SFX: Youre releasing the games on PS3 and PS Vita. Will they be released simultaneously?
Simon Harris: The PS3 will be first, and then Vita will be very shortly afterwards. There have been some challenges with Vita, getting the last few features in and things like that. The PS3s the lead version, till we get all the gameplay content finished, then that will enable us to polish up the Vita features and get those working. So the Vita will be a short while afterwards, but not a great deal of time.
Doctor Who is very much a story-driven show; how much emphasis have you placed on narrative and character in the game?
We want this to feel like an episode of the TV show, so one of the things Im very nervous about is not giving too much away. The story starts with the Doctor on his own in the TARDIS. It gets thrown into confusion because of this massive time maelstrom, and he has absolutely no idea whats causing it. When the TARDIS lands he realises this time maelstrom is encompassing the whole planet, and then he walks to the TARDIS and the TARDIS disappears into a time rift. There are time rifts opening everywhere, so he starts working out where theyre going to and whats happening there. Eventually he finds a piece of this artefact, the Eternity Clock, which he realises is sending out a signal and then he and River start to figure out what its doing.
How much freedom have you been given within the constraints of the Doctor Who universe?
Giving you some hints at some of the things weve been allowed to do, which are great, is that the Eternity Clock is playing with time. Theres a wonderful cutscene where River realises that whats in her diary is not what she wrote and that actually the Eternity Clock is playing with her history, as well as the Earths history, and that she understands what it is, but doesnt remember ever having written it.
This is the first game in a planned trilogy. How would you sum up the focus of part one?
The key thing here is The Eternity Clock is very much the first step. We really understand that the first thing the Doctor has to do is save the universe, because of this time maelstrom thats ripping everything apart, but this is only the first step. So when we end the game the Doctor understands whats happening, but theres then a bigger mystery behind all this. So this first game is very much about the Doctor and River putting the timeline for Earth right, fixing the things that are going wrong because the Cybermen have invaded London and converted half of it, the Silurians are trying to kill the entire world by poisoning it from Victorian times and the Silence are absolutely everywhere in Elizabethan London. We have a great gameplay mechanic whereby you have to keep the Silence in view, but not be seen by them, so you have to follow them round and if you loose sight of one you get reset because you forget everything. The Daleks have completely decimated London in 2106 and the Doctor says, This never happened, so they need to put the timeline right and work out what it is thats causing it, thats the story we follow.
How do you make gamers feel as clever and brilliant as the Doctor?
One of the great things is playing through and working it out with the Doctor, because as he starts to piece things together we hope the consumer is going to get these really nice moments where suddenly they end up somewhere and they realise where this is and how many times theyve been here, in the past or in the future, and how its changing. What we hope happens is that they then start thinking ahead of the Doctor and start piecing together those puzzles, because thats what I do. When I sit down and watch the show Im waiting for him to tell me what the answer is, but in the same way as I do with any good detective story Im trying to work out what it is before he is as well. Everyone wants to have the answer. Part of the fun of that is sometimes getting it wrong and sometimes getting it right, and sometimes feeling that youre almost as smart as the Doctor. And if you dont the Doctor will tell you whats happening anyway!
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