GZ Interview
September 9, 2002

Go behind the terror with the producer of The Thing
By Michael Lafferty

John Carpenter’s The Thing was a remake of the 1951 film The Thing (From Another Planet). It was a study in terror, of a tiny company trapped in a desolate location with an alien creature that preyed upon them.

It could be argued that The Thing was the precursor to films like Alien. It was the same scenario, though based outside the planet of the victims of this alien menace.

But what happened after John Carpenter’s film?

Black Label Games has an idea, and the whole plan is to bring that sense of terror from the movie to video games. The Thing (http://ps2.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r16136.htm ) for the PlayStation2 console system, Xbox, and PC is their vision of what happened in the months following the end of the movie.

Game players take on the role of Captain Blake, the leader of a military rescue team sent to find out what happened to that ill-fated science team in the Antarctic. What they find is the alien, and what Black Label delivers is a study in evolving terror.

Ian Stevens, producer of The Thing for Black Label Games, took time to talk to GameZone about the title.

Question: This game is a sequel to the John Carpenter film, and is a study in terror. To whom goes the credit for evolving the storyline? Can you tell us a little bit about that storyline?

Ian: “The storyline was a collaborative effort between Computer Artworks and Universal. Gamers will play out the role of Captain Blake, the head of a military reconnaissance team sent that's been sent in to investigate the loss of communication with Outpost # 31 – the location in the film where everything went straight to hell. It isn't long before Blake and his team begin to unravel the strange demise of Outpost # 31, and discover that their only means of survival is trusting in the guy next to them, who may not even be human...

“I'd be dishing out spoilers if I said much more, but it's easy to say that the storyline is one of the game's highlights, and might even answer a few burning questions for fans of the film :oP.”

Q: Is this a linear game?

Ian: “There are 20 levels in the game and the progression from one level to the next is linear. However, players can get through each of those levels in whatever way they like – a level's structure is entirely free-form – so people can explore and accomplish objectives however they please.”

Q: How does this game depart from the typical shooter games?

Ian: “The Thing couldn't really be called a shooter – it’s a good ol’ proper action game. Players control Blake from a third-person vantage, and we use an auto-aiming system to make combat fluid. We do, however, have a first person view mode that players can use to aim with free-look, lean out from behind walls, et cetera. However, there are still some things about The Thing that make it stand out from popular shooters and action games, and that's "The Thing" in many cases, simply won't stop coming for you. You can kill a larger humanoid burst-out, and it will break into tiny heads with spider legs that keep coming after you. The Thing has this persistent nature that makes you panic when you're fighting it – you just can't anticipate when it will die.”

Q: What do you consider to be the one feature that will (initially) grab fans attention?

Ian: “Undoubtedly, the first thing gamers and fans will notice and latch onto, is the Trust/Fear component. The Thing is a benchmark title in terms of bringing AI to a completely new level in video games. Players will feel like they're playing the game with a squad of genuinely living people, simply because all of your NPCs have genuine human emotion. They react to the way that you play the game, to the environments around them, to the circumstances they're put in – they have a sincere range of emotions that they exhibit as you pull them through your horrific journey.

“And they'll react to things with unique human qualities. If they get scared, they'll cry, or get down on their knees and pray, or even wet their pants. If they stop trusting you because of how you've treated them, they'll stop cooperating with you, keep their distance from you, even knock you down and take your own weapon away so that they can use it to kill you because they've become convinced that you're The Thing! It's a revolutionary feature and it's something that we really hope people will enjoy.”

Q: Games seem to be treading the edge, or delving deeper into a kind of psychological terror with the game player. Why do you think games are starting to explore that aspect, and how does The Thing continue the ride? What kind of challenges will players face?

Ian: “That's a really good question. I believe that designers are learning how to attach emotion to game play in new ways, and are realizing the impact this has, and how much value there is in it.

“For example, when people played Ico, the game play centered around protecting the fragile young girl, and saving her from hordes of brute demonic attackers. What made this simple facet of game play so impactful was that it naturally linked your goals and objectives to an overwhelming sense of paternity of affection. Players began to establish an emotional link with their task, rather than just enjoying a mechanic.

“In many ways, The Thing pushes this envelope even further with the advent of Trust/Fear. Because anyone in your squad could be infected, and your entire squad has the ability to question your own humanity as well, there's a unique sense of paranoia and panic that becomes a part of working with your squad-mates. That pure gut-wrenching sense of paranoia becomes a considerable part of your experience, and it's inseparable from your interaction with your squad.

“Though survival-horror games have tried to accomplish this feeling in the past with great atmosphere, sound, enemy placement, et cetera, The Thing has brought this sensation to life by making it a part of game play. You'll experience Trust/Fear... not just play with it. In terms of the challenges players will face, they'll have to get their squad to cooperate with them, and trust them, and help them survive while not knowing which one of them is human, and which one of their squad-mates could turn into an eight-foot abomination at any time.”

Q: What kind of graphics engine does this game use and why did you choose that for developing the game?

Ian: “The game uses an engine that was built in-house and is entirely proprietary. Obviously the engine suits the game and its requirements perfectly because of this.”

Q: What aspect of this game was the toughest to realize? What presented the biggest challenge and the most joy/relief when it came to life?

Ian: “Again, Trust/Fear. Any fan of the film remembers those moments when the entire base was at each other's throats, and no one trusted a soul, and everyone was questioning the humanity of everyone else, and that moment when MacCready sat there with a heated wire and tested every single person was simply stomach-turning.

“We wanted to re-create that same sense in a gaming experience, and we knew that by moving in this direction, we'd be reaching for something that no one had ever done before. We were setting out to make true emotion, an actual part of our game. And not just a part of our game, but a core part of our game play.

“Trust/Fear was a tremendous risk and a sincere challenge. But I think we all remember the focus tests during those last few months of development, when we realized that we'd pulled it off, and that people were really responding to it. It worked, and people were starting to tell us that they felt like they were playing the game with real living people. As we continued to polish, and continued to focus test, and the responses continued to get stronger and stronger, we all started to feel really good. After all, developing games isn't about making the game WE want to play, it's about making the game YOU want to play, and seeing people actually enjoy Trust/Fear was and is the whole point!”

Q: Where do you think this genre is headed?

Ian: “The Thing represents a step in an entirely new direction for both the survival-horror and action genres. It's a stride that adds new dimension and will hopefully refresh people's appetites for horror in gaming. There's a lot of room to improve and expand upon the genres, and there's a lot of opportunity to scare people in new ways (surprising people with a huge spider behind a box isn't the only way to make someone jump :oP), as well as play with their minds and emotion in ways they hadn't imagined. In fact, I think you'll find that survival-horror more than any other genre, has the potential to push the envelope on cerebral game play, and affect people in new and intense, as well as unique ways, that other genres simply can't. The future of survival-horror is VERY bright, and I'm confident that people really haven't seen anything yet!”

Share | Digg This | Glink It

---