybody is firing the same weapon.”

It’s really easy to take the default approach where you give everybody an assault rifle or a giant cannon and everybody is firing the same weapon. We absolutely did not want to do that but that did make the problem tough to solve. Creating differentiation without making one weapon better than the others was the result of prototyping – lots and lots of prototyping.

PSB: Fuse is clearly built around co-op play – is there much here for the single-player gamer to enjoy?
TP: I mostly play Fuse in single player. I play it a lot, because as part of the team that’s my job. In single player you get a great experience because we spent a lot of time on the bots. We know how important it is to have great AI bots in a multi-hero game. Our bots – we hope – strike the right balance between bots that support you well and bots that don’t kill-steal or get in your way.

We want to avoid those annoying traits that you see so often in bots because as a single player with three bots the potential problems are multiplied. So, one of the great aspects of playing a single player is that you can leap between all four characters at will and it gives you many different ways to approach our different combat scenarios.

PSB: Insomniac Games are known for their wicked sense of humor. Is Fuse going to make me laugh?
TP: We have a lot of subtle, sophisticated humor throughout the game. We definitely play up the strained relationships between our various agents. Dalton is probably the funniest character in the game. I really like Dalton because he doesn’t take himself too seriously. The characters do evolve in the game – we try hard in the story to show how they’re coming to terms with their situation. We hope players appreciate that as we have spent a lot of time trying to flesh these guys out and create a compelling story.

PSB: Of all the franchises Insomniac has created, do you have a favorite?
TP: It’s difficult to answer because I have been heavily involved in all of them. Shoot, I’ve been creative director on Ratchet games, Resistance, heavily involved with Fuse, I love Outernauts as somebody who has been peripherally involved with that, and Spyro… They’ve all been really fun and challenging as someone who has been part of the development team.

So, my current favorite – and this sounds like a suck-up answer – is Fuse, because I’m playing it a lot, I’ve been heavily involved in the process and I’m really proud of what the team has pulled off, especially in light of how much we’ve changed it in the last year.

PSB: All of your games have a very distinct personality. They’re all very different but all unmistakeably bear you mark. What specific quality defines an Insomniac game?

“We’ve developed a reputation for creating over-the-top crazy weapons.”

TP: It’s a great question. I don’t know what the right word is. Every one of our games has a quirky nature no matter how serious it is. Even Resistance in its own way was a bit quirky. But when you ask players and fans they’ll probably point to weapons first and foremost. For us, we’ve developed a reputation for creating over-the-top crazy weapons. And Fuse is not a departure from that at all!

PSB: Do you go back and play your old titles much?
TP: Not as much as I’d like to, but I have a lot of kids and as a result I get to relive them through their eyes, and that’s really fun.

PSB: Is that a painful process? Do you just see things that you wish you’d done differently, or done better?
TP: I think there are always improvements that I know we could have made in our games. Ask any developer – if they say they’re completely satisfied with their creation, I would question that. Mostly because there is never enough time to do everything we want to do in any game. But I’m always proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish with the resources we have, and I’m really grateful for the fan response we’ve had to each our games. It keeps us going – it’s why we make games.

A Cut Above: Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus 2 Q&A

Fred Dutton — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:01:12 +0000

The PS Vita version of 2007′s PlayStation 3 dice ‘em up Ninja Gaiden Sigma was satisfying evidence of just how comfortable a full, lightning-fast console action game can feel on a handheld. Duly, Team Ninja’s announcement last month that a sequel – Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus – is currently in development came as very welcome news.

PlayStation.Blog sat down for a quick chat with Team Ninja boss Yosuke Hayashi to find out what it has in store with its new Vita game, as well as mysterious new project Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z and recent release Dead or Alive 5.

PlayStation.Blog: It’s not been long since the release of Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus. Why are we seeing a sequel so soon?
Yosuke Hayashi, Team Ninja: We released Sigma Plus earlier this year and it actually did better than we expected, and there was a lot of fan demand for releasing a sequel. We were really happy with the results we got with the original, so that’s why we’re announcing Sigma 2 Plus.

PSB: What new features are you adding over and above the PlayStation 3 original?
YH: PlayStation Vita is definitely an easy console to play games on. It’s very friendly for a Ninja Gaiden kind of game. We really learned that making the first Sigma Plus. With the sequel we’re looking to add in some really good additional hardcore elements – things that people who really know the game and loved Sigma 2 will get into and enjoy.

PSB: What makes PS Vita a good fit for a high velocity action series like Ninja Gaiden?
YH: I don’t know if it’s a perfect fit, but it has the power and everything you need to play these kinds of games. You’re not always in an environment where you can play a full console game, but if you have a Vita you can have the same experience right there in the palm of your hand. It has the power to deliver an equivalent experience.

PSB: You recently showed off a brief teaser trailer for Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z – your new collaboration with Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune. Is that something Sony customers can get excited about?
YH: You’ll have to wait a little bit longer for more information but I’m sure everybody will be able to have some fun with it!

PSB: There are so many zombie games out there right now? Is there still room for new ideas and innovation in the genre?
YH: Absolutely, there are definitely new elements we can add to the zombie genre. It got to play like a Ninja Gaiden game – it’s got to be a good, solid action game. It’s not just an amateur zombie game. In addition, we’ll bring our own take on the genre – people will find that it’s something really new, but also something that sits comfortably inside the Ninja Gaiden world.

PSB: During your Yaiba announcement you pledged that Team Ninja is striving to help Japanese developers catch up with the West. Do you think your fellow countrymen can reclaim their ‘90s glory days?
YH: Honestly I don’t think we can reclaim the glory days of the past. Team Ninja is still strong and has found ways to remain relevant and keep making games that play on the world stage. We can’t say for sure that Japan as a whole will be there with us, but we’ll be around for years to come.

PSB: You just released Dead or Alive 5. It’s been a busy few years for the fighting genre. Why do you think DOA is still relevant?
YH: We don’t want to be put in the same space as other fighting games. The concept for Dead or Alive 5 has been ‘fighting entertainment’. We’re looking at a wider audience – offering a more accessible, more appealing fighting experience. Don’t just put us in with the rest of the fighters. You get a sense of fun and a sense of spectacle from Dead or Alive 5 that you’re not going to get from some of the other games that are out of there. That sets us apart and is something we want to push. Hopefully it will push the audience towards supporting the game.

PSB: How are you going to support Dead or Alive 5 in the coming months?
YH: We’re definitely going to be supporting the title after launch. We have a lot of DLC lined up and the artists are still working hard creating costumes that we know the fans are going to love and want to get their hands on.