Interview: Cliff Bleszinski
Cliff Bleszinski is best known for his work on the Gears of War and Unreal franchises, but now he is also spending some of his time on People Can Fly's Bulletstorm. And as always he has lots to say...
Our Norwegian correspondent Kristina Soltvedt Wiik travelled to Cary, North Carolina to take a peak at Bulletstorm, and she had a conversation with the always interesting Cliff "the game designer formally known as Cliffy B" Bleszinski.
How are things? Are you excited to finally get to talk about Bulletstorm?
I really like your hat! I'm feeling great and it's great to finally be able to speak openly about this game. We are very excited to present players with a new experience, and show them what we have been working on.
After working on a downloadable title like Shadow Complex. What do you feel is more rewarding to work on big titles like Gears of War and Bulletstorm, or smaller downloadable titles?
That's a good question. Downloadable games is a great little bubble now, where you can take a lot of chances, not just with the games, but also with downloadable expansions. When you make a big triple A title, where a lot of money is used to get it on the store shelves, you are forced to minimise the risks, unless you are completely crazy. But when you are creating a great downloadable title, like say PB Winterbottom, that I really enjoyed, much more so than Brain in fact, then you can try things that people haven't seen before.
The same thing goes for independent games festivals. Interns and recent graduates can create things others never would have, since we are not willing to take the same risks. The same goes for DLC in my opinion. For example things are going very well for Borderlands, and they have great little DLC packs, that have little in common with the main game. You can make something out of a small DLC pack that you normally wouldn't be able to do in the main game, and that in turn gives the game its own unique appeal.
Do you feel pressured into developing action titles? Would you rather do something else?
I would rather just make Japanese RPG:s... just kidding.
I almost believed you...
Action is something we are good at at Epic, it's in our DNA, it's something we know. I have talked a lot of RPG elements, and that is something we are going to see more of in the future in my opinion. Exploration is also good to mix things up with, but in the near future most of what I work on will be focused on action elements. You won't see me make an RTS or a some kind of turn based adventure. I won't be making Heavy Rain.
Are you enjoying Heavy Rain?
Yes, it really grows on me. But, even if I feel it's a really good game, I don't think they have done enough to avoid the "uncanny valley" problems. The children in the game are some of the most hideous I have seen. Ever. But the game has really grabbed me, and the scene early on where you are at the shopping mall trying to find your kid is very effective. And the tension they create at times, is really cool. I haven't gotten that far into it, just a couple of hours, but I'm sold on it.
You talked about implementing other elements in your games, such as exploration. Is that something we will see in Bulletstorm?
There is going to be some of that. When a game is turned up to 10, that is when it's on 10 the entire way, you start to tune out. If a person shouts or bangs 24/7 it loses its meaning and effect. So there will definitely be parts that set the mood and slow down the pace. But we certainly intend to create areas in the game that rewards that player to step away from the obvious path, and we are working with Adrian (Chmielarz, creative director) to give room to the little things, where for example you can kick in a locked door and find little items and such. And generally just to break things up little, where exploration is one of the means to achieve this. It makes the world into a cool place, where you can't wait to see what's around the corner.
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- System:PC, PS3, Xbox 360
- Genre:Action
- Developer:People Can Fly, Epic Games
- Publisher:EA
- Offline players:1
- Online players:1-4
- Age limit:From 18 years
- Release date:24 February 2011
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