| Can you introduce
yourself and your role at Ninja Theory. |
|
Hi, my name is Tameem and
I am the co-founder & Chief Design Ninja
at Ninja Theory. I direct the game design
by working closely with 22 other designers,
artists and programmers.
|
| To start off,
can you explain what has happened with JAM? |
|
Well, it’s quite simple really. JAM was
owned by Argonaut and Argonaut ran out
of cash forcing us into administration.
There was a real possibility that the
company would disappear if a buyer could
not be found. So Nina, Mike & myself,
the original JAM founders, got together
with Jez San, the founder of Argonaut
and bought back the business. Had we not
done this, people would have lost their
jobs and Heavenly Sword would have been
abandoned.
|
| Can you give
us an idea of what Heavenly Sword is about? |
Do you know the concept of Wuxia? It loosely
means “martial art knights”. You can think
of it as the Western of the East. Films like
Crouching Tiger, Hero exemplify this. Even
the Jedi knights were originally based around
this concept. It’s about nobility, beauty,
emotion and more importantly, outrageous kung
fu!
|
| Is the game
pure action or does it have other gaming elements
in it? |
There’s a lot to the game and a whole bunch
of new ideas that haven’t been possible or
haven’t been explored in the past but it is
focused on action. You know, the fun stuff
:)
|
| How long has
the game been in development? |
|
Since early 2003. We were originally working
on a sequel to Kung Fu Chaos but Microsoft
pulled the plug on that.
|
| What was the
decision to work on a next-gen title rather
than make a game for the current consoles?
|
A few things. Without a sequel to KFC, we
had to choose between pitching for a license
or creating a brand new game. Licenses are
really hard to get. A publisher basically
offers a bunch of developers the opportunity
to work on a license, expects them all to
develop a prototype off their own backs and
then picks the cheapest, fastest developer.
Everyone else is hung dry and the preferred
developer is often the most desperate. This
is why most licenses are rubbish and why so
many developers are going under. On the other
hand, creating an original game at this stage
in the console cycle is hard. Most publishers
wouldn’t give you the time of day, especially
if your last game was only on Xbox. They prefer
sequels and licenses at this point. So we
took a gamble and chose to go next-gen very
early. Halo was in development for many years
before the Xbox’s launch. It’s no coincidence
that it was one of the most successful games
out on the Xbox. You cannot make great games
in 1-2 years anymore. We wanted to take the
time to get a great game out early while everyone
else is slapping shiny graphics on their current
games.
|
| Is multiplayer
planned at all? |
We can do multiplayer but it’s up to our
publisher, whoever that turns out to be.
|
| If Heavenly
Sword goes multi-platform, are there plans
to utilize each system's capabilities (or
won't there be enough time)? |
I have no idea what the specs are for future
platforms so it’s hard to say. We do care
about our work and wish to be recognized as
one of the best in the business. We have to
earn that accolade and part of that would
be to show how well we can use hardware. Did
you know that the original KFC was held up
to other developers by the Microsoft ATG group
as a prime example of how to make best use
of Xbox hardware? There was some cunning use
of hardware behind that game, if you can look
past the cartoony style of it. We have some
really hard-core console talent behind us.
At the risk of sounding cheesy, you really
haven’t seen anything yet.
|
| The prototype
video shows a large amount of people on the
screen at once. Is this possible for an in-game
battle? |
Sure! That was the point of it! Fighting
hand-to-hand against large numbers of people
is a key part of the game and it involves
gameplay dynamics not seen before in games.
Just think of the bodycount!
|
| How much of
the game is completed? |
That’s really hard to say. 5%, 10%, 20%
depending on how you measure it! We’re still
early in development.
|
| How much
harder is it working on a next-gen title (especially
not having all of the official specs and console
features announced yet)? |
It’s a bigger leap than from PS1 to PS2.
The way we create art, the technology and
the design process are all completely different.
Just as an example, on the PS1 a character
model would be about 200 polygons. On a Xbox,
they would be around 10,000. We are now modeling
characters in the 5,000,000 range. It changes
everything about how you create characters
and this just one of many dramatic changes
we have come across. We’ve had a good year
or more to sort through these issues on current
PC’s. Once the real hardware comes along,
a whole bunch of new issues are likely to
arise. It seems that many developers and publishers
think the transition should be smoother than
the last one. If I may be so bold, I think
they are very, very wrong.
|
