Exclusive: Ready at Dawn Q/A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
03/03/2004
As part of our continued look at key developers, we turn our attention to a new studio comprising ex Blizzard & Naughty Dog staff…
Ready at Dawn Studios is another of the many new development studios that have been announced in the last few months that combine a collection of talented personnel who have worked on a number of top games over the past few years. Mix expertise from Naughty Dog with Blizzard and what have you got? - Ready at Dawn Studios. We spoke with Didier Malenfant ā“ President of the company and ex Naughty Dog - about the vision and creative minds at the company.
TVG: What made you decide to form your own company and how did you hook up with the 2 former Blizzard members?
Ru, Andrea and I have known each other for a while through mutual friends. It just became obvious to us that we shared a lot of views on what makes a game great and on the kind of environment we like to create and work in. At the end of the day, it was just too good an opportunity to put together our backgrounds from two of the most prestigious studios in the world and see what the combination produces.
What have you and your colleagues previously worked on and what is your vision for Ready at Dawn?
While at Naughty Dog Iāve worked briefly on Crash Team Racing, before moving on to Project Y which came to be known later as Jak&Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. I then worked on JakII which we finished right before I left. Andrea has authored core technologies for several published Blizzard blockbusters such as WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos, its recent expansion WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne, and has contributed technology for Blizzardās upcoming MMORPG World of WarCraft. Ru for his part worked on all Blizzard titles since Starcraft: Brood War and most recently led the Cinematic art production and direction for the upcoming Blizzardā¢ titles Starcraft: Ghostā¢ and World of Warcraftā¢.
Our vision is very simple, we want Ready At Dawn to be a place that makes fun games that a lot of people want to play. We learned a lot over the years and have taken part in very successful teams working on very successful games so you do pick up a thing or two along the way. We just want to apply what weāve learned and create the best console games around.
TVG: You must have set a small plan in place ā“ so have you already an idea for a game and what formats you will creating it on?
We actually have a lot of big plans in place but not many that we are ready to announce at this point. We are working on our first project which is taking up all our time right now. All I can say is that we plan on working exclusively on console games, simply because thatās the type of games we play the most ourselves.
TVG: It appears that the days of small developers are long gone. There has been a long list of newly formed developers who worked previously at big named studios. Why do you believe you will succeed and what innovations and philosophies do you bring to the gaming scene at Ready at Dawn?
I donāt necessarily think the days of small developers are long gone. The days of two people in a garage are definitely long gone but small developers who can reliably deliver great game play and strong game concepts are still very much in demand. When it comes down to it, weāre in the same position as a lot of other teams out there. Our future success is ultimately determined by how hard we work and who we surround ourselves with, both internally the people we hire and externally with the publishers we choose to work with.
As far as philosophies, thatās a very big word, weāre just applying things weāve learned over the years. We like to focus on one game at a time and iterate on our game play ideas until we get it right. We work on the types of games we play which make it a lot easier to be critical of your own work.
TVG: What technologies have you in place or are working towards and with any start up company you need lots of funding ā“ is this all in place?
Yes, weāre fine. Actually starting up a company takes a lot more than just money. Thatās probably one of the common mistakes that people make. Even with all the money in the world, at the end of the day youād still better make a kick-ass game if you want to live to make another.
Right now weāre spending most of our time setting up the technology weāll use for the game and getting our first game play elements up and running.
TVG: You have a publisher, so how free are you to create your own games, in your own time?
Weād love to have enough time to work on our first game and multiple side projects at the same time, but the reality is that we can only focus on one thing at a time. As I was saying earlier, do one game and do it right. Itās hard enough as it is without getting distracted by tons of other things.
TVG: With PC and console games growing further and further apart do you feel there is still plenty of scope to create a multi format game?
I think the gaming public decides this. How many people would buy a fighting game on a PC? Sure some probably would but nowhere near the numbers to make the project worth doing. I think PC and console games are growing apart because the tastes of people who own those platforms are growing apart. Developers make games people want to buy and play, it simply doesnāt work the other way around.
TVG: What do you see as the next real step forward in the gaming industry?
Things like the Eye Toy are awesome new ways of bringing more people to video games, even people who normally would not play games and letting them enjoy it together. On another front, I canāt wait to see what kind of things the wireless feature of the PSP will enable. I think these are very exciting times for gamers.
Some people seem always looking for the next revolution. By doing that you might end up missing all the little evolutions that take place in a lot of the games coming out these days. I love games so I make sure I enjoy whatās right now rather than always look to whatās next.
TVG: How easy do you think it is to get into gaming nowadays and what would be the criteria to working at your studio?
Itās very easy to get a job at Ready At Dawn, you just need to be extremely good at what you do and prove it to us. Diplomas and experience are very cool, but what really matters is that you can blow us away with your work. Beyond that, personality is very important to us. You have to be able to get along with everyone on the team.
TVG: Although the games scene has become more professional over the last 10 years do you feel there are as many new and innovative games as their once was? Who do you most respect?
I donāt know if there is as much innovation as there was before, but I know that there is still as many awesome games out there as ever, if not more. Iām still trying to get through my pile of Christmas games and I donāt even play all the different types of games out there. When it comes down to it, what I really want is a good game, innovative or not.
As far as people we respect in the industry, itās pretty easy: Naughty Dog and Blizzard would be at the top of our lists here, if only because weāve had the chance to work with them and have nothing but fond memories of the time we spent there and the people we worked with. Weāre still in touch with all of them.
TVG: What do you feel you have learnt from working at Naughty Dog?
To some extent, I feel like I learned everything I know. Iāve worked at quite a few places before but Naughty Dog was the first place Iād seen which had figured out how to make AAA games, on time, while maximizing everybodyās potential on the team. Plus Naughty Dog is all a big family, itās just an awesome place to work. Itās no surprise that a lot of our corporate culture here at Ready At Dawn is heavily influenced by my time at Naughty Dog.
