Q&A with Eden Games - Your questions answered

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Q&A #1 - Nour Polloni, Producer, Eden Games, answers the questions you submitted.

Jackpot890: “Does the initial release have an entirely self-contained storyline or will it end on a cliffhanger and be continued in future downloadable episodes?”
Nour Polloni: Good question! If we told you the answer to that we’d be giving too much away. For downloadable episodes, we haven’t actually made a decision on that yet, but it is something we’re looking at closely. A lot of it will depend on how successful the game is when it’s released. Of course we hope it’s very successful


Joao: “What will happen when we finish the game, will we unlock other game modes (such as Resident Evil Series) or just be able to play it with another character (such as AITD4)?”
Nour Polloni: There’s no unlockable game modes and the game’s only playable as Carnby. There is a pretty big surprise waiting at the end of the story however.


Lamotia: "Hello, I'm wondering if you can tell me more about the music of the game.The Bulgarian traditional music is really deep and for me it perfectly fits the atmosphere of the game. So I like to know how did you got the idea to include Bulgarian traditional music and also what are the people behind the soundtrack?”
Nour Polloni: The music is by a composer called Olivier Deriviere who did the music for Obscure. He’s an incredibly talented composer and he came up with the idea of using the Grammy award winning Mystery of Bulgarian Voices choir. They’re actually singing about what’s happening to New York, the park and Carnby, and I’ve seen translations of some of the trailer music from Bulgarian fans on comments threads which is really cool. He recorded the choir in Sofia, Bulgaria which was an amazing experience, not least of all because they nod their head to mean no and shake to mean yes, so he thought they hated everything he was doing for the first day!


Jackpot890: “How do NPCs fit into the game? Do they act as AI teammates or hand out "side-quests" or what exactly?”
Nour Polloni: There’s one character called Sarah who’s with Carnby for a lot of the game and has a big role to play in the story. She doesn’t fight alongside Carnby as such though – the rough stuff is left up to him. Another character central to the story is Theo and he’ll be guiding you during the early stages of the game, explaining parts of what’s going on and what you need to do. Then there’s Crowley who’s definitely not on your team, but who as your human nemesis provides a lot of clues which help you on your way.


Jackpot890: “Do you use a save checkpoint system or save at an ingame object like a typewriter or what exactly?”
Nour Polloni: You save using a checkpoint system, which we’re tuning at the moment. You can save at any time in the game, and the save will be at the last checkpoint made.


Jackpot890: “How open is the world in terms of free-roaming? Can we explore most of Central Park from the get-go or do sections get unlocked in a linear fashion?”
Nour Polloni: The first two episodes actually take place outside of the park, and you only end up there at the end of the second. Then as you follow the path of the game the park gradually opens up logically so that well before the end of the game pretty much the whole park is open to explore.


Understudy: “How has the increased realism of the game mechanics affected the gameplay design?”
Nour Polloni: In fact it’s the other way round; the gameplay design is based on having realistic game mechanics. We specifically wanted a level of interaction and real world physics that hadn’t been done before and which is instinctive, so what we aimed for was that every object would respond and behave just like it does in the real world. With the ability to combine objects we ended up with some really exciting gameplay possibilities leading to emergent gameplay, that’s to say you could well think of doing something that even we haven’t thought of. As you can imagine this makes it pretty tricky to test and balance, but that’s the target we have in our sights.


Understudy: “How do you balance puzzles that that can be solved by many different approaches? Does this lead to extremely complex puzzles that may make the game impossible for less inventive players?”
Nour Polloni: Most of the puzzles are built around a simple logic to resolve them. For example you need to burn something to get past and it’s up to you to find a way to burn whatever it is. It could be by setting an object on fire, or using your healing spray with a lighter to create a flamethrower, or throwing a Molotov cocktail. The means you use to reach the objectives can range from obvious solutions to ones that need a bit more thought. That’s why we wanted the player to have multiple ways so that he is not frustrated because by having only one way to move forward. We’re also going through the tuning process now to make sure that nothing’s too hard and there’s some help to work out the really tricky ones.
Lastly, if you get really stuck, you can skip sequences and even episodes in the DVD style interface, but always at a cost. If there’s bits you didn’t do first time round you can also go back and do them later.


RoxanaUK: “Can you tell us more about the weapons system and reasoning behind them?”
Nour Polloni: It was important to us to give the player a new sense of discovery and enjoyment with the gameplay, so we based everything on the real world rules concept which opens up massive possibilities in terms of what the player can do. Our aim was to make absolutely every object in the game react and behave like in the real world, which logically extends to not just using single objects but being able to combine them to create things with new uses. This means a humble cigarette lighter can become a lethal weapon if you combine it with an aerosol can for a flamethrower, use it to light a fuel trail to blow up a car or light a rag in a bottle of alcohol for a Molotov cocktail for example. Of course Carnby still has a gun, but you’ll quickly find there’s much more original and powerful weapons you can create to tackle the situations. Most of the enemies can’t actually be destroyed by bullets alone. Fire is the number one weapon, and lots of the gameplay is geared to giving the player as many different ways as possible of using fire to beat enemies and get through situations. That could be something as simple as lighting a broken table leg as a torch, pouring alcohol on bullets so they set fire to the target, or igniting a fire trail to a moving car you’re using as a rolling bomb. We want the player to have a real sense of wonder when they realize the possibilities of what they can do, and none of these innovations come at the expense of fun.

