Despite everyones efforts to cleave as close to authentic Ghostbusters as possible, there are some aspectsor specifically: talents-- that we just couldnt get in the game, namely Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis. As we understand it, there were different reasons at different times, but we regret not being able to bring the entire key cast back for the game. I will admit, though, that we were a lot less sad later on, once we realized we needed to juggle, record, and animate up to seven major characters at the same time!
By the end, if Louis Tully had made an onscreen appearance, we had already half-decided he would be consigned to a wheel chair and rigid full body cast as the result of an unfortunate accident that occurred just before the player was hired as his replacement. Hed be able to talk, but probably not do a whole lot more. By the time Ms. Weaver voiced interest, the only part we had left for her would have been the voice of the computer (which Egon would have encoded to annoy Venkman).
Now, the following may be a sore point, even heresy, for some GB fans, but early on everyone involved elected to avoid incorporating elements from Real Ghostbusters and the other animated series into the game. The reason for that is, once again, authenticity. While those series were excellent, and undoubtedly responsible for generating many newer or younger Ghostbusters fans, they branched away from the continuity of the films.
Since the GB game is intended to follow as a direct sequel, we all agreed to let the animated series remain separate. But an interesting potential upside there is that they could generate their own lines of games in the future.
Codename: Proton
Because the deal had so many moving and delicate parts at the outset, we began the game in total blackout secrecy. The project was codenamed Proton. No one at Terminal Reality or the publisher was even allowed to mention the word Ghostbustersand the blackout extended beyond industry colleagues and press to friends and family, too. We had fake Proton title screens, the whole works.
It was especially confusing to some of the publisher staff, because they were also developing Radical Entertainments Prototype in secret at the same time, and the two words sound similar. Whenever someone at the publisher accidentally mentioned Prototype around us, they would gape in horror at the bombshell they had let slip out: but we just thought they were misusing our code word, or referring to some actual prototype.
It took us months to realize they were working on a game that was actually titled Prototype.
We worked on Proton for well over a year before anyone actually called the game Ghostbusters out loud. The team was pretty severely Pavloved : up until four months ago every time we heard Ghostbusters spoken, we looked around to inflict the Indignant Eye of Silence to whomever had blundered by using the word.
In retrospect Proton sounds like a dead giveaway for Ghostbusters, but no one ever guessed what we were really working on, and we had external friends that literally began obsessing over guessing the game title.
Because our scheduled prototype build was also being used to convince some doubters about the quality of the game, it had to be visually stunning as well as demonstrate compelling gameplay. This meant that we had to add a number of final elements and features before all of the game systems were fully designed. It was a pretty impressive piece of work--the art, programming, effects, and design groups really outdid themselves on it. Sadly, much of it had to be thrown out when the final systems came online because it was built, rigged, or animated outside of the new game standards.
When you play the final game, keep an eye out for a cool hall of mirrors: this is the only remnant of our original prototype build.
We had wrapped our prototype build and moved into production when ZootFly released the infamous Ghostbusters gameplay vids onto YouTube. They had been self-developing their own GB title for a while, and released the vids as a way to stimulate licenser and public interest in the title. Remember that we were still running silent in Proton mode, and had made no mention of Ghostbusters at this time, so we dont know whether they were aware of our game or not.
This caused an initial gulp moment at the publisher and Sony, but when the public responded with an overwhelming positive response for a Ghostbusters game, it actually helped to convince the last few holdouts that this had the potential to be a pretty big deal, and that the property had not gone stale in the 20 years since the last movie.
For what its worth, we thought the ZootFly version looked great, and very promising. We know they feel as passionate about Ghostbusters as we do, and that their efforts were a real labor of love.
It was about this time that we were able to bring RedFly Studios onboard to do the Wii, PS2, and DS versions of the game while we concentrated on the PS3, 360, and PC versions. RedFly, a super-talented Austin start-up whose principals are mostly former Terminal Reality employees, was already using our Infernal Engine tech for their original-IP Mushroom Men games, and they were a welcome addition to the growing Ghostbusters family.
ThreeWave came in right after RedFly to work on the multiplayer component. Theyve been a real pleasure to work with and have pulled off some really incredible gameplay scenarios.
Production hasnt come without some missteps and bruises, but we can save some of those stories for future diary entries, and maybe the postmortem. Heres one tidbit: remember how we were ultimately concerned with authenticity for the game? While thats a great focus, we shouldnt have worried at all about accidentally veering off track. As mentioned earlier, five individual parties own Ghostbusters. We found out very quickly what that means is that all five parties, plus the publisher, have to approve every single element, every changed word, every button press in the game.
It took some time to send everything through the approval machine and get used to the response time, but were definitely assured of accuracy and authenticity!
Were looking forward to the next few extra months of polish, thanks largely to our new partnership with the new Atari. Were excited to get the game into players hands just in time for Ghostbusters 25th Anniversary this summer.
As production progressed, we continued to build the team with some excellent and welcome additions: an entire production staff, a rebuilt design team, and some new veteran talent in our animation dept. Our decision to focus on, and make decisions based upon, achieving high quality has really paid off. Everyone on the team has grown enormously in terms of skills and game production. Its been really gratifying to be a part of.
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