Frictional Games Interview

Every now and then a game can creep up on you like a goblin in a dungeon. If you let it, it can then, like said goblin, leave you ravaged on every level. But in a good way. For Joe Martin, one of those games was the Penumbra tech-demo which has slowly become one of the most talked about and downloaded indie games in a good long while. Making use of some of the latest gameplay trends, such as realistic physics and an innovative UI, Penumbra proved itself to players as new take on gameplay and the horror genre. Now as we near the release of the commercial follow-up to the indie success-story we send shadow-addicted journalist Joe Martin back into the world of Penumbra with naught but a list of questions and a pen because this time he’s going straight to the source of the fear…

Joe: Hello and thank you for taking time out to answer a few questions for us here at The Game Chair. To start off, can you give us a brief outline of who you are and how you got together?

Frictional: The core members in Frictional Games are Anton Adamse (Art), Thomas Grip (Programmer), Emil Meiton (Art) and Jens Nilsson (Sound and scripting), but we also have several external contributors working on music, porting, additional art and programming.

The team was formed during the making of the Penumbra tech demo, although there has been quite a change in members during its creation. Most of the team has known each other since the start of Penumbra though, Jens and Anton went to the same university and Thomas and Jens has worked on another game called Energetic together.

Joe: What is it you are currently working on and how much can you tell us about it?

Frictional: We are currently working on a full version of Penumbra called Penumbra: Overture. The game will be very similar to the tech demo in terms of gameplay and background story. However, almost none of the graphics will be used and the in-game story will be a lot more detailed and interesting. The game will be released in 2007 as 3 episodes.

Joe: Most people are familiar with the original? Penumbra tech-demo by now, so can you tell us how the new game, Overture, will differ from Penumbra?

Frictional: Penumbra: Overture will have major updates in both performance and quality. We are trying to make it run on as many computers as possible and for those with higher end systems we are adding more eye candy. The eye candy includes things such as Depth of Field and more types of materials.
Overture will also have some updated gameplay; the most notable addition being a melee combat system. This will not make the game a hack and slasher, rather the player can use the weapon to temporarily stun the enemy and be able to escape. We really want to have strong sense of dread and fear in the game and will try to do our best to scare the player out of their minds!

Joe: What are the important lessons you feel you’ve learned since releasing the original Penumbra tech-demo?

Frictional: We have learned a great deal, the making of the tech demo has been a great experience. First of all we have come up with a really good work pipe line. When building the demo we had all sorts of problems when creating the content and for Overture we have learned from all those mistakes and changed the way we work. This will make the game a lot more polished and structured.

The other important lesson we learned is what gameplay works and what doesn’t. When developing the tech-demo, there wasn’t many other games that functioned like Penumbra and we had a hard time figuring out gameplay that was actually fun. After the release of the demo we have received tons of feedback and from that evaluated the positive and negative sides of the way the game played.

Joe: Horror games are becoming quite common now and yet the original demo of Penumbra has managed to gather a massive amount of attention. Why do you think it stands out from the rest of the genre?

Frictional: The majority of horror games are mainly based on action, putting the player in a secure position behind a weapon. The main gameplay element is not the horror itself but it is rather going around on a killing trek. In Penumbra we try to make the exploration and immersion essential in the gameplay and not rely on violent action to entertain the player. There are weapons yes, but if anything they lure the player into a false sense of safety. The physics system is also a large factor to the success of the game. People seem to have really enjoyed that feature and it adds a new dimension to the adventure gameplay players are used to.

Joe: Most horror games rely on tried-and-tested scare tactics which only scare the player on his/her first play through. With Penumbra: Overture have you got anything special lined up to give extra replay value to the game or are you using any method in particular to scare players?

Frictional: One of our main goals is not to make the game scary by just having disturbing cut-scenes. We want the gameplay itself to be scary. The player will have to be aware of the surroundings and constantly listen for sounds in order to survive. The player is very vulnerable and if you just try to run through the game you will meet a fast death. This will require the player to immerse himself/herself a lot more than in a game where all encounters are solved using mindless violence.

