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Q&A Session With Guerrilla Games
Posted by: admin, in KILLZONE News!, Interviews
KillzoneUnit.com has managed to set up a Q&A session with Sebastian motherH Downie of Guerrilla Games. We talk about the company and of Killzone. Pull up a chair and enjoy.
Tell us about Guerrilla Games and what your role is there?
Currently I am Test Lead/QA Manager and I just finished a tour of duty as Producer on Killzone: Liberation.
Since the acquisition by Sony, has anything changed in the everyday office life for GG employees?
I keep waiting for something to happen. Something big to change. Some big event where the big corporate mothership flexes its muscles, but it never comes. We still work with a lot of the same Sony people we worked with before the acquisition and other than some slight procedural changes here and there I dont think much has changed. If anything I think we have matured a bit as a company since then and it has opened a couple more doors for us in terms of technology and resource sharing and getting into the better parties. So no, not much at all.
Moving on to Killzone, briefly, how would you describe the franchise to gamers who arent familiar with it?
A First Person shooter set in an alternative future interplanetary war, where the lines between good and evil are very thin, and the guns are very big. Or something. I am never very good at this stuff.
When the Killzone series moved to the PSP, many fans were surprised to see the transition from FPS to an isometric gameplay view. Were there any major differences between developing Killzone for the PS2 and the PSP?
You could say that. We decided we needed to have a good blend on short action that the player could jump into and keep going at any time, mixed with a narrative and player progression. So pick-up and play was very important to us. This covers the casual gamer base that might pull out their PSP when commuting or on the toilet (I know you do it!) and the guys who will quite happily play for 4 hours straight.
One thing our artists had to do was relearn working on that kind of scale. They had gotten too used to their high-detail, polygon chewing ways of Killzone 1 and needed to scale back down a bit to make it work for the camera angle, but they did a cracking job on keeping the Killzone style while making it one of the best looking PSP games out there. As for the camera angle itself, it makes the game a little more tactical as it allows the player more of an overview of the area ahead so he can plan ahead a bit more.
Amongst many fans of the series, there seems to be a little debate on whether Killzone Liberation was a direct sequel to Killzone, or a spin-off. Where exactly does Killzone Liberation sit within the series?
I think the best way to describe it is a branch within the timeline. It is dangerous to try and stick to one giant narrative that spans through many games and stick to it religiously.
The story has to be vague and unrelated enough to invite newcomers to the series without confusing the hell out of them, while still giving the fans of the previous game something to go on. So is it a sequel? Who really cares? Its a bloody good game.
Chapter 5 and the online patch for Killzone Liberation have been very well received. Are there any more plans to support Liberation with other patches or download content?
Currently no. The reasons are twofold.
1. With the patch and content being a free download, we risked a lot financially. Having a whole development team on free content for as many months is not cheap at all. Each day costs thousands of $ in overheads, wages and whatnot and no company can sustain that indefinitely.
2. We have a big fat PS3 game we have to work on. It is all hands on deck for this.
Weve noticed that GG is constantly looking for new talent. Is most of the original Killzone(PS2) development team still around?
A good chunk still are. I think all of the Leads are still here as is management. There have been a lot of comings and goings, but yeah, there are still a lot of folks from the early days here.
E3 is very near and the gaming world is anticipating news of Killzone PS3. Whats the vibe like at GG as you all prepare? Stressed, excited?
Bit of everything. Excitement with an underlying: OH MY GOD WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE! I am sure there are a hundred developers around the globe feeling the same way right now though. Everyone wants their game to play look and sound perfectly when the public first get to see it. If you are working on an AAA Next Gen beast of a game or something for mobile phones you want to make a good impression on people. And if you have the baggage that we have we have to give it that extra little bit. Hopefully it will all go brilliantly and well shut up even some of the most ardent critics.
Our readers would never forgive us if we didnt ask, but is there anything at all that you can tell us about the next Killzone title? (even if its a no comment, haha)
Erm hmmm let me see. Well it has Online. I cant say anything about it though. There will be a Public Beta, but not till later in the year. It will be a FPS, but I guess you figured that out by now Phew. There really is absolutely nothing I can actually talk about. Oh well. See you at E3!
Who are your favorite ISA and Helghast characters?
Private Billinghurst from Killzone 1. He is like the starboard-gunner in the first Star Wars. His actions set in motion changes in the entire universe. He is really the lynchpin of the whole story. Is he an angel? A demon? Or just a man doing his job? Maybe we will never know.
The Helghast- evil or just misunderstood?
Evil is such a strong term. Are the Helghast 100% and the ISA 100% Good? I dont think so. It is easy to romanticize one faction as the ultimate evil. Bad guys always wear black etc. I think they just need a hug. We are all family after all.
Thanks a lot for your time and we look forward to the future of Killzone.
Any time. Quote me out of context and I will hunt you down like a dog.
