主題討論 - [Wii] Zombie Massacre

神祕人1號 · 09-17-07, 01:13 AM

Zombie Massacre Interview - Part 2
Interviewee(s): Benjamin Kroton
http://nintendojo.com/interviews/vie...php?1189830606

How long has the game been in development? Do you feel there isfurther refinement that will be done to the game's concept, controls orotherwise?
BK: Well, as you may now know, the original game concept for Zombie Massacre is several years old, but in its current form, Zombie Massacre has existed for a little over a year now. I absolutely do feel that as the game progresses through the development cycle, there will inherently be many refinements that come with that. However, I do think that we have to have a few things (such as the controls) pretty much pegged down right from the start. Those core things are the essence of the project, and other than fine-tuning certain behaviors or making a few minor adjustments, doing anything drastic could end up compromising the final product.

Have you reached out to any publishers yet? Do you have a wishlist of which developers you think would be ideal to publish this title?
BK: We have reached out to a select group of publishers already. We feel that this game is very special, and as such, we don want to throw it to just anyone. So before we started talking with companies, we made a point to pick out the publishers and developers that we felt would best fit the project. Some we picked were based on their previous catalog of releases, and others we picked because we felt that they were poised to bring something new to the table. But yes, as we speak there are people who are reviewing this game from a publishing standpoint. I cannot name names (because all of them have big and scary legal departments), but you can rest easy knowing that there are some of the usual suspects on that list, as well as some very out-of-the-blue names that you wouldn't expect.

Are you waiting to secure a publisher prior to starting development work?
BK: Absolutely. We tried it the other way around on previous concepts, and we found that in videogame publishing, no one is ever happy. If you have a demo, they want more. If have more than a demo, they want a finished product. There is no winning...So in this case we wanted to focus on bringing the strongest and most flexible concept as possible. We are allowing publishers to tell us how they want the game developed, or even if they wish to develop it themselves. Our sole focus is just to design the best game possible, and then to make sure that it gets developed to our specification. Whether we accomplish this by developing the game ourselves or by working with a publisher is entirely at the discretion of our publishing partners and their needs. It's all about being flexible!

How long will the development cycle take? Do you have a release date/season/quarter/year in mind?
BK: Realistically, it will take 12 - 16 months to develop Zombie Massacre. However, if we had everything go our way, I would absolutely shoot for as close to the 12 month mark as possible. I think we could do it too, because we have always kept technical limitations in mind for the entire time that we have been designing the concept. If we could have this game nearing completion by this time next year, we would absolutely be hitting the sweet spot in terms of market penetration and saturation. As a result, we are doing our best to move this game into production as quickly as possible. Wii players want more action, and we certainly want to give it to them.

What age rating do you expect the game to get?
BK: We fully expect this game to get an M-rating. I would not feel comfortable with a rating less than that. Not so much because of the xcessive" violence, but just because of the depiction of recklessness and gun violenceagainst human-esque enemies. Plus, we'd likely catch some flak for having swear words in our soundtrack and dialogue.

Will this be a full price or budget priced game?
BK: This game will absolutely be a full-priced SKU for Wii. The game will feature rock solid gameplay, smooth graphics, Wii Accessory support, 1-4 players and a blaring 80s metal soundtrack. All of that combined makes us feel very comfortable in offering it as a full priced title.

Do you have any intention of making Zombie Massacre a franchise with sequels, expansion packs, downloadable content or ports to other platforms?
BK: I could definitely see Zombie Massacre making a comeback in at least one sequel, but as with anything that is good, moderation is the key. I think that if we put out the game, see what people love, gauge what people dislike, and then add more to it, we could put together an even more exciting follow-up. We could also supplement the first game with additional add-ons through the Wii's download service; but this is something that we would have to feel out through the course of development. As for porting the game, I'm afraid that it simply would be impossible for us to port this game to any platform other than Wii. Wii's unique controls allow us to take our game, which was originally an expensive arcade premise, and bring it home without forcing players to buy a single add-on for their console. Other than that, we've always joked that Zombie Massacre would make for a great movie starring Casper Van Dien! What makes it really funny is that not one, but two film producers have both told us that it would in fact translate well to the silver screen. Maybe we should start talking to Uwe Boll or something... Haha!

