Craig Allen, Legendary

Spark CEO discusses new FPS

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With mythologically-inspired FPS Legendary due out in October, we talk shop with Spark Unlimited CEO Craig Allen, to find out where he has taken this new opus, and why he thinks this ambitious title can succeed where previous release Turning Point failed.

I think it is fair to say that reviews for Turning Point were mixed, what did Spark Unlimited learn from that release that will aid Legendary?

Turning Point and Legendary were both in production at the same time with separate teams so while there was certainly experiences that one team had – particularly with the platform submission process – that could be shared with the other, for the most part they were on completely separate paths.

Also, much of that project was shaped by the demands of our partner and when you have a disagreement in strategy but one is paying the bills – at the end of the day we had to respect that Codemasters wanted a certain kind of game and it was their call as to when it was ready to be released.

Overall it was a very disappointing experience as I think we had a strong concept, some terrific elements – but because of the production schedule we did not have the ability to refine the game or react to any consumer testing.

Therefore, probably the biggest lessons learned are:

Time. Great games come out of strong iteration and because of the complexity with next-generation game development we have to allow much more time for post production – at least six months in order for proper lighting, play balancing and to react to consumer testing. If we had been able to give Turning Point such post-production time no question it would have resulted in a much better game.

Less is More. Turning Point unfortunately had an epic concept without an epic budget and having a smaller game with a more refined experience would have better served all involved as well as our audience.

Where did the mythological premise behind Legendary come from?

One of the things we try to create at Spark Unlimited are games that have an opportunity to offer exciting, unique gameplay situations while keeping at their core an idea or concept that is relevant to the world in which we live.

With Legendary that core idea is this conflict between the world of man and the forces of nature (as embodied in the creatures of Mythology) and how we as a species have this need to change things and set events in motion before we really understand the consequence of our actions.

The atomic bomb, as a more obvious example, was tested before everyone was in agreement that its use wouldn’t necessarily lead to the end of the world. But because our need at the time was great, we take the risk and push the button.

The Large Hadron Collider (which in theory could lead to the creation of a mini-black hole), nano-technology, genetic alteration – we take comfort in our ability to shape and play with our world until nature answers back with things like Global Warming or Hurricane Katrina, and we are humbled by forces still outside our control.

So in essence, The Box in Legendary – or Pandora’s Box – becomes a symbol of this unleashing of forces you cannot control.

As far as the tone of the game, the team wanted a feeling along the lines of Aliens (as opposed to Alien, which is more of a survivor-horror experience) in that they wanted to create a realistic military conflict with the extraordinary feeling that the movie captured so well.

Jurassic Park was also talked about as it was a world of fantastic creatures but they were all extremely believable. They wanted predators instead of monsters. So creating technology that supported the surface damage states that reveal muscle under the skin was important for conveying that these were flesh and blood animals not fantasy monsters.

The first twenty minutes of War of the Worlds and Independence Day were also referenced by the team as we wanted strive for realistic epic impact as our modern world is changed forever – in our case by the return of these mythological creatures.

What is your favorite beast we'll be battling in Legendary?

The Griffons are awesome but the Werewolves are my personal favorite as they have so much versatility and surprising attack behaviors. In most FPS games the action is all in front of you and generally on more or less a horizontal plane of action.

However, with the werewolves, the team wanted a creature that could move on any surface and use the environment as intelligently as the player – which meant they not only had to build a system for all surface navigation but for tagging objects as destructible, throwable, and burnable.

Further, to make the creatures even more believable, they added rage and damage states to reinforce their predator like behavior and intelligence. Because of this you’ll actually be able to see changes in the attack priorities of the creatures based on how you’re engaging them and what they have to use in their environment. They actually adjust strategy from at first using long range attacks by seeking out objects they can throw, to a kind of run and slash, to an all out mall attack when they’re completely enraged.

It makes for a very unpredictable and versatile opponent with many more abilities than a military based move from cover-to-cover human enemy and a really unique play experience as the threat can quickly come from any direction.