DICE - Developer Profile Feature

Digital Illusions has created an impressive number of top selling games not only across an impressive number of genres but across formats. DICE, to be correct, which stands for Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment, came to prominence on the Amiga with at the time, and possibly still not bettered, the superb pinball game, Pinball Dreams, which was followed up by at series of further exciting pinball titles.. Since then they have created titles such as Battlefield and Rallisport and are set to work on a number of next gen machines. Derek dela Fuente spoke with Jenny Huldschiner, Communications Manager, to find out the facts behind this giant of a developer.

TVG: How many people work at Digital Illusions/Dice and with three offices does each specialise in a certain area?

Dice has approximately 220 employees and we are still growing.

Our Stockholm studio is the Companyâ??s head office. This is where we have our R&D, our Creative Director and his staff and most of the management, plus our central functions. Most of Digital Illusionsâ?? technology is produced in our Swedish office. The focus for Trauma/Dice New York â?“ as for Digital Illusionsâ?? Canadian office - is on concept and game developing, rather than on developing technology. Both our US and Canadian studios will work with the development of games built on technology produced in Sweden.

TVG: What is the companyâ??s mission statement and what do you believe is your real core expertise?

Our vision is to be one of the leading game developers in the world by creating innovative, high quality products that entertain gamers all over the world.

Our core expertise is within the genres racing and action/FPS. These are areas that we manage very well and where we have a competitive edge. Another main advantage is Digital Illusionsâ?? technology.

TVG: How closely do you work with publishers pertaining to a game concept? Do you create certain games on demand, if presented with specific genre details, or do you only work on your own concepts?

It varies from project to project. Sometimes the publisher comes to us with an idea and we develop the concept together. Other times we create a game concept on our own and then sign an agreement with a partner to publish it. Earlier we did a lot of â??working for hireâ??. At the moment we are only working with projects based on our own brands and concepts, developed by Digital Illusions.

TVG: You mentioned your R&D department. How important do you believe it is to create your own tools and engines?

The R&D department is lead by our CTO. This is a very important part of Dice. At the moment we are looking into and preparing for the challenges of next generation platforms. To be able to create high quality games we depend on top of the line technology. Our talented tech team really gives us a competitive edge through their work.

As you might know we have sold a license to give the Swedish defence the possibility to use our Battlefield 2 engine in training simulators. We chose to license to a party outside the gaming industry in order to maintain our competitive edge with technology in the games area.

TVG: You develop a wide range of games from war titles to pinball simulation to racing titles. Do you believe diversity is essential for a company to grow?

Our focus is the racing and FPS/action genres. We have a history of developing various sorts of games, but we believe in strengthening our stand in certain areas rather than doing everything. No one is best at everything. It is better to be best at some things than okay in many things.

Our Creative Director and his team are continuously researching and trying to find suitable concepts for us, where we can develop innovative and high quality products.

TVG: Do you see the â??Battlefieldâ?? brand growing and does the console platform play a big part for your future plans for it?

Our goal is to keep the Battlefield brand living for many years. If we can keep on developing innovative and great games in the series we will succeed. We communicate a great deal with the community to get feedback on how to improve, what is missing, what can be better and what is good as it is in the Battlefield games. Thanks to this information we can hopefully develop more Battlefield products successfully.

Regarding Battlefield on consoles we have big plans. The launch of Battlefield Modern Combat for Xbox and PS2 in fall 2005 is strategically important for Digital Illusions. The game looks really nice and it gives us possibilities to establish the Battlefield brand on the consol market before the launch of the next generation consoles.

TVG: Continuing on, is the PC a central focus for your titles or do you see the console machines, especially the likes of XBOX2, PS3, playing a much bigger part in your future plans?

Our main focus is on the next generation of consoles like Xbox2 and PS3, but we have a history of being strong on the PC side and we will of course try to keep it this way.

TVG: Do you have any plans to support the new wave of handhelds?

At the moment we will wait and see how this area develops. Sonyâ??s PSP looks very interesting though.

TVG: Do you foresee any future developments outside the Battlefield and Rallisport franchises?

Sure! Our Creative Director and his team are looking into new franchises, and we have already signed a contract for development of a whole new brand in the action genre with Electronic Arts.

TVG: Do you envisage your close relationship with Microsoft Game Studios moving forwards on to the Xbox2?

Microsoft is a very good publisher to work with; I think Rallisport Challenge 2 is proof of that. At the moment we are not working with any project together with Microsoft, but all doors are open!

Thank you for your time.