Exclusive: FPS Rantings interviews developers of Dementium and Insecticide
It isn’t everyday that I get to interview industry insiders—and mavericks at that. When the first buzz about Dementium: The Ward and Insecticide came out, I just had to get a hold of their developers. If you’ve lived under a rock for the past few months, then you may have missed out on these two promising games.
That’s all about to change.
Jools Watsham, owner and creative director of Renegade Kid, and Michael Levine, president of Crackpot Entertainment and co-lead designer on Insecticide, were very gracious in answering our questions. Read the exclusive interview after the jump.
FPS Rantings: What can you tell us about Dementium: The Ward?
Jools Watsham: Dementium: The Ward is a first-person survival-horror adventure game for the Nintendo DS. You wake up in a strange derelict hospital one stormy night with no knowledge of who you are or where you are. As you progress through the dark corridors with blood-stained walls, you discover clues that may help you piece everything together. And, there’s a plenty of enemy-blasting action too!
FPS: According to previews about Dementium, the flashlight has realistic properties. Could you elaborate on that? Does the game use dynamic lighting?
JW: Yes, the flashlight does use a real-time dynamic light to effect the environment and characters. This was one of the first aspects of the game we worked on. When we saw the results of the real-time flashlight we knew that we had something special, and something that could help us create a dark and creepy atmosphere on the DS.
FPS: Aside from zombies, what creatures can we expect to see in Dementium?
JW: In the infant ward you discover the Infantile Mollusca, which are baby slugs basically. They crawl all over the walls and ceilings and come out from pretty much anywhere to get you; their sound effects are particularly penetrating. We also have some truly creepy characters that are simply called Screamers – they still creep us out when one of them hurtles at us from the darkness. The first boss you encounter in the game is the Cleaver. He is fat, strong, and ugly. Armed with a cleaver knife and a large syringe filled with a toxic substance, the Cleaver presents quite a challenge for the player.
FPS: What’s your formula for making Dementium scary?
JW: We thought it would be important to establish the potential danger early on in the game so the player has something to worry about from the start; the sort of danger that doesn’t attack you straight away, but threatens that it could at any time so the anticipation of that danger is what keeps you on your toes. We also designed the enemies so that they fit the environment in such a way that practically every aspect of the environment could be harboring an enemy who is waiting to jump out and get you. And of course, the darkness was a key element to making it scary. Audio has also been a very important aspect of the game. The music and effects are all purposely placed to suggest a world bigger than what you can see.
FPS: Gamecock is also publishing a game titled Insecticide, a third-person action adventure/shooter. Could you shed some more light on it?
Michael Levine: Insecticide is an action detective game with a modern Film Noir vibe to it – think Sin City with bugs. It’s based on Earth; however humans are no longer the dominant species. Thanks to tampering with their food and the resulting toxic pollen, humans have de-volved into creatures called “Hominids” and insects have grown to human size and now inhabit the world humans deserted. We really wanted to get the feel right for the game, if you’ve ever seen classic detective movies there’s a real gritty feel to them, something that makes them seem a little over the top, yet tangible to the viewer. We used the game’s art style to convey this feel through environments as well as the way the characters interact with each other. Everything in this game is a reference to classic detective or buddy-cop films. From your grizzled old partner/mentor Roachy Caruthers, to the irritable Chief Chigger that seems to constantly be flying off the handle, we’ve essentially taken all the key elements of the classic movies and put them into a new world inhabited by giant insects.
FPS: What’s the game world of Insecticide going to be like?
ML: The game is a fusion of action and detective games in that you’ll be running and gunning with the enemies for a bit, then once you reach a crime scene you can walk around and investigate, pick up clues, interrogate suspects and even play good cop/bad cop. Your character is Chrys Lyst – a teenage cop who is fresh to the Insecticide unit, she’s been taken under Roachy’s wing and is his personal protégé. She’s known to be a little excessive at times and a bit of a troublemaker, but Roachy can see the potential that lies within her. Through the course of the game she’ll uncover a huge mystery about herself and with that become a better detective. There are a ton of other features as well which will have you upgrading weapons, unlocking skills for your character and above all – getting to the bottom of the case.
FPS:Thanks, Jools and Mike.
Tags: adventure, crackpot, Dementium, fps, fps_games, Insecticide, interview, jools_watsham, michael_levine, renegade_kid, shooter, shooters, survival_horrorRelated Stories
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