OuFtb
04-23-2004, 12:09 PM
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is developer Headfirst Production's PC and Xbox tale of horror based on the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG and works of author H.P Lovecraft. The first-person action-adventure is set in the 1920s and deals with private eye Jack Walters and his investigations into occult goings on in the mysterious village of Innsmouth.
Players conversing with NPCs, treading precariously through foreboding environments, confronting the macabre and visions of horror and dabbling with combat and magic is... Well, that's a synopsis of the sort of stuff that's in store, is what that is.
Chris Gray, producer and game designer at Headfirst, takes us deeper into the mysteries of Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.
It's been a while since we last spoke to you about Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth - what key parts of the game have you been focusing on in that time, and what are the major new gameplay and engine features you've introduced, if any?
Gray: If I'm not mistaken, the last time we talked to you guys we hadn't signed the game up to a publisher. Back then a lot of the tool framework was in place and the technology was coming together, but the core renderer was still a middleware solution. This wasn't a big deal then as we were developing primarily on the PC and it's a very forgiving platform - especially when it comes to memory.
When we signed up with Bethesda, which had the vision to see the massive potential of the game, it was very keen to do an Xbox version as well. So as far as new engine features go, we've got a completely new engine. On top of having some very nifty optimisations for squeezing the data into memory, it also supports features that were not included by the old technology - such as vertex and pixel shaders.
The latter is being utilised for funky special effects, including per pixel lighting for character (normal maps), post processing effects (bloom/streaks, depth of field/blur, colour conversion effects), and sophisticated water (reflection and refraction).
What's the storyline in Dark Corners, and how is it narrated/presented to the player?
Gray: In Dark Corners the player assumes the role of Jack Walters - an ex-cop turned private detective. In the game's cinematic opening, Jack will be seen attempting to take his own life in a lunatic asylum, but the final outcome is not known. The plot then cuts to six years earlier with a fresh faced Jack, being blissfully unaware of the Cthulhu Mythos, investigating a disturbance at a house in Boston, Massachusetts, involving an unusual cult.
Jack discovers something in the basement of that house not of this world, something that pushes him beyond the limits of both his understanding and mental balance.
For the main game we join Jack six years on. No longer serving in the police force, he has set himself up as a private detective. It's early February 1922, a mere few weeks before the asylum suicide. Diagnosed with severe amnesia and psychoses, he remembers nothing past entering the basement of that strange house in Boston, but is plagued by flashbacks, unworldly dreams, and strangest of all, what can only be described as visions.
A new client, one Arthur Anderson, asks him to visit Innsmouth, an ancient seaport in Massachusetts. A little research uncovers rumours of strange creatures and unholy rituals, of the town's unexplained prosperity, and the recent disappearances of several people in the area. He takes a case involving the disappearance of a young grocery clerk called Brian Burnham.
During the course of the game the player will not only discover the secret of the shadow hanging over Innsmouth, but also gradually unveil the horrors of his own past.
Although the game utilises cutscenes and scripted sequences to build the narrative, these are only used where necessary as we have tried to build as much of the story into the actual gameplay. I think there are too many games developed these days that try to be films and forget that their meant to be an interactive experience. Also, all the action in Dark Corners is presented using the game engine rather than via FMV sequences.
I believe this helps maintain cohesion between the active and passive sections of the game experience.
In what ways are you ensuring that H.P. Lovecraft's fiction and his fictional Cthulhu "universe" is accurately represented in Dark Corners of the Earth?
Gray: Having the Call of Cthulhu license, and therefore the automatic association with H.P. Lovecraft, is a double-edged sword in some ways. On the one hand we are dealing with material that is very precious to a great number of people, and they all have very strong opinions on how this universe would look and feel. Unfortunately these can often vary wildly from each other, you just need to check out the forums on the official website for evidence of that.
On the other hand, there is a wealth of excellent source material for game design. In terms of accurately representing Lovecraft's work in a computer game, obviously compromises need to be made for playability as specific elements of Lovecraft and the Call of Cthulhu RPG would not translate well in a computer game. For instance, many of the monsters would technically drive the player insane simply by encountering them. This may sound like fun but would be a bit pointless within the bounds of a game experience.
The actual game narrative is our own story inspired by Lovecraft's tales as opposed to a direct translation of one of his texts. Nonetheless, it was vital that when creating this adaptation we maintained the atmosphere of despair, hopelessness and impending doom that are hallmarks of his work. Most of Lovecraft's protagonists don't live happily ever after, and without wanting to spoil the story, Jack Walters is not in for a pleasant ride.
