Sneak, Spy and Deceive; Take Control of Sydney Bristow in “Alias”

by Louis Bedigian

 

Producer Patrik McCormack reveals the game’s deepest and darkest secrets.

 

 

Contrary to popular belief, GameZone Online is not all fun and games.  When we’re not writing reviews and previews of the year’s hottest games, we’re deep in the trenches, working hard to ensure that you, the gamer, have a better tomorrow.

 

This morning I got word that a few good men were needed for a top-secret mission.  Only one man was available – me.  The rest were too busy trying to enter the open beta of Lineage II.

 

Knowing that this was my call of duty, I accepted the mission without hesitation.

 

I reported to the launch point for my debriefing.

 

“Louis, here’s the deal.  A local fraternity, Omega Beta Gamers, is planning a huge prank to cease game development of all North American titles for one day.”

 

I shivered with fear.  “That kind of a shutdown could lead to massive delays!”

 

“Exactly.  The fraternity is planning on throwing a party for game programmers.  The goal is to get them so drunk that all of the zeros and ones just look like zeros.”

 

“What can I do to stop it?”

 

“We need to distract the Omega Beta Gamers.  We tried using game demos to stop them but that only bought us time.  I’m afraid our only option is that we send a man into battle…

 

…As a woman.”

 

“A what?”

 

“We need you to be smart, sexy, sophisticated.  Oh, and we need you to drink lots and lots of beer.  College guys love that.”

 

I tried to plead with them but there was no way out of it.  For one day Louis Bedigian would go deeper undercover than he had ever gone before.  For one day he would become…  Louise Bedigian, SSA (Super Sexy Agent).

 

Humiliated by the Omega Beta Gamers (who knew nothing about the prank), I came back to headquarters and found that it was me who had been pranked!

 

I kicked off the high heels, tossed my purse into the trash, and stormed into my office.  I held back tears to keep my makeup from running.

 

Patrik McCormack, producer of the spy-thriller-show-turned-game Alias, was waiting for my arrival.  He told me that if I was going to wear a disguise that I should first learn from an expert.

Alias is an action game, but what could you say to make the gameplay clearer to our readers?  What action gameplay elements are being implemented?

 

Patrik McCormack: We have developed a combat system that is accessible to all, but also offering depth and strategic elements to game play.  Sydney Bristow utilises a massive selection of unarmed and melee weapon combos, countering moves, disarms, sweeps, plus special moves for attacking enemies from up high, ambushing around corners, slamming guards into walls, smashing heads off tables - truly wicked behavior - it’s great fun!  There’s certainly a lot in the combat system, although we’ve kept the controls as player-friendly as possible. 

 

We used specialist motion capture actors to provide us with various martial art techniques, such as Krav Maga, an Israeli defensive form (which Sydney is trained in by the CIA in the show) Capoeira, Kung fu, Kickboxing, Jeet Kune do and Eskrima.  We wanted the moves to be accurate to what Sydney would use in the show, but we also needed them to look consistently great.  Different enemies will use different fighting styles and moves, depending on which locations they are in, such as Capoeira, the Brazilian dancing martial art form used in the Rio De Janeiro mission.  We also used a stunt co-coordinator/actor to motion capture some awesome looking falls, flips and ambush attacks so the player can have lots of fun kicking guards over ledges and down stairs - personally one of my favourite parts of the game! 

 

I love all the improvised, makeshift weaponry the game has to offer, such as grabbing saucepans, glass bottles and broomsticks, etc. and using them as weapons, just like Sydney does in the show.  So in a kitchen, for example, Sydney could grab a frying pan to bash someone over the head - or in a bar for instance, Sydney could grab a broken bottle and, well, you get the idea.  The weapons also have various breakable states: for example, when Sydney picks up a pole, she will perform large, sweeping combat actions until it breaks down into a baton resulting in quicker, punchier movement.  

 

Some of my favorite action highlights are in the Nightclub where Sydney is able to pick up broken bottles and pool cues, and perform her own special style of ‘moshing’ the bouncers on the dance floor.  Another time we see our heroine dodging searchlights whilst precariously balanced on the side of an Embassy building. The Arvin Sloan fight toward the end of the game really is a tense, thrilling affair; for all those Sloan loathers out there, now’s your chance to come face-to-face with the evil weasel like character and try and finally beat the truth out of him.  The end-of-game finale sees more explosions and falling debris than the demolition of a block of high-rise apartment buildings.

 

Disguise is Sydney’s middle name.

 

 

Is there a stealth aspect to the game?

