Gamers.nl had een goed gesprek met de man die Alone in the Dark opnieuw leven in moest blazen en bovenstaande taak moet klaren: Antoine Villette, mede-oprichter en screenwriter van Darkworks.
Zo waren we benieuwd naar de redenen om een nieuwe episode te maken, wat de eventuele toekomstplannen zijn en waarom deze game de naam 'Alone in the Dark' waardig zou worden. Lees het in dit interview.Gamers.nl: What was the idea behind the production of Alone in the Dark 4 and why was Darkworks a igned to make this game?Antoine: For Infogrames, i think it was to play again among the bests in a genre that it has created. For us, it was to make the best po ible game that we could a uming that it is our very first production. The challenge was very high : reach the quality of such fantastic title as Bio Hazard or Silent Hill, reinvent the myth of Alone In the Dark, build a team... In fact, it was crazy!
The story : we met Infogrames with a playable demo of 1906, an action/adventure game full real time with a quiet good design. They told us that it was too risky to develop an original title with a brand new team an so much ambition. But they proposed that we start the preproduction of the fourth episode of the Alone in the dark serie... And they gave us a "carte blanche". It was a dream! Few months later we succeeded to convince them that we are able to rebirth the legend and we started production.
Gamers.nl: Why did Infogrames/Darkworks decide to make another episode in the saga?Antoine: You have to ask them. But i think that they was waiting for the right team. It could be seen a little bit presumptuous but that what they told us.
Gamers.nl: What makes part 4 different from the previous parts in terms of gameplay?Antoine: Since the beginning, we have in mind to produce a "cla ic" but we knew that we needed also something different, that's why we started R&D around the concept of opposition between light & darkne . This drive us to the "flashlight" technology. And it seems to work very well !
Gamers.nl: Is AitD focused on adventure gamers or is it made for casual gamers?Antoine: If both, will starting adventurers receive any help in solving the puzzles?
I think that a casual gamer will need about 15mn to master the characters. Adventure gamers will have no problem at all. You have a kind of "on-line help" with the use of the radio calls. If you are stuck, call the other character, it could be very useful !
Gamers.nl: How complex did Darkworks try to make the game?Antoine: Average. But we tried to make the game more and more interesting. Some puzzles could seem difficult but there is always a simple way to solve them. We was more focused on richne than on complexity.
Gamers.nl: Will it be of any help if I played the previous three episodes?Antoine: No. The old players will find "private jokes" and references.
Gamers.nl: What were the major challenges during the development of the game?Antoine: To build a such fantastic team and to maintain the motivation of the team. From the game point of view, it was to implement the logic of the adventure : stupid mistakes was always po ible.