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Bulletstorm Interview Part 2
Part 2 of our exclusive chat with EAP's Mark Morris
Written by Jon Denton, 14 May 2010
GamerZines: How did Rick Remender get involved with the project?
Mark Morris: Rick Remender? It was kind of a meeting of the minds. We were working on the story, and Adrian (People Can Fly) said 'I'd really like to bring in a professional writer, I really want to capture a certain comic, pulp tone, right, kind of almost like a graphic novel.' It's high adventure, the characters are over the top but he's like a fun guy to hang around with. He kept saying 'this is what our guy is like, he's a lot like this character from this comic book Fear Agent.' We made a couple of phone calls internally at EA - 'oh you worked on dead Space? We know Rick, we can put you in contact with Rick', and Adrian's like 'really?' In 2 days we had it sorted, they just hit it off. Rick immediately got the type of story that Adrian was trying to push, and kind of restructured what we already had, made it a bit more serious, but all the writing in there, that kind of very 'blue-humour', it's all Rick, pure Rick. It's been a great collaboration.
Cliff Blezsinski has also fallen in love with Rick, he wasn't well aware of his work beforehand. It's also kind of cool because when we first contacted him, he was kind of this cult comic book writer, but since then he's now exclusive to Marvel, so Marvel have tapped him to do a Punisher. And someone just told me 'oh did you hear about the movie deal Rick got?', so he's skyrocketing right now, which is great for us!
GZ: The boss encounter at the end of the demo was pretty spectacular. Can we expect them punctuated throughout the campaign?
MM: I think we've moved away from that style of game like 'hey you play an hour then you get your boss...', it's not going to be like that right, but you will have? we call them 'blockbuster moments.' We want it to be organic. So you might encounter a moment that's not a boss fight, but has a boss fight functionality in there, but the net result should be the same - it's a 'holy shit, remember when I got to that bit in the game?'
GZ: So you mentioned earlier about multiplayer?
MM: Multiplayer we're not going to be talking about for a while - we got to dole it out in little pieces! (laughs)
GZ: How about coop?
MM: We're not doing coop, it was an interesting discussion - it's obviously something that we discussed, but we quickly realised that the type of mechanic and the type of gameplay that we're pushing - skillshots, tactically positioning yourself on the field? add another person in there and it actually doesn't work. It's kind of interesting because right around the time we're having this discussion, the Infinity Ward guys announced that they weren't doing coop, they had a similar type of decision for the type of experience they were pushing, and it just didn't make sense.
If you think about Bulletstorm, right, if I'm shooting a guy, and I've got someone else next to me and he's shooting them, you're going to be stealing each other's skillshots, so it turned into this competitive thing which we didn't want. We want you to just go in, be the master, be the conductor and just wreak havoc.
360Zine Issue 52
For our latest bulletstorm coverage, click here to download 360Zine Issue 52 for free.GZ: From the demo, there looked to be a certain degree of plotting a mental path through the battlefield before you start shooting...
MM: That's a huge... it's very designer, but from a player experience standpoint that's something that definitely sets Bulletstorm apart from other games, if you walk into a firefight and just start blasting people, you won't be able to think 'shit, that sucks'. Most shooters you just go in and kill everyone and play through, but we want people to talk in there and go 'I'm not going to kill this guy right now, because I realise if I move over to the left, there's a trash can over there that I can kick into him, and I'll get more skill points for doing that. So you really want to be pausing, thinking, looking at it and really looking at the whole battlefield - it definitely has a sandbox vibe to it.
GZ: Is it fair to say that Bulletstorm enjoys its over-the-top violence?
MM: It's fair in that?we're not trying to be sadistic, like Manhunt or whatever. It's the same kind of thing that Tarantino does in his films, you know, he stages these over the top violent scenes, that if you took them out of context that's sick, but he manages to layer it with just enough humour so that you laugh at it, it's ok - I'm ok with the violence I'm seeing.
GZ: The game seems quite reverential of other games, as opposed to the more common trend of referencing and mimicking movies?
MM: That's actually a really interesting comment. I see where you're coming from. A couple of comments we've had - 'oh it's got a very Duke Nukem vibe', which is great, but wasn't a conscious decision, the game's just kind of evolved that way. Adrian is like a walking encyclopaedia of game knowledge, he's one of the best analytical minds I've seen in the industry for picking apart why a game is good and why it isn't good, so all of that filters in in some way shape or form, even on a subconscious level to Bulletstorm.
GZ: I think it's great, a game that's not ashamed to be what it is, and enjoy it.
MM: I'm personally more interested in videogames that allow you to do something you can't do in real life, there's been a massive push in the last 10 years for videogames to mimic real life - a slightly exaggerated version of real life - maybe it's just cos I'm old school and been playing games forever but, you know, I like to escape into something I'd never see rather than The Sims. That's like the perennial example of playing real life. Bulletstorm definitely revels in being something other than real life.
The great thing about working on the game, generally across the board everyone's reaction to it, especially for gamers. You know, it's cool to get a hedshot, but we really celebrate the headshot, you know. In a way the headshot is one of the most disappointing skill shots you can get - it's still great, but say Gag Reflex, where you shoot a guy in the throat, it's really spectacular, blood's coming out everywhere? I think gamers will definitely respond to that.
GZ: So finally, how has there never been a game called Bulletstorm before?!
MM: (laughs) I know, right! Adrian came up with the name. I asked him about it yesterday in fact, and he said 'in Polish, it sounds awesome. You can't quite translate it. It's the same with Painkiller, in Polish it sounds awesome, but in English, it's a pill?.
bulletstorm coverage available in 360Zine Issue 52 - click here to download it for free!
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