IGN: We just saw the demo for the first time and we're seriously impressed. It's a really accomplished open world. Was that a big technical challenge?Nate Fox: It's been difficult making an open world, mainly because the technology costs of getting the streaming working are really high. As you might imagine, it's really fun making an open world game, because when you put something new in the game it's all over the place. The whole city benefits from the addition of a traffic simulation. So everyday when I'm playing the game I'm seeing new things getting added in -- like pedestrians digging in trashcans for food -- and you're just constantly surprised. It's hard because it's so vast, but it's cool in that everybody gets to share in this thing. It's not like lots of little pieces. It's like one big cake.
IGN: Do you feel any pressure because it's a new IP?Nate Fox: I think there is a certain pressure because you're defining what it is first time out, but it's really exciting too because you get to define what it is, you're not bound by the fiction you established in the first one. Say, for instance, we're working on a superpower and it's not much fun, we can cut it because it's not part of the canon, right? We've got the freedom to just focus on making the game as fun as possible.
IGN: What came first -- the desire to make a superhero game, or the desire to make an open world game?Nate Fox: We're giant comic book fans and graphic novel fans. Who hasn't had the idea? I really like Grand Theft Auto and I want to be a superhero in this world. Definitely our desire to make a superhero game came before our desire to make an open world game. We wanted to make the superhero experience, an interactive experience where you go through the origin story, which is always the coolest part of any superhero story. Videogames are great for making you feel it, so what does it take to give you that experience? So we just put it together.
IGN: How are the missions going to present themselves?Nate Fox: Our mission structure is kind of similar to GTA in that you have this open world and then you become aware that a mission exists. Our missions are different in that they have very strong beginnings, middles and ends with a lot of scripted events along the way to make you feel like you're the star of the action. You're the big event in the city.
IGN: Are you happy that a lot of people are comparing it to Crackdown?Nate Fox: I think it's up to journalists to decide. It's like saying 'Do you like Aliens? Do you like Star Wars?' They're both science fiction, so that's great. Fun games are fun games. I think Crackdown's a blast to play, but I don't think our game's like Crackdown. There's a city and a guy who can do a lot of spectacular things in a city.
IGN: Are the choices you make reflected in the narrative?Nate Fox: We can't talk totally about how the game works out, but the core freedom that you have in playing the game is -- you've got a mission, for example to stop a bomb from going off. How you go about stopping that bomb from going off is totally an expression of you in the world. Do you blow it up from a distance because it's a lot easier to shoot at the bomb? That would be the jerk way to do it. Or do you go up and try to defuse it? You get to make decisions like that. I like to think of things like Batman or The Punisher. The Punisher kills everybody, he doesn't care, while Batman is surgical, smart and very careful. You can totally play either direction in the game and by doing so your powers will improve along that axis of morality that you have in the game world. It's not just about hitting a branch in the tree and making a decision, it's about second to second gameplay.
IGN: Infamous seems like quite a departure from what you've done previously...Nate Fox: It's been really exciting to get a break from sneaking around like a thief, and finally just going crazy, breaking stuff and being a superhero. For me that's exciting as a games designer, and I can think about mission structure and gameplay in a different way. It's nice also having a believable world, because you already have a relationship with a telephone pole, right? And in a cartoon world, everything has its own rules. Because it's a believable world, you know what it's like having a car hit you on the head -- it hurts.
IGN: So it's exclusively a single-player game?Nate Fox: We'll tell you in two months time. Right now we're showing the single-player stuff, which we're excited about and it's going to be fun. That's currently our schtick.
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