Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer is so important that its success, or failure, could have significant repercussions for the entire games industry. That's according to Quantic Dream co-CEO, Guillaume de Fondaumiere. Can Heavy Rain live up to the hype then? Here's what the boss thinks...
You've revealed two new characters, including private detective Scott Shelby who visits a shop to question the owner. Please tell us why you chose to demonstrate this scene.
De Fondaumiere: I like this scene very much because it outlines one of the key features of the game - the fact that you can really shape the story with your actions. So your actions have consequences on the story.
Some consequences have a limited repercussion on the story - like just on that one particular scene, the way it plays out is different. In some scenes, you may or may not gain some evidence. In other scenes you may or may not engage in certain relationships. In others, your life's at stake and you can die.
Those are only a few examples of how your action - not just physical actions, it can be something you say - can affect the story, and how in Heavy Rain, each journey is your own journey.
This is something that's very important to us and this is why we wanted to show you this scene which features a variety of possibilities. You can try to speak with the robber, and calm him down. On the other hand you might search for anything in the shop you can grab and just knock him down. You can also decide not to intervene. And if you do that, the shop keeper is going to be shot.
How do you feel about the 'QTE game' criticisms of Heavy Rain?
De Fondaumiere: I think they're unfair. I think the QTE's we have in our game are very different from the ones even in Shenmue, which I also think was a great game. First of all it's not really about success of failure. It's about unfolding animations and being in control. It's about immediately seeing the outcome of your decisions.
As you will have seen, sometimes you can fail at a particular moment, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to lose your character. The story continues and unfolds regardless, and so in that regard I think we have a QTE system that I would call a 'next-gen QTE system'. It's powerful and it really enables us to offer such a huge variety of actions that other games simply can't offer.
Heavy Rain
Official trailer
1:52Gamescom trailer
Heavy Rain
Official trailer
1:52Gamescom trailer
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Heavy Rain's the only game where you can shoot, drive, kickbox, dance - you can do all those things because of this very smart mechanic. The other thing I would like to say is that Heavy Rain is entirely in real-time 3D, and you're always controlling your character. It's about exploration and dialogue. So the QTE part is a relatively small part of the game.
All the trailers - that's me playing it. Everything we've shown so far, each screen, is all actions that you actually do. So it's one of the more interactive games that I've seen in many years. There are 68 different scenes, 58 different settings, each offering contextual actions. So I think that when people play the game, I hope they'll be surprised by the scope of the project and by the huge variety of actions. QTEs are just one tool that we use.
The game was originally slated for a late 2009 release. Now it's down for 2010. What are the reasons for that delay?
De Fondaumiere: There are two reasons. The first and most important thing that lead us to take this decision jointly with Sony was the fact that I don't think that such an innovative game like Heavy Rain and a new franchise should be released at the end of the year in the crowded period when everyone's releasing there games - the Call of Duty 16 and Guitar Hero 12. I've seen reports of EA CEO John Riccitiello saying we have to stop releasing all these games during the Christmas period, new franchises in particular. It doesn't make sense.
A game like Heavy Rain needs space, needs to be explained and shown. At the end of the year, people can't afford to buy all those games so we wanted to give Heavy Rain the chance to have its own release window, and for us to really talk about it so people really understand it.
The other key reason is that we feel we have a responsibility with this title, because it's quite risky what we're trying to do here. We're trying to create a game that is emotionally driven, that offers depth and meaning.
If Heavy Rain doesn't succeed it's going to have important implications for other developers and for ourselves - maybe people will think 'those innovative games don't work, games cannot really convey realistic emotions.' And they will continue to do the standard shooters and the like that we have been doing for however many years.
So we want to polish this game until the last minute. We want to make sure that it lives up to the promises we made to ourselves, which was to create something that's of a high quality.
Heavy Rain
Official trailer
1:42Is it a movie or is it a game?
Heavy Rain
Official trailer
1:42Is it a movie or is it a game?
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You say it should be shown - we were told that the taxidermist demo shown last year could become a playable demo. Is that still on the cards?
