Part One of an InFamous Interview
InFamous, for me at least, was a revelation. Developed by Sucker Punch (the people that, previously, were best known for the Sly Cooper series of games), its combination of open world exploration (think: Grand Theft Auto) and super-powers (think: Spider-Man mixed with the Emperor from the early Star Wars movies) rocked me back in my chair. The cool way in which being "good" or "bad" changed things up was just the icing on an already delicious, calorie-laden, cream-filled, thickly iced chocolate cake. I mean, this game was
gooood; if you missed
my review, I positively
gushed about it - an opinion I stand wholeheartedly behind today.
That said, I wasn't exactly blown away by the reveal of InFamous: Second Son. As if to hammer home the name of the series, the presentation Nate Fox (the game's director) gave at the unveiling of the PlayStation 4 ended up becoming
infamous in its own right. To be fair on the man (and he's disarmingly nice in person, not at all the awkwardly dour chap he appeared to be in that presentation), he told me that he wasn't supposed to have been visible during key segments of the reveal, so he was simply talking along to what he
thought people would be watching (the video) - instead, the stream focused on him, and now he's the unwilling star of a number of animated GIF memes.
Fortunately, I later had a chance to check the game out behind closed doors at E3, and my excitement for the franchise was rekindled. In fact, in my preview I even stated that it was now my most anticipated game of the next generation - a suggestion it's hard to argue with, all these months later.
Keen for any chance to find out more about it, I recently jumped at the chance to have a sit down chat with a stand up chap - Ken Schramm, the "brand development manager" at Sucker Punch. In our chat he explained a great deal about the game to me, including how the sequel can even exist, given what happened at the end of InFamous 2. Don't worry, I don't spoil it, but there should be enough clues in there for people to connect the dots if they really want to.
"Well, let’s put it this way," Ken explained when I asked him how the game came to be. "At the end of InFamous 2 we thought that we had a pretty good game. So there was a sense that we were going to make a third one, right? But at that point I really didn’t know what we were going to make and Nate, our game director, said 'well, you know it’s a game about choices and our fans play our games, so why don’t we let our fans make the decision? Let’s look at the trophy data and see where it went.'"
"Well, we did. We looked at the trophy data and an overwhelming amount shows people chose the good ending. So that’s the direction we went." Exactly what that means is something of a spoiler, so I won't go into any detail; suffice to say Second Son assumes that you - like more than two thirds of InFamous 2 players out there - would have chosen to play out the story elements in a certain way, and the new game picks up from there.
"[So now there's a] new hero, new powers, and we are back to where InFamous is from the start: it’s about an ordinary guy who gets powers and has to figure out what to do with them, right? So we’re back to that method which is awesome for us. We’re able to do an origin story, which for super human type stories in games that’s the best way to go, that’s the most fun being able to tell the origin story, and the origin story is this time around."
The new guy's name is Delsin Rowe; he's younger than Cole (the InFamous 1 and 2 protagonist), and his powers are different. "The coolest fact about Delsin," Ken explained, "is the fact that he’s a conduit (what we call a person who has the possibility of getting superhuman powers.) Of course, at this point in time when the game starts he didn’t know that. He’s just a normal guy. He’s just this 24 year old Native American guy that’s found his way in the world and his older brother happens to be the local law enforcement in his tribal community there."
"So one day, there's this transport vehicle coming out of Seattle. Little did they know it was full of conduits being transferred out of the city. It crashes; like any good human would do, Delsin goes in to help somebody. The person he goes and helps, he absorbs his first powers from (smoke) and that’s basically what you’ve been seeing. In the
latest trailer, we just announced the neon power set."
"So yeah, he can absorb powers, he’s a young guy, graffiti artist. Cole - if you played [InFamous] 1 and 2 - was this hero that was very disgruntled, and he didn’t know what to do with his powers. Delsin’s a very different hero, he’s one of those guys that revels in his powers. He’s always trying to master them, so he’s one of those guys who’s always like 'give me more!'"
"The essence of the story is that DUP or the Department of Unified Protection, seven years after the events of InFamous 1 and 2, have locked down Seattle to get the rest of those conduits that have managed to escape out of that transport vehicle right? And Delsin is going into Seattle to get those powers, so the chase is on; what happens with that is this whole story that unfolds."
In addition to Cole's signature abilities, one of the core mechanics at the very heart of what InFamous was all about is the ability to go about things in different ways. Often, that meant choosing whether to do some sort of quest for someone in order to get something you need from them, or to just take it by force; or you might choose to go about things in a harder way to avoid hurting innocent bystanders, or… well… you could just lay waste to whoever you wanted.
I asked Ken if that system would be back for Second Son, and while he wouldn't come right out and say it, his response basically confirmed that, once again, you'll have the option of being naughty or nice.
"If you’re asking me if karma and morality will be part of the game," Ken replied, "you can almost bet on it. It’s the core pillar of the InFamous titles. That’s why, while we were obviously emphasizing 'Second Son' – you can see it on our box, you can see it on our logo that we’re emphasizing that - you [also] see 'InFamous' there. So, at the core of this game, it’s still an InFamous game."
Sucker Punch, as you know, have a rich history. Were they a human being, however, you might describe them as a serial monogamist - the kind of person that moves from one serious relationship to another, rather than flitting between lovers like an insecure lothario. Their Sly Cooper franchise served them well for more than five years, and InFamous is already in its fourth incarnation; other than that, the only other game they've made was 1999's Rocket: Robot on Wheels. Is that by plan or a product of circumstance, I wondered.
"That’s a very good question to ask," Ken replied when I posited the thought."Let’s put it this way; in our history we’ve made three franchises. One was just a one off with Nintendo (Rocket Robot), and then we got into our Sony relationship with Sly Cooper. We made three of those and when we did, we were just a small team - a little over 100 plus."
"Back then you’re still only making your way. We weren’t bought out by Sony at that time, we only were bought out just before InFamous 2, and we didn’t know what our future held for us. So we were on a game by game basis, so you don’t really look at it as a franchise."
"Infamous went well and we were going to make an Infamous 2, and that’s why Sony locked us down. At that point in time we were probably pretty sure we were going to make a third one too, and make it into a franchise. Like I said earlier, we got a wrench thrown at us when we looked at the data, so we gotta make a whole new hero - so we did!"
Stay tuned for part two of our interview with Ken, during which we talk about what the PlayStation 4 enables the team to do, whether we'll see the franchise on the Vita, whether any characters will return from previous games, and just what Sucker Punch thought of Sanzaru's attempt at a Sly Cooper game.
http://nzgamer.com/features/?platform[]=ps4&platform[]=xboxone&order=date_time_desc&limit=100