Most of the locales and characters used in Dark Corners are direct creations of either Lovecraft or the Call of Cthulhu RPG, and we have interpreted these as accurately as is possible. However, as his work was written material, there was vast scope for artistic license as the visualisation is based on the interpretation of a description - as opposed to something that is set in stone.
If you were to describe the experience you are offering in Dark Corners of the Earth to someone ignorant of all things Cthulhu (especially the pen and paper RPG), how would you describe it?
Gray: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a first-person horror game set in the disturbing world of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, assaulting the player both physically and psychologically. It's a blend of both action and adventure elements with the player's own gaming style influencing the balance between the two, as the player uncovers horrifying secrets and explores terrifying locations.
It utilises the first person perspective for a truly immersed experience as the player investigates a terrifying mystery, with the price of this discovered knowledge being the gradual and continued degradation of his mental balance.
Unusually, there's no heads-up display in Dark Corners of the Earth. In what ways are you getting across to the player the information traditionally displayed in a HUD (health, ammo etc), and how difficult has such been to implement?
Gray: Cthulhu does not have a heads-up display in order to maintain the highest level of immersion possible, and to avoid distraction of what is being visually presented on the screen. The key to any horror experience is suspension of disbelief, and this is much harder to achieve if the screen is cluttered with status values for health, ammo, sanity etc. There is however a separate interface screen for managing inventory items, medical supplies and viewing the journals and files picked up during the game.
In regards ammo levels in weapons, you'll just have to keep track - like you would in a normal combat situation. If you exhaust the clip then you'll soon know about it as you'll start firing dry rounds. For health, much like in real life, there isn't really a concept of having 100-percent health or 20-percent health. If you suffer any damage, be it from combat situations or falling too far, then you will develop an injury - such as an open wound.
If this is not treated then your health will gradually degrade, or in the case of a broken bone it won't get any better. Jack's general level of health is communicated to the player through more natural means, for instance if you have a broken leg then Jack hobbles along, if you are losing blood then Jack won't be able to move as quickly and will moan and groan in pain.
Insanity is a core component of the Cthulhu experience, with Jack Walters suffering the psychological effects of witnessing untold horrors. How are hallucinations, panic attacks, vertigo and paranoia and the like presented visually?
Gray: The effects used are scalable relative to Jack's current mental state, and they are simulated in-game through manipulation of graphics, sound, control and the environment. Panic, for instance, will result in a temporary boost in stamina, but the game controls will become more sensitive, Jack's breathing will become louder and his heart will start to race.
If panic develops during a combat situation then this adds a completely new dimension to the game experience. I don't want to give away too many spoilers about how the other effects are created just yet.
Presumably NPCs react differently to an insane Walters? And are there any benefits to being insane and how do we get sanity back?
Gray: Technically some of the effects do give certain benefits, for instance in the case of the panic example described above the player will temporarily lose any of the restrictions that may be present from low stamina. However, we wanted to create a game experience where you have to avoid exposing Jack to terror, not vice versa, so although some of the effects have fringe benefits, in the main losing sanity will impede progress.
You get sanity back continually, providing you are not exposing Jack to 'sanity reducing' situations. Losing too much sanity, much like health, can be fatal and will result in Jack suffering a massive insanity failure - just pray you don't have a gun in your hand.
There are not many characters Jack meets during Dark Corners that are wholly sane, so they wouldn't really notice another madman. However, the design team has a lot of hands-on script control over the development, so it has been easy for us to balance character interaction to suit the exact game situation.
How does NPC interaction work? Do we simply sit back and listen to them talk or do we chat via context-sensitive menus or something?
Gray: Providing some kind of on-screen menu selection for conversations would have been in contradiction to the removal of the game HUD. In addition, providing a selection of options for each conversation would have diluted the strength of the narrative, so we decided against this approach.
However, the conversations with characters will change depending on the game situation and the number of times that person has been actioned, so there is still a lot of richness to the dialogue. Also, there are several situations where you will need to use an inventory object with a game character; this will usually spawn a conversation.
All Cthulhu Mythos creatures are pretty unusual, but what are some of the more outlandish ones you're including in Dark Corners of the Earth?
