TF2 Game Interview - with online play
game interview
http://www.seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=15601
First Gen: Mr. Otero, first and foremost thank you for taking time out to share some inside info on the upcoming game with the Seibertron.com community. I'm sure the first question most Seibertronians will have is that Luxoflux is new to the Transformers franchise. Can you tell us who you are and what you are bringing to the new Revenge of the Fallen game?
Joby-Otero Otero: Luxoflux has a long and very successful history of making games -- including the ultra-ambitious open-world, driving, fighting and shooting of True Crime and the tightly polished fantasy-action-platform-brawling of Kung Fu Panda. Many of us grew up with and daydreamed about making a Transformers game, so this is a thrilling opportunity. It’s also a chance to fully use our skill at finding the heart of a pre-existing world, and expanding on it to develop a game that feels authentic, yet stands on its own. We hope fans feel the love – especially when they get their chance to blow the doors off each other with their favorite characters online!
F G: Transformers the Game (2007) was a huge treat for fans and allowed players to follow the storyline of the first movie without completely copying the movie script itself. Can we expect the same thing from the second installment?
JRO: Our game begins and ends in the same places as the film and there are key events where we synchronize with the film. However, the film tells a story from a human perspective and ours is told from the perspective of the Transformers. Players can also expect to play sections that expand on the film and bring in additional characters.
F G: Something us Transformers fans absolutely love is giant Robot action! One of the best kickers to the 2007 game was the ability to "Choose your side". Will Revenge of the Fallen give the same capabilities?
JRO: Most definitely. There’s an Autobot campaign and a Decepticon campaign and they can be played in either order.
F G: How closely did the developers get to work with the producers of the movie ROTF for the game?
JRO: We communicated a lot with them up front and met with Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg. We’ve since had many ongoing emails and meetings with Paramount and Hasbro. Our team is as hardcore about Transformers as anyone, so the opportunity to work with those folks has been thrilling and it can be hard not to geek out a bit.
F G: Michael Bay, huh? Guess we can expect alot of explosions. Moving on, in the first game, we got the pleasure of certain voice actors voicing roles for the game, will any of them be reprising their roles for the sequel game?
JRO: Hell yeah! We can’t divulge much right now, but fans will find plenty of recognizable voices in the game since we have a huge roster of talent from the new film and the previous game.
F G: What platforms will be able to play Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?
JRO: Luxoflux is developing the game for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Beenox is developing the PC port. Vicarious Visions, Krome Studios and Savage Entertainment (respectively) are developing unique designs for the DS, Wii & PS2 and PSP.
F G: So if you own more than one platform, essentially you can get a different game like with the first release. Sweet. A big question most gamers have is will Revenge of the Fallen feature online gaming capabilities?
JRO: Yes, and we’re particularly excited about our multiplayer. For the first time in a Transformers game, players can take their favorite characters online in intense matches where the game’s mix of driving, flying, shooting, melee and acrobatic transformation, results in something not quite like any other online experience. It’s fast and intuitive, yet difficult to master and we hope players will agree that it’s an addictive, full-on, ‘Transformers’ experience!
F G: Mario Kart eat your heart out. Transformers the Game also features "side missions" that unlocked certain bonus materials such as movie trailers and photos, will ROTF feature anything of the sort?
JRO: We’re proud to say that Hasbro has really opened up their vaults to a lot of cool content for us. Our game has lots of bonus material, but the system is different this time. Extra content is unlocked by completing a variety of objectives, some of which are in story missions, some are in non-story missions and others are elsewhere. We’ll have to leave it at that – all secret and stuff.
F G: Fair enough. What were the developers trying to accomplish with the sequel game?
JRO: We’ve had a lot of goals, but among our biggest were to deliver: 1) The feeling of being a big f’ing Transformer – a living, alien machine that acrobatically changes form on a whim – allowing players to effortlessly blend shooting, driving, climbing, flying and melee whenever & wherever; 2) Deliver epic Autobot and Decepticon campaigns that give players plenty of freedom, lots of replay value, and highlight the personality and different strengths and weaknesses of the characters; 3) Multiplayer! J
F G: You had me at big f'ing robot. With all the coolness of the first game one of the biggest gripes that came from it was "uneven" gameplay. It seemed that some missions or objectives were thought to be harder than others at awkward times. Was it difficult addressing this issue?
JRO: Getting the difficulty right is always a very challenging thing, especially for a game that needs to be accessible to a very broad range of players. We started play-testing as early as possible to tune single-player and multiplayer. Luxoflux didn’t create the first game, so we were comfortable trying a different approach. For one, our game has multiple layers. Casual gamers can focus on the first layer early on and ease into things. Advanced players can use a combination of skills and take advantage of high-level features earlier and tackle bonus objectives.
F G: So with that being said, what was the most challenging aspect of the making of ROTF?
JRO: With 25 years of Transformers out there as inspiration, and so many ideas from the fans, it was very difficult to decide what to include. One great thing about that is that there are so many ideas and so many cool things we can expand on in the future.
F G: Yet another cool bonus in the first game was that it featured characters that were not in the first film, and as far as we can tell, have not been slated for an appearance in the second film. Can we expect bonus characters from ROTF?
JRO: There will definitely be surprises. We have familiar characters as well as variations that I can’t say much about yet. We also worked closely with Hasbro and reference from the two movies to create many new characters that are uniquely designed for the game. There’s a little something for everyone – Autobot or Decepticon.
Well Joby, thank you very much for your time and we can't wait to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on the store shelves!
