http://www.thedivide.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=2370


Q. Will you release a demo before Dreamfall comes out, and if so when? 

A. No, we don't plan on releasing a demo before the game's out. We will, however, release a number of gameplay videos in the months leading up to release. 


Q. Can you tell us anything exclusive about the story? 

A. Are you sure you want me to? We've already released a lot of information about the storyline up to and including chapter four - of thirteen - and we don't really want to reveal anything beyond that. 

All right, I'll give you one semi-spoiler-free exclusive: There will be kissing. See, there's just not enough kissing in games. There's definitely not enough romance. Heck, there's not enough *sex* in games (and no, Hot Coffee doesn't count). It's on my agenda. Dreamfall's just the first step. The revolution's coming, baby! 


Q. What will the minimum and recommended specs of Dreamfall be? 

A. Minimum? An Xbox - naturally - or a Pentium 4 and a 128Mb graphics card with DirectX 9 support. Recommended? Dreamfall's engine is quite optimised, so if you have a 3GHz processor, an ATI or Nvidia card from 2005, and a Creative sound-card capable of 7.1 surround sound (plus, of course, the speakers to match), you'll be laughing. 


Q. What has been the most difficult challenge you've faced during the production of Dreamfall? 

A. When we started the project, I figured the high expectations would make it a daunting prospect - and there are very high expectations; from fans, press, colleagues - but we've tried to ignore that and focus on making the best game we can. 

The biggest challenge for the team as a whole has probably been the sheer amount of features, art assets, and animations. This is a very big game, and the quality has to be top notch. Just managing the production pipeline is a full-time job for several people. 


Q. Did you reuse any of the old resources from TLJ to create the locations that are to be revisited in Dreamfall? For example taking the old models used for the backgrounds and environments and improving and aging them? 

A. No, everything has been created from scratch, but we've used screenshots and concept art from The Longest Journey as a basis for the work. Interestingly enough, the real time models in Dreamfall are much more detailed - both in terms of polygons and textures - than the pre-rendered models in TLJ, which says a lot about how far we've come in the past five years. 

We've gone to great lengths to reproduce locations from TLJ as faithfully as possible, but since you can now turn the camera to look in any direction you want - and even walk, for example, all the way from The Fringe Café in Venice to the Border House - there have been a lot of blanks to fill in. So we've spent a lot of time trying to make sense of the 2D locations in TLJ, because those weren't really built to fit together. Check out the Border House, for example; architecturally, it doesn't really make sense. But we wanted to stay absolutely faithful to the source material, and so we've had to do some pretty clever things to make everything work in 3D. And it does work. It's a blast to run through these seamless environments that we only saw bits and pieces of in the first game. Kudos to lead designer Jarl Schjerverud who sat down and created detailed layouts of the different buildings in the game. He left nothing to chance. 


Q. If marketability wasn't a factor, what kind of new game project would interest you, strictly from your perspective as a gamer? (not a developer). 

A. Marketability is always a factor: If no one wants to play my games, then why make them? After all, I don't get that much satisfaction and entertainment from playing my own games. There aren't a whole lot of surprises. 

I'm actually already working on a project that interests me both as a developer and a player, though I can't reveal anything about that at this point. 

Okay, so those answers weren't particularly insightful or, you know, fun. Here's an honest answer for you: I've always wanted to make a game musical (as opposed to a musical game); an adventure, for example, where the cast breaks into musical numbers every now and then, and where the player has to join in. That would be a lot of fun. It's feasible, technically, but it will never happen in a million years. There's lack of marketability for you! 


Q. Are you thinking of putting out some kind of special edition of Dreamfall? If so, can you give us any indication what it will feature? 

A. Yes! And no! We are planning a special edition, but we can't yet 
reveal what it will include. 


Q. A while ago you mentioned you might put all languages on one CD/DVD, have you come to a decision yet? 

A. Yes and no. It might be possible to include several languages on one DVD, but it could also prove difficult, seeing as Dreamfall is already an enormous game. Also, we don't hold the rights to all the different language versions: Funcom is producing the English-speaking version internally, and we will probably also do the Norwegian version ourselves, but all the other versions will be produced by our partners, so that might be an issue. 


Q. Are the important moments (like for example, the ending sequence) pre-rendered or does the entire game make use of the engine? 

A. Good question. Our engine is certainly up to the job of creating very complex and beautiful cinematic sequences, but we might end up pre-rendering one or two of them, simply because they take place across several different locations, and we don't want the flow of the story to be interrupted by loading screens. But for the most part, it's all in-game. 


Q. Though Dreamfall is not a direct continuation of the storyline in TLJ, do you consider it to be more than a spiritual sequel to TLJ? 

A. We've used the phrase "spiritual successor", though that's a bit vague. If you've played TLJ, you'll definitely see it as a sequel, since it does continue a lot of the story threads from that game. For new players, however, it will appear to be a brand new storyline with a whole lot of backstory thrown in. They'll miss out on some of the finer details, but they'll be able to enjoy it nonetheless. We've really gone for that whole 'best of both worlds' thing, and it seems to be working out. 


Q. Is there more in store for TLJ after Dreamfall? 

A. I hope so. The plot's already written. It does, of course, depend on how well the game sells. So get those pre-orders in, people! If we make back what we've spent on it, we'll invest in a follow-up. We definitely want to continue - and conclude - the saga. 


Q. How do you expect the adventure gaming community to respond to the release of Dreamfall? 

A. I'm guessing there will be riots in the street, and the development team will be hunted down like animals. We'll be strung up by our necks while the crowds chant "point-and-click, point-and-click!" 

