The release of Alone In The Dark is just six weeks away, and we got our hands on an interview from XCN with the producer Nour Polloni. Inside you will find their thoughts about the game, a confirmation of a demo around launch and of course much more.
Interview by: Graeme Boyd, Xbox EMEA Community Manager
Answered By: Nour Polloni, producer at Eden Games
· We still consider the original Alone in the Dark games as some of the greatest action-adventures ever made. Are you getting some inspiration from these games, in terms of game design?
Our inspiration is really the very first game in the series. It successfully innovated technically, told a great story and pretty much single-handedly created a genre. Rather than direct inspiration in terms of game design it’s more about our ambition to live up to its huge legacy of innovation with our game.
· The tech demo movies of the game are really impressive: can you give us some examples of real situations in the game that we'll need to approach using physics/fire simulation creativity?
Every situation has more than one solution and we really want the player to get creative in how they solve problems. Different players will often have completely different ways of approaching things and we’ve had lots of surprises during tests where players have found completely unexpected ways of overcoming gameplay obstacles. With this in mind it’s hard to give a single example, but there’s lots of situations where you’ll be called on to use the different properties of things in your inventory to get through, much as we’ve shown in the videos.
· Aside from the physics simulation, another interesting aspect of the game is the ability for the gamer to skip the hard sections, like jumping to the next chapter in a DVD movie. How will the gamer know what happened in the sections he skipped?
The idea is not that the player just skips around randomly. We want everyone to play through from beginning to end. You wouldn’t skip to the end of a DVD of 24 – you watch it through otherwise what’s the point? If players skip straight to the end the only person they’re cheating is themselves. The chapter select is about freedom and putting an end to frustration. We want everyone who plays Alone to get to the end and enjoy the complete story. They can’t do this if they get stuck then shelve the game in frustration. With the chapter select if a player really gets stuck, they have the choice to move past the problem and continue the story.
· Eden revolutionized the free-roaming racing genre with TDU - something that we believe is still untouched by similar, recent games. Do you think Alone in the Dark will be as revolutionary for the action-adventure/survival horror genres? If yes, in which aspects?
Our objective with this game is to live up to the legacy of innovation of the very first game, and that’s what we’re trying to do with the level of environmental interaction, the real world rules, the cinematic presentation and the chapter select. We want to change what gamers expect from this type of action survival game and we think these features will do that.
· We know Alone in the Dark was previously conceived as an episodic game, with each episode separately downloadable via Live. Why have you decided to make it a regular retail game? Will we see additional downloadable episodes after the game's release?
In fact the episodic approach refers to the way we’ve designed the game rather than the delivery method of the episodes. We took inspiration from blockbuster TV shows like Lost and 24 and brought the same style of sustained narrative intensity and pacing to the storytelling, using plot twists, action and cliff-hangers. The DVD contains all eight episodes of the game, and that was always the plan. Of course delivering a game which is structured like a TV season does open up the possibility of further downloadable episodes and that’s something we’ll be looking at once the game is released.
· After completing the game in the singleplayer mode, what other gaming modes are players able to play? Or have you included different endings, so that players have to beat the SP again and again?
The game is single player. Players who skipped sections where they got stuck can go back and re-try them to get more achievements on Xbox Live, plus you have to complete a certain amount of the game to get the complete ending, which is something we would strongly advise all players to do. I won’t say any more!
· Will you launch a demo before the release?
There is an Xbox Live Marketplace demo planned around the launch of the game.
· Will you be travelling to Germany / Leipzig / GC 08? What do you think of the Games Convention?
We can’t confirm anything yet, but I certainly hope we’ll be going. Last year was fantastic for us – we did 2 solid days of tech demos and interviews and met with around 150 different media so it was intense but the feedback made it all worth it. I think the show is great – it’s always very well organised and the venue is excellent. Looking forward the next one!
· What are you doing to ensure this game will stand out amongst the crowd as far as games in this genre go?
Our goal with this game is to live up to the legacy of the very first Alone in the Dark game which delivered some real technical and gameplay innovations and created a whole genre pretty much single-handedly. With the new game we’re pushing an incredible level of environmental interaction, real world rules which make the gamer think in terms of what they’d do in the real world rather than in games, a powerful cinematic ambience made possible through the capacity of our rendering engine to create virtually unlimited real time lights, and the DVD chapter select which means absolutely everyone can reach the end of the game. We want to change what gamers expect from games.
· Will Alone in the Dark be a whole new beginning for the series or will there be some elements that people will recognise from the previous versions?
This is a rebirth and not a sequel. In one sense it is our homage to the very first Alone in the Dark that we loved, and fans will find a number of references to the first game in ours. That said, the player doesn’t need to know anything about any previous Alone in the Dark game to enjoy the full experience with ours.
