We recently talked with Eric Studer, senior Murdered: Soul Suspect, an unusual detective from Airtight Games, which will fall on store shelves in June. The plot of Murdered rotates around the afterlife of a policeman named Ronan, who has lost his wife and the meaning of life at the same time. And then someone brutally killed him: threw him out of the window, and then released seven bullets into the chest. Who? For what? We have to find out in the summer.
Read our first impressions of the game in the preview, but now – direct speech!
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About ghosts and the need for remuneration
“Gambling.ru " : The first thing that interests is of course the plot. It seemed to us that you have it with a bias in religion. With demons, ghosts and churches … so?
Eric Steder : No, I would say that he is quite secular. The church is just a good location that is interesting in the context of the story about ghosts. And I call the plot secular, because our ghosts are created on the basis of Japanese and American beliefs about spirits, and we did not turn to any religious sources. And no matter how Japanese and American beliefs differ from each other, they have a surprisingly much in common with regard to the idea of ghosts. Ghosts are ghosts, whatever one may say.
“Gambling.ru " : Before getting down to business, it is necessary to find evidence and the like, and three attempts are given for this, so? And what will happen if you make a mistake?
Eric Steder : We prudently did not want to arrange Game Over during the investigation. They did not want the players who were so trying to unravel the matter, to suffer collapse, returned to the beginning of the game – and threw it. The last thing the designer wants is to give the player the game. On the contrary, I want to play as long as possible. And we have a story where the investigations serve the development of the plot and help the hero learn more about ourselves, so we decided to ask the players difficult tasks, but not to bring to failure if they do not cope with everything at once.
But we evaluate how you play. We do not want you to break through the plot, and we have all the moves recorded. The menu shows that each of your investigations receives an assessment, and in general it characterizes your detective abilities. We reward players for good work, but if they are not perfect investigators, we do not punish too strictly.
“Gambling.ru " : Also reward? That is, at the end, if you play well, something will happen for it?
Eric Steder : So far, we are at least recording your successes. In theory, the players are still invested in the game and strive to play well, but we give them an additional reason – all the moves are recorded, all errors will affect the result.
“Gambling.ru " : The catch is that if everything is too simple for the players, they will quit playing. But if the task is too difficult … they will quit playing!
Eric Steder : Yes, you always risk this kind of games. We really hope that we pay due attention to the balance and for the majority the game will be worthy. It has internal logic.
“Gambling.ru " : Total: is it good, are you playing badly, it does not affect the plot?
Eric Steder : No.
“Gambling.ru " : And the story is always the same, regardless of whether we will play well or badly?
Eric Steder : Right. From the very beginning of work on the game, our team and creative director had in mind a very specific story. From the very beginning, we deliberately decided to focus on one mysterious story, and not on the branched plot – not to be distracted from the main topic "Ronan investigated his own murder". The bottom line is that each investigation is somehow sideways to this matter, true? And, getting into a new location, you can immediately understand how exactly.
You need to start an investigation, start to understand the plot, but even the evidence found at first will not help too much. You will have to study these evidence, compare them, to recreate the picture at the crime scene in order to understand what this is about what is happening with Ronan. The player seems to write a story himself – or opens it, investigating crimes. Such a series of discoveries is a fascinating way to present the plot.
On the importance of scenery and movie setting
“Gambling.ru " : Can I say that the main thing in the game is investigation and conversations? Or there are other elements, something that we did not see in the demo version?
Eric Steder : Investigation is definitely the main thing. Detection of crime places, disclosure of the case … The second most important, in my opinion, is the research spirit. You felt it, walking along Salem, right? You can return to already open locations, look for collectible objects, find out that this world can offer you, learn more about the salam by specially for the game ..
“Gambling.ru " : And reveal others ..
Eric Steder : Yes, you may encounter other matters. For example, the case in the apartment that you came across in the main mission.
“Gambling.ru " : And the town is founded from your game on?..
Eric Steder : Our Salem is a pure fiction that is not based on any real city. We needed a place ideal for the plot. And such architecture as in Murdered, believe or not, it often occurs in the country.
“Gambling.ru " : This is a very cinematic game. How did you succeed in this side of the matter, someone has experience in the film industry?
Eric Steder : Exactly. Our creative leader Matt Brunner Came from the movie. He worked on television, worked with advertising. He knows everything about creating a plot, filming, installation and serving on the screen. In addition, we hired a movie instructor who worked with several studios. He and Quentin Tarantino worked on a couple of films. We had a powerful cinematic staff – we knew how important this component of the game. It was very important to attract experienced and talented people to the studio in order to shoot movie elements in the best possible way, so that everything looks convincing and natural.
“Gambling.ru " : And the actors have picked up?
Eric Steder : Yes. Jason Brooks gaining popularity – the further, the more difficult it became to get it to shoot, it is now just in. All other actors are Hollywood professionals, everyone lives in Los Angeles, in the local motion studio we shot and shot.
About demons, internal and not very
“Gambling.ru " : How great the role of demons in the game?