Do you plan on licensing any particular game development software, graphics or game engines, etc. for the title's development?
BK: We are intending to support the Philips amBX technology for Wii. We have always been impressed with the potential that the amBX technology offers to players, and our interest actually stems all the way back from when the game was still an arcade concept. As such, we have a great relationship with Philips, and we will definitely be supporting their technology with excitement, pending its release for Wii.When players run over zombies, we want them to feel it!

How will you handle the soundtrack -- will it be internally composed and recorded or licensed? Will the development team be expected to record screams and growls for the game audio? Will there be voice acting?
BK: There will be plenty of screaming and growling for sure! I plan on adding double-sided tape to all of the armrests on everyone's chairs...This should provide us with just the right blend of painful moans to really convey a sense of despair on behalf of the zombies. Actually, we are already in discussion with several talented audio guys who are really contributing their talents and know-how to the project. We are also actively seeking out some high-profile talent from the whole 80s glam metal scene, because we really want to capture that feeling in all of our audio whether it be licensed or original. So far we have really been turning up some positive feedback from all sides, and if we're lucky, we might just be able to score some really nice cameo appearances for the game. Ultimately though, we do plan on having some original audio pieces composed for us, in addition to anything that we license. A big part of our audio design will also come in the form of voice acting, as we really plan to be meticulous with the dialog for the game's characters, in addition to the gimmick that we have planned for the car's radio.

Are you hiring staff to ramp up development on the game?
BK: Right now we are in what we call "hover mode," where we are simply waiting to see how our publishing agreements develop. If it looks like we'll be taking on the game's development internally, then we will absolutely boost our staff size in order to ramp up for production. Until then, we maintain a skeleton crew that we keep alive with one Tic-Tac and a thimble full of Mountain Dew a day. If you ask me, they're overcompensated!!

Thanks Ben, and we look forward to seeing more of Zombie Massacre.
BK: Absolutely no problem!

