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Exclusive: Ratchet & Clank 3 Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
14/07/2004
The chaps at Insomniac give us an extensive insight to Ratchet & Clank 3...
The dynamic duo Ratchet and Clank return in their third instalment of Sonyâs great franchise which will incorporate new elements of gameplay not seen previously in the series, including online and offline multiplayer capabilities that will appeal to a wide variety of players.
Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal returns gamers to Planet Veldin, the setting of the original Ratchet and Clank, where the duo set off on a gripping new adventure through a multitude of diverse planets to fight for galactic peace. Players will be able to earn up to 20 weapons (including online and offline) with up to four levels of upgrades for most weapons, plus new high-tech gadgets to help them through their journey.
Derek dela Fuente spoke to a number of key people at Insomniac, the developers of the game, who gave us a real insight into of some of the inventive and exciting ideas being deployed in their latest creation.
TVG: You, Insomniac, have created some great titles, which also include Spyro. How do you manage to always focus in on the best kind of arcading game ideas? Tell us what inspires the team?
Brian Hastings, VP Programming/Gameplay: Well first of all, thank you! We've got a very creative team and we've been inspired by anything from extreme sports to Warner Brothers cartoons to music videos. We also get inspiration from within the team. When people on the team see something like the spherical planets going into the game it sort of takes the creative shackles off. People figure, âWell heck, if we can do that, I guess anything goesâ.
I think the other key to Insomniac's success has been that we really care whether players have fun playing our games. It sounds trivial but a little extra time spent reducing load times, making interfaces more user-friendly, balancing the difficulty curve, or just making sure the player always knows what to do next can make a world of difference in how much people enjoy the game. For me personally, it's very important that the people who buy our games play through to the end. If someone chooses not to finish a game because the gameplay got frustrating and cheap, or because they needed a hint guide to know where to go, to me that means they didn't get their money's worth. It's always been our goal to make sure people enjoy their game experience from start to finish, and if we really do our jobs right they'll want to play it all over again as soon as they finish.
TVG: A big focus for the third installment are the online experience and multiplayer modes. Firstly, what interesting ideas do you feel make this game worthy of online play and, of course, there is also a focus for single player?
Cory Stockton, Online Game Designer: I really feel like we are going to give PS2 online players something that they have never seen before. Our online component is all about getting new players to experience online and not be scared that they are going to get killed right away and have to figure out what to do next. The gameplay is deep, but very easy to pick up and play. Taking Ratchet and Clank online is something that we have been wanting to do around here for a long time.
The unique weapons and cool gadgets lend themselves so well to online gameplay, we really felt that the community is one of the biggest driving factors of an online game and that is why we have worked so hard to make a full featured lobby that players can use to create clans, find buddies and track their stats. We know what's out there in the PS2 online community now, and we really wanted to push it to the next level.
TVG: Insomniac returns gamers to Planet Veldin, the setting of the original Ratchet and Clank. What made this environment exciting and how have you built and extended it without losing some of its familiarly?
Brian Allgeier, Design Director: Veldin has changed quite a bit since Ratchet last visited. City structures have been built up on the mesas and cliff sides and upon returning, Ratchet is shocked to find that an army of tentacle eyed aliens - known as the Tyhrranoids - has turned his planet into a war zone! After fighting through the battle, he discovers his old familiar workshop is decrepit and partially destroyed. Players will also get an aerial perspective of the Veldin landscape when they free fall through the cloud layer with the Galactic rangers (Ratchet's allies) into battle.
TVG: Tell us a little about some of the new weapons on offer and perhaps one of the really cool new high-tech gadgets you have created, along with one little event in the game that conjures up the real essence of what Ratchet and Clank is all about?
Keith Lee, Gameplay Programmer: There are always new weapons and they're all very deadly! There's the Annihilator, which launches a devastating artillery explosion. As it upgrades, the high velocity grenades will release enemy seeking explosive mines. The final upgrade will discharge a dozen heat seeking rockets that target nearby enemies when it explodes. Or there's the Infector, which uses a putrid disease spray that will have your enemies on the floor in no time. If you succeed in spraying your enemy long enough, they'll get infected and start to attack their own kind!
Ratchet and Clank is all about action, humour, and blowing things up. This means giving the player more choices and greater levels of expression to do these things. Here's an example: You can jump into the fray spraying enemies with the Infector. Now they're all distracted firing at each other. You can then run up to them, switch to the Annihilator, and release a dozen explosive mines in their midst. They won't know what hit them!
TVG: Have you changed any of the interactive aspects of the two central characters â“ if so what? Do you feel that a central interactive cast is a much-untapped game idea?
B. Allgeier: I do believe that there is much untapped potential for developing a central cast. This is something that we've continued to develop throughout the Ratchet and Clank series. R&C's relationship has not only served as a great story concept, but it has also provided interesting and diverse gameplay. Ratchet is all about going in with guns blazing while Clank collaborates with other characters to achieve his goals.
