Sucker Punch’s Dev Madan shares some thoughts on the Sly franchise and Sly 3
By Michael Lafferty 

“Ultimately the designers, whenever they work on this, it has to be fun”

When it comes to creating a world that not only is functional, but also gives players a sense of joy, Dev Madan is your guy. The Sucker Punch art director has been involved with fantastical images for some time so it is little wonder that the Sly Cooper series has his stamp on it.

Recently SCEA held an event to give a look at Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. Dev was on hand to talk a little about the upcoming (a fall release) PlayStation2 title.

Question: When you begin a project like Sly 3, what at the expectations you have as a team, considering the past history of the title you are building on?

Dev: Basically, I think this is one where we wanted to get the whole gang working together. There is more furthering of the characters. Sly 1 was definitely an introduction of Sly as the main character; Sly 2 was bringing Bentley and Murray more into the foreground. In Sly 3 we want to get each individual thread in its own direction – so each character is going through their own sets of ups and downs and goals, ultimately.

Q: You’ve done some pretty remarkable things, like putting Bentley in a wheelchair. I don’t know that there has been a major character in a videogame before that has been handicapped, and, of course, that is not even slowing him down at all …

Dev: Right, that was one of the first things that we said when we wanted to do this that we made sure that Bentley kicks butt. He’s not the kind of guy who is going to sit around and feel sorry for himself. He tinkered with it and he has a pretty powerful weapon, and he can get around a little bit easier.

Q: When you have a vehicle like the Sly franchise and you start considering the multiplayer aspect, do you have to take it with a grain of salt, by which I mean countering what multiplayer elements go in so they do not detract from the story elements?

Dev: Ultimately the designers, whenever they work on this, it has to be fun. It’s gotta play fun first, and then you build on that. What is too much, what is too little, that is the balance.

Q: What has been the most fun about creating a project and storylines surrounding Sly Cooper? 

Dev: There has been a lot, actually. I think it is the fact that we consciously tried to treat each character with respect. You actually want to see them grow, you want to see each character go down their own path, and still working as a crew, as friends. But that’s been the neatest thing. And even seeing them age … and see Bentley come into the foreground, and Murray going from the guy in the van to someone who has his gear and is a big brawler. 

Q: The game seems to have the same amount of cooperative play that was part of Sly 2 ..

Dev: No question there. They’re a gang, a team, they have each other’s back. And whenever we can, we get the different team members working together. It could be a Sly-Bentley mission … in later levels it is Murray and The Shaman working together …

Q: What was the reasoning behind introducing a character like The Shaman?

Dev: Probably the idea of Murray leaving the gang, under Sly’s leadership and finding another leader, I guess that may have been the impetus – Murray on his voyage. 

Q: There are a lot of disparate characters in this game, like Dimtri – who is one of those characters you just love to hate. Do you feel the need to bring him back …

Dev: The funny thing is we get a lot of feedback about Dimtri. It was pretty interesting, just in terms of the response we got. People loved him and so we decided to bring him back … and he is also fun to write dialogue for.

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