 

PM: There’s a great mixture and balance of combat and stealth gameplay - its not all combat, like so many licensed games, and it’s not all stealth like so many hardcore games.  If a player wants to avoid combat then they can, by sneaking and performing stealth kills. 

 

Yet the game is more than a choice between stealth and combat - there are subtleties in between too.  If you want to quietly pick a lock to a display cabinet you can, but you could also smash the glass panel to save time. However, smashing things makes noise and will alert guards if nearby.

 

We wanted the stealth elements in Alias to be more interactive for the player and not just hiding in shadows.  The player is given the opportunity to peek around corners, stealth door open, and sneak up on guards undetected and attack them in various ways.  As we don’t use a radar that displays sight cones, we wanted the environment, coupled with split-screens, to provide player awareness through the stealthier sections of the game.  Combine this with tense, unnerving ambient sounds and music, and you too will be jumping at every corner.

 

Having good balance between stealth and combat means there are various approaches to the game play; the player could spend hours exploring the stunning environments or lurking in the shadows, sneaking their way past the bad guys.  Alternatively, players will be able to approach the game in a more offensive manner, but be careful, alerted guards will radio in for back up!

Jennifer Garner's polygonal counterpart is pretty realistic.  Was her face motion captured for the game, or did you create the impressive visuals through some other means?

 

PM: Our goal was to capture the essence of Sydney Bristow’s on-screen beauty, style and vigor to produce a believable walking, talking 3D video-game counter-part.  To help achieve this, our first step was to study the TV character to educate us in the way she walked, the way she fought and the way she conducted herself in various scenarios.  Obviously we are dealing with an extremely glamorous female character and encapsulating Sydney’s rough, tough yet very sexy image was an absolute must have for the game.

 

The first character model version was good - even Jennifer Garner commented on its uncanny resemblance to her 3D counter part, yet it was greatly improved once we received high quality photo reference of Garner taken at an exclusive photo shoot.  Using the photo reference, we were able to map photo real textures onto the geometry model. 

 

One of the most important parts of creating a virtual Sydney Bristow was recording her actual voice.  We scheduled a recording session with Garner (as well as all of her in-game cast members), who spent several hours in a studio delivering her lines for the game. 

 

Once the recording session was complete, Garner’s voice-over was then run through voice recognition software, driving morph targets rigged up to the character’s facial skeleton.  This enabled her virtual character’s mouth to move in real-time with the dialogue being spoken.

 

Post animation was also added to provide nervous looking eye movement, and head turning that reacted to various interest points set up in the environments.

 

 

Looking over walls, a spy-game staple.

 

 

Where does the game take place?  Were the locales taken directly from the show?

 

PM: The game is set between episodes 19 and 20 of season two.  There are six massive levels that span the globe ranging from Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Romania, Monte Carlo, Rio de Janeiro and Russia.  What I like about the environments used for the game is the interesting contrast between each location and even within each location, the backdrops are forever changing, for example: Sydney starts the game in a plush, swanky Casino bar room and then gets to venture down into a sinister weapons factory. Inspiration was taken from a couple of the show’s locales, such as the Embassy and the Asylum environments, with the others being conceptualised by our very own environment artists. 

What are some of the weapons that players will get to fire?  Anything familiar to fans of the show?

 

PM: Players have to stealth kill armed guards to pick up sub-machine guns, or they can try the direct approach of disarming guards whilst they are reloading.  The trick here is to grab a gun just after the guard has reloaded.  Another sneaky disarming trick is the fake surrender, whereby the guards stop to question their assailant, only to by duped by the quick-handed Sydney Bristow. 

 

At the start of each mission, Marshall Flinkman (Alias’ equivalent to 007’s Q) equips Sydney with a variety of gadgets, some of which can be fired, such as the Electro Magnetic Pulse gun which disrupts electrical equipment and repulses light metal to cause distraction.  Another fired weapon is the Coolant Bow Gun, which locks onto the base of heat sensor beams and shoots out a ball of liquid nitrogen to disable them. 

 

Besides the satisfaction of winning, what do you get for completing each mission?  New levels, new weapons, access to movie sequences, or...?

 

PM: Completion of each level unlocks the next in turn, allowing players to follow the gripping story through to its conclusion.  The start of each level also sees a detailed briefing for the upcoming mission, and Sydney is equipped with a new set of op-tech gadgets to enable her to complete it.

 

 

That’s gotta hurt.

 

Alias is known for having its share of surprises, but is there anything you can tell us about the game's story?