09-17-07, 01:13 AM	#4
神祕人1號 Moderator 網上自由人註冊日期: Jan 2002 文章: 43,898	Zombie Massacre Interview - Part 2 Interviewee(s): Benjamin Kroton http://nintendojo.com/interviews/vie...php?1189830606 How long has the game been in development? Do you feel there isfurther refinement that will be done to the game's concept, controls orotherwise? BK: Well, as you may now know, the original game concept for Zombie Massacre is several years old, but in its current form, Zombie Massacre has existed for a little over a year now. I absolutely do feel that as the game progresses through the development cycle, there will inherently be many refinements that come with that. However, I do think that we have to have a few things (such as the controls) pretty much pegged down right from the start. Those core things are the essence of the project, and other than fine-tuning certain behaviors or making a few minor adjustments, doing anything drastic could end up compromising the final product. Have you reached out to any publishers yet? Do you have a wishlist of which developers you think would be ideal to publish this title? BK: We have reached out to a select group of publishers already. We feel that this game is very special, and as such, we don want to throw it to just anyone. So before we started talking with companies, we made a point to pick out the publishers and developers that we felt would best fit the project. Some we picked were based on their previous catalog of releases, and others we picked because we felt that they were poised to bring something new to the table. But yes, as we speak there are people who are reviewing this game from a publishing standpoint. I cannot name names (because all of them have big and scary legal departments), but you can rest easy knowing that there are some of the usual suspects on that list, as well as some very out-of-the-blue names that you wouldn't expect. Are you waiting to secure a publisher prior to starting development work? BK: Absolutely. We tried it the other way around on previous concepts, and we found that in videogame publishing, no one is ever happy. If you have a demo, they want more. If have more than a demo, they want a finished product. There is no winning...So in this case we wanted to focus on bringing the strongest and most flexible concept as possible. We are allowing publishers to tell us how they want the game developed, or even if they wish to develop it themselves. Our sole focus is just to design the best game possible, and then to make sure that it gets developed to our specification. Whether we accomplish this by developing the game ourselves or by working with a publisher is entirely at the discretion of our publishing partners and their needs. It's all about being flexible! How long will the development cycle take? Do you have a release date/season/quarter/year in mind? BK: Realistically, it will take 12 - 16 months to develop Zombie Massacre. However, if we had everything go our way, I would absolutely shoot for as close to the 12 month mark as possible. I think we could do it too, because we have always kept technical limitations in mind for the entire time that we have been designing the concept. If we could have this game nearing completion by this time next year, we would absolutely be hitting the sweet spot in terms of market penetration and saturation. As a result, we are doing our best to move this game into production as quickly as possible. Wii players want more action, and we certainly want to give it to them. What age rating do you expect the game to get? BK: We fully expect this game to get an M-rating. I would not feel comfortable with a rating less than that. Not so much because of the xcessive" violence, but just because of the depiction of recklessness and gun violenceagainst human-esque enemies. Plus, we'd likely catch some flak for having swear words in our soundtrack and dialogue. Will this be a full price or budget priced game? BK: This game will absolutely be a full-priced SKU for Wii. The game will feature rock solid gameplay, smooth graphics, Wii Accessory support, 1-4 players and a blaring 80s metal soundtrack. All of that combined makes us feel very comfortable in offering it as a full priced title. Do you have any intention of making Zombie Massacre a franchise with sequels, expansion packs, downloadable content or ports to other platforms? BK: I could definitely see Zombie Massacre making a comeback in at least one sequel, but as with anything that is good, moderation is the key. I think that if we put out the game, see what people love, gauge what people dislike, and then add more to it, we could put together an even more exciting follow-up. We could also supplement the first game with additional add-ons through the Wii's download service; but this is something that we would have to feel out through the course of development. As for porting the game, I'm afraid that it simply would be impossible for us to port this game to any platform other than Wii. Wii's unique controls allow us to take our game, which was originally an expensive arcade premise, and bring it home without forcing players to buy a single add-on for their console. Other than that, we've always joked that Zombie Massacre would make for a great movie starring Casper Van Dien! What makes it really funny is that not one, but two film producers have both told us that it would in fact translate well to the silver screen. Maybe we should start talking to Uwe Boll or something... Haha! Do you plan on licensing any particular game development software, graphics or game engines, etc. for the title's development? BK: We are intending to support the Philips amBX technology for Wii. We have always been impressed with the potential that the amBX technology offers to players, and our interest actually stems all the way back from when the game was still an arcade concept. As such, we have a great relationship with Philips, and we will definitely be supporting their technology with excitement, pending its release for Wii.When players run over zombies, we want them to feel it! How will you handle the soundtrack -- will it be internally composed and recorded or licensed? Will the development team be expected to record screams and growls for the game audio? Will there be voice acting? BK: There will be plenty of screaming and growling for sure! I plan on adding double-sided tape to all of the armrests on everyone's chairs...This should provide us with just the right blend of painful moans to really convey a sense of despair on behalf of the zombies. Actually, we are already in discussion with several talented audio guys who are really contributing their talents and know-how to the project. We are also actively seeking out some high-profile talent from the whole 80s glam metal scene, because we really want to capture that feeling in all of our audio whether it be licensed or original. So far we have really been turning up some positive feedback from all sides, and if we're lucky, we might just be able to score some really nice cameo appearances for the game. Ultimately though, we do plan on having some original audio pieces composed for us, in addition to anything that we license. A big part of our audio design will also come in the form of voice acting, as we really plan to be meticulous with the dialog for the game's characters, in addition to the gimmick that we have planned for the car's radio. Are you hiring staff to ramp up development on the game? BK: Right now we are in what we call "hover mode," where we are simply waiting to see how our publishing agreements develop. If it looks like we'll be taking on the game's development internally, then we will absolutely boost our staff size in order to ramp up for production. Until then, we maintain a skeleton crew that we keep alive with one Tic-Tac and a thimble full of Mountain Dew a day. If you ask me, they're overcompensated!! Thanks Ben, and we look forward to seeing more of Zombie Massacre. BK: Absolutely no problem!