Deadly Creatures Q&A Feature

Arriving in North America in time for Christmas with a European launch expected in early 2009, Deadly Creatures is an action-adventure game set in the Sonora desert of Arizona.  Developed by Phoenix-based Rainbow Studios, which has most recently cut its teeth on the MX vs ATV franchise along with Disney/Pixar's Cars, the game is certainly a very different title for the team.

TVG recently caught up with Lead Game Designer, Jordan Itkowitz, and programmer Andrew Hair, to discuss the title, development on Wii, and whether they'd considered killer armadillos in the game...

TVG: Deadly Creatures is a huge departure for Rainbow Studios...

Itkowitz: ...yeah, our first action title...

TVG: ...so what were some of the main challenges that the team faced during its development?

Itkowitz: Well we were developing new tech and tools.  Andrew can probably speak more about that challenge.

Hair: Yeah, absolutely.  Trying to build tech and gameplay at the same time is kinda difficult.  But we didn't really have a choice, and had to power through.  It turned out well.

TVG: So it's been a two year development cycle for the team?

Itkowitz: Yeah, just under.  In terms of switching from racing games to action games - we all play these games.  I made four racing games in a row, the last game I worked on was Disney/Pixar's Cars, which is about as different from Deadly Creatures as you can get.  We all play God of War, Castlevania, Metroid Prime, Gears of War, action titles [in general].  So putting this together was kind of in our blood; there was a lot of learning to do with the Wii and figuring out the right balance of controls versus gestures, and certainly building the levels and putting it all together.  But it's the best kind of learning process.

TVG: Rainbow is based in Arizona - was it just a case of being fortunate enough to look into your backyard to get addition inspiration?

Itkowitz: That was a happy accident really.  It wasn't like we said, "We must make a game based around Phoenix," it was "We're going to make a Wii title, it's going to be an action game, you're going to be playing as different cool, creepy predators".  It started off as a snake, and we quickly seized on a tarantula and a scorpion just because they offered so many play mechanics and so much potential.  The fact that they happen to be native to Phoenix and the Sonora desert area was just another reason to do it.

TVG: Were there any other creatures you considered that weren't native to the Phoenix area - throw in a killer armadillo or something?

Itkowitz: Yeah, there's always stuff that would be cool, but luckily there were so many potential creatures to do just in the desert that I don't think we lacked for things to do. It wasn't like we were desperate to go, "We really need to add three more NPCs and we can't figure anything out!" It was more like "Hey, we came up with a list of 100 NPCs, let's start cutting some!"

TVG: You've signed Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper to provide voice acting in the game.  They're essentially playing the roles of secondary characters in Deadly Creatures; why go after that calibre of actor when regular voice actors could have done the job?

Itkowitz: We could have.  The game already has an indie feel to it as well; it's very cinematic.  I've mentioned [in the past] the Coen brothers in terms of crafting the overall mood and vibe we were going for.  It made sense to at least try; it was one of those things where we asked if we could do this.  The head of PD [Product Development] at THQ has a lot of contacts in Hollywood, so he made that happen.  To our credit, when Dennis and Billy Bob heard about the concepts and the opportunity they thought it was intriguing and different enough that it felt worthwhile for them to do.  This is their first foray into games and they didn't want it to be something that would be easily forgotten.

TVG: Do you feel that Deadly Creatures could have benefited from the direct responses of the Wii Motion Plus dongle?

Hair: I don't know if it would have helped.   One of the things that I like about our control scheme is that it's very balanced.  With most Wii games you find that everything is a gesture, and it's gimmicky; we've found this really good balance between gestures and buttons.  I think when Wii Motion Plus was announced, we didn't know about it - if we were making another type of game it could have helped, but I think it's good the way it is.

TVG: The camera and control systems were overhauled just a few months ago - why was that decision made?

Itkowitz: Yeah, there were a couple of reasons.  For a while we had a manual targeting system kinda like Zelda.  [You'd] hold down the 'A' button, and circle or strafe around any targeted NPC.  But what that wound up doing was fragmenting the combat experience; you'd focus on one creature and then you'd disengage and turn your body to another one.  It just didn't feel chaotic enough, but once we'd removed that and the targeting icons - we'd been going for a pretty HUD-less presentation all along to immerse you more - and focused on more fluid, open combat, it obviously necessitated a different camera treatment. We had to come up with something that would push in and out of the action depending on how many NPCs and types you were fighting.  We never wanted to make it seem like you were tiny on screen - that was never one of our goals - we always tried to make you as big as possible whilst still allowing you to look around and see the other combatants at the same time.