Gray: The main cannon fodder - not that there is such a concept in Cthulhu - are the tainted population of Innsmouth, some of which are at more advanced stages of transformation than others. As the plot develops, the player will start encountering the deep ones, who are far more powerful, frog-like creatures. But, it wouldn't be a Lovecraft game without some big monsters; these include a Shoggoth, Father Dagon, Mother Hydra, Flying Polyps and a few other surprises.
What sort of role does magic play in Dark Corners of the Earth? Is it a vital part of Walters' "armoury", or is it something we can get away without using?
Gray: Jack is more of a hard-boiled detective than a pointy hat-wearing wizard, so having him cast lots of spells wouldn't have sat well with the character. He doesn't develop super strength, nor the ability to shoot fireballs at his opponents. However, without wanting to give away too much of the plot, there is more to Jack than initially meets the eye.
To give a slightly cryptic answer, the dark secret of Jack Walters is not necessarily the one Lovecraft fans familiar with the Shadow over Innsmouth will be expecting.
Available weaponry sounds as though it will be a mixture of contemporary stuff and the slightly more bizarre. Could you tell us about one or two of the other-worldly weapons in the game?
Gray: Later in the game Jack will discover a very powerful weapon that discharges lightning bolts. Unfortunately it is found lying in a stream of water, and has clearly been there for thousands of years - so it is not exactly entirely stable.
1920s vehicles are mentioned as a key feature on the official Dark Corners of the Earth website. Does this mean we'll actually get to drive around in cars and stuff, or are vehicles on rails?
Gray: There is no driving of vehicles in Dark Corners, unfortunately there is only so much unique gameplay you can fit in one game.
In the last interview we did you mentioned that you were knocking around some ideas for Dark Corners of the Earth multiplayer. Do you have more you can say about multiplayer at this time?
Gray: Developing a multiplayer component for Dark Corners would have been great fun, and we did have a lot of cool ideas. However, anything we had developed would have been at the cost of the single-player experience. It was decided early on by both Bethesda and Headfirst that the game didn't need a multiplayer element. It is definitely something we may consider in future projects.
Is there anything else we should know about Dark Corners of the Earth before we sign off that you haven't mentioned?
Gray: Just to keep a check on the official website for continual updates, and that anyone looking for a new gaming experience should get Dark Corners when it comes out :).
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=103641
The link has some screens at the bottom if your intrested.
Players conversing with NPCs, treading precariously through foreboding environments, confronting the macabre and visions of horror and dabbling with combat and magic is... Well, that's a synopsis of the sort of stuff that's in store, is what that is.
Chris Gray, producer and game designer at Headfirst, takes us deeper into the mysteries of Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.
It's been a while since we last spoke to you about Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth - what key parts of the game have you been focusing on in that time, and what are the major new gameplay and engine features you've introduced, if any?
Gray: If I'm not mistaken, the last time we talked to you guys we hadn't signed the game up to a publisher. Back then a lot of the tool framework was in place and the technology was coming together, but the core renderer was still a middleware solution. This wasn't a big deal then as we were developing primarily on the PC and it's a very forgiving platform - especially when it comes to memory.
When we signed up with Bethesda, which had the vision to see the massive potential of the game, it was very keen to do an Xbox version as well. So as far as new engine features go, we've got a completely new engine. On top of having some very nifty optimisations for squeezing the data into memory, it also supports features that were not included by the old technology - such as vertex and pixel shaders.
The latter is being utilised for funky special effects, including per pixel lighting for character (normal maps), post processing effects (bloom/streaks, depth of field/blur, colour conversion effects), and sophisticated water (reflection and refraction).
What's the storyline in Dark Corners, and how is it narrated/presented to the player?
Gray: In Dark Corners the player assumes the role of Jack Walters - an ex-cop turned private detective. In the game's cinematic opening, Jack will be seen attempting to take his own life in a lunatic asylum, but the final outcome is not known. The plot then cuts to six years earlier with a fresh faced Jack, being blissfully unaware of the Cthulhu Mythos, investigating a disturbance at a house in Boston, Massachusetts, involving an unusual cult.
Jack discovers something in the basement of that house not of this world, something that pushes him beyond the limits of both his understanding and mental balance.
For the main game we join Jack six years on. No longer serving in the police force, he has set himself up as a private detective. It's early February 1922, a mere few weeks before the asylum suicide. Diagnosed with severe amnesia and psychoses, he remembers nothing past entering the basement of that strange house in Boston, but is plagued by flashbacks, unworldly dreams, and strangest of all, what can only be described as visions.
