|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| Author: John "Chief" Phillips Date: 2006 - 01 - 03 Link: http://planethalflife.gamespy.com/View1efd.php?view=Previews.Detail&id=3 Link: http://web.archive.org/web/20060106062602/http://www.planethalflife.com:80/features/articles/bwg/day02.shtm |-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| Black Widow Games: Five Days of Fear (Day 2) Today, Einar Saukas and Neil Manke of Black Widow Games spill the beans on their upcoming title, They Hunger: Lost Souls. They'll be talking a little bit about the background of the entire They Hunger series, future plans for Black Widow Games, and some teasers about They Hunger: Lost Souls. Keep on reading! Chief-Phillips: How about we start off with a bit about who you are, and what you have been up to in the game development industry over the years. Neil: Black Widow Games was initially created to produce promotional game levels and mods for state-of-the-art 3D engines. From 1997 to 2003, we released 14 sponsored game projects using the Quake and Half-Life technologies, freely distributed as part of marketing campaigns for products such as the TV series “Special Ops Force", and the theatrical movie “Underworld". They Hunger was originally a trilogy of single-player mods for Half-Life that we produced for PC Gamer magazine following the style of classic horror movies. Einar: We've received countless requests for a follow-up to They Hunger and we had so many exciting ideas that could not be implemented earlier – due to budget or technology constraints – that the decision to produce another They Hunger, this time as a commercial game for Half-Life 2 Source engine, became an obvious choice. Chief-Phillips: We didn't hear much from you since the game was announced last year. How's it going? Einar: Black Widow Games is a very small company, so every effort we make for game publicity directly affects our internal development schedule. Last October we dedicated a few days to officially announce the project, because every commercial game needs to generate in advance some publicity in preparation for its upcoming release. After this, we locked ourselves again into our secret underground lab and recommenced working hard to finish the game. Now Planet Half-Life troops finally breached our company security demanding a new series of interviews. Bastards! > bwginterview1_01.jpg > Does anyone need a light? Chief-Phillips: Now, let's dive into They Hunger: Lost Souls, and what it's all about. What kind of setting(s) will this take place in, and what period in history? Einar: The game setting is North-Eastern Europe during the early 1960's, when strange anomalies culminate with dead corpses rising from their graves. As a tourist recovering from a tragic accident, you initially seek shelter in an ancient monastery, but soon realize bloodthirsty zombies have overrun the surrounding region. As a consequence, you become involved in a desperate series of struggles to preserve your own life, and escape from this nightmarish experience. Neil: Moving to Europe was a conscious design decision. We didn't want just a straight remake of the classic series, so we moved the setting far away to help establish an independent story, while opening new opportunities for original and imaginative content. Early 1960's was an obvious choice because that's the time period when real zombies started to become a serious problem. Chief-Phillips: Will there be similarities to the original, or is this a completely new start to the They Hunger saga? Einar: Lost Souls is a completely new game independent from the classic series, with a new storyline and different settings, although it follows a similar style. It's certainly not a remake, we prefer to explore new ideas and use our creativity instead of just re-implementing an old game with better graphics. Neil: To summarize Lost Souls, we like to say "this time the zombies will be much more like real zombies". Generally, we are striving for a more realistic approach and attention to detail in the game. > bwginterview1_02.jpg > The beautiful and graphic detail is a testament to the quality of Black Widow Games. Chief-Phillips: Many games and modifications draw on popular horror movies (28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, etc.), is there any filmed influence for They Hunger: Lost Souls? Will the zombies be the classic slow-moving uncoordinated zombies, or will they be fast animal-like killers? Einar: The mythology established by classic horror movies was the starting point for the original They Hunger concept, although the series was not directly based on any of them specifically. Neil: Before "28 Days Later" presented the notion of fast zombies in the movies, the classic They Hunger series had already introduced the concept of a wide range of zombies with different mobility and intellectual abilities. Humans recently transformed into zombies keep part of their higher brain functions and almost the same physical agility, while reanimated rotten corpses “usually" move in a manner similar to classic zombie movies – unless other unnatural causes affect their behavior even more. They Hunger: Lost Souls is remaining faithful to this variety, especially because it allows different styles of confrontations and zombie attack scenarios inside the same game, and thus offers a more challenging array of survival situations for the player. Chief-Phillips: Are there any other types of influences? Perhaps any forms of scientific evidence, myth and lore, and so forth? Was any work put into researching the anatomy of zombies? Perhaps studying human decomposition, or basic animal instinct? Neil: We have actually conducted extensive field research in preparation for this game and studied typical zombie behaviors in their natural environments. This knowledge is certainly going to result in a more accurate and extraordinary gaming experience – that would be far too dangerous to actually experience in the real world with real zombies. > bwginterview1_03.jpg > Neil and the level designers make full use of the seemingly endless limit in detail in Source. Chief-Phillips: Will this be a game you can complete in a few hours, or will this be a noggin-scratching experience? Neil: It's a substantial adventure that will take several hours to play. Exactly how long will depend on your ability to survive, shoot zombie's heads, solve the hardest puzzles and your interest in exploring the environment. And as far as puzzles go, we try our best not to make any puzzles an unpleasant head-banging experience but just finding your way in many places will take some thought and careful observations. Einar is especially proud of one major puzzle he developed that spans major parts of 2 levels. Few will be able to figure out how it actually works (I still haven't and really don't care to:) but everyone should be able to solve it anyway. Chief-Phillips: Will there be any more additions to the They Hunger series? Einar: Actually we have already established the basic design for an entire new series. The overall storyline had to be planned in advance to ensure all individual stories fit together consistently. Neil: We classify Lost Souls as the first "Chronicle" in a grand and horrifying adventure. Each chronicle will be significantly larger than an episode, and will feature a complete story with a proper and satisfying ending. They will feature the same player character in different locations fighting bloodthirsty creatures. There's not much more we can reveal about the future chronicles without spoiling the surprises about the first one. Chief-Phillips: Thank you for your time, gentlemen. This is defiantly a very anticipated project for Half-Life 2, one that will be talked about for some time to come. Good luck! Neil: Thanks! Einar: Thanks.