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Evil Genius Final Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
28/09/2004
We chat with the guys at Elixir for one final time...
Having run a series of diaries with Elixir on Evil Genius through the development cycle of this âmoreishâ, humorous and, need we say, inventive and innovative game, we decided on one final âchin wagâ with the team to really sum up and finalise this superb looking game. Totalvideogameâs very own henchmen, Chris and Derek, found out that Elixir has their very own collection of Evil Geniuses which include (SS) Sandy Sammarco, Lead Designer - (MR) Mike Rosser, Assistant Designer â“ and (BG) Brian Gillies, Lead Artist, who were willing to conclude.
TVG: For those who may not have read the great Evil Genius Diaries, would you summarise in a few sentences the essence of the task in hand when playing the game?
MR: Evil Genius is a strategy simulation game. The main objective is world domination. In order to take over the world, the player must build, manage, and defend their evil lair, send out minions and henchmen to complete daring missions around the globe, whilst simultaneously researching a diabolical master plan.
TVG: A number of people say Evil Genius has many strands of what makes Elixir games so appealing, in that you are set many goals, would you agree, and how devious do you try to be in adding âred herringsâ to the plot?
MR: Itâs certainly true that the player has a lot to do. As well as managing the lair and keeping an eye on island activities, the player has to get cash and notoriety by sending minions into the world and monitoring their activities on the world domination screen. On top of that, there are the primary and secondary (optional) objectives that the player must tackle to build their Doomsday Device and take over the world. Thereâs always something pressing that the player has to do â“ itâs challenging, without being overwhelming.
Red herrings werenât really deemed necessary for Evil Genius â“ itâs a game that relies more on emergent behaviour to cause enjoyable situations, rather than a convoluted plot and scripted sequences.
TVG: Would you say that Evil Genius is very much catering to the same audience as Republic and what is the one big lesson you learnt from Republic that is obvious from the moment you load in EG - gameplay wise?
MR: Iâd say that Evil Genius and Republic are aimed at very different audiences. Republic had a very intellectual, niche subject matter, whereas Evil Genius has a much broader appeal, and is easier to relate to. They differ in terms of gameplay too, as Republic was a strategy game, whereas Evil Genius is a strategy-simulation game, with the emphasis on simulation.
One big lesson learnt from Republic is accessibility - Evil Genius has been made as accessible as possible for the newcomer. An interactive tutorial teaches the basics, and the different gameplay elements are gradually introduced to the player throughout the course of the first couple of objectives, to prevent the player feeling overwhelmed.
TVG: For all those masochist gamers, tell us two evil deeds and is it so much easier thinking about bad things?
MR: There are so many evil deeds, itâs hard to pick just twoâ¦but these are among my favourites. Each Evil Genius has the ability to fatally reprimand an under performing minion â“ this puts the fear ofâ¦well, of youâ¦into nearby minions, who get a stat boost as they become determined not to fail you. Each Evil Genius has a unique method of dispatching the unfortunate minion â“ you might have seen Maximilianâs gun-toting method in the demo. The others are even better, in my opinion, but Iâll let you discover that for yourselvesâ¦
Another favourite evil deed is using the Death Cubicle. This is a holding cell with a twist. With normal cells, you can execute prisoners, but this may take some time because a minion has to make their own way to the armoury, equip themselves with a gun, then shoot the prisoner. With the Death Cubicle, it happens instantly, as the prisoner is squeezed between two big mangle-like rollers. Itâs a great little sequence that always makes me chuckle (an evil chuckle, naturally).
TVG: You have been influenced by the 60s look in the game but none of the team were probably born, so what has inspired this feel and what is so interesting about this period? To, add, would you say the game offers up some very British humour?
BG: I was actually born at the tail end of the 60s (which makes me one of the oldest people on the team). Then I grew up watching repeats of shows from the 50s and 60s. Of course the gameâs main inspiration were the spy movies, but once weâd begun our art research, that era turned out to be a very rich source of inspiration. Every art book, furniture catalogue, and fashion magazine was filled with the most outrageous stuff. The game could hardly fail to appear over-the-top because real life appeared over-the-top, to us anyway. Everyone was infatuated with his or her push-button, atomic age lifestyle. Turning off their Sinatra record on the hi-fi and polishing their vinyl shoes before taking the Stingray for a spin down to the Tiki Lounge for a martini and a mambo. And the media was always presenting cutting-edge technology, from supersonic jets to self-cleaning ovens. It was a lot of fun reproducing that atmosphere and exaggerating it.
TVG: A number of games are very unforgiving. Have you made allowances early on for newcomers and what kind of help is on hand?
MR: Evil Genius is challenging, but not unforgiving. The only way to âfailâ the game is if the Evil Genius avatar is killed: so keep him/her safe! If the playerâs base is decimated by agents, thatâs not game over â“ construction workers and money are infinite resources, so the player can never find themselves in a hopeless situation, itâll just take a fair bit of time to regroup and rebuild.