No: Positively. I hope. Everyone asked for a follow-up, and that's what we're making. It's still an adventure, even though it doesn't look and play like anything else out there. Everyone who's played it thus far feels that it's a true next generation adventure game, and even hard-core adventure gamers don't seem to have much trouble with the action bits, so that's good. 

While some will undoubtedly be disappointed, I don't think anyone will think we've 'sold out' or anything like that. 


Q. Is the focus on storyline or exploring? Are gamers going to replay the game to see more territory and events or just a few extra dialogue options resulting in a little extra dialogue or cut scene? 

A. The focus is definitely on the storyline, but choices along the way affect how a number of scenes play out, so it's certainly worth replaying. You won't see everything if you just play it once - or even twice. But it's not a game with a whole lot of hidden extras. There's a linear storyline, and there's only one ending. 


Q. What is it like working with a co-writer like Dag Scheve? How is it different from writing for TLJ? 

A. It's really not that different. It helps me focus on things like rewriting and polishing, for example, but I still do a lot of writing myself, and we do want the game to have a strong and consistent voice. Dag's done a great job adjusting to the TLJ style. I don't think I'll ever be writing by myself again: games are getting too big for that. And Dag's already signed up for my next project, so that should tell you I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out on Dreamfall. 


Q. When can we expect the media section on the Dreamfall site to be updated with voice examples and/or videos such as cast interviews and project diaries? 

A. Soon - hopefully. We're still casting, and we hope to go back in the studio in September, so after that we'll probably post some samples. Also, we might be partnering with one of the biggest gaming sites out there to bring you a production diary. More on that soon. 


Q. What successful or abysmal sequels inspired you while writing/designing Dreamfall? 

A. I never really thought about it like that. Dreamfall isn't a traditional sequel, and the story's been swirling around in my head for a number of years. We did, however, want to avoid the usual trappings of sequelitis - namely the by-the-numbers rethread of the original. So you won't be seeing April saving the Balance again, that was a no-no from the get-go. Dreamfall is a whole other potato. 


Q. Is Sarah Hamilton returning to voice April? 

A. We have only cast a few roles in the game so far, and we haven't yet gotten around to April. 


Q. How important do you think it is to be unpredictable when telling a story? 

A. It depends on the story. Twists, turns, and unpredictability are great when you're writing something in an established genre, but I don't necessarily believe a story needs to be unpredictable to be satisfying. 

Having said that, with Dreamfall we're definitely going with 'unpredictable'. We've only revealed bits and pieces of the plot so far, and there are some ginormous surprises in store. Jaws will drop. Guaranteed. 


Q. Did it feel more satisfying creating one of the few successful traditional adventure games of recent times, or taking more chances with the gameplay the second time around? 

A. I had fun making an old school point-and-clicker the last time around, and I had just as much fun working on something more original and ambitious this time around. I think the biggest change is the expectations surrounding the project. Last time, we flew under the radar, which was nice. This time, a lot of people are watching our every move - which is scary, but also heartening, because that means we did something right the first time. 


Q. Do you feel that it is important to create games that you as the creator would want to play, or do you think designers should focus on a particular demographic that they are not a part of? 

A. They're both important. It would be hard to make a game that I didn't want to play myself, but it's also critically important for a designer to have a finger on the pulse of the market, so to speak. We can't make games only for ourselves, but we do need to understand and appreciate the genres we work in. I couldn't possible make a strategy game, for example. I find most of them exceedingly dull. 


Q. What were your reasons for choosing the Shark3D engine? 

A. I'm probably not the right person to answer that question, since I didn't make that decision, but I'll try anyway: Shark combined performance with flexibility - and pricing - in a way that made it very attractive for us. We looked at a bunch of other engines, too, including some of the most popular gaming engines out there, but Shark proved to be the best choice for us. 


Q. How many copies would Dreamfall have to sell before you could call it a success? 

A. At this stage, probably around half a million copies across both formats, worldwide - which may sound like a lot, and it is, because Dreamfall is an expensive game. But it's also a strong game, and I'm confident we'll do better than that. Much better. 

If not, I expect I'll have to perform seppuku - so please people, for my sake, buy the game. 


Q. Were there any films or novels that inspired you while writing Dreamfall? 

A. Always. I'm constantly inspired, although Dreamfall, being a direct follow-up and a sort-of-sequel, needed to stay true first and foremost to the original source material, TLJ. The core storyline's been around for many years, although the specifics have changed dramatically. There are elements of action thrillers and Asian horror movies in there, comics, music, TV, novels - but I'd be hard pressed to identify which ones. I'll leave that to the players. 


Q. What do you say to the people who claim the combat in Dreamfall is there only to make the game appeal to a wider audience? 

A. I would say to them: "Shh, don't tell anyone! That's exactly why!" 

Seriously, though, I've addressed this one a dozen times already. The story requires combat. Faced with physical obstacles, our protagonists - and the players - need the option to choose. If combat wasn't a choice, the game would feel much more restrictive. Use of force is a fact of life, but smart players will know when to stay in the shadows or use their brains rather than their fists. 


Q. Will there be health-bars during the fighting sequences, like the ones in the older screenshots? 

A. Yes and no. We need to show the health of the player characters - and opponents - in some way, but the health bars in those screenshots were placeholders. We're working on it. The interface is definitely not done. 


Q. Will gamers looking for a little "extra" be rewarded with extra material, like The Book Of Secrets in TLJ? 

A. If we have time: Yes. I hope so. I personally loved the voice-over outtakes in TLJ, so we might do something similar to that. But only if we have time.