Pilage Interview Feature

Although the UK development team working on Pillage is not large, it comprises of a very experienced and talented team. At Zed Two they don’t go in for extreme specialisation. They don’t have a hardcore driving/racing team, nor a collection that only makes puzzle games - but have a wide range of skills, and try to provide new challenges as a studio, and to every individual on the team, with each new project. <br><br>Consequently, most games Zed Two produce, in whatever genre, tend to add a new twist or an idea to a particular theme. They are all avid gamers who love a wide variety of game styles, so with this they bring ideas and techniques from other genres to every game produced and Pillage is no exception!<br><br>The team includes members who have worked on all Zed Two's previous products, including Wetrix and AquaAqua, both hits worldwide. Speaking and explaining their philosophy and game to Derek was Ste Pickford, Managing Director.<br><br>Pillage is an original, action strategy game where a gang of brave warriors must fight an evil band of creatures and avenge the destruction of their tribe. Like all games Pillage has a background story. <br><br><b>“In the dark years ahead, when our enemies are but warped reflections of ourselves, and where our allies may be more than they seem, a boy, his sister, and a rag-tag assembly of unlikely warriors are the planet's last hope. But, as they soon discover, immortality comes at a price. Twisting perceptions, time, and emotions, Pillage is a tale of love, loss, redemption, hope... and green, ugly mothers.”</b><br><br>The story is a massive part of Pillage, so Zed Two don’t want to spoil the experience for any players by giving away the plot before release. The objective is to ultimately beat the enemies over the course of a long journey to their home, with a string of tactical battles to be fought along the way.<br><br>The story plays out over 19 levels, each of which highlight a key battle in the story of the heroes' quest. <br><br><b>"Pillage was inspired by the desire to make a modern RPG game that wasn't geared to the sensibilities of Japanese audiences. Most RPGs use number-based combat systems which have barely changed from their origins 15 years or more ago. We felt that the abstraction of such numbers was no longer really necessary, and the artificial 'pop up' battle scenes were out of date. We wanted to make an RPG where the player was a little more involved directly in the action and the set up of each fight.”</b><br><br><b>"Also, we felt the long, convoluted, over complicated, soppy, melodramatic storylines contained in most Japanese RPGs were not suited to western audiences. I often found myself cringing at the embarrassing dialogue and corny plot twists presented to me when playing RPGs that I otherwise enjoyed. We wanted to create a story that would appeal to us, or gamers like us, something more like a good quality Hollywood movie. The unique qualities of the game are its fresh approach to the RPG genre, taking ideas and techniques from other genres, using the latest game play technology, and not being lumbered with a 15 year old, out of date battle system that we are afraid to change.”</b><br><br><b>“Pillage is an RPG game that is a great one player experience, but with an awesome two player battle mode included - that is an almost unique feature in itself!"</b><br><br>Based around a rag tag group of warriors, each with different abilities, strengths and weaknesses, so all units are human (or similar). Each character has different weapons, different targeting systems, different weapon upgrade paths, etc. <b>"Broadly speaking, the enemies in the game have similar abilities to the humans, so you are more or less fighting an equivalent force. This becomes an important feature in the two player game, where the player can take on the role of the enemies and build a party of ugly creatures to battle their human loving friend."</b><br><br>One key feature of the game is the enemy AI. The AI works by giving the enemies no 'magical' information about where the humans are on a level. They have to work it out by themselves by spotting humans, and communicating these positions to other enemies that they can see or hear. This means its possible to trick and fool the enemies, and often be surprised by their actions.<br><br>Pillage has a completely deformable landscape - each explosion from a weapon firing will cause some landscape damage, changing the landscape shape somewhat. The enemies AI responds to this, adjusting their movement and tactics accordingly. This means that no two games of Pillage - even on the same level - are ever the same.<br><br>The locations on offer are very important, and help tell the story of the game. The story involves a long journey over a significant period of time, with changes in scenery and season, and many locations have important strategic value in certain battles.<br><br>Further into the game smarter enemies are encountered, with more sophisticated communication equipment. However, the players’ team earns upgrades to their weapons, which add more strategic possibilities to each battle.<br><br>Being on all formats, which include GameCube, XBOX, PS2 and PC, you would assume that technological innovations are a prerequisite! <br><br><b>"I would say that Zed Two is not focused on technology per se, but focused on game play. Sometimes innovative game play requires innovative technology, and we feel we are very strong in technology research when it relates to game play, but not technology for technology's sake. Gameplay is hard to measure, and hard to demonstrate to the audience before they have actually bought the game, so perhaps that is why a lot of games seem to be more focused around technical or graphical ideas – it’s easier to sell a product that way.”</b><br><br><b>“Although viewed as a console game in terms of design and concept, it could work well on the PC and is a colourful and endearing game.”</b><br><br><b>"Pillage is a tale of love, loss, redemption, hope... and green, ugly mothers", was the repeated summary the team placed on the game!” </b><br>