Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams Takes You on a Journey to Unknown Lands and Fantasy Worlds

by Louis Bedigian

“An important design decision we made for Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams was that we wouldn't merely rehash the first game.”

It seemed like Tak and the Power of Juju came out of nowhere.  One minute you’re playing sequel after sequel to the game series you love most.  Then you find yourself engrossed in a unique world with unique characters, great gameplay mechanics, impeccable facial expressions and hours of replay value.  It was a game that could actually compete with the big boys – including PS2 favorites like Jak II, Sly Cooper, and Ratchet & Clank.

This fall – just one year after Avalanche Software brought us the first game – they will release the sequel, Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams, courtesy of THQ.

Featuring a ton of new gameplay elements, improved graphics, and all-new worlds to explore, Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams will be a fierce competitor for the year’s top action/adventure games.

Psyched for its release, I couldn’t help but nag the developers for an interview.  “Come ‘on guys, I’m just asking you to answer a few questions!  It’s not like I want you to give me playable code.  But while I’m here…would you give me some playable code?”

It wasn’t easy, but after traveling through a horrific dream world, I tracked down Project Manager and Designer Troy Leavitt.
 

Tak looks more mature this time around, almost as if he's evolved.  Why the change?  Does this correspond with the direction Nickelodeon was heading?

Troy Leavitt: An important design decision we made for Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams was that we wouldn't merely rehash the first game.  We wanted the sequel to feel fresh and new while still being true to the Tak universe.  Hence, the storyline for Tak 2 takes place perhaps a year after the events chronicled in Tak and the Power of Juju.  Tak has aged and matured a bit, but he's still trying to get used to his role as a hero.

Tak's enhanced looks aren't the only changes – now he can possess creatures and turn himself into a Spirit Animal.  Please describe these features.

TL: As it turns out, there are actually three things going on here.  Let me take you through each.

Tak doesn't possess creatures in the way in which you might think.  Instead, this time around Jibolba accompanies Tak on his journey and Jibolba has the magical ability to turn himself into a flea.  Tak can then throw Jibolba in his flea form to land on some animals.  Jibolba can then either bite that animal to get it to perform some specific actions.  In this way, it's a sort of limited "possession" or control over those animals.

Later on in the game, Tak gains the ability to transform himself into one of four different animals: bear, boar, squirrel and frog.  When he does so, Tak actually becomes that creature, complete with a new set of abilities and means of travel.  For example, if Tak transforms himself into a squirrel, he can now jump and glide from place to place exactly like a flying squirrel might.

Finally, during the course of gameplay, Tak gets a choice of one of four Spirit Animal magical attacks: piranha, jaguar, dragon and eagle.  This is different from transformation because Tak can be in his normal human form and cast a powerful magical spell that draws upon his choice of Spirit Animal.  As part of choosing which Spirit Animal Tak will have, he also gets a costume change as well.

Lush, organic worlds.

Regarding the Spirit Animals, roughly how many are there?  What are they like and how do they differ?

TL: There are four Spirit Animals.  Each one of them gives Tak a special magical attack ability that is unique to that animal.

Note, however, that the choice of Spirit Animal that Tak makes is separate from his ability to transform into animals.  This might seem a little confusing because at one point in the design we linked the two abilities together and your choice of spirit animal was going to limit you in your transformation abilities.  After some play testing and discussion, we decided that it was just too much fun to be able to transform into any of the four animals, so we separated the abilities out.

Now, Tak gets both things.  He gets his choice of a magical Spirit Animal attack that is unique to his choice AND he gets the ability to transform into any one of four animals at about the same time.

In what way are the environments interactive?  Does this refer to the enemies that you battle, or is there more to it than that?

TL: It is important to us that the player feels that Tak can actually influence and change the world in which he lives.  So, as Tak goes through the game, many of the levels he passes through change in reaction to what he does.