A new client, one Arthur Anderson, asks him to visit Innsmouth, an ancient seaport in Massachusetts. A little research uncovers rumours of strange creatures and unholy rituals, of the town's unexplained prosperity, and the recent disappearances of several people in the area. He takes a case involving the disappearance of a young grocery clerk called Brian Burnham.
During the course of the game the player will not only discover the secret of the shadow hanging over Innsmouth, but also gradually unveil the horrors of his own past.
Although the game utilises cutscenes and scripted sequences to build the narrative, these are only used where necessary as we have tried to build as much of the story into the actual gameplay. I think there are too many games developed these days that try to be films and forget that their meant to be an interactive experience. Also, all the action in Dark Corners is presented using the game engine rather than via FMV sequences.
I believe this helps maintain cohesion between the active and passive sections of the game experience.
In what ways are you ensuring that H.P. Lovecraft's fiction and his fictional Cthulhu "universe" is accurately represented in Dark Corners of the Earth?
Gray: Having the Call of Cthulhu license, and therefore the automatic association with H.P. Lovecraft, is a double-edged sword in some ways. On the one hand we are dealing with material that is very precious to a great number of people, and they all have very strong opinions on how this universe would look and feel. Unfortunately these can often vary wildly from each other, you just need to check out the forums on the official website for evidence of that.
On the other hand, there is a wealth of excellent source material for game design. In terms of accurately representing Lovecraft's work in a computer game, obviously compromises need to be made for playability as specific elements of Lovecraft and the Call of Cthulhu RPG would not translate well in a computer game. For instance, many of the monsters would technically drive the player insane simply by encountering them. This may sound like fun but would be a bit pointless within the bounds of a game experience.
The actual game narrative is our own story inspired by Lovecraft's tales as opposed to a direct translation of one of his texts. Nonetheless, it was vital that when creating this adaptation we maintained the atmosphere of despair, hopelessness and impending doom that are hallmarks of his work. Most of Lovecraft's protagonists don't live happily ever after, and without wanting to spoil the story, Jack Walters is not in for a pleasant ride.
Most of the locales and characters used in Dark Corners are direct creations of either Lovecraft or the Call of Cthulhu RPG, and we have interpreted these as accurately as is possible. However, as his work was written material, there was vast scope for artistic license as the visualisation is based on the interpretation of a description - as opposed to something that is set in stone.
If you were to describe the experience you are offering in Dark Corners of the Earth to someone ignorant of all things Cthulhu (especially the pen and paper RPG), how would you describe it?
Gray: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a first-person horror game set in the disturbing world of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, assaulting the player both physically and psychologically. It's a blend of both action and adventure elements with the player's own gaming style influencing the balance between the two, as the player uncovers horrifying secrets and explores terrifying locations.
It utilises the first person perspective for a truly immersed experience as the player investigates a terrifying mystery, with the price of this discovered knowledge being the gradual and continued degradation of his mental balance.
Unusually, there's no heads-up display in Dark Corners of the Earth. In what ways are you getting across to the player the information traditionally displayed in a HUD (health, ammo etc), and how difficult has such been to implement?
Gray: Cthulhu does not have a heads-up display in order to maintain the highest level of immersion possible, and to avoid distraction of what is being visually presented on the screen. The key to any horror experience is suspension of disbelief, and this is much harder to achieve if the screen is cluttered with status values for health, ammo, sanity etc. There is however a separate interface screen for managing inventory items, medical supplies and viewing the journals and files picked up during the game.
In regards ammo levels in weapons, you'll just have to keep track - like you would in a normal combat situation. If you exhaust the clip then you'll soon know about it as you'll start firing dry rounds. For health, much like in real life, there isn't really a concept of having 100-percent health or 20-percent health. If you suffer any damage, be it from combat situations or falling too far, then you will develop an injury - such as an open wound.
If this is not treated then your health will gradually degrade, or in the case of a broken bone it won't get any better. Jack's general level of health is communicated to the player through more natural means, for instance if you have a broken leg then Jack hobbles along, if you are losing blood then Jack won't be able to move as quickly and will moan and groan in pain.
Insanity is a core component of the Cthulhu experience, with Jack Walters suffering the psychological effects of witnessing untold horrors. How are hallucinations, panic attacks, vertigo and paranoia and the like presented visually?
