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Knight
03-25-2003, 08:01 AM
The upcoming Xbox fantasy RPG Sudeki has been confused for a Japanese developed title thanks in part to the screenshots that show a big influence from Japanese console RPG. In reality, this Microsoft published game is being handled by Climax, based in the UK. HomeLAN got a chance to chat with the game's lead designer Tuomas Pirinen to find out more about Sudeki.


HomeLAN - How did the idea for Sudeki come about?



Tuomas Pirinen - It was dark and stormy night… No, actually a bunch of enthusiastic, bright games developers got together and fleshed out a proposal for an epic console RPG. This was then written up as a proper game design which Microsoft picked up to publish for Xbox.



HomeLAN - How many people have remarked that a UK company is making a Japanese style RPG and how does the dev team feel about that?



Tuomas Pirinen - I really feel that the Japanese shouldn’t have such a monopoly when it comes to console RPGs. It’s a great genre with lots of untapped potential. I feel that the Japanese have perfected the turn-based RPG format down to art, but Sudeki offers far more than this in its gameplay.



Art-wise, our aim was never to ‘be Japanese’ as such. Yes, some of our concept artists have a heavily manga-influenced style, but western art style has at least as strong a presence in the game, giving Sudeki its own unique look.



HomeLAN - What is the storyline for the game?



Tuomas Pirinen - We obviously don’t want to give away the story, but as the game starts, The Bright Empire, home of the player characters, is locked in a deadly war against the World of Darkness. The story revolves around the player finding truth about the raging conflict and finding out exactly who is right and who is wrong. The story will take the player through three worlds, and during their journey each of the characters must decide which side they stand on and how to heal the rift between the worlds.



HomeLAN - What playable characters are available in Sudeki?



Tuomas Pirinen - We don’t want to reveal all the playable characters quite yet, but the first four characters you control are Tal, a young officer of the Illumina Elite Guard, Ailish, the Princess of the Bright Empire, Elco, the foremost scientist of the land and Buki, the she-warrior of the Shadani tribe.



HomeLAN - What settings and locations can be seen in the game?



Tuomas Pirinen - There is a great diversity of locations, from tranquil 'light-world' settings of Brightwater fishing village, to the 'shadow-world' depths of Farrex Lore's huge cavernous dungeon full of undead-infested islands and the forbidding Citadel of the Dark world. Each location is virtually crammed full of detail such as trees and plants swinging in a breeze, dynamic shadows that cast on characters as they pass by them, wild life and insects that leap out of the grass in front of you when you get too close, and many other tiny details for players to discover.



HomeLAN - What kinds of characters and enemies will be seen in Sudeki?



Tuomas Pirinen - Sudeki's diverse and fearful enemies draw from influential material such as the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series'. Coupled with our in house Concept Artists warped imaginations we were able to generate unique creatures with quirky, yet threatening attack patterns. For example, the "Bound Flesh" is a particularly disturbing character, created seemingly from four separate humanoids, crudely tied and stapled together, in such a way that you never know which way they will lurch next! The games narrative is overshadowed by perhaps our most deadly enemy, the dark assassin, Talos. This warrior has a huge scythe grafted to one arm, and a robotic arm on the other side. His speed, agility, and penchant for pain make for a very threatening force to be reckoned with! The characters that populate the three worlds are not too dissimilar to those of our own world, as if from an alternate Earth, but as you play through the game, the unique Sudeki style becomes apparent, and the differences more exaggerated. I feel our original brief to create characters "transcend the imagination" has been pleasingly realized.



HomeLAN - What sort of weapons and spells will be found in the game?



Tuomas Pirinen - Weaponry ranges from swords to mechanical guns. Since the setting could be called ‘industrial fantasy’ where both technology and magic exist hand-in-hand, the player gains access to mechanical chainswords, magic staffs made of crystal and even living flamethrowers!



Spells range from being able to summon monsters to fight alongside PCs to earth-shattering Spirit Strikes, spells that require several characters combine their powers to launch ultra-powerful attacks. All the spells are themed according to the personalities of the characters, so Buki for example draws her power from the totem animals of her tribe, while Elco uses a mixture of science and magic in his spells.



HomeLAN - How is combat handled in Sudeki?



Tuomas Pirinen - Combat, the core of Sudeki’s gameplay, works on two levels: combat moves are executed via gamepad presses which you can string together to perform combos. There is no need to aim manually unless you want to, as there is lock-on system, but you always retain direct control of your character. For more complex actions, as well as inventory access and spells, there is a pop up menu system which slows the game down while you select your next action while still keeping you under time pressure. This unique blend of gameplay styles is perhaps the greatest strength of Sudeki – It’s easy to pick up yet takes time to master completely.



HomeLAN - What other unique gameplay elements does the game have?



Tuomas Pirinen - 'One time' is the feature we are most proud of: whenever players need to open a menu during combat, the game slows down to 5% speed, allowing you to view the game world and the spectacular special effects in slow-motion.



HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the game's graphics engine and how does it use the Xbox hardware?



Tuomas Pirinen - The engine gives us an unprecedented amount of flexibility. There is not much we can't do, as the engine supports all of the next-genenration shaders like specular, bump, incandescence and many others to create rich looking worlds.



For our characters we have high-resolution facial animation, and we can do complex animation blending to get the smoothest looking results when our characters move.



Besides that we have complicated lighting and shadow effects, elaborate particle effects, glows, blurring and much more!



The engine was built from the ground-up for Xbox, so it takes full advantage of the capabilities of the hardware.



HomeLAN - What is the current status of the game's progress and when will it be released?



Tuomas Pirinen - We are heading towards Code Complete and Feature Complete at great speed. The aim of release is Q4 2003.



HomeLAN - Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Sudeki?



Tuomas Pirinen - I’d like to thank all the gamers who’ve written in with encouragement and support. It is very rare for a western developer to build all the technology, artwork and intellectual property for an RPG game completely from scratch, especially in this scale. We want Sudeki to stand out from a crowd as an innovative and original game.

http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=12983

JJaX
03-25-2003, 08:26 AM
ive never heard of this. In fact, its difficult to remember all these crazy ass japanese names.

Why can they call this dragon beer, or something easy for me to remember :D

Can we get some pics up in herr?
*edit* Ok i saw some, from that link...

Well the more RPGS the better, i need one!

RudedogX
03-25-2003, 08:35 AM
This game has been talked about since last E3. I had a pic in my sig a long time ago. Either way, I'm interested in this one!