The Incredibles - Q&A Feature

The Incredibles is an action/adventure game based on the plotline of the movie whose Academy Award winning creatorsâ??, Pixar Animations, past titles include Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo. The Incredibles tells the story of a family of undercover superheroes that are trying to live a quiet, suburban life, but are forced back into action in order to save the world. Gamers will use superpowers against bombs, bullets, robots, and lasers and you control them all â?“ the main film characters. The only way to survive being The Incredibles is to truly be incredible. The Incredbiles, the game, also includes live film action, adventure, and humour in over 18 levels!

Derek dela Fuente spoken with Stephen Townsend, Producer on The Incredibles from Heavy Iron Studios.

TVG: Please tell us a little about the team creating the game, previous releases and core expertise.

The team developing The Incredibles comprises a wide range of talented individuals with experience in developing original and licensed character franchises, studio quality production values, cutting edge technology and the latest visual and graphic techniques. They have worked on hit video games titles like GEX, Spyro the Dragon and Medal of Honor, animated feature films at DreamWorks and Disney and directed indie films and music videos for MTV. The diversity and depth of experience is what truly stands out as the crowning jewel of Heavy Iron Studios.

TVG: Many readers may not be familiar with The Incredibles. Please can you tell us about the film, which the game will be based around, when it will be released (film) and what the essence of The Incredibles is all about?

The Incredibles, in theatres everywhere late November with the game hitting the stores around November 5th, is Disney/Pixarâ??s latest computer animated film, and their mastery of this craft since Toy Story in 1995 is evident every moment of the way. Add director Brad Bird to the mix, and you get an action-packed film about a family of superheroes who must come out of hiding to save the world. The story follows the life of Bob Parr, aka Mr. Incredible, who was once one of the worldâ??s greatest super heroes. Fifteen years following his prime, Mr. Incredible adjusts to a civilian life as an insurance claims adjuster, living with his family in the suburbs, fighting boredom and a bulging waistline. When mysteriously summoned to a remote island for a top-secret assignment, Mr. Incredible jumps at the chance to get back into action. In short, itâ??s an action-packed story about a family of super heroes who save each other and the world, but, as with all Pixar stories and films, it will grab everyoneâ??s heart and command their attention.

TVG: We are informed you play the filmâ??s main characters. Who are they and how do their skills and characteristics differ?

Throughout the game the player will experience the action from the perspective of the filmâ??s super family â?“ Mr. Incredible, Mrs. Incredible, Dash and Violet. As Mr. Incredible puts it in the game, â??Iâ??m a one man wrecking ball!â?? His power is that of super strength, allowing players to hurl huge objects to break through barriers, catapult himself over immense chasms and battle toe to toe with waves of bad guys. What Mrs. Incredible lacks in sheer strength, she more than makes up for in elasticity. She can knock out bad guys before they literally even know what hit them. â??Catch meâ?¦if you canâ??, Dash taunts in the game as he hits speeds of over 200 miles per hour. He also has the ability to burst into overdrive for short blasts, which is extremely helpful when baddies are on his tail or to make a key jump. Violet may be a little shy, but she uses her invisibility and at times her force fields to stay out of harmâ??s way. So the familyâ??s skills are all diverse yet complementary to each other. They offer a full superhero family to play with -- and there are even a few surprise abilities that I wonâ??t spoil for you.

TVG: Tell us the backdrop story to the game and the objectives?

The game story is driven by the filmâ??s -- which I cannot go into much detail about as it will also spoil the fun but it presents a structure that offers gameplay focusing on each of the characterâ??s unique abilities.

TVG: The Incredibles is a compendium of gaming idea; tell us about a few of the action events on offer.

With The Incredibles we have been fortunate enough to have characters with abilities that naturally make for great gameplay, so the game has a great combination of fighting, stealth, racing, puzzle solving and environmental interactions. It is always a challenge to create a game with multiple playable characters because of the need to make sure the game is both properly balanced and â??rampedâ?? correctly for each of the characters and their levels, even if they are not all played in succession.

TVG: The game is split into 18 Levels. Perhaps you can break down a few for the readers and possibly highlight one of the teamâ??s favourites?

The Incredibles has 18 main levels, the majority of which you play as Mr. Incredible as you do major damage while battling bad guys and killer robots. Most of the levels take place across several different locations taken directly from the film. However, we were able to add to the fiction of Disney/Pixarâ??s film world, taking players places not seen in the film. One of the teamâ??s favourite levels takes place right in the middle of The Incrediblesâ?? family neighbourhood. Here, as Dash, you are faced with the challenge of using your super speed to race against the clock to get to school on time after missing the school bus.

TVG: What interaction did you have with the filmmakers at Pixar and were you supplied or use any assets from the film?

The film team at Pixar worked very closely with the game team at Heavy Iron during the entire process of building the game. We got to see the film at various stages of work in progress, and Pixar provided a ton of reference materials to ensure that we could make the game look like the film. We had a series of what we called â??shadowing meetingsâ?? where the game teamâ??s animators would meet with their counterparts working on the film at Pixar to go over the gameâ??s animation to make sure it matched the look of the film and yet still worked for the game. During the process of making the game we had constant access to the right people to get answers to our questions about the story, the characters and the world as well as to provide all the visual information we needed to make the best game possible from the fiction of the feature film.

TVG: How technology focused is the team and what are the goals for the team pertaining to the game and the many formats it will cover?

The solid 60Hz frame rate and spectacular and polished look of the game clearly demonstrate the high degree to which the development team held the challenge of matching the fantastic look of Disney/Pixarâ??s film. We had key people on the game team research and implement advanced graphic features like the glow on the lasers and lava in the environments, reactive animations used for world objects that the player interacts with, amazingly realistic refraction and surface reflection of the water, billowing smoke and fire systems are just some of the technological feats achieved by the team. After a tremendous amount of hard work, we will ship this game on PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Cube, PC and Macintosh simultaneously in 8 languages.

TVG: If you had to give one reason to buy this game what would it be?

The Incredibles delivers a first rate entertainment beyond playersâ?? expectations. We give you the opportunity to be incredible! It is a larger than life gameplay experience complete with its movie quality computer graphics, 72 piece orchestral score, cutting edge technology, multiple playable characters and mechanics, witty humour as well as awesome film footage! While creating this game, we have been excited to be working on an amazing property, and it has driven our passion to produce a rich gameplay experience. I think this really shows in the final product.

The Incredibles is released on November 5th for Playstation2, Gamecube, Xbox, PC/Mac and GameBoy Advance, whilst the forthcoming Disney/Pixar feature-length animation is slated to hit UK cinemaâ??s on November 26th.