Interview: Legendary Interview with GameCock

by Dillon Andrews - December 4, 2008

Comments Off

Recently I had made a post about media outlets giving games unfair reviews, and to say it sparked off a little controversy would be an understatement. After wondering about the issue for some time, I decided to ask one of the recent victims, the team behind the long awaited “Legendary” title.

Please give the game a look, and enjoy our interview!

1) What were the inspirations for the character designs?

We were looking for characters and creatures that would fit into the world that we live in. Deckard, as an example, needed to look good in normal clothes like a suit, instead of a uniform or some sort of armor. We wanted characters that you could see walking down the street and not seem out of place, they should look good but not stand out. Same for the creatures but they also relate to predatory animals. They needed to have a realistic (as much as possible) biology and grounded physiology like a lion has or a wolf has. Even as fantastical as these creatures are, could they be as real as a shark? That was the inspiration for the characters.

2) A lot of people give the story characteristics of being “movie-like” and “intriguing”. What was the overall objective in creating this story and what influenced the direction of the game?

We were always influenced by the disaster/action movies like: War of the Worlds or Aliens. Movies where everything went wrong but people didn’t just run and die, they started fighting back. It was fun to base a game on the premise that, these creatures were bad ass monsters ready to destroy the world as we knew it but Mankind didn’t rise to the top for nothing. We made some viscous tools and we can fight back. Also we liked the main character and starting him out as the anti-hero, the goat, he caused this breaking of the world by opening Pandora’s box but because he is branded by the Signet he can redeem himself.

3) Why do you think the game was so poorly received from the main media outlets?

I am at a loss. I am surprised and confused and deeply disappointed by it truthfully. We seem to get scores all over the spectrum and it would require someone more versed in current game review theory to give a good answer to the why of this. But for me, I play games all the time and I feel Legendary stands up as a fun, different experience to any FPS game. Other games may have more breath of story or more exploration elements. A different one may also have higher texture detail or lighting than Legendary did. But they also made choices to get those things and that means we have fun, good game characteristics that they don’t have because you can’t do it all on the consoles – you choose what you want. More detail and higher resolution equals less characters and action. You always cut something off by your choices in game development, and independent developer or internal studios alike make these choices and live with the consequences.

4) What would you like to say to the people who purchased the title, and more importantly what would you like to say to the people thinking about picking up the game.

I hope those that purchased the game had a fun, roller coaster ride, game experience. I hope they enjoyed what we cared so much about realizing; the challenging fun of fighting the creatures released from Pandora’s box and the heart stopping action it causes.

For those thinking about buying the game, make your own judgements. Reviews for Legendary are all over the place from good to bad which means you need to see it for yourselves. The demo is going to be out soon so play that. Form your own opinion. Read the good reviews as well as the bad to get different perspectives. I recommend starting with vE3tro, Destructoid and Official Xbox Magazine’s reviews.

5) Some of the outlets are reporting that the game feels very linear (probably one of the main flaws of the title). With a first-person shooting experience, is it really necessary to have a wide open environment? What are your thoughts on this new “sandbox” craving that seems to be sweeping across gamers everywhere?

I didn’t think it was necessarily different from most of the rest of the action FPS games, and I am at a loss why we are singled out for this “horrible” flaw. One of the reasons to go more linear than open world/exploration and sandbox is to concentrate your assets and direction to give the player the most intense moments you can deliver. To have such a large volume of creatures and destruction happening in the world (and I feel we did very well in this category) you need to control movement and direct the player in a way that allows you to clean up the last set of events and start up the next. If you are limiting the amount of enemies to say 2-4 on screen at any one time, and not much else happening in the world, you can allow for more movement before you need to do this which is why this is standard encounter scale for the open world FPS game scale. We wanted to give the players something different and that was the intense experience of a world changing disaster event. To live through that and that didn’t feel like an event without world consequences the player could see happening before their eyes. That was why we went in this direction.

As for why everyone craves sandbox games? I like them too I have been loving playing Fallout 3 but, like with movies, I don’t watch only action, sometimes I want a comedy. And I don’t judge one against the other. I don’t look at The 40 Year Old Virgin and like it less because it doesn’t have the action sequences of Transformers and I don’t expect characters I see to grow emotionally in Transformers. In games I don’t think there are enough distinctions yet. Everything’s apples to apples in the FPS genre when there are clearly different flavors.

6) How will you look back on the experience of creating Legendary and bringing it to life?

Very fondly. We had a great team experience in making this game. I saw bright, strong gamemakers daily take ownership of the ideas and drive hard to realize the direction they were given. It was one of the more fun game making experiences I have had and, while it hasn’t had the payoff Medal of Honor: Frontline had when we finished that one, it’s been personally and professionally much more fun to make. It’s all about creating fun and exciting escapist content for people to enjoy and leave their real troubles behind for a bit and Legendary fits that to a T. Its world is a great place to escape into and live through and I am grateful we had the chance to make it and make people’s lives fun and exciting for as long as they play the game.

7) Is this it for Legendary? If sales can provide enough revenue, can we expect to see another attempt in creating this nightmarish world?

Hell yes there would be more. Please buy the game. We put everything we had into it game-wise, but we just scratched the surface on the world after releasing these creatures and everyone who made this one wants to realize and explore that world and bring it to life again.

Reader Question:
8) How are the Nari so damn annoying yet so awesome at the same time?

My personal favorite creature as well and have been since we came up with them years ago. I think it’s the dual nature of the solid/ethereal states and how in inspires the AI design as well as the scripting of the creatures. The mythology of multiple creatures tie into the Nari: Faerie, Will o’ Wisp, Harpy. All creatures that while they can seem friendly or nice they can also lead you to your doom. We loved this dual nature of the creature and I am glad it came through in someone’s playthrough.

Ve3tro sends a big thanks to Gamecock and the Legendary boys! Keep up the great work!