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| Behind the Scenes with the Producer of Pinky and the Brain: World Conquest! | |
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Steven Wartofsky: I am the Producer for Pinky and the Brain: World Conquest, and have been in charge of development of the product. I came on towards the end of the development cycle, at the point where the game had just about reached Alpha. Zone: What do you like most about your job? Steven Wartofsky: I love helping people do their best work; I like to help a team push for quality. It's very important to me to help a development group find the soul of their project, and then work toward focusing on those elements of their game that will give it life for a player. Then, of course, I love keeping the whole process moving towards a distinct end-date, towards the goal of finishing on time (where possible) so that a quality game will also prove a successful game in the marketplace. Also, so that the team members will have a chance to visit their lives again. <g> Zone: What do you like most about working in a gaming company? Steven Wartofsky: It's one of the key places in the working world where, ultimately, no matter what else you do or target, as an individual or a company, creativity is what counts. Creativity is more than just coming up with "original" ideas, though. It's putting together a sustained vision that will keep a group of hard-working people inspired and committed for a long period of time. And it's framing the ideas and the work so that the end results show up in a reasonable amount of time and with a reasonable amount of effort. I always hope as a Producer that I can contribute to that process. Zone: Did you and your team watch the Pinky and the Brain cartoon series before creating this game? What were some of your first impressions of this cartoon? Steven Wartofsky: Our team -- both the external developers (Gigawatt Studios) and our internal production staff -- spent a lot of time with the cartoon series. One of the key people working on organizing and editing the cartoon clips which were included in the game, for instance, had virtually memorized the entire series by the middle of the project; her input was invaluable in both our selection and editing process. The crew at SouthPeak Interactive who first made the commitment to doing this game with Warner Bros. also obviously have a love for the cartoon series. The developers had a lot of fun as well, working with the voice talents for Pinky and The Brain in getting the voice-over sound clips we use for the game. Note that those VO's are original clips, recorded specifically for the game, with the real voice-actors for the characters. It was a huge blast for the people who got to participate in the recording sessions (unfortunately, I arrived too late in the development process to get a chance to participate in those sessions. Maybe next time! <g>). The development team had to be very thorough and very careful in their effort to translate Pinky and The Brain from 2D to 3D as well -- that was a pioneering effort, and one we learned much from. Zone: How did you and your team come up with all these maze ideas and power-ups? Steven Wartofsky: As with any game development, there were comprehensive original design specs, which the developers and SouthPeak Interactive signed onto early in the process. Refinement of those original ideas occurred along the way with active input from our test lab, from our PR and Marketing departments, even from our company management (one thing I love about SouthPeak Interactive, by the way, is that the whole company from top to bottom loves and plays computer and console games regularly; game interest, art, and technical talent pervade the organization at all levels. There's no split between management and development here, an important advantage in this industry). Final refinement occurred during many intensive hours of testing and feedback to Gigawatt Studios, who responded graciously and aggressively to our input on maze and game design. Zone: Which mouse do you like best, Pinky or the Brain, and why? Steven Wartofsky: I like them both, but for different reasons. I play Pinky when I'm feeling happy-go-lucky, when I feel all's basically right with the world. When I'm feeling a little grumblier, I go for The Brain. I like to get in-character. For me, Pinky's the one tripping the light fantastic. The Brain is concentrating on Important Matters. They're both lovable little guys. They remind me of my brother's kids. Zone: What were some of the goals and challenges in creating this game? Steven Wartofsky: The primary goal has been to design a game with classic, elegantly simple gameplay, gameplay that is easy to get into and play for a few minutes or for a few hours. We want the game to be attractive to kids and adults alike, and we want it to reflect that special "edge" the cartoon series has. We also want this game to be a game that people will have fun playing against each other, whether with multiple gamepads on one PC (particularly possible with USB, finally!) or across the Internet. We're focused on making the online connection and playing experience as easy to get into as is currently possible. Online service providers like MSN do a lot to help make that happen, and we appreciate it. The biggest challenge for this game has been to make it work on both fast and slow computers, both with and without 3D hardware acceleration. The Number One Headache for PC-based 3D game design at this point has to be figuring out how to handle the very mixed hardware base out there. It's all the more challenging when you have a fully 3D game which, in some ways, is more ambitious in the polygonal and textural demands it's placing on systems than Quake II, and yet which you'd also like to sell to families who might not have any hardcore gamers at home. Doing 3D design for systems without hardware acceleration -- i.e., for situations where you essentially have to create a software renderer that will make the game both good-looking and as smooth as possible -- is a huge task, one that many developers and publishers I suspect don't anticipate as well as they could. I hope someday soon that the lowest common denominator PC platform will include at the very least Voodoo1-type 3D hardware acceleration (i.e., hardware support for all the basic 3D algorithms and texture requirements typical of a current 3D game design). And that developers will no longer be saddled with the albatross of having to try to do optimal 3D software renderers for slower, non-accelerated machines. Zone: What do you like best about Pinky and the Brain: World Conquest? Steven Wartofsky: I think we actually managed to capture some of the flavor of the cartoon series in the game. SouthPeak Interactive is doing an excellent job of working with Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment to develop games around major WB properties -- we have very talented people here negotiating effectively with top entertainment-industry talent over there -- and the results, I feel, are evident in both the look and feel of the game and in the gameplay. The development team worked hard to meet some very tough challenges as well, and I like the fact that we managed to succeed in finishing such an ambitious and complex 3D game while at the same time keeping the game simple, fast-paced, and fun to play. My five-year-old daughter insisted on my playing the game when I brought a finished copy home, instead of letting me play the heavy-duty hardcore game title I wanted to impress her with. That was a reassuring sign for me that we'd done our job right. Zone: Is there anything you wish you could add to or change about this game? Steven Wartofsky: I wish we could add Elmyra to the game. :) Zone: Any other comments or suggestions you'd like to share with your Zone players? Steven Wartofsky: Only that we LOVE feedback, and want to know in detail what players like and what they don't like about what we've done. Recommendations on what you think this kind of game should be, particularly in an online environment, will be listened to and taken seriously. We feel we're just at the beginning of a new phase of game and entertainment design with what we've done, and we're eager to learn what people out there want. So don't be shy; let us know! The Zone thanks Steven Wartofsky for giving us a special glimpse behind the scenes! Now that you know how the game is created, scramble into a game room and start playing! And remember to have fun! |
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