This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 8:31 am and is filed under KILLZONE News!, Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Posted by: admin, in KILLZONE News!, Interviews
KillzoneUnit.com has managed to set up a Q&A session with Sebastian motherH Downie of Guerrilla Games. We talk about the company and of Killzone. Pull up a chair and enjoy.
Tell us about Guerrilla Games and what your role is there?
Currently I am Test Lead/QA Manager and I just finished a tour of duty as Producer on Killzone: Liberation.
Since the acquisition by Sony, has anything changed in the everyday office life for GG employees?
I keep waiting for something to happen. Something big to change. Some big event where the big corporate mothership flexes its muscles, but it never comes. We still work with a lot of the same Sony people we worked with before the acquisition and other than some slight procedural changes here and there I dont think much has changed. If anything I think we have matured a bit as a company since then and it has opened a couple more doors for us in terms of technology and resource sharing and getting into the better parties. So no, not much at all.
Moving on to Killzone, briefly, how would you describe the franchise to gamers who arent familiar with it?
A First Person shooter set in an alternative future interplanetary war, where the lines between good and evil are very thin, and the guns are very big. Or something. I am never very good at this stuff.
When the Killzone series moved to the PSP, many fans were surprised to see the transition from FPS to an isometric gameplay view. Were there any major differences between developing Killzone for the PS2 and the PSP?
You could say that. We decided we needed to have a good blend on short action that the player could jump into and keep going at any time, mixed with a narrative and player progression. So pick-up and play was very important to us. This covers the casual gamer base that might pull out their PSP when commuting or on the toilet (I know you do it!) and the guys who will quite happily play for 4 hours straight.
One thing our artists had to do was relearn working on that kind of scale. They had gotten too used to their high-detail, polygon chewing ways of Killzone 1 and needed to scale back down a bit to make it work for the camera angle, but they did a cracking job on keeping the Killzone style while making it one of the best looking PSP games out there. As for the camera angle itself, it makes the game a little more tactical as it allows the player more of an overview of the area ahead so he can plan ahead a bit more.
Amongst many fans of the series, there seems to be a little debate on whether Killzone Liberation was a direct sequel to Killzone, or a spin-off. Where exactly does Killzone Liberation sit within the series?
I think the best way to describe it is a branch within the timeline. It is dangerous to try and stick to one giant narrative that spans through many games and stick to it religiously.
The story has to be vague and unrelated enough to invite newcomers to the series without confusing the hell out of them, while still giving the fans of the previous game something to go on. So is it a sequel? Who really cares? Its a bloody good game.
Chapter 5 and the online patch for Killzone Liberation have been very well received. Are there any more plans to support Liberation with other patches or download content?
Currently no. The reasons are twofold.
1. With the patch and content being a free download, we risked a lot financially. Having a whole development team on free content for as many months is not cheap at all. Each day costs thousands of $ in overheads, wages and whatnot and no company can sustain that indefinitely.
2. We have a big fat PS3 game we have to work on. It is all hands on deck for this.
Weve noticed that GG is constantly looking for new talent. Is most of the original Killzone(PS2) development team still around?
A good chunk still are. I think all of the Leads are still here as is management. There have been a lot of comings and goings, but yeah, there are still a lot of folks from the early days here.
E3 is very near and the gaming world is anticipating news of Killzone PS3. Whats the vibe like at GG as you all prepare? Stressed, excited?
Bit of everything. Excitement with an underlying: OH MY GOD WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE! I am sure there are a hundred developers around the globe feeling the same way right now though. Everyone wants their game to play look and sound perfectly when the public first get to see it. If you are working on an AAA Next Gen beast of a game or something for mobile phones you want to make a good impression on people. And if you have the baggage that we have we have to give it that extra little bit. Hopefully it will all go brilliantly and well shut up even some of the most ardent critics.
Our readers would never forgive us if we didnt ask, but is there anything at all that you can tell us about the next Killzone title? (even if its a no comment, haha)
Erm hmmm let me see. Well it has Online. I cant say anything about it though. There will be a Public Beta, but not till later in the year. It will be a FPS, but I guess you figured that out by now Phew. There really is absolutely nothing I can actually talk about. Oh well. See you at E3!
Who are your favorite ISA and Helghast characters?
Private Billinghurst from Killzone 1. He is like the starboard-gunner in the first Star Wars. His actions set in motion changes in the entire universe. He is really the lynchpin of the whole story. Is he an angel? A demon? Or just a man doing his job? Maybe we will never know.
The Helghast- evil or just misunderstood?
Evil is such a strong term. Are the Helghast 100% and the ISA 100% Good? I dont think so. It is easy to romanticize one faction as the ultimate evil. Bad guys always wear black etc. I think they just need a hug. We are all family after all.
Thanks a lot for your time and we look forward to the future of Killzone.
Any time. Quote me out of context and I will hunt you down like a dog.
This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 8:31 am and is filed under KILLZONE News!, Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