There are three difficulty settings that affect a number of things, including object cost, minion stats and agent stats. âNormalâ is pretty challenging, but rarely frustrating. On âEasyâ, minions are stronger and agents are weaker, so combat is stacked in the playerâs favour. âHardâ is not for the faint-heartedâ¦
As well as these measures, weâve also provided a great deal of in-game help to ensure that the player is never left floundering. The glossary contains information on every process, character and object in the game, and there are over 50 hint videos that can be accessed to walk the player through advanced concepts such as setting up traps or performing research.
TVG: You control minions and henchmen. What distinguishes the two, apart from one being nastier than the other and what sort of hierarchy is there and is this important to understand?
MR: Minions are basic lackeys. Henchmen are much more powerful, and have special abilities that can help turn the tide in a battle.
Minions are never directly controlled by the player â“ they will generally go about their own business, working and recharging their stats, although they can also be indirectly manipulated according to general orders that the player gives (such as setting the base to red alert, or tagging an agent for death).
The player directly controls henchmen, and they have the ability to gather minions around them, so that they can be led to specific areas if necessary.
Minions have a hierarchy that is organised as follows: construction workers are the basic minion type. They can be trained up into one of three career branches â“ social, science or military. Each career branch has a first tier minion (valet, technician and guard), a second tier, and then two different third tier minions in each branch.
TVG: The micro-management between direct control of your henchman and automation of your minions appears to be perfectly balanced; could you please explain how you came to this decision and what other dynamics you experimented with?
SS: To be honest, it was a high-risk decision, but we really wanted automation for the minions right from the start for important reasons: as an Evil Genius, we didnât want the player to do the more mundane work â“ that is what minions are for! The autonomy also helps propagate the idea that these are real little people running around on screen.
We knew we were going to have henchmen as powerful units, and at first they were also totally autonomous, but we quickly realised that this was going too far â“ playing it felt you felt too distant and besides, we were denying ourselves lots of potential fun with player controlled special abilities.
In the end, the direct control of henchmen and indirect manipulation of minions was a pretty snug fit.
TVG: What kind of attributes do henchmen have and how are they trained?
MR: Each henchman has three special abilities. One of these is a common ability â“ âGather Minionsâ allows each henchman to temporarily make all nearby minions follow him/her. The other two are unique and varied, from Jubeiâs teleporting âWind Walkâ to Red Ivanâs âGrenade Jigâ.
Abilities must be unlocked before they can be used. Henchmen are awarded experience points (XP) for killing enemies, using special abilities and completing Acts of Infamy on the world domination screen. Once the required XP has been earned, the player can unlock the new ability.
TVG: Apart from world dominance, how important is money/management to achieve your final goal?
MR: Money management is very important to overall success. Without money, the player will be unable to build new rooms or buy new objects, and they will only be able to recruit construction workers at the slowest rate.
Money is earned by sending minions out into the world to steal. Itâs a very simple process, but requires astute judgement in deciding on the balance of the money-stealing team. Military minions are better at stealing, but they also raise heat a lot more, which could be risky. Social minions will dampen this heat, but they arenât very good at stealing themselves, plus they die more easily. Decisions, decisionsâ¦
TVG: Why do you think the development of god/strategy games such as Evil Genius and classics such as Dungeon Keeper have become reduced in recent years; and do you envisage Evil Genius rectifying the situation?
MR: Iâm not really sure why the god-game/strategy-simulation genre has been ignored of late â“ perhaps the glut of mediocre tycoon games has soured the publicâs taste for that sort of game. Having said that, weâve also seen games like Rollercoaster Tycoon and Black & White in recent years, that are not only very good but also commercially successful, so I think we have good reason to hope that the audience will be there if the game is of a high quality. Weâre hopeful that Evil Geniusâs novel setting and unique features will help the genre take a step forward, and excite a wide range of gamers, from hardcore strategy-simulation gamers to mainstream casual gamers.
TVG: Having finally seen the game in action, could you please explain to our readers the ingenious trap design system; and how elaborate traps lead to multiple bonuses?
MR: There are around thirty traps in the game, and different types of sensors such as pressure pads and laser trip beams. A trap system is composed of (at least) one trap and a sensor. For instance, a simple trap system might feature a pressure pad that causes a gas cage to fall on the careless person who tripped the sensor.
Traps and sensors are linked together using a sophisticated linking system. This system is very flexible, and allows sensors to be linked to multiple traps, making trap combos possible. For instance, letâs say we have a pressure pad linked to a wind trap and a sucker trap. When someone trips the sensor, the wind trap blows them down the corridor, into the path of the sucker trap, which pulls them down yet another corridor. Halfway down this corridor is a laser trip beam sensor, linked to a fire pit and piranha tank, which is set off as the agent is sucked past it. The agent slams into the wall and bounces off into the Satanâs Chimney fire pit that has just been activated. Then they are spewed out on a jet of flame, only to fall into the piranha tank trap.
The trap combo bonuses are cumulative, so the more traps that an agent falls into one after the other, the bigger the cash bonus will be.
Thank you guys â“ TotalVideoGames is sure that Evil Genius will be a huge success upon its release on October 1st; weâll have a review of the title soon.
