Interview The Club

Na de leerrijke presentatie omtrent The Club, kregen wij de kans om een woordje te voeren met de woordvoerder van dienst, Alistair Hatch van Sega of Europe. We hebben hem enkele vragen gesteld over het spel en het interview verliep als volgt:

X-Power: What features will make the game stand out from the pack, online? Will it feature online co-op instead of adversary play, or only leaderboards for high scores?

Alistair Hatch: We have the most player options in there compared to other third-person shooters, but we have to wait to reveal them: we have to string it out so we can get you excited. We will go into it in the next few months, so that the press can get to play varying codes. Bizarre is very passionate to do stuff from different angles and when you look at it you’re going to say: “Well, it’s a third-person, but it’s like a racing game and a beat ‘em up in some aspects, and it has this Tony Hawk-vibe as well when you look at the combo’s”. Features like this make The Club feel different and unique compared to other titles, and we want to make sure that these aren’t minimal bullshit features.

We can’t guarantee online co-op, since it would be very difficult to do for this kind of game. Bizarre Creations is looking into it though, so we’ll announce the multiplayer plans later. One thing I can say though, is, compared to games like Halo, everyone tends to act quickly and in that way, online adversary play could work with The Club. But the multiplayer modes will be a little different than from what you may expect.

XP: Will The Club end up as a franchise, given its beat ‘em up influences? Or will Bizarre rather expand it through downloadable content?

AH: We’d love to see The Club end up as a franchise, of course! We’d like to see it sell 4 million copies and see it go even further. It’s great that people say that they want to evolve a game or a franchise into a trilogy: those people are brave, but it would be a little risky for us with a new IP like The Club. We’re working on one game to come out and that’s about it, for now. If it’s successful, then yes, we could announce a sequel in the future.

XP: Does The Club run on an existing engine from Bizarre, or did they develop an entirely new one from scratch? Furthermore: do they aim at 30 or 60 frames per second?

AH: It kind of borrows some elements from an existing engine, yes: we borrowed some things from Project Gotham Racing, but the engine is also partially new. As a matter of fact: more of the stuff that’s been used for Project Gotham Racing 4, can be used for The Club and vice versa. Both teams can see the progress of both games and it kind of creates a friendly competitive atmosphere between the teams, which will also improve their quality. This is what we meant with shared technology and it will only improve their expertise (and their games) in the future.

The framerate however, I’m not too sure. We all know that Bizarre Creations is good in what they do with their technology and I can assure you that they considered a framerate of 60 per second. Every developer wants that, but… the way they decide which way to go, goes like this: if they can keep everything they want from The Club, with no consequences to the fluidity and the addictive nature of the gameplay, then yes they will go for a solid 60 frames per second. Is this not feasible however or if they’re forced to cut out features because of this, then they’d rather go for a set 30 frames per second. I hope that helps…

XP: The background information of The Club seems to be rather detailed, so does it include a thorough storyline next to those introductions or will it focus solely on the competitive side of the concept?

AH: It will focus more on the single characters rather than the rivalries between them. They’re there for different reasons and they won’t be connected to their past before they knew of The Club. The story was just brought in to flesh the setting out, because in the beginning The Club was just a game where you shot boxes. We just wanted to create a cool back history next to the addictive gameplay we have in mind.

The different characters also appeal to different kind of people: the adrenaline junkie for instance could appeal to fans of skateboarding and BMX bikes. Some people may even like utter psychopaths, and someone like that is included. We want each character to evoke a feeling, what we like or what we hate. Like: “I don’t like losing to that bastard character!” Take Mario Kart for instance: it really aggravates me when Wario celebrates after a victory, taunting me with phrases like “I’m-a gonna wiiin!” and I want to beat him so badly. We want that kind of emotion in a game like The Club and we’re proud that the cast aren’t bland characters, thanks to their varying designs and background stories.

Then there’s the gladiator aspect: it’s just another part of the premise to give people an interesting story within The Club. It’s mostly a fight to death for entertainment of others (mostly wealthy people) but it doesn’t necessarily mean that people fight to gain their freedom, but it could certainly happen to some. Others are just in it for the fun, because everything else is boring to them. There’s also a possibility that there’s this big boss that arranges everything behind the scenes.

XP: What inspired Bizarre Creations or SEGA to start on The Club, as a concept? The theme for instance shows some similarities with Rockstar’s Manhunt, among other things.

AH: The Manhunt thing… I think, I see the similarities, but Manhunt is more dark and even more sinister, but with The Club, the setting fits more to the gameplay, like comboing, shooting a lot of people, et cetera. We brought in a lot of ideas, figured out which one we’ll use in the final game and together (SEGA and Bizarre) we thought of the main concept . In the end, it’s all about thinking about how we can create this fucking cool game and The Club revolves more about the glory of the act, rather than an emphasis on gore, seen in Manhunt.

Sinds vandaag kregen we ook de toestemming om onze andere interview online te zetten, namelijk diegene omtrent de next-gen SEGA Rally. Je kan ze lezen door op deze link te klikken. Alvast veel leesplezier!