Hair: The initial combat also felt like you could spam, that you could hit the 'A' button over and over again and just kill everything without much of a challenge.  Then we made this different triangle-shaped combat system where you had a heavy attack, a light attack, and a block - so it's almost like a weird game of 'rock, paper, scissors', and that definitely helped.  It was much more complex than just spamming with the 'A' button; I think that really helped to flesh out the combat and made it more interesting and more enjoyable.

Itkowitz:  There's a lot more strategy, especially when you're dealing with different NPCs.  You'll see that you'll have to come up with a very different strategy and system of attack and defence versus one creature as a tarantula, and then when you encounter them as a scorpion you have to come up with a completely different strategy as well. 

TVG: Obviously there's the narrative of the two humans and their search for US Civil War buried gold, but what are the motivations for the two creatures?  In the natural world they'd be just interested in feeding, sleeping, and mating - surviving...

Itkowitz: We establish a bit of a rivalry between the two creatures right at the start of the game between the tarantula and the scorpion; you're first goal as the tarantula is to track down the scorpion.  We just keep criss-crossing their paths throughout the game; therefore our progression is pretty much driven by our goal system, so it's like 'You've just fought your first tarantula hawk - now journey to the giant burrow in the distance and eradicate their hive.  You've just fought against some [Black] Widows in the brambles, now try and find their hive.'

Granted, it's not as compelling as some heavily driven story stuff that you would see in other titles, but those were the limitations we were working with, and that's why we tried to make that stuff as interesting as possible.  The bigger thing that is pulling you through the entirety of Deadly Creatures is really this human storyline that we're always presenting in this fly-on-the-wall or 'arachnid-on-the-wall' experience.

TVG: So do you feel that the human element is essential in ensuring a feeling of progression in the game?

Itkowitz: Yeah, it certainly made people curious as to what the next thing would be.  We even hint at the beginning that the gas station at the end of the game blows up; gas stations blowing up are usually seen in action or horror movies or whatever.  But it's like 'I'm playing a game as a tarantula and a scorpion; I want to see how these two creatures are involved in that.  What did the development team cook up?'

TVG: Deadly Creatures is an original IP, and the background of Rainbow Studios is obviously very different to it.  What are your expectations for it?

Itkowitz: We've been really pleased during development that when we announced what the title was, there was a lot of interest, but people were also a little sceptical. [They] were like 'This is really cool sounding, but what can they do with it?', but once people saw it, I think the press and the fans and the people on the message boards were all really pleasantly surprised.  Everybody has always wanted to see more and more of it now that the game is done.  We're really pleased with it, and certainly every preview we've done has gone very well.

I hope that this finds the audience that's been looking forward to it, that it finds a wider audience of people looking for something to play on Wii besides mass-market, party games.  There's not a lot of hardcore stuff out there right now, and hopefully this sells well enough and scores well enough that we can continue to make more of them.  Even if it's not another Deadly Creatures, you've got to give independent-minded games the love and attention and exposure they deserve, so that they can succeed and so we can make more of them.  Otherwise, you'll go back to seeing a lot more other stuff that people may be getting tired of already.

Hair: There's always a lot of expectation and pressure when a studio switches genre so drastically from racing to third-person action-adventure game, but we really put our hearts into this one and it shows.  There's a lot of polish on it, and it came out well.

TVG: Do you really think that the current state of video gaming on Wii is so far skewed towards those party games that Nintendo could lose the hardcore in its entirety?

Itkowitz: It's possible.  If they stop making core games altogether, and if third parties try and fail, and they figure that the only thing is selling are mass-market [titles], then it will happen - it becomes a vicious cycle.  I think that if Nintendo wants to at least keep a balanced audience on their console and keep the lifeblood that's been pumping money into their systems for years and years, then throw us a bone.  We're certainly going to try and do it.

Hair:  There's even more pressure and expectation - you have all those party games that are gimmicky, there's not anything really big this year from Nintendo - and then you have us.  I think we're the diamond in the rough.

TVG: Finally, what do you say to arachnophobic gamers?

Itkowitz: Get over it - it's cool (laughs).  Actually, it's good therapy - if you get to the end and you haven't p***ed your pants, you're cured.

TVG: Thanks guys.

TVG would like to thank Jordan Itkowitz and Andrew Hair at Rainbow Studios, along with Karen Ward at THQ.  Deadly Creatures is scheduled to arrive on Wii in North America next month; the European edition is expected in the New Year.