By
Zonified
From IGN:
They're called Insomniac but it seems they're anything but – Ratchet and Clank writer TJ Fixman is catching up on some shut-eye when we enter Sony's London offices, getting some respite in between the onslaught of interviews. He's deserved some rest though, the studio having kept up a relentless pace since its inception in 1994. It started with Spyro, but has since gone on to create some of the PlayStation's flagship titles with Ratchet & Clank – and a lot of Ratchet & Clank, with seven games coming from the studio in as many years – as well as Resistance: Fall of Man, one of the PlayStation 3's launch titles that was swiftly followed up last year. Along with the team's community manager James Stevenson he took us through Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (which recently earned a stellar 9.0 on IGN) as well us talking about what lies in store for the studio.
Popping alien heads in Resistance 2.
IGN: So we're here to talk about Ratchet & Clank.
James Stevenson: Are we actually going to talk about Ratchet & Clank, or are you going to ask us about some other game?
IGN: Well, how many different ways can you say no comment?
TJ Fixman: We've figured out a bunch.
James Stevenson: About thirteen so far today.
IGN: No, we actually have some questions about Ratchet & Clank! But first a general one about Insomniac – oh god, it is about Resistance in a way – but... You've gone from Spyro to Ratchet and then to Resistance, and it's a progression that's mirrored at Sucker Punch with Sly and then Infamous and by Naughty Dog with Jak & Daxter and then Uncharted. Is this indicative of the studios progressing, or is it a reflection of the PlayStation audience slowly maturing?
James Stevenson: When we were developing Resistance we were thinking this is targeted at a launch audience, so that's a more mature gamer. That was definitely a huge consideration for us. I can't speak so much for Naughty Dog or Sucker Punch, but they had some of the same considerations in mind, and given the way the PS3 launched and the price point, that made it a very valid approach.
We didn't want to leave Ratchet & Clank behind either, and fortunately being independent we were able to grow our company much more quickly. Ted [Price, CEO of Insomniac] was able to get deals done to continue making Ratchet games while making Resistance and Resistance 2, so were able to expand our headcount and not only create a new, mature IP but also age Ratchet up just a tad. It's still very family-friendly, but we've got a little more serious with the storytelling. In some ways I think we've bought Ratchet to a whole new audience. Because Tools of Destruction was such a graphical shift, we introduced hundreds of thousands to the game.
Back to where it all began with the first Ratchet & Clank.
IGN: Has Ratchet and Clank's core audience grown up as well, and if so have you changed your approach accordingly?
TJ Fixman: When we were finally doing a Ratchet on PS3 we wanted to grow up a little bit in our storytelling, partially because the PS3 is capable of doing so much more with cinematics, and of course the disc could hold more dialogue so we could do bigger stories. It seemed like the natural step in the evolution of the series, so we wanted to grow him up a little bit but also keep what made him popular in the first place – so whereas the storytelling is a little deeper and the characters are a little deeper you won't see anything like an emo Ratchet. It's still that Saturday morning cartoon vibe, but we're trying to throw in a little more depth for the older generation as well.
IGN: Because it's such a long-running series now is it hard to keep track of some of the character development?
TJ Fixman: It is, because that wasn't what we had in mind. In the beginning the canon was just a simple character base, a couple of scenarios and that was it. There was sort of a chronological order, but a lot of the major questions weren't locked down and a lot of the mythology wasn't locked down, so when it came to the PS3 one that's when we said we've got this phenomenal universe but we don't have anything that ties it together – and it seemed like the story of Ratchet & Clank's origins could be the jumping off point for all of this.
IGN: It's the seventh Ratchet game from Insomniac in as many years, and some reviews are critical of the formula getting tired – where do you see it going from here?
TJ Fixman: I don't think we've had too much Ratchet necessarily – there's great sales and there's great fan response.
IGN: So the appetite's still there.
James Stevenson: Yeah, it's still there. In some aspects, the core Ratchet gameplay – the platforming and shooting – I think we had that perfected so it's not going to change too much. It's kind of like FIFA or Madden – it's still a Ratchet game with weapons and enemies and strafing and jumping. That core move set is very well established. But on the other hand I think we did add a lot with this game – we did a tonne of new stuff with Clank, we changed the way we tell the story and I think we tell a better story than before, we added hover-boots that added something to the moveset and then we opened up space and added some hardcore areas. There's always two camps of reviews – Stephen Totillo thinks it's the most innovative Ratchet yet, but Eurogamer says it's just more of the same.
IGN: So is it about the expectations people bring to it?
James Stevenson: I don't think it's just about expectations – maybe it's reviewers who don't love Ratchet & Clank and find themselves reviewing another Ratchet & Clank game, so maybe it's not that interesting to them.
Popping some more colourful alien heads in A Crack in Time.
IGN: Were some of the expectations around this – and some of the disappointment about it being the same formula – to do with the fact that it's a boxed game as opposed to being a PlayStation Network game like the last episode?
James Stevenson: Maybe. I don't know if it's the box or not – but a lot of people see there's alot of new stuff in there. For some people Quest for Booty reinforced the fact that it's more of the same because this reviewer doesn't care much for Ratchet gameplay, or only wants to play it every two to three years. I totally understand if people aren't super-interested and want to play darker games – but I don't think it's the boxed thing that contributes to it.
