Craig Allen, Legendary

Spark CEO discusses new FPS

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How long is the single-player game?

Of course it depends on how experienced the player is with FPS games – but probably somewhere between twelve and fifteen hours on average.

What locales will we be fighting in? Can we expect vast landscapes to match the mighty beasts?

The goal with the game was to make something that felt like a really fun big action summer blockbuster that you played. So having a variety of locations and destroying a number of recognizable landmarks became a natural part of the creative equation.

New York was chosen as the starting location because the city is such a global icon of our modern world as well as being a great setting to showcase the dramatic change to our world as all these creatures of myth return.

Being in Times Square as it’s overrun by werewolves, firedrakes, Black Order soldiers and Naris all chaotically engaged in combat while a five story high Golem walks around crushing the city we hope will be a memorable highlight. As the game continues, we added London and a few other parts of England both to provide a contrasting ‘old world’ landscape as well as drive some creepy game moments that feel like a classic 50s horror movie.

How will the game's narrative be interwoven with the gameplay?

The team has certainly developed a rich world, strong characters, and narrative progression that unfolds through selected cinematic and in-game sequences – but the focus was on delivering the core action experience.

It’s one of the reasons we worked with Mark Waid to create an original graphic novel that will be on sale with the game to give folks who are more interested in going deeper with the characters and story a place to find that material.

Does Legendary mark the beginning of a new series; and are you planning any DLC post-launch?

We certainly have a plan for where we want to go from here – but whether or not we’ll be able to create more Legendary games will come down to how successful we are with this one.

Any multiplayer plans afoot?

We do have a multiplayer experience in Legendary but didn’t think gamers needed more Deathmatch or Team Deathmatch modes, so we put our energies into bringing the Werewolf into multiplayer game as a third combat element. We’ve always focused on the creatures being the key element in the game and so to have their AI systems running during team play became our goal.

As a result, you won’t win a Legendary Multiplayer match just by killing the other team – you’ll have to deal with the creatures as a chaotic enemy that is against both sides. This turned out to be quite a hard thing to do but it stays true to the core ideas of encountering creatures in our world and delivering a three-way combat dynamic that offers a really unique gameplay experience.

Do you worry about releasing another entry in the hugely competitive first-person shooter genre, during the already manic festive season?

Of course – but it is a manic season for a reason! No question the competition is always a concern – Dead Space, Resistence 2, Gears 2 – they should all be strong titles, but I think we have taken a unique approach with our game experience and content so hopefully the game can stand on its own as something different than what the other games have to offer.

We’re also coming into the market a bit before the rush in early October so hopefully folks will find us before the really big marketing budgets kick-in.

Are there any differences between the game's platforms?

There’s always some small differences as each platform has its own unique strengths and limitations – but the overall experience will be the same.

Lastly, what element of Legendary are you most proud of?

In terms of the gameplay experience, to create the three-way combat with the werewolves was really challenging for the team and provided a big wow moment (followed quickly by a bigger sigh of relief) when it finally came together!

But as far as the project itself – this is a game that would not exist without the talent, dedication and commitment of an extraordinary team of people. It’s not an easy road being an independent game studio these days and there were times when the project was carried purely by the faith of the team. In fact, if it wasn’t for Harry Miller, Mike Wilson, Time Hess, Steve Escalante, Richard Iggo and the Gamecock guys starting their business and wanting to support developers and original projects like Legendary we wouldn’t have made it!

So in the end I am most proud to be able to see this project completed and have an association with these passionate and talented people who are dedicated to making cool games.

Thanks for your time, Craig.

By Luke Guttridge