Wideload Games - Developer Profile Feature
Derek dela Fuente
06/01/2006
TVG chats to the Lead Writer at Wideload Games, creator of the forthcoming Stubbs the Zombie...
Continuing our series of developer profile files, Derek dela Fuente spoke with
Matt Soell, Lead Writer, from Wideload Games.
Wideload Games, based in Chicago, have a very interesting set up which includes a number of personnel from Bungie Software who developed the flagship title Halo. Currently they are putting final touches to their first release Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse, where the player will be able to assume the role of Stubbs an endearing, human hater, Zombie character with plenty of innovative ideas and actions which will be released in February 2006 by THQ on PC and Xbox.
When a new developer unveils itself they have ideals but the industry is run by the publishers who work to a formula and in many cases distinguishes the creative focus on a developer. Would you agree and is it hard to convince publishers of a game concept that is very much again certain trends.
I think that's a slight oversimplification. It's true that it can be hard to drum up interest from publishers if you have an idea that isn't a proven commodity - a sequel, movie tie-in, etc. At the same time, one can't generalize and say developers are always innocent victims of domineering publishers. As Orson Welles said, "The enemy of art is the absence of limitations."
What was the vision for Wideload Games, and nearly three years has it all gone to plan?
The vision was this: to make games that were fun and funny without enduring the compromises and pitfalls of the old system. We've made some mistakes along the way, but in general it's been very successful.
How many people make up Wideload Games and what do you see as your core expertise?
Our core staff is eleven people. I think our core expertise is the ability to design and ship original games without losing our independence or our minds.
Games will be created very much along the lines of how a film studio works so firstly do you see the games industry as being less than efficient and can we still learn a great deal from this industry?
I don't know if I'd say the entire industry is inefficient, but obviously the Wideload business model tries to address certain problems and that is one of them. I do think we can learn a lot from the film industry, just as they can learn a lot from the game industry.
What kind of R&D department do you have and is creating your own tools a big focus for the team? Could you perhaps tell us about some of the tools that are unique to Wideload?
Creating tools is not a big focus for Wideload. We have three programmers on staff; rolling our own tools from scratch has never been a goal. It makes more sense for us to license technology from someone else and have our programmers customize it to fit our needs, i.e. using the Halo engine as a base for Stubbs the Zombie.
What will be the formats that you develop games on and does the PC play a big part in your future plans? To continue are you already working on next gen machines - PS3 and Xbox 360 - PSP, DS and do these formats excite and give you extra creative ideas?
It's safe to say Wideload's next game will ship for some next-gen consoles, although we haven't decided exactly which ones yet. The PC could be part of our plans too; we decide these things on a game-by-game basis. Ideally Wideload games would be available for every platform so everyone could enjoy them. We don't discriminate.
In my experience the creative ideas are always a few steps ahead of the technology. So the new consoles themselves don't necessarily give us extra creative ideas, but they will allow use creative ideas that were impossible in the last generation.
In general do you feel the gaming scene has been less creative over the last few years and if you could change one thing within our industry what would it be?
I think there is plenty of creativity in the industry. (If Katamari Damacy isn't creative, what is?) I wish more developers (and publishers) would take chances on games like that.
There is always mention to Bungie games and Halo seeing that ex-personal worked at the company. Do you still share certain ideals with them and would you consider creating a game along the lines of Halo?
Wideload and Bungie do have similar philosophies about what makes a good game - but that's to be expected, since so many of us developed those philosophies while we were working at Bungie. I think we will continue to develop Wideload-style games and let Bungie make the Bungie-style games, since they're so good at it. That's not to say we would never do a first-person shooter in which you fight aliens...but if we did, it would have a warped Wideload twist to it.
How important is the success of Stubbs in terms of future building and development for the company?
Stubbs is Wideload's first game, and obviously we would like it very much if lots of people played it and enjoyed it. It's a fairly good representation of what a Wideload game is all about and showcases the company's style of humor. Like Stubbs, Wideload is tenacious and doesn't plan on going away anytime soon. There's a lot more where that came from.
What is your goal for 2006 and how many projects are underway at Wideload Games?
We're finishing up the various international versions of Stubbs, and starting to work on the next big thing. We've discussed a number of different game ideas and we already have a few favorites. Unfortunately, I can't tell you about any of them yet.
TVG would like to thank Matt Soell of Wideload Games for taking the time to answer our questions on the company. Wideload Games' debut title Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse is set for a February 2006 release on Xbox and PC.