Exclusive Sudeki Interview Feature

Sudeki looks like one of those epic games with high production costs and a long development cycle. Lots of tense action, spiced with RPG  - a game that looks like it is of Japanese origin with its stylised graphics, presentation and theme. The truth is that it is from UK developer, Climax, acclaimed for their ideas and technology. They hope to prove the point that successful RPG come action games are not solely the creation of the huge Japanese development houses when it comes to the console market! 

Weâve been keeping a keen eye on this title since the day of its announcement and have seen it on a number of occasions at shows and itâs progressing really nicely. Eager as ever, we decided to talk to Jason Avent, Games Director, on this project to get his fix on the game and what we can expect to see. 

Although it has a strong manga influence, the western look and use of the colour palette gives it a stronger European flavour. Itâs perhaps even a trick the team has learnt from our oriental partners in not giving too much of the game plot and ideas away before the gameâs release leaving the insatiable gaming public wanting for more. Although the full story to the game is sketchy - the role you assume is about finding out the truth, which takes you through a number of large and interesting worlds. 

Sudeki has many intriguing features, which include some really cool weapons from swords to guns to flamethrowers and magic staffs. There are in addition spells to summon monsters and ones that can only be created by two characters. 

Combat is inventively fashioned with combo moves and clever use of menus and gamepad presses. 

Technology in tandem with gameplay share equally billing with some âdrop deadâ special /particle effects as you will see, along with first-rate use of facial and bodily movement animation! 

Sudekiâs enemy list is a fearsome bunch of vitriolic characters! 

The Interview...

TVG: What is the aspiration and inspiration for Sudeki and do you hope to set new standards when it comes to RPG/Action titles on the XBOX? 

Jason Avent: The aspiration for Sudeki is to bring real-time combat to the RPG genre while retaining the depth of more traditional turn-based RPGs.  Inspiration is multifaceted â“ Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy and even Zelda have been inspirational products for us.  We will set new standards for action RPG titles because Sudeki blends arcade combat with tactical depth.

TVG: Can you tell us a little about how many characters you will be able to control â“their skills and possibly a little about one of them?

There are four playable characters most of the time in the game.  Theyâre divided into two groups â“ melee characters and ranged attack characters.  Each has unique abilities that can be used in combat and in puzzle solving.  Elco has a rocket pack and can jump across chasms, Tal can move heavy objects, Buki can scale sheer surfaces and Ailish can manipulate illusionary objects. 

TVG: What is the prime objective for the player, what kind of enemy is on offer and what part do NPCs play - how important are they?

The main objective is to end the war between the light and dark worlds.  NPCâs (Non Player Characters) are very important.  You have to interact with them in order to solve puzzles, find the next dungeon and trade items that you gain by killing monsters.  The enemies have been designed so that they play differently from one another.  Every time you encounter a new enemy, you have to figure out how to beat it - itâs not just stronger or more powerful than the last, it actually requires specific tactics.  They work together with other monsters to develop a greater array of tactics too.

TVG: How is combat handled and what kind of weapons are on offer?

Combat is all real-time from sword strikes and combos, through to summon spells.  When we need to, we slow the game down using our OneTime technology to give the player time to react and put together complex attacks.  When you start the game, OneTime is set to 5% game speed, later on, we speed it up to 50% so you have to think faster.

TVG: How focused is Climax on technology and what kind of innovations, special effects and uniqueness is the team serving up? 

At this stage of technology, most of the special effects are just complex pieces of artwork.  We have several pixel shaders that we can use to supplement and enhance that.  We have rather nice depth of field and motion blur systems that weâre pretty proud of too â“ theyâre quite tough to do well.  Most of our innovations are in the way the game works.  The combat system is really fresh and itâs great to use the four characters simultaneously so you can hot swap between them whenever you like.  We have some pretty slick AI to control the Player Characters that arenât under direct control.  You can give commands to the other characters in your party for example.

TVG: How diverse are the game settings and does each present differing game elements?

Theyâre very different from one another.  They range from sunny, lush green countrysides, through foreboding, gothic castles to Jules Verne style, research facilities.  We have a good world to work within mixing sci-fi with fantasy so we can pretty much do what we want.  We make the player feel good by having fluttering butterflies and falling blossom but we also play with them by putting that fairytale land in a warzone and having dead people laying around impaled on farming machinery! 

TVG:  Tell us what kind of RPG depth there is to the game and have you made compromises for XBox gamers pertaining to the game genre?

The progression and rewards structure is based on four core stats for each character, the development of spells and the ability to imbue your weapons and armour with runes.  This all comes together to provide different paths for different types of player.  This is a console game though so weâve been careful not to alienate people.  It has depth if you want it.

TVG: How important is the gameâs story and have you tried to be a little more inventive with this?

The story is very important to Sudeki as it binds everything together providing a motive for everything you do in the game.

The story is a tale of two worlds, Haskilia and Akloria that are at war. You play the role of four Haskilians, as they set forth to do the bidding of their Empress in order to win the war once and for all. They must travel across the land in order to build a machine that would grant Haskilia the power to utterly defeat Akloria. 

The more Sudeki progresses, the more the characters learn about the darker side of their own seemingly benevolent world.  They must make difficult choices between loyalty and truth.  Our story has some great twists and turns that we arenât revealing, so weâll leave it at that.   We donât want to ruin it for you.  

TVG: Sum up the experience in a sentence! 

Fast paced, real-time combat with the depth and character progression of a traditional RPG all wrapped up in a twisting plot and beautiful worlds.

TVG would like to thank Jason Avent for taking the time out to answer our questions; we wish the team at Climax all the best and look forward to seeing the final build of 'Sudeki' soon.