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Shrek 2 Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
21/05/2004
We chat to the guys behind Shrek 2, leaving us to hope its a mighty improvement upon the original...
It would not be courting controversy if we were to say that the original Shrek game was nothing short of average. When Shrek the movie was released to critical acclaim and with the endearing cast and whole theme, look and essence of Shrek going down a storm, video gamers were eagerly awaiting its release on various video gaming formats. It was also a surprise to many that TDK were the publishing company, which in the mindset of both the public and media scribes took away a lot of its gloss. All the reservations and drawbacks of the original game were one of the priorities of the development team creating Shrek 2. With Activision publishing, this time around great things were expected; with that in mind TVG recently spoke with Joby-Rome Otero, Shrek 2 Art Director & Project Lead, about the trials and tribulations of Shrek 2.
To the initiated, Shrek 2 takes players on a twisted fairy tale adventure with Shrek and his buddies. Gamers revisit key locations from the movie sequel while discovering all-new locations and characters. Shrek 2 combines squad-based action with traditional action-adventure elements. Players can control their team of four and play as Shrek or any of his 10 friends, switching between each to best utilise the character's unique abilities to solve puzzles, fight monsters and complete wild and dangerous adventures.
TVG: Joby tell us a little about the team creating Shrek 2, what your previous games include and where you believe the expertise of the team lay?
The Shrek 2 team was put together specifically for creating games like this as we like colourful and funny scenarios, with fantasy characters and environments, and Activisionâs extreme confidence in us and their cool roster of licensed properties were too appealing.
Members of the core team have a lot of action/platform experience with games like Spyro, Pandemonium and Gex as well as less âfriendlyâ stuff like V8 and Sacrifice.
To add, several members of the team have more than 10 years of development experience. Thereâs a huge variety of experience under this roof. Just look at True Crime!
TVG: The original Shrek was pretty poor but there are big expectations for the sequel. With this is mind how did you prepare yourself to create Shrek 2 and what lessons can you see being learnt from the original title?
The main lesson from the first Shrek game, and most other licensed platformer games, is that if you want to really touch players you have to approach the license as if its entirely your own. You have to get every asset from the movie and digest it so you become completely immersed in the world of the license. This way, every idea will come from the same world as the movie, even if itâs not actually from the movie.
You also have to make a game that makes sense for the license. The emotion in the film is so tied to the interactions between Shrek, Donkey, Fiona and the other fairytale characters we wanted that sense of camaraderie at all times. Thatâs why we always have four heroes working together.
TVG: What makes the Shrek world such an appealing idea for a game and how close to the film will the game be based?
There are so many possibilities in Shrekâs world. Between the twisted, but loveable, fairytale characters and environments, the âanything goesâ sense of humour and the magic of the new film, a clever developer should be able to conjure a very compelling experience.
The game follows the film most of the time. The rest of the time the game weaves in and out of the filmâs storyline. This allowed us to go beyond the movie and explore even more of Shrekâs twisted, fairytale world. Dreamworks likes that approach too. They really want to let the audience see more of Shrekâs world each time they step into it via a new ride, game, toy, etc.
TVG: Joby can you tell the readers a little about the story to the game and the kind of gameplay elements it will include?
Shrek 2 is a four-player, action/platformer. Shrek and company deal with combat, puzzles, platforms, mini-games and even music games together, but each character sometimes gets the spotlight to themselves in specially designed interludes called Hero Time. The player is always in control of one of four characters. They can switch between them at any time. We introduce new playable characters along the way.
The story starts with Shrek and Fiona, just back from their honeymoon, and theyâve received an invitation from Fionaâs parents, the King and Queen of Far, Far Away, for a party congratulating them. When they arrive everyone is shocked to see who, or what, Fiona has married. A surprising adventure begins as Shrek realises he has to prove himself to Fionaâs family and to himself. New characters are introduced and some are from the new film and some are unique to the game.
Along the way, the game weaves in and out of the filmâs story. Dreamworks and Luxoflux agreed on that approach because it allowed us to go beyond the movie in some places and explore new parts of Shrekâs twisted fairy-tale world.
TVG: The player controls a group throughout the game. How many selectable characters are there to choose from and do they all have their own traits? How important, for instance, is it to choose the right characters and does gameplay differ depending on the group selected?
There are nine playable characters that are directly controllable and there are a couple of other characters that are indirectly controllable in a couple of sections. Each playable character has its own special ability and basic traits that make them indispensable. There are times in the game when only one character can overcome an obstacle. Just as frequently the problem looks like it can only be solved with a certain character.
TVG: Although the gameâs appeal will be to the younger end of the market how important is it to try to pull in a larger audience base and how do you go about it without making the game too simplistic?
Itâs very important to us that the game appeals to the older crowd as well as kids. Ideally, the game would appeal to the same audience as the film and humour helps a lot in that regard. In terms of gameplay, we tried to make sure thereâs more than one solution to many problems. Some solutions are more sophisticated and require the use of more characters based on their specialties.
TVG: Ok, letâs put you on the spot. Expand on one incident/event and puzzle in the game that really conjures up the spirit of Shrek 2.
The Hero Time on Level 01 is certainly up there. The idea is based on the scene in the first movie where Fiona is singing along with a bird when she hits a note so high the bird explodes trying to match it. We created a musical mini-game along those lines and we think it captures the humour and personality of the film and looks like the familiar scene its inspired by.
Thereâs a puzzle in Level 07 â“ Fairy Godmotherâs House â“ that looks just like the movie and captures the buddy spirit of the second film. Just like in the film, each character has a part to play.
Also, the Dragon Ride in Level 02 is a lot of fun and conjures a key part of the Shrek 4D Ride at Universal Studio.
TVG: How much help and interaction did you get from the film studio and animators and were you using lots of source material supplied?(Is there a real technology focus for the team?)
From our first PS2 build in November 2002 it was clear to DreamWorks/PDI that Luxoflux would take care of their baby and do everything to remain true to it.
It took many months before we were really getting flooded with concept art since we were developing concurrently with the film. In the meantime we submitted our concepts to fill in the blanks and were communicating with them about every other week on average. They gave us great feedback and were very enthusiastic about our direction from the start.
Our main technology focus was on the 4-player technology and everything it takes to support that core feature. This was critical for us since it provided our gameplay hook as well as being our main method of capturing the âbuddyâ spirit of the film.
TVG: What was hardest and most time consuming aspects in recreating such endearing characters within a game and were there subtle changes made for the sake of gameplay?
The hardest part of capturing the characters was the humour because it is such a huge part of the film and so important to the character and story development.
TVG: Is gameplay linear based and how much replayability is there in Shrek2?
Within most of the levels the path is pretty clear with occasional offshoots. The gameplay mechanics donât always have a strict sequence, so it doesnât feel that linear. We felt the squad-based combat, puzzle and mini-game gameplay was complex enough that we didnât need to further complicate things with confusing paths.
In the town levels, like Far, Far Away and Jack & Jillâs farm, the layout is hub-based with paths leading to different gameplay scenarios. Players can tackle sections in any order they like.
We designed the game to have three key elements of replayability: 1) Toy factor: The details of the game mechanics should give the player surprising feedback that make simply moving around and doing basic interactions fun. 2) Multiple Solutions: Many puzzles and sequences have more than one solution, but one is always more obvious. Going back through levels and trying different characters should be fun. 3) 100%: Players regularly beat the final boss with less than 75 percent of the items found. Going back through is fun on its own. You earn bonus material by doing so.