De Fondaumiere: No, the taxidermist demo is something that's really separate from the final Heavy Rain story. So we're not going to use this scene as a playable demo. But we're working currently on this and trying to make sure we have a good playable demo so that people really get to experience the game. But again, it's also quite a risk because we have more than 60 scenes that all offer bespoke gameplay, so it's difficult for us to choose.
I think we've quite a number of ideal scenes to choose from, but the difficulty is just actually choosing the scene. But we will have a playable demo.
Will it be put out pre-release?
De Fondaumiere: To be frank I don't know what Sony will decide, but my personal wish is for a pre-release demo. But also we've shown four scenes from the game - that's already quite a lot. So we're aware of the fact that people are interested, and that they can't compare it to anything else out there, so a playable demo is a very important milestone to us.
Do you think Heavy rain will be THE big game of 2010?
De Fondaumiere: I hope it's going to be. It's an important title because its going to test the market to a certain degree on whether it is capable of absorbing this kind of innovation. There are people who are interested in playing games other than shooters, driving and sports. I'm convinced that there are. We wanted to create a game that would appeal to a mature audience.
I'm 39 years old and I've been playing games for I don't know how many years. And personally, I'm longing for something different. There are a few out there - games like Killer 7 and Ico. There are lots of games that are innovative, that have changed the way developers create their games. I hope Heavy Rain is going to fall into this category.
I know it's for the PS3 and I will definitely be renting it on release, but every article and video that I've seen regarding this title has made me convinced that it is ideally MADE for the Natal system. The Voice & facial recognition combined with the direct interaction with onscreen characters would be incredible.
then again sonys motion system can do all those things too. But it think what they're trying to go for is a more cerebral experience.
Its not going to be about control but story telling and making characters people can emotionally invest in and actually care about.
i know its not going to be the first game to do this, but if they pull it off its definately going to be something special.
the industry needs people like the gus at quantic dream, double fine and grasshopper if gaming is going to stop being a curio and actually be taken seriously as a proper creative medium.
Interesting that he says you're always controlling the character - the videos released so far look as if you can only influence the action at certain times, so I'm not sure what he means by control.
He's certainly hyping this game up big time. I applaud them for trying something different (even if they haven't found an alternative to QTEs!.
I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a big disappointment.
Interesting that he says you're always controlling the character - the videos released so far look as if you can only influence the action at certain times, so I'm not sure what he means by control.
He's certainly hyping this game up big time. I applaud them for trying something different (even if they haven't found an alternative to QTEs!.
I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a big disappointment.
funny. most of the videos i've seen look as if you're in complete control of the character, and QTEs only come into play during one-vs-one action segments.
I must say I'm really looking forward to this game too, although, having played fahrenheit, I have to be ever so slightly sceptical after the last third of that game descended into utter lunacy. Nevertheless, the promise of a more cerebral experience, as pointed out by a previous poster, and characters that are emotionally involving represents a huge attraction for me, and a welcome break from the usual shooters and sports games that most of us enjoy to a certain extent. Hopefully it will be as engaging as I found Hotel Dusk on the DS, which for me had an excellent story, and a protagonist i actually cared about. More of that with Heavy Rain please!
"Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer is so important that its success, or failure, could have significant repercussions for the entire games industry" lol na i dont think so, the fact its on the PS3 means its gonna suck so whats new!
I'm looking forward to the rally elements... "It's powerful and it rally enables us to offer such a huge variety of actions that other games simply can't offer."... can't wait to mow the killer down in a Lancia Delta Integrale!
I wish the Silent Hill franchise had taken a leaf out of this developers book. It looks very intuitive and engaging from the robbery scene. Kind of like those multi-braching story books I've read once or twice before. Ok so it mightn't be everyone's cup of tea but I'm game for anything single player that looks to stretch me, part of the reason I used to like Silent hill was the puzzles and character development. Hopefully this game will push the boundries and test gamers again.
ruins games in my opinion , i wanted the last star wars game b4 the demo, the qte put me straight of it , and natal and there counterparts , first of all isnt giving u freedom of choice , and secondly , other companys copying wii controls ! aint gonna do it for me! i just hope that some companys stick with controllers, i dont want to have to game with my NAN!
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