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DD: I don’t think they’ll be announcing a new platform in two years time, but we intend the trilogy turnaround to be a lot faster than the first game. So, the whole plan is intended and projected to get all the games within the lifecycle of this particular platform, which in this case is the Xbox 360. GS: Is that because you have the engine more or less set now? DD: Yeah, well, there’s a lot of reasons. You get your process down, you create a trilogy where you don’t have to recreate every single thing. Like, as an example, the main character Baldur or some of the other gods like Thor or Freyr, a lot of the work is already done with those, so it becomes a case of not having to build everything from scratch but to use what you have and really build upon what’s out there. So I think traditionally, a problem with sequels rather than looking at things from a trilogy is that they will create the first one, and if it’s successful they’ll do another one, but if they are successful then they have to add all this new stuff; maybe create new things from scratch or a new gameplay mechanic. We’re essentially going to take the core of our game and continue with a planned continuation, over three titles. I think the structure that we have is a really good production process that a lot of companies are now looking at and have adopted since we started, actually. I’ve heard a lot of companies say they’re working on trilogies now, and it’s a good business model, and it’s good for creating content and it’s good for the gamer, because they can get something that is quality and they know if they liked the first one they know what to expect from the second and third. It builds upon something, rather than creating it from scratch. One of the problems with the sequelitis stuff it that they add so much stuff it breaks the original game, and those are the kind of things we’re trying to avoid.
GS: In some ways, it sounds more similar to what’s happening with episodic content than a traditional sequel-based model. DD: Well, it’s not a sequel and it’s not episodic content. Episodic content reminds me a lot of television. So, episodic content is “to be continued” with a chapter or a series that keeps you going from episode to episode. Too Human is planned to be three titles, and we know exactly how they’re going to go. There’s not going to be cliff-hangers of any sort. They’re self contained, but they build upon each other. There’s a start, a middle and an end that’s pre-planned, which I think a good consumer can distinguish between that and episodic content, which is more like a television series. There’s Battlestar Galactica, which I love, but that’s a very different type of content to, say, Lord of the Rings. Even though one may say they’re both great, they’re very different in structural nature and storytelling. From a gameplay perspective, it’s the same thing – this is a trilogy, not episodic content. There’s a significant difference. GS: What kind of pressure does planning a trilogy put you under in terms of sales? DD: I don’t know. I guess the first one would certainly have to do well, but that’s always the same when you do any game, so I wouldn’t say there’s any more pressure than anything else. In the long term, with Lord of the Rings it was definitely the case and I think it’s the same for us: if things go well, the upside is a lot higher than if you just planned a single game. Long term there’s some very good benefits from a production value and cost perspective, but also from a quality perspective it’s going to be a long time before you see something as good as Lord of the Rings because they filmed all of them at the same time and there was a very high level of quality. All the actors didn’t age ten years between each one – there’s some really good stuff there that I think gives you some significant advantage over doing a single game, or any other kind of development, really. GS: Do you worry that the first one won’t do well, and that it could throw the rest of the plan out? DD: That’s always the case with anything. I think it’s the same with Lord of the Rings – if the first one hadn’t done well, that series would have ended. We never would have seen a second or third one. I’m happy to say that wasn’t the case with Lord of the Rings, and I don’t think that will be the case with us, but I think in this industry we’re creating entertainment and I’ve always said that you should try and create something you like yourself because at least you’ll please one person and the goal is to please other people beyond that, but you never know until the title’s out there. |
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