Space Siege: Interview With Chris Taylor
Gamespot has an interview with Chris Taylor, the man behind notable titles such as Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander. The topic of discussion here is the upcoming game Space Siege. Excerpts:
GameSpot: After creating the successful and well-received real-time strategy game Supreme Commander, why did you decide to go in the direction of a new action role-playing game?
Chris Taylor: We have a lot of experience in this genre, and wanted to do something that utilized that experience but went in a fresh new direction. There were so many fantasy RPG games made, we felt that space was not only the final frontier, but a refreshingly different one.
GS: What specific lessons have you taken from the development of the Dungeon Siege games and applied to Space Siege?
CT: We learned that longer games aren’t as good as games that have a strong focus on character and story, and that are really well crafted and polished. We have really learned to focus ourselves much more than in the past, and really pay attention to the little details. And we’ve quadrupled our effort to bring the characters in this world alive, and have focused on world-class dialogue and voice acting. These things were luxuries before. Now they are a necessity.
GS: Tell us about the game’s story and main character, Seth. How did you come upon the idea of a character that pretty much trades his humanity directly for power by replacing his body parts with implants? What does that add to the game?
CT: The story is a collaborative effort with everyone on the team and has produced a result we are all very proud of. We have created a character that hopefully everyone who plays the game can identify with, and really become attached to. It was a big deal to move away from the standard, make-your-own character system and create a character to tell a story about, but we have confidence that this is more interesting than a generic character that doesn’t speak. Seth has spirit, he has a history, he’s a real guy, and he’s the only guy who can really save humanity from extinction. And whether or not he gives up his humanity to save everyone is an open question…a question only the player can answer.
GS: What can you tell us about the loot and items in the game and what role they’ll play? We understand that Seth can upgrade his own body with mechanical parts. What other kinds of loot will he acquire? Will there be some kind of crafting or item-set system that lets players construct better, more-powerful items?
CT: Since it’s a sci-fi game and Seth is an engineer, it’s going to have a very different loot system than Dungeon Siege. It’s not about finding stuff by the truckload and picking through it, it’s much more selective and thoughtful. Seth will find bits and pieces of things and use them to upgrade himself and his robot companion, HR-V. I think we went a little too far with the crazy amounts of loot in Dungeon Siege, and we’ll be dialing that back to be a lot less insane in Space Siege.
Less loot? That can’t be good. I hope the upgrade system makes up for it. You can read the full interview here.
Short URL: http://virtualreality.ca/yxb
