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Lembram-se do já famoso (e cancelado) "dark game" do senhor Cassamassina?
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EntrevistaAbout two years ago, development studio n-Space (Call of Duty DS, Geist) showed us its then-in-development Wii-exclusive survival –horror game, Winter. The title, which seemed rooted in efforts like Silent Hill, stood out at the time for a couple reasons. First, it was a Wii project that dealt with a subject matter typically deemed mature by videogame standards: a dark storyline that revolved around an isolated heroine in the middle of a mysterious snowstorm, spooky backdrops and gruesome characters and, of course, violence. And second, it looked good, pushing Wii from a technical standpoint when so many third-parties treated the system with less respect than they did GameCube. Even today, it looks better than a lot of Wii games – impressive for a concept created so quickly by such a small team.
But for so many reasons that the developer talks about below, Winter was not to be -- not due to any major shortcomings on the game's part, but rather the restrictions imposed upon the Wii market by third-party publishers simply unwilling to take a gamble on a more traditional project. Today, IGN presents to you the first look at the in-limbo game complete with details about its origins and development from n-Space president Dan O'Leary and studio creative director Ted Newman, first-ever art, screenshots and direct-feed gameplay footage.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/946/946492p1.htmlIGN: What is the premise behind Winter?
Ted: The basic premise revolves around an unnatural snowstorm that has settled over a small town in the Midwest, effectively closing it off from the outside world. The main character, Mia, begins the game inside a wrecked ambulance with no recollection of how she got there. As she treks off towards the small town, she starts to see signs of something monstrous that is traveling with the storm.
At first the player is tasked with simply keeping Mia alive, and this involves sheltering her from the ever decreasing temperature and the rising level of snow. We wanted to challenge the player to think, "What would I do in this situation? Where would I go to get warm? How would I start a fire or create heat with limited resources?" Soon we learn that Mia has some connection to the storm itself and the creatures that begin to appear. Meanwhile the entire town is being transformed by snow and ice - doors that were previously accessible are now blocked, forcing her to climb through second story windows or walk on rooftops. The snowstorm is as big an enemy as anything in the game and ultimately we find out what IT is and why it is here.
IGN: How did the concept come about?
Ted: Winter started with Erick Dyke, our late President, wanting to take the survival horror genre and return it to its roots. Lately the genre seemed more about action and combat and less about actual "surviving." What could we do to take the genre back to basics while adding some new twists - and specifically what could we do to make this compelling on the Wii?
From there we talked about taking the setup of a single character alone in extreme circumstances, struggling to stay alive and adding another layer of survival on top. So what if it's really cold and getting colder by the minute? The company as a whole fell in love with this idea and immediately came up with all kinds of ways to keep a character warm - using the Wii controller to spark a fire and light some oily rags, finding the keys to an abandoned vehicle to start the engine and run the heater, or cutting open the belly of a dead creature and crawling inside - basically things we hadn't quite done in a game before. Immersing the player into the world was a big part of the experience for us, which is why we went with the direction of no HUD and lots of interaction. We planned to load the game up with as much real world interactivity as possible. If the player walks into a room and sees a whole set of drawers and cabinets, they should be able to search them all. If I'm fighting for my life, what in this room would I use as a weapon? I could grab the broomstick and beat things with it, but maybe it's better to break it first and stab creatures instead. This is the kind of choices we wanted to put in front of the player.
For all interactions, the Wii Remote and Nunchuck became extensions of the player's hands. To open a door, the player points at the handle with the Remote, pinches the A and B buttons, and pulls it open. If I'm worried about what's behind the door, I can pull it open slowly to peek inside first.
Each tool the player finds takes advantage of the unique nature of the Wii Controllers. For example, the flashlight will flicker at times, requiring players to tap the Wii Remote against their hands until it starts working properly. Other examples include a flare that needs to be cracked open with a sharp movement of the Remote, or a glowstick the player cracks and shakes in order to bring it to full intensity. Using simple gestures that make sense was a big part of our design.
IGN: How big was the team working on the project at its peak?
Ted: At its peak we had about 12 people on the project working a mix of part and full time to develop the demo and eventually work on the design for the game and concept art in case the project was picked up.
IGN: We've got a video walkthrough you sent out to publishers. How long ago was that and how much work went into the walkthrough?
