June 29, 2009

When a Ghostbusters Game Appears in the Neighborhood, Who You Gonna Call? Brendan Goss, Executive Producer at Terminal Reality
By Louis Bedigian

“We learned that Sony and Sierra had been wanting to do Ghostbusters for years but they had not found the right partner. They really wanted a developer that had a passion for the project.”

There might be something strange in the neighborhood, but there is nothing strange about a Ghostbusters video game. The original film is old – certainly older than most with a game license attached – but it has a permanent spot in the hearts of many, which caused our hearts to beat rapidly after the first gameplay images were revealed for the Ghostbusters game.

Unique graphic effects? Check. Stellar ghost animations? Check. Impressive display of weapons? You get the idea. For Terminal Reality, it was all about creating a game that would live up to the Ghostbusters legacy. "We knew from day one that there would be a great deal of pressure to do the franchise justice," said Brendan Goss, Executive Producer at Terminal Reality. "There is no middle ground for this title – we will either be hailed for returning a childhood memory in all its glory or be hunted by an angry mob for tainting everyone’s favorite movie. At the same time everyone on the team recognized what a huge opportunity this is for the company and for each of us to participate in the Ghostbusters universe. It was a massive boost when the talent and Sony pictures gave us the feedback that we had really hit the mark and delivered the experience that they were hoping for."

How did the Ghostbusters game begin? Did the development team start by going directly to the movie studio, speak to actors, etc., to see what they were thinking?

Brendan Goss: We actually were visiting Sierra to show [a] military first person shooter tech demo in what turned out to be our first Ghostbusters meeting. After we presented the Infernal Engine they asked us how we would feel about doing Ghostbusters as a third-person action title. Once we had picked ourselves up off the floor, we told them that we would be thrilled to do it! Later we learned that Sony and Sierra had been wanting to do Ghostbusters for years but they had not found the right partner. They really wanted a developer that had a passion for the project and the technology to handle the massive destruction, robust animation and AI and rendering capable of transitioning seamlessly between outdoor and indoor sets to address all that is required for an authentic Ghostbusters experience

Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis were reportedly in charge of writing the story. How far in advance of the game's production did they submit their script, and who did the re-writes/revisions (as many games require over the course of development)?

BG: Dan and Harold have been collaborators on the project from very early on. We met to go over what the engine could do and what location in NY we thought would make the best for game play. Dan and Harold went off and massaged our story beats around those locations and mechanics and continued a back and forth dialogue with our design team. It is pretty incredible when we thing about it and how most licensed game are created and do not extensively involve the original creators of that universe. They wanted to be involved throughout; they wanted to understand what we can accomplish in game and how to connect to their story and dialog. Dan even helped develop new equipment that would fit the universe but give gamers a bigger bang than the original proton pack. It was just an amazing ride to watch these guys all come on board (Dan, Harold, Bill, Ernie, Annie, Brian Doyle Murray and William Atherton) and embrace the game as a new chapter in the Ghostbusters saga.

Let's dig into the gameplay. Ghostbusters is a shooter but it's definitely not typical.

BG: Ghostbusters is about blasting, zapping, capturing, hunting and generally destroying New York all while saving New York. There is plenty for the player to do!

Which of the Ghostbusters crew can you control?

BG: In single-player you play as the rookie experimental equipment technician – no names are allowed after what happened to the last guy. In multiplayer you can play as any member of the original team.

What are the team-based elements, and are they utilized in single-player as well as multiplayer?

BG: Ghostbusting is all about teamwork. The more that you work with your team the easier it will be to zap, cap and trap the ghosts. The AI is very intelligent and will detect what you are doing to give assistance by throwing out a trap or throw a capture stream on your ghost to get it trapped. Be careful not to cross the streams!!

Are there any competitive multiplayer modes? A mode where half the players control ghosts and the other half controls the Ghostbusters, perhaps?

BG: Ghostbusters multiplayer has an Instant Action and a Campaign mode. Each mode allows you to play various “Jobs” or game types at locations around the city, playing as the Ghostbusters team. Instant Action is a single Job; Campaign is a linked series of Jobs.

The six Job types include:

• Containment: where the goal is to find and capture/destroy all ghosts in the area.
• Survival: where the team needs to work together to stay alive.
• Protection: where players protect some of Egon’s devices from a paranormal onslaught.
• Destruction: where the goal is to destroy a series of Evil Relics that appear and spawn enemies
• Thief: where players need to keep ghosts from stealing special Artifacts
• Slime Dunk: a more competitive mode where players try to capture the most Slimers!

In short, we have a number of co-op and competitive modes so there should be something for all players

Can you tell us about the levels/environments we'll get to explore?

BG: You will get to explore New York on both sides of a cross dimensional portal including some of areas from the film that the Ghostbusters will be revisiting and some new locations. As in the previous Ghostbusters films the city plays a character in the story too so I do not want to get into too much detail.

Now try and put us inside the game for a moment: how does it begin? Why are the Ghostbusters called into action?

BG: The game is set two years after Ghostbusters 2. The Ghostbusters are doing well and are now contracted by the City of New York as the city’s official paranormal investigations and eliminations experts. They’ve just hired a replacement Prototype Equipment Technician, the hapless guy that field-tests experimental technology. A few evenings before the Museum of Natural History opens its new “World of Gozer” exhibit (NYC is currently is in the grip of Gozer-mania), an accident in the museum triggers an enormous necromantic shockwave throughout the city. This creates all sorts of mounting supernatural mayhem. Our Ghostbusters have to figure out the cause and stop it before it (wait for it) destroys the Big Apple, and possibly the world. Just another day at the office.

The weapons and the way the ghosts react to them are very impressive. Talk about them and their development process.

BG: We have the proton stream, boson dart, capture stream, slime blower, slime tether, dark matter shock blast , stasis stream, meason collider, meason overload pulse, pke meter, muon trap, paragoggles and a few other odds and ends that Egon has come up with. As for how they work, it is a bit technical. But if you take the meason series as an example it vents excess bosons from the pack's fermion absorption ring directly into the meson particle stream. The resulting increase in the angular momentum of the stream's meson flow substantially increases the Meson Collider's shot penetration potential allowing the careful user to damage more than one target at a time.

While extended proximity to this 'enriched' meson stream has resulted in the sterility of laboratory mice, its impact on humans remains debatable. The overload pulse on the other hand adds a bleeder line to the Proton Pack's neutron sump creates additional capacitor storage. This increases the Overload Pulse's maximum pressure load and yields a substantial increase in the projectile's explosive damage. Note: though this damage increase is strong enough to penetrate the membrane that separates this dimensional reality from the next it is not advised to use this dimensional rip for storage, spot cleaning or as a trash receptacle. We have found that all of Egon’s designs are very useful for dispatching Ghosts and can cause a tremendous amount of damage to both structures and personnel if instructions are not carefully observed.

In addition to the original movie, what resources were used or studied to ensure the game's look matched what the fans remember?

BG: We have all watched the movie more times than I can count. We literally have stepped through every proton stream firing sequence and trapping sequence frame by frame over and over again to make sure we were getting it right. Sony opened the archives for us so we have seen and worn the real packs to get and idea of the weight, gone through every prop they have for photo reference. Sony even refurbished the original Ecto 1. With all of this support we still had the benefit that is we were ever in doubt we could just call Dan Aykroyd…you just can’t beat going to the original creator.

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