The core thing is we have the same core Ratchet gameplay – the shooting mechanics haven't changed, and Up Your Arsenal, Tools of Destruction and this game have that same feeling. Up Your Arsenal was brilliant, but even then people were like 'we've had this before'. Well, it's still great – you've had two five star meals in a row, are you complaining that you went to two five star restaurants and the food kind of tasted the same? That's fine, that's your prerogative but I don't see it as a huge problem.
We'll find out what our fans think – the reviews are always interesting and we take them very seriously, but the fan feedback we take even more seriously. Well, at least we take it more personally. If our fans are really happy with it then we did the right thing. We'll see very soon what people think, whether they think it's gone stale or there's a lot of life left. Obviously think there's a lot of life left there.
IGN: It's interesting what you said about it being a series like FIFA. It would be odd if a new FIFA came out and someone complained that you still had to kick a ball in between two sets of sticks – do you see Ratchet and Clank as the same thing, as a series with an annual update?
James Stevenson: Who knows what the future holds. And let's be totally clear – while I just dismissed all that criticism, I don't actually dismiss all of that criticism. While those people think that, there are people who love them, and there's two sides to it. That said, we're successful – but we take any criticism seriously because there are a lot of people saying it hasn't changed much, and saying if you don't like Ratchet gameplay you won't want to play a Ratchet game. From a business perspective, if we were to continue making Ratchet games, would we just erode our fanbase because we're not catering to new players?
We tried a similar thing with Gladiator – some people loved Gladiator, and it had the best shooting in all the series – but on the other hand, some people hated it because there was no Clank, it wasn't our typical colourful world, it wasn't our typical humour. You're trying to keep fans happy, keep new people happy and keep critics happy – it's a very interesting balancing act.
Could this be the last of Ratchet & Clank?
IGN: So you're catering for the hardcore while trying to attract new fans as well.
TJ Fixman: It's always a challenge – we try and make sure that it supports everything so that the hardcore fans that have been following all the characters can latch on to it and we can answer some of their big questions, then we've got to try and move the characters forward a little but so it's not just the same old Ratchet – we're giving them a new kind of story. It's a balancing act from that end and the age gap – we're trying to write humour, story and characters that your little brother can play and you can sit right next to him and laugh just as hard at it.
IGN: And going back a little- where can the series go over the next couple of years?
James Stevenson: Well, that's assuming we make a Ratchet & Clank game. Who knows? If you play to the end of this game, it brings a lot of closure to this story arc, it ties up a lot of loose ends and it's a love letter to our fans, and I think we put a nice bow on everything for now.
IGN: Moving on to your relationship with some of the other Sony studios – there's a lot of referencing in-game between Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch and Insomniac, but is there an element of competition between you as well?
James Stevenson: Oh yeah, and with Guerilla and Zipper too – it's all of us. We have a particularly close relationship with Naughty Dog because the company is right next door. Animators from there will come up and look at what we're doing, or our artists will go down there, our engine teams will meet up. On many different levels we interface with Naughty Dog, but that also extends to Guerilla, our engine directors come out here, and Ted [Price] can just call anyone and talk about certain issues. We've got a really good collaboration with all the studios.
IGN: Sony's taking 3D quite seriously – and the PlayStation 3 is one of the few consoles to have shown it's ready for 3D. Is that something you're also looking closely into?
James Stevenson: We're looking into it – for someone who's making a game that's like a CG animated movie, you'd think we were idiots if we weren't looking into it.
IGN: And how's it all looking at the moment?
James Stevenson: They had it on the floor at GDC and it looked amazing. All I know is it looks really cool – I don't know the technical details and what their plans are for roll-out. It's all down the road.
IGN: But it's definitely a viable future?
James Stevenson: Oh definitely – there's so many cool things you can do when you start doing things in 3D. If you remember the guy and that Wii video where he puts the IR sensors on some glasses – Sony's talked about head-tracking abilities, Natal's talked about it with Microsoft, and if start combining head-tracking with 3D – and if they're already wearing glasses why not? – there's some really cool stuff down the road. There's a lot of opportunity for someone to be innovators in that space, and as film is showing now it's all the rage. It would be awesome if we had that technology now and had Ratchet & Clank in 3D.
IGN: On a similar note, is the PlayStation 3's motion controller something you're going to support out of the box?
James Stevenson: It's too early to say, but we've had a motion controller way before E3, playing with it and giving feedback. I think all the dev studios had those under lock and key so we could start messing with it. It's very precise, very accurate and a very cool piece of technology, and I would say that our approach as an independent company is we'll have to wait and see. Obviously we wouldn't just jump at making a game that's for the motion controller only, as that would be a big risk for us. But I don't think we're at all opposed to supporting motion control in one of our games in the near future. It would just have to ft the game, and the technology would have to work with what we're doing.
What could it possibly mean?
IGN: Could it play a part in your next big project?
James Stevenson: I don't know. It really depends on what the project is, how it would fit in and what it would take to do it. If those things work out, we'd absolutely love to put motion control in a future title. We're not going to do it just to do it, we're going to do it because it's right for the game.
IGN: Which leads us nicely up to the question you've been waiting for.
James Stevenson: The Billboard you mean? No comment!