 

PM: Players will finally be able to interact with their favourite characters from the TV show, such as Agent Vaughn, Agent Dixon, Jack Bristow, Marshall Flinkman, Arvin Sloan, Mr Sark. 

Sydney’s aim is to locate various works from Milo Rambaldi and stop ecological disaster from being triggered across the planet.   

 

It was imperative we captured the essence of the TV show, and to achieve this, we used the show’s official scriptwriters to create an intriguing, twisting plot, fully integrated into the Alias world.  The game is set between episodes 19 and 20 of season two, however it is very important to note that a player does not need any prior knowledge of the show to play or enjoy the game. It's an exciting spy story that explains itself really. 

 

Without giving too many surprises in the game away, the game ties into the series closely and the game’s story events make permanent changes to the Alias world, for example: rather than just using characters from the TV show, we wanted it to be a two-way street and have a character from the game end up in the series too. This is actually what happened when our game designers created the Dr. Caplan character that subsequently featured in the show.

 

I have no doubt that the game will appeal to both audiences as the game offers both male and female characters to play with.  Did you know the player gets to play the role of Agent Vaughn for a part of the game? The CIA HQ has been attacked and seized by hostile forces. Vaughn is all alone and must try and hunt down Mr. Sark whilst defending himself against the invaders.  His move set is different to that of Sydney but using similar controls. Playing Vaughn is a great, unexpected change of pace during the game.

 

The show's writers were said to have been a part of the game's development.  How long did the final script end up being?

 

PM: J.J. Abrams, his producers, and writers were heavily involved in the project from day one. The final script went through many iterations and revisions made by the script-writers and our designers.  As is the case with game development, we found we were always making small changes up until the last minute, so we communicated with the ABC team regularly to make sure our changes were represented in the Alias style.   The final script version was deep enough to create an intriguing, twisting and interesting story line, but without being intrusive to the overall gaming experience.

 

A few kicks oughta do it.

 

 

How did you come to work on Alias?  It's amazing enough being able to work on such a high-profile game.  But then getting involved with the cast of the show – that must've been a dream come true!

 

PM: When we discovered Alias, we were already in an early prototype phase for a stealth-combat game that utilised hand-to-hand combat, spy gadgets and elements of stealth.  It was immediately apparent to everyone involved that there were many parallels to be made between our concept and the TV show.  Acquiring the Alias licence was a massive coup for the project as it gave our concept instant recognition and direction. 

 

Various discussions took place with the show’s creators, writers and our development team.  The very first meeting involved a number of the team flying over to Los Angeles, where we all came together and talked about what plans we had for the game and how we could tie things into the television series.  It soon became apparent that everyone couldn’t wait to get started on the game’s story and script.  Our own development team then set about researching the TV show to get a good understanding of the back-story, characterisation, relationships and general Alias dynamic. 

 

It has been an amazing experience for the development team working on such a high profile title, meeting and working with such talented professionals, and visiting cool places like the Alias film set in LA.  Meeting Jennifer Garner in person was obviously a big treat for us.  We realised we had been successful in representing Sydney Bristow from the show when we were fortunate to witness Garner playing Alias at the game/DVD launch party.  There’s no better endorsement of your work than having first hand approval from the person it is based on, although I did hear from one guy on the team that his wife had told him that he had seen more of Jennifer over the last two years than he had of her....Ouch!

Did you get to work with any of the show's actors?

 

PM: One of the hardest parts of the game’s development was organizing voice-over dialogue and story scripts from the UK, when the actors and scriptwriters were in LA, working on the TV show at the same time.  All of the in-game dialogue was written by the show’s actual writers, including the show’s creator, J.J. Abrams.  We scheduled recording sessions with Jennifer Garner and the rest of the cast members, all of who spent several hours in the studio delivering dialogue for the game.  Some guys from the development team were lucky enough to attend these recording sessions and meet the cast from the show.

 

The actors themselves are obviously true professionals and they delivered their lines perfectly on the first take – I suppose this was to be expected, seeing as though the stars are so intimate with their characters and the show is now in it’s third season!

 

Usually things like the story and dialogue are written as the game is created, but this time we had to get everything signed off very early on to ensure the actors were available to record everything.  We only had one shot at it – there was no pick-up session - preparation was vital! 

 

We received great support from the cast of the TV show who all contributed to the game.  The cast got a little freaked, but very excited by the uncanny resemblance of their 3D game counter-parts to themselves.  Everyone cried out in laughter when they saw the Marshall character wittering on in one of the cut-scenes, just like he does in the show – it was a great moment for development team.

 

Thank you for your time.