Ted: We made that video back in March '07 to show it off to a few publishers at GDC. It was basically six weeks of work -- three weeks for the original demo and another three added on to update it.
IGN: Supposing the game got a publisher, what kind of improvements to the original concept were you hoping to make?
Ted: When we set out to make the demo, a key goal was making the best looking Wii game possible. Setting the game in the snow, playing a lot with dynamic lighting, and controlling the cameras through rail cams and so on allowed us to push the hardware more than we had in the past. But since then, we've grown tremendously as a company and have some new tricks up our sleeves to make even better looking environments and characters - so graphically the game would take a significant leap.
IGN: Tell us what happened. Why didn't this game find a publisher? What was the general reaction?
Dan: We pitched Winter tirelessly for months. The response was universally positive. Every single PD department was very excited about it and confident about moving forward. The look, the story, the overall tone and genre, the gameplay mechanics -- it all came together to create something very compelling for the Wii, something that got gamers excited.
With each presentation would come a wave of enthusiastic follow-ups from the publisher. There was so much clamor for the title it was, frankly, kind of overwhelming. We left GDC that year feeling very confident about placing the title quickly and on our terms.
Unfortunately, that wasn't to be. In almost every case we got hung up with the sales and marketing groups. They simply could not get behind a survival horror title on the Wii. In spite of great sales for Resident Evil 4 and the Umbrella Chronicles, these groups were unable to support the projections required to create a viable P&L for the title. The idea of an "adult" game on what they perceived to be a "kids" console was simply too big a leap for them, regardless of the enthusiastic support of the PD department and the Wii's total domination in the marketplace.
IGN: Aren't publishers creating a Catch 22 situation with their refusal to release darker content on Wii? It'll never sell if they don't help create and sustain an audience for it.
Dan: Sure, but I think that's just one symptom of a larger problem. Publishers are missing a lot of opportunities on the Wii. They can't apply their standard approaches to this platform. Risk analysis and sales projection techniques developed over the past 20-plus years of console development no longer apply, which makes folks very uneasy. They don't want to stick their necks out with a sales projection when they aren't able to cite comparable products. Pitching anything that isn't a kid's game for the Wii is an uphill battle.
Publishers still say to us on a regular basis, "we're still trying to figure out the Wii." It's been over two years since the launch and over three since n-Space first put our hands on prototype controllers. It's kind of ironic really -- you've got this console built on innovation, a console written off by many from day one, that now totally dominates the market, and yet many publishers still hesitate to follow suit with innovative games in all genres.
You have to give Nintendo credit for all this -- the biggest coup in the history of gaming. Lots of publishers talk about innovation, Nintendo bet everything on it and won big. I'm proud to say that n-Space understood this from day one.
It's great to see SEGA's recent comments about opportunity in the hardcore gamer market on the Wii. They seem to understand that the Wii's huge marketshare is not just new gamers, but includes all the diehards as well. Perhaps the tides are beginning to turn.
IGN: Did the fact that the game was an original IP prove part of the problem?
Dan: That's definitely part of it. New IP is always a tough sell. It's a bigger investment and a bigger risk. But the potential upside is also much greater for everyone involved. Whenever we would remind publishers of Resident Evil sales numbers on the Wii they'd wave it off, saying, "but that's Resident Evil." Of course, you can only make RE4 if you have the courage to try RE1.
Some publishers did suggest tying another license to the concept. This wasn't something we were opposed to, but it didn't get a deal signed either. Ultimately, it was a combination of factors that kept us from finding a home for Winter, most related to publishers having to go out of their comfort zone.
IGN: So you did explore trying to work with a publisher on turning it into a licensed product -- a recognizable franchise?
Dan: I think that's always the goal for new IP -- to grow it into something much larger than a game property, and Winter was no exception. There were talks of movies and comic books -- all the standard tie-ins. But you have to get the game off the ground first, which stalled everything.
IGN: Finally, the obvious question: do you still want to release Winter for Wii? Would you do it if publishers showed an interest?
Dan: Of course. We're very pleased with what we were able to do in such a short time and would welcome the right opportunity to pick up where we left off. Meanwhile, we've kept very busy with a lot of great titles, many of which the Winter playable helped us land.
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