February 10, 2006

Q&A - EA's The Godfather

World Designer for The Godfather describes New Jersey's role in the upcoming game

EA has released a Q&A with World Designer Steven Smith for their upcoming licensed game, The Godfather. Based on the classic film franchise's universe, The Godfather will take players across many of the real locations from the movies, including the topic of the Q&A, New Jersey.

Click here for more The Godfather screenshots.

What makes New Jersey unique in the world of The Godfather?

New Jersey is the only neighborhood in the Godfather world which has a different environmental feel to it. It’s patterned after a traditional small American town, particularly of the type found in the outer regions of Manhattan. Though most of the buildings are made of brick they are lower in height, typically two or three floors. Many of the city blocks are not populated with tenement buildings but instead they are occupied with detached houses usually with corner businesses at the end of such blocks. The most noted feature of New Jersey is the town square park located in the middle of the neighborhood, complete with a band shell structure and community type venues located around it such as a bank and a church.

New Jersey is considered by many to be the ‘armpit of the Northeast’. Does that show at all in The Godfather version of Jersey?

In the Godfather world New Jersey is a neighborhood that conveys an industrial ambiance. Through no fault of its own that’s the nature of such communities circa 1945 that were located along water way transit points. It’s an outlying residential community located along the waterfront of the Hudson River, and so it’s going to have warehouses, power plants and rail yards.

What type of research went into re-creating 1945-1955 New Jersey?

The starting point for research was to look at aerial photographs of New Jersey along the Hudson River region. Much of the area appears grid like and uniform, so little things such as city parks, angled streets relative to the grid layout, and rail yards in urban areas tend to stand out and identify an area that can represent a symbolic New Jersey town for the Godfather world. These elements along with the locations of the Lincoln and Holland Tunnel toll plazas to the north and south respectively really identified the general location for the New Jersey neighborhood. Other research pertains to looking at the types of buildings which are representative of many of the outlying neighborhoods of Manhattan such as the two story brick storefront and detached housing typologies.

The Stracci's are considered the Butchers of Jersey because of their ruthless ‘business’ methods. What type of trouble might you find in Jersey if you snoop around in the wrong areas?

Well for one thing most nearly all the business venues in New Jersey begin as Stracci owned locations. Thus when the player begins to take over a couple of these venues and gets the attention of the Stracci’s, the player – if injured - will need to take care when trying to get to a safe house or clinic. The Stracci’s will be highly visible on many of the jersey streets. Also, snooping around the main rail yard can yield some interesting if not altogether dangerous results. 

What’s your favorite area in Jersey and why?

I like the area around the Stracci compound and the rail yard. I find the Stracci compound to be an interesting challenge because the entry to the compound can be approached from three directions and so the player has some choices on an attack approach. The rail yard is a big open area where it might be possible to lose or neutralize a pursuing vehicle, and its one of the approaches to the Stracci compound.

About the Godfather

Gamers will create their own mob character in the game, putting themselves into the action while reliving classic moments from the fiction and experiencing original missions alongside memorable characters from the film.  After a life of small-time jobs and petty thefts the player will be accepted into the Corleone family, America’s most famous criminal organization. It will be up to the player to carry out orders, earn respect and make New York City their own. Featuring non-linear action-adventure gameplay, The Godfather will offer gamers countless choices for solving the family’s problems with brutal violence, skillful diplomacy, or a cunning mixture of both. From mob hits and bank heists to drive-bys and extortion, step deep inside the world of The Godfather where intimidation and negotiation are your tickets to the top. Players will use their powers of loyalty and fear to earn respect through interactions with characters in the world. Decisions made by the player in the game will have lasting consequences, just as it was in the mob underworld featured in The Godfather fiction.

Share | Digg This | Glink It

---