Perhaps a good example of this is what you'll see in the Dreamworlds.  As Tak goes through them, his actions cause various parts of the level to "melt" in, fade away, or otherwise change shape right before his eyes.  So, when Tak succeeds in defeating a group of Nightmare Creatures in the Dreamworld, the terrain itself changes from being thorny and dark, to much more peaceful and serene.

Unusual environments.

How do the new characters, such as Jibolba's brother, fit into the story?  Are any of them playable?

TL: Jibolba's brother, or JB, is a sort of "Juju scientist" who studies magic almost as though it were technology.  When Tak begins having his strange adventures in the Dreamworld, Jibolba leads Tak on a journey to find JB and figure out what is going on.

JB is not a playable character during the main adventure part of the game.  But many of the main characters, including Lok, Flora, and Jibolba, are playable in a series of smaller games we call "Dinky Games".  These games take place outside of the adventure and are included mostly for some additional fun and competition that you can enjoy with your friends.

In addition to new characters, there are also nine new Nightmare Creatures.  What kind of a challenge can players expect from them?

TL: Early on in the game as Tak explores the Dreamworld, he comes upon some really strange creatures, the Nightmare Creatures. Because they originate from dreams, several of them have strange abilities.  Some float in the air, others fade in and out, some can only be hurt with magic, and so on.  One creature, for example, even tries to lure Tak over to it by posing as a pick-up item!

Intricate detail.

What are dream rifts, and what does it mean to close them using the Dream Shaker?

TL: As the story of Tak 2 unfolds, there is a major event wherein the Dreamworld begins leaking over into the real world.  All those nasty Nightmare Creatures start jumping out of dream rifts and invading reality.

Fortunately, Tak ends up with a piece of the mighty Staff of Dreams – something called the Dream Shaker.  With this artifact, he can both fight the emerging Nightmare Creatures and he can run around and absorb these rifts.  After he collects enough rifts, he can combine them into one larger rift and jump back into the Dreamworld to defeat the Nightmare Creatures on their own turf.

But, in spite of all of Tak's efforts, he won't be able to stop the invasion completely until he recovers the other half of the Staff of Dreams.  For much of the second half of the game, Tak will be trying to recover it by jumping between both the real world and the Dreamworld.

Are there any items to collect or puzzles to solve?

TL: Lots!  As before, Tak will need to figure out plenty of puzzles that involve the creative use of the animals he comes upon during his journeys.  All the animals in Tak 2 are completely new, however, so the player will need to learn their behaviors and how they interact with one another to be successful.

In Tak 2, we are also introducing a new "Juju Potion" system whereby Tak can collect three kinds of ingredients during his quest.  At pretty much any point in the game, he can use those ingredients to mix up various potions based upon recipe cards that he finds along the way.  In general, these potions are used to unlock various game features and playable characters in the dinky games. 

Stellar animation.

I think it's safe to assume that the first game's remarkable facial expressions are returning for Tak 2.  If that's the case, please give us a detailed description of how they were created.

TL: Tak 2 pushes the envelope here as well.  Nearly our entire story is told through cinematic sequences wherein Tak meets and converses with various Jujus or other characters.  We display these story bits using our actual game engine and some specialized animation technology that we've developed in house.

Basically, what happens is that when the player triggers one of the cinematic sequences by doing something important, such as placing a tiki in a Juju shrine, we launch the part of the game engine that deals with cinematic stuff.  The models we use for cinematics have bones for their eyes, eyebrows, face, lips, and so on.  Our team of professional animators then listens to the recorded voices of each character and matches up the expressions and reactions of the models.

The end result is that you get a seamless cinematic sequence rendered by the game engine that looks as good as what you might see in a professionally animated movie.  Because there's no switch over to a separate movie player, there is no need for a load screen or a break in the flow.  We've got three or four times as many of these cinematics in Tak 2 as we did in Tak 1.  So, after playing Tak 2, you'll probably never settle for animated game characters with [floppy] heads or bad lip-synch again.

Thank you for your time.