· Have you enjoyed working on the game? Will you be sad when the time has come to move onto something else?
It’s been an amazing rollercoaster ride these last few years, and as I’m still up to my neck in it, it’s really hard to say how I’ll feel when it’s over. However, we’re already planning and scheming for our next move, so there’s not likely to be much of a rest…
· Some gamers are a little apprehensive about the DVD feature, can you divulge a little more about the punishment gamers will receive for skipping sections?
It’s not right to think about it in terms of punishment. The point of the chapter select feature is that we want everyone who plays Alone in the Dark to be able to reach the end of the game so they get the full experience and the full story. We’re making this game to be played, not shelved if the player gets stuck and frustrated in mid-game. When you watch a TV season you’re not expected to fulfil certain criteria before you can watch the next episode, so with the game you can always keep moving through the story. We still expect gamers to play through in the proper order, just as you’d watch a series of 24 on DVD for example – if you don’t you’ll end up missing important story elements and ultimately the only person you’re cheating is yourself. Players who play through every section will be rewarded with more Xbox achievements than those who don’t, and you have to complete a certain amount of the game in order to see the final ending. And believe me, you’ll want to see it!
· Can you tell us a little more about the NPC characters such as Sarah, Edward will be working with? How much of the game time will be spent alone, and with others?
Sarah is someone you meet who like you is just trying to survive the chaotic apocalypse. She’s with you for a major part of your journey and has a big role to play as things unfold. Theo is an old man you meet right at the start of the game who seems to know a lot more about what’s going on than you do, but unfortunately he doesn’t hang around long enough to pass on the knowledge. There are portions of the game where Carnby is definitely alone particularly later on, and he’ll need to rely on his own wits to make it through.
· You've talked about an almost unlimited number of combinations of items to make weapons, how diverse is this in reality? In your testing process have gamers really experimented a lot or stuck with the tried and trusted methods?
Of course the number of different items is not infinite, so logically the number of combinations is finite too. I can’t actually put a final figure on the number of combinations you can do, but there’s enough that you certainly won’t quickly discover them all. Every situation has different solutions, and this ties into the ability to combine items and create different tools and weapons. The player can really get creative and find their preferred way to deal with things. In testing we found that players were coming up with ways to solve situations that we hadn’t even thought of that worked which was extremely cool.
· Can you tell us more about the Bulgarian choir used to provide the chilling audio. How do their vocals fit into the gameplay and what was it like working with them?
They’re called The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices and are based in Sofia. Our composer Olivier Deriviere heard their music some time ago and approached them because he thought the unique sound of their vocals could bring something really special to the game. The lyrics were written by a Bulgarian writer he found and they talk about what’s happening to New York and to Edward Carnby in the game. In fact some fans have already done some translations which you can find on forums. Olivier had an amazing experience working with them, although the fact that they nod their heads for no and shake them for yes led to some confusion at first!
· Alone in the Dark has been at the forefront of survival horror games, in relation to this, will players always have limited resources or will items be plentiful? Will action fans be able to appreciate the game as much as survival horror fans?
Firstly we don’t consider this to be a survival horror game in the traditional sense – it’s a much more action oriented survival experience and we’ve deliberately designed it to appeal to a broader audience. Of course it’s still Alone in the Dark and we’re sure fans of the earlier games will enjoy it. For the resources in the game, items are generally found where they’d logically be in the real world, and we’re making sure there’s plenty to get you through, but not so much that you can afford to waste all of it playing pyromaniac!
· How have you created the horror atmosphere of being "Alone in the Dark"? Are you planning to shock the gamers often or do you want to create as much of a gloomy atmosphere as possible?
For us the idea of suggested fear is much more interesting, and we’ve worked to create tension with the idea of what could be waiting behind a closed door or in a dark corridor rather than outright shocks or gore. We’ve used all the elements to create the atmosphere: music (or lack of it), sound FX, lack of HUD for immersion, and cinematographic post-production effects. The ability to render almost unlimited real time lights in every scene lets us create a very powerful ambience.
· Although they are survival horror games, Part I-III of the Alone in the Dark series were sometimes rather funny. Will there be moments in the next generation of Alone in the Dark that will bring smiles to our faces?
There’s some quite lively dialogue which we think you’ll enjoy, but we’ve not set out to create any pure comedy moments. The world is tearing itself apart! Would you laugh?
· Which aspect of the game provided you the most problems in its development?
We faced the biggest difficulty when we started bringing all the different gameplay elements we’d been working together in the game such as making the interaction with the different objects work in a combat situation for example. It wasn’t easy getting them to work together, but when they did it was amazing!
Thanks for your time!
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Commented on 2008-05-08 16:25:31