As for replay value, the game will have detailed information on the background story spread out in such a way that the player might miss part of it on the first play-through. The game also offers different solutions to the puzzles so the player can beat the game in many different ways.

Joe: As a relatively small developer you must be very excited about some of the new technologies available to you, especially Steam and X-box Live Arcade. How do you think these technologies are affecting games as a whole and do you plan to take advantage of them?

Frictional: We believe it is great for ‘indie’ gamers that these channels exist since the fight for shelf space in shops is really hard. When a game is on Steam or some other content delivery system the space life is unlimited, yet the sheer number of titles might become a problem in the future. It also means that it is easier for players seeking niche games to find them. In turn this means that developers (such as ourselves) creating niche games have an easier time finding buyers. We have probably only seen the start of online game sales.

Joe: How do you feel about the game play innovations that companies like Nintendo are pushing on with in the DS and Wii and do you think these innovations are needed on PC games?

Frictional: It is great that there finally is focus on things other than graphics from the bigger game companies. This is also a great opportunity for ‘indie’ developers since it is easier to compete with ideas than with graphics made by hundreds of artists. The DS has spawned a lot of cool game ideas and it will be very fun to see what games that will come out on the Wii. Innovation is always needed for PC Games as well. The problem with using specific input devices as a design choice limits the audience quite a bit. With DS and Wii all players have the needed hardware.

Joe: Most players were completely wowed by the incredible graphics in the original Penumbra. From what we’ve seen you’ve only added more ‘wow’ for the sequel, but how important do you feel graphics are to the game experience?

Frictional: For the type of game we are making graphics are very important since the player must be able to immerse himself/herself in the world. However one should not always equal good graphics with photorealism. The important thing is that graphics are nice to look at and heightens the experience of the game. In Penumbra: Overture our main objective is not to make the graphics photo-realistic, rather we are aiming to make the world feel alive and create a moody experience. For Penumbra: Overture we are really trying to make the graphics topnotch and are spending a lot of time to add details to world. We want to player to feel a part of the game world.

Joe: The critics are saying single-player games are on their way out. What do you think about the popularity of MMOGs and the threat they pose to the single-player experience?

Frictional: The reason why Multi-player games are becoming more and more popular is because Internet access is becoming more widespread and cheaper. Multi-player has some things that are impossible to recreate in a single player game and it will be a long time before computer AI will be equal to that of a human brain. It’s also more fun to play against actual people than with some simulated person. However, single-player offers things that you cannot find in multi-player games. You can have a much better narrative and guide the player through the game story in a much better way. Also people do not want to be social all the time. Ultimately, we think both types of gameplay have their place and one can not win over the other.

Joe: As gamers yourselves, what games do you find you keep returning to (or are eagerly awaiting) and why?

Anton: I keep returning to games like Final Fantasy, Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid series. Mostly because I played the first “episodes” and hope that the rest will be as good as them. I guess its some kind of nostalgic hopefulness.

Emil: Basically any games that will let you be part of their world and let you forget about the “real life” for a moment. Some of my favorites are Half-life, Myst, Little big adventure, Outcast and many more. Of course one tries to take time to play as many games one possibly can but there have been less and less time recently.

Jens: For the past year I have mainly been taking breaks here and there to play New Star Soccer, it’s a simple yet very addictive game. You get endless replay value as living the life as yourself in the role of a soccer player takes quite some time, my latest character is only a happy 20 years old at the moment. Many years left in his legs… if he doesn’t get addicted to gambling or drugs that is.

Thomas: My favorite games include adventure games like Silent Hill, Beyond Good and Evil and Broken Sword. I also love oldies like Super Mario.

Joe: Thanks for your time. Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Frictional: Thanks for your interest! We don’t have much more to say except stay tuned for more updates on Penumbra: Overture. The new site for the game should be live by the time you read this!

none