Eric Steder : Demons give us a great opportunity to change the rhythm of the game. If all the time they slowly wander around the crime sites, collecting collection objects, it can tire and get bored, right? I want a variety. I would like to slip something like that, dilute the routine, get out of the rolled path. And here the demons add emotions to the gameplay, revive our speculative investigation, allow the player to experience the whole range of experiences – from meticulous and somewhat detached observation to the growing drama of the meeting with the demon.
Their role is also important https://sister-site.org/tropic-slots/ from the point of view of the plot. Ronan does not want to stay at dusk, he longs to get out and move on. And demons are a serious threat (they can devour his soul!), and the warning (stay here for a long time – you yourself will become the same). And with both tasks they do a great job.
“Gambling.ru " : And how they behave if they kill them? Disappear forever?
Eric Steder : We do not need the demons to constantly overcome the players, so yes, if you approach the matter seriously and destroy them, they will remain dead.
“Gambling.ru " : Are the complexity and frequency of meetings with demons during the game increase?
Eric Steder : Oh yes. Having advanced further in the game, you get special abilities that you can use in battle. Useful elements of the environment are located the farther, the more risky. It becomes unsafe to resort to them. And the demons themselves are done more. The longer you play, the better you get acquainted with the system, the more difficult we try to make the game so that no one gets bored.
“Gambling.ru " : When working with evidence, only one option of resolving the case is possible, or there may be several?
Eric Steder : Each investigation exists in its context, for everyone there is a correct answer, and you need to find it. All evidence is placed in a game with a certain intent, everything is part of the story that we want to tell. We hope that you have confused the case and in search of answers you will have to think carefully. It will not happen that everything is clear at once. You have an object – evidence, but what exactly does it mean? This is where the investigation begins-the most exciting part of the detective.
“Gambling.ru " : Tell us about the poltergeist how he "works"?
Eric Steder : This phenomenon can be used in different ways, not only during the investigation. You can influence objects to get information not available in the usual ways. For example, make the phone lose the message from the answering machine. Maybe this information will help you. Maybe you can direct the actions of other characters. If they are close enough if the poltergeist is able to distract them, you can manage them – and decide with their help some puzzles.
“Gambling.ru " : You mentioned that this is the story of the redemption of a dead man who is not very dead. Is it possible in more detail?
Eric Steder : Certainly. Ronan O’Connor is a native of the lower classes, which actually started like a bad guy. Meeting with Julia, his wife, completely changed his life. He wanted to become a worthy person. This desire and brought him to the police. Having lost his wife – as can be seen from the first chapter of the game, he was destroyed, crushed. She is the only one to do good … And now he was trapped in dusk and sees a ray of hope – he sees Julia for the last time and understands that it is time to understand himself, complete the unfinished things – and go to the best world.
“Gambling.ru " : The murder of the wife will somehow be connected with the rest of the game? What is his role?
Eric Steder : The murder of the hero’s wife adds reliability to this hero. We needed Ronan – a deep, multidimensional character, and not another cardboard cool detective. Take his wife from him, let him hurt something, let something determine his character, his essence. This is also seen by his tattoos … for the most part, all this is necessary for the greater believability of the main plot. And in the main storyline it is not always possible to show and reveal this. Through interaction with the game world, with the help of special objects surrounded, we try to share interesting information and backstory with players.
If you do not regret the time and examine the game world completely, you will find everything and fully understand how the murder of Julia influenced Ronan until his death. And although these events are not necessarily directly related to the main thing-the murder of Ronan himself, they greatly affected his character, they will help you better understand him-and look at the game in a new way.
“Gambling.ru " : And besides the murder of his wife and all this, whether he has something else, some kind of hobby, interests, so that it can be understood what kind of person he is?
Eric Steder : Certainly. Starting to explore the world, you will learn about them. At the early stage of the game you will learn a lot of new things, and the longer you play, the better you will understand the character’s mental warehouse.
“Gambling.ru " : Fyodor is attached to him, so?
Eric Steder : Yeah, he wears a fedor hat. He destroys all stereotypes. Such an anachronism in the modern Salem police is an almost unintentional gesture, not a joke, but another indicator of how Ranan does not really fit anywhere. He is a “tied” criminal, always falling between ideologies and worlds. The resulting image is interesting, suits the character and looks great in the game. Ronan is unique. It looks unusual, and a recognizable and memorable character is very important for the player.
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“Gambling.ru " : And how did you, developers, have become investigators? Watched CSI or really studied the technique of investigation?
Eric Steder : A good question. Of course, we watched good detectives and detective series, this spurifaches the imagination … And our main screenwriter Duga Van Horn was a police officer, and everything was real, first -hand. Whenever we were too fond of and deviated from the real police procedure, the arc pulled us and reminded us that in reality everything would be different. Yes, we studied great detective stories, but the personal experience of the arc was our reliable anchor. When we built the game environment, the arc suggested: “No, my father had a similar case, and this is how it should have been”.
Murdered: Soul Suspect is released in June 2014 for the consoles of old and new generations, as well as on PC. The game will be completely translated into Russian for all platforms.