Izvor: Playsomnia.com, 25.Okt.2010, 02:01 (ažurirano 02.Apr.2020.)
Klei Entertainment interview
We recently had an opportunity to do an interview with Jamie Cheng, founder of Klei Entertainment. Their latest release is Shank, an action-packed downloadable title for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and they have also worked on games like Eets and the Xbox 360 version of everybody's favorite flash game N+.
Introduce yourselves to our readers.
I’m Jamie Cheng, founder of Klei.
Tell us something about your company. Since when have you been around?
Klei’s been around since 2005 -- we started the company in my rented basement suite, which we filled with second-hand computers and developed Eets.
You've worked on three games so far - Eets, N+ and now Shank, and every one of them stayed true to the tradition of using 2D graphics. Is using 2D sometimes an advantage over modern 3D graphics? Are you planning any 3D titles?
It’s definitely far more efficient to build a game in 2D. We’ve also gravitated toward 2D because we enjoy the constraints and feel there’s still so much to explore in that space. Constraints can really bring out the creativity. We don’t have any immediate plans for 3D, but we’ve always dabbled in 3D techniques even in our 2D games, such as dynamic lighting in Eets, or HSL in Shank.
Shank's scenario was written by God of War veteran Marianne Krawczyk. How has she influenced the game?
Marianne obviously was a huge influence in the shaping of the story, but less so in terms of the actual gameplay. What we worked on together from a game perspective was to really try and make the story-telling and the gameplay as seamless as possible -- hence the picture-in-picture moments, and the way Shank’s actions goes right into the cinematics.
Shank, like Kratos, uses sheer violence to achieve his goal. How are the two protagonists similar?
Both are driven to violence through revenge, but the characters themselves I believe are quite different. Shank does not naturally gravitate to extreme violence, but he’s simply pushed too far. Kratos, on the other hand, really felt perpetually angry.
Multiplayer is only available offline. What was the reason for this decision?
Sadly, this was a decision based purely on what a small developer like ourselves could accomplish -- we simply didn’t have the resources to add an online component.
The campaign is different in the singleplayer and multiplayer modes. What are the differences exactly?
Besides that the story is completely different -- the multiplayer mode tells the backstory to the main storyline -- we specifically built levels that took advantage of the differences in single vs multiplayer.
For example, in single player, we focused on the camera composition, and gave time for the player to really relish in disposing of enemies. The entire experience was more cinematic, as we had more control of where the player was going to be. In co-op, we focused on the fact that there were going to be a lot of enemies. We designed bosses that required cooperative play.
How long did it take to develop the game?
We started in January 2009, and ended in the Summer of 2010. So about a year and a half from start to finish.
Are you satisfied with the game's success?
I’m really happy that we created a game people feel strongly about.
What are your plans for Shank's future? Can we expect any DLC, or maybe even a sequel?
Honestly, if we had the chance to do a meaningful sequel, I’d be all over it. The requirement would be that we felt confident it would be more than just more of the same -- creatively, we’d need it to provide more for the user experience.
Your fourth game was supposed to be Sugar Rush, but in august you reportedly stopped working on it. What's going on with the game?
Sadly, we’re no longer working on Sugar Rush. Financially, it wasn’t really viable for us, but man, we sure learnt a lot from the creation of Sugar Rush. Shank would never have happened without it.
Klei Entertainment is relatively new to the indie scene, but you are already more than well known. Any advice for other would-be game developers out there?
I certainly wouldn’t say we’re experts by any stretch. My own experience at Klei is that we simply never gave up what we believed in, and that made it fine when things were really tough. I could still go to work every day with the smile on my face, and today I’m even more glad that we stuck with the strength of our convictions.
Any closing comments?
Thanks for taking the time to interview us! It’s always great to engage with the media, and get a chance to discuss our trials and tribulations of game development.
Thanks for your time, Jamie! Shank has been available for a while now on the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, and the PC version is just around the corner - it's out on October 26 through Steam. Preordering the game gets you a 10% discount - 11.67€ instead of 13€ - so there's still some time left to take advantage of this offer. Which you should, seeing as how Shank is nothing short of awesome.
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