Gray: The effects used are scalable relative to Jack's current mental state, and they are simulated in-game through manipulation of graphics, sound, control and the environment. Panic, for instance, will result in a temporary boost in stamina, but the game controls will become more sensitive, Jack's breathing will become louder and his heart will start to race.
If panic develops during a combat situation then this adds a completely new dimension to the game experience. I don't want to give away too many spoilers about how the other effects are created just yet.
Presumably NPCs react differently to an insane Walters? And are there any benefits to being insane and how do we get sanity back?
Gray: Technically some of the effects do give certain benefits, for instance in the case of the panic example described above the player will temporarily lose any of the restrictions that may be present from low stamina. However, we wanted to create a game experience where you have to avoid exposing Jack to terror, not vice versa, so although some of the effects have fringe benefits, in the main losing sanity will impede progress.
You get sanity back continually, providing you are not exposing Jack to 'sanity reducing' situations. Losing too much sanity, much like health, can be fatal and will result in Jack suffering a massive insanity failure - just pray you don't have a gun in your hand.
There are not many characters Jack meets during Dark Corners that are wholly sane, so they wouldn't really notice another madman. However, the design team has a lot of hands-on script control over the development, so it has been easy for us to balance character interaction to suit the exact game situation.
How does NPC interaction work? Do we simply sit back and listen to them talk or do we chat via context-sensitive menus or something?
Gray: Providing some kind of on-screen menu selection for conversations would have been in contradiction to the removal of the game HUD. In addition, providing a selection of options for each conversation would have diluted the strength of the narrative, so we decided against this approach.
However, the conversations with characters will change depending on the game situation and the number of times that person has been actioned, so there is still a lot of richness to the dialogue. Also, there are several situations where you will need to use an inventory object with a game character; this will usually spawn a conversation.
All Cthulhu Mythos creatures are pretty unusual, but what are some of the more outlandish ones you're including in Dark Corners of the Earth?
Gray: The main cannon fodder - not that there is such a concept in Cthulhu - are the tainted population of Innsmouth, some of which are at more advanced stages of transformation than others. As the plot develops, the player will start encountering the deep ones, who are far more powerful, frog-like creatures. But, it wouldn't be a Lovecraft game without some big monsters; these include a Shoggoth, Father Dagon, Mother Hydra, Flying Polyps and a few other surprises.
What sort of role does magic play in Dark Corners of the Earth? Is it a vital part of Walters' "armoury", or is it something we can get away without using?
Gray: Jack is more of a hard-boiled detective than a pointy hat-wearing wizard, so having him cast lots of spells wouldn't have sat well with the character. He doesn't develop super strength, nor the ability to shoot fireballs at his opponents. However, without wanting to give away too much of the plot, there is more to Jack than initially meets the eye.
To give a slightly cryptic answer, the dark secret of Jack Walters is not necessarily the one Lovecraft fans familiar with the Shadow over Innsmouth will be expecting.
Available weaponry sounds as though it will be a mixture of contemporary stuff and the slightly more bizarre. Could you tell us about one or two of the other-worldly weapons in the game?
Gray: Later in the game Jack will discover a very powerful weapon that discharges lightning bolts. Unfortunately it is found lying in a stream of water, and has clearly been there for thousands of years - so it is not exactly entirely stable.
1920s vehicles are mentioned as a key feature on the official Dark Corners of the Earth website. Does this mean we'll actually get to drive around in cars and stuff, or are vehicles on rails?
Gray: There is no driving of vehicles in Dark Corners, unfortunately there is only so much unique gameplay you can fit in one game.
In the last interview we did you mentioned that you were knocking around some ideas for Dark Corners of the Earth multiplayer. Do you have more you can say about multiplayer at this time?
Gray: Developing a multiplayer component for Dark Corners would have been great fun, and we did have a lot of cool ideas. However, anything we had developed would have been at the cost of the single-player experience. It was decided early on by both Bethesda and Headfirst that the game didn't need a multiplayer element. It is definitely something we may consider in future projects.
Is there anything else we should know about Dark Corners of the Earth before we sign off that you haven't mentioned?
Gray: Just to keep a check on the official website for continual updates, and that anyone looking for a new gaming experience should get Dark Corners when it comes out :).
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=103641
The link has some screens at the bottom if your intrested.