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Q&A #2 - Nour Polloni reveals more juicy information

Charmed699: will the story break up into different segments like in the dreamcast game where you could see the story from different angles with the characters?
Nour Polloni: This game doesn’t work like that no. You follow the story like a TV season always from the point of view of Edward Carnby.

Charmed699: I recently read that the Wii version will have these really special menus that make you look into your coat for items and the health is how badly wounded you are. I was wondering if this means that the same will happen on the other versions too?
Nour Polloni: Yes, the features you’re talking about exist in the versions of the game we’re developing, so Xbox 360, PC and PS3. The inventory is in real time in Carnby’s jacket, so he can only carry what you could realistically carry in real life, and you don’t want to spend too long browsing if there’s something nasty coming at you fast. To make sure gameplay stays fast and fluid we added a couple of systems – a quick draw button lets you pull out or put back the last thing in your inventory and also scroll through what you’ve got, then a shortcut system lets you assign favourite combinations of items to a single button on the pad so a Molotov cocktail is never more than a button push away, if you’ve got all the stuff you need in your inventory already that is.

Dirty Riley: Why does Carnby not use his signature .038 special?
Nour Polloni: In fact Carnby starts the game with nothing and he finds the gun he uses, and sadly you don’t find so many .38 specials lying around New York these days!

Dirty Riley: As we all know the last we saw of Carnby, he saved Emily Hartwood from Jed Stone. Will we see Emily Hartwood in the game? If not, will we discover what happened with her?
Nour Polloni: There are some mysteries we think are best left unexplained! Even if Emily doesn’t make an appearance, there’s still a few little touches that will raise a smile for those who played the first game.

Redtool: Will there be any references to the old parts? If its the same Carnby as the original, does that mean there are references at AITD2 and 3 as well? (Like I dont know some offspring of Jed Stone or maybe a return of one eyed jack) or is it just referring to the first part only?
Nour Polloni: The first game is the only one that we referenced, because that’s the one we all love and that created the legacy of innovation that we’re trying to live up to with our game. The keen eyed player will spot a number of references to that first game in the new one, but none of the others.

Redtool: In Alone in the dark 4: the new nightmare, a different Carnby was introduced, apparently having no connection or whatsoever with the original Carnby in the trilogy, whats the reason the 'old' Carnby was chosen and not this one? Would have made more sense, as with the timeline and everything. Also on the box art that Carnby looks more like the one of The New Nightmare. My question is: is the Carnby of part 4 being entirely left out and should we assume Alone in the Dark 4 never took place?
Nour Polloni: The new Alone in the Dark is really a new game. It’s the spiritual sequel to the very first one in that we’re working to live up to its huge video gaming legacy by doing something really new and exciting. In homage to the first game we took the same Edward Carnby (albeit with a radical makeover and some clever new tricks) and threw him 80 years ahead without ageing a day.

Nwata: Will there be any online features to the game ? DLC, Leaderboards... Co-op?
Nour Polloni: There will be Xbox 360 achievements, but the game doesn’t lend itself to leaderboards, and it’s single player. The TV season style format lends itself to the delivery of new episodes and DLC is something we’ll be looking at once the game launches. There’s nothing confirmed yet though.

Nwata: Will the HUD be permanent or pop-in and out?
Nour Polloni: One of the goals of the game was complete immersion, so to help achieve that we’ve removed as many menu screens and as much of the HUD as possible. Damage is on body so no health bar, and you check ammo in your inventory so no ammo bar either. There’s still plenty of guidance if you want it, and occasional menu screens for certain actions where it was needed, but overall we want to keep you in the game as much as we possibly can.

NecroViolator: Will there be any Camera Angles, like seeing through the eyes of the Char...
Nour Polloni: You can switch from first to third person at any point during the gameplay except for when you’re shooting which is done in first person and for certain other situations where we fix the camera to work best with the context. The first part of the game you play in first person and you have to blink your eyes repeatedly to clear blurred vision, so we’ve really tried to put you in the shoes of Carnby.

NecroViolator: Will it be any Haunted Mansions ingame ... Love those Mansion games...he he...
Nour Polloni: There’s no haunted mansions this time, but you’ll find plenty of great indoor locations to explore along with the open expanse of the park. If you’ve ever heard the legend about the ancient tunnel system beneath Central Park it might give you a clue in what direction we’ve expanded the gameplay area to give you even more dark places to discover…