In RC:UYA, we've increased the number of central characters this time around with the Q Force, Captain Qwark's elite team of agents committed to saving the galaxy. The first Q Force mission has Ratchet, Clank, and a Q Force agent tag-teaming on the planet Aquatos. Using a gadget called the Tyhrraguise, Ratchet can disguise himself as an enemy Tyhrranoid which grants him access to a secret facility and the ability to speak âTyhrraneseâ. Clank meanwhile is traveling through the upper level with a Q-Force agent, a monkey called Scrunch. With skilled timing to successfully speak âTyhrraneseâ, Ratchet convinces guards to open doors and raise bridges so that Clank and Scrunch can progress. Clank fires his hi tech âbanana cannonâ to launch bananas that direct the monkey to specific locations. The three of them work together to eventually meet up, download some secret data., and accomplish their mission.
TVG: Can you inform the readers a little about the process you go through to create a level? Do you design the setting then add the puzzles, action and events or do you have a theme in mind and create a lot of the action on the fly? It must take a lot of planning and testing of gameplay ideas. What is the basic design cycle?
B. Allgeier: Planning and testing is definitely required for a successful level! Creating a level starts with an idea that gets discussed in brainstorming sessions. Team members of different backgrounds and disciplines offer many creative ideas and suggestions that the designer can incorporate into a level map. The designer's primary focus is on the step by step decisions made by the player and how the enemies and geometry work together to provide an exciting experience. Usually, many of the level's key elements are prototyped for proof of concept. At the same time, the environment and character artists are developing conceptual sketches. Once the design of the levels, characters, and environment is determined, the artists can begin building the level geometry and characters. After that the characters are animated and the gameplay programmers start putting all the pieces together into a playable level. Finally, sound and visual fx are added. The test team play the level continuously and give feedback on what bugs and glitches need to be fixed. Though from start to end a level is scheduled to take 12 weeks, all levels are usually being polished and tuned right up until the gameâs completion.
TVG: Do you feel that this genre can continue despite a decrease in popularity; do you feel we must evolve past the âcollectingâ dynamic commonly featured in the genre?
B. Hastings: I think the genre will continue to evolve and gain new popularity as it does so. Despite the many differences between various games in the genre, I believe there are several key factors that define a game as a âplatformerâ. First, the 'pick-up-and-play' style of gameplay makes the games fun for expert gamers as well as people who have never picked up a controller. Second, the games have a stylized look and feel that allows the artists and designers to create worlds that could not exist in reality-based games. For example, you're probably not going to see spherical levels or Sheepinators in the next GTA. And most importantly, the controls and game mechanics in platformers are tuned around gameplay rather than realism. As a result, I think platformers tend to have the best feeling controls of any genre and also the most acrobatic and fluid character movesets. For all these reasons I think platformers will always have a strong following, even as the genre gradually evolves away from the collection, puzzles and butt-bouncing that once defined it.
TVG: After Ratchet and Clank 3 what next; will this be the last we see of the pair like Jak & Daxter?
B. Hastings: We love the characters and their universe too much to say goodbye to them so soon. Every title in the series so far has pushed the boundaries of the genre. The first one removed collection-based progression and introduced weapons and gadgets as a primary source of gameplay. The second one fused RPG elements with action gameplay to create an even more addictive and unique experience. The third one, I believe, will finally elevate the platformer genre to compete with the best online games on the market. We're not going to start developing another R&C game unless we're sure we are pushing the boundaries of the genre beyond what we're doing right now. Whatever we do next we want it to be a breakthrough for platformers.
TVG: Do you foresee further collaborations with Naughty Dog; perhaps a tongue-in-cheek pairing of the two duos?
Ted Price, President/CEO: I canât imagine that weâll ever make a game together but weâve always enjoyed including references to their games in ours. Furthermore we still share and discuss technology together. The Naughty Dogs are great guys and whatâs particularly cool is that both teams are always pushing each other to do more in the games. I think our friendly competition has really paid off for both sides.
TVG: Finally, are you excited by future PlayStation products; do you have any plans for taking Ratchet and Clank to the PSP?
T. Price: The PSP looks amazing and weâre also excited to hear about the PS2âs successor. At this point though weâre focused on development for the PS2. We believe that the PS2 still has a lot of life left in it. Take the PlayStation 1 â“ the Spyro the Dragon series we developed for PlayStation is STILL selling plenty of copies and itâs been over 10 years since the PlayStationâs release! Weâre pretty confident that the same thing will happen with the PS2 and its games. It would be pretty cool to see people playing Ratchet and Clank 3 ten years from now.
TVG would like to thank the members of Insomniac Games for taking the time to answer our questions and giving us an insight into the creation of Ratchet & Clank 3; we eagerly look forward to checking out how Ratchet & Clank perform online, stick to TVG for all the latest.
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