Drew Haworth and Jeff Smith

By Randy Sluganski

Randy recently interviewed Drew Haworth (concept and additional art) and Jeff Smith (PR Monkey) of the Nocturne development team. Whereas many developers target their violent games at children and then hide behind closed doors when the media arrives, the Terminal Reality team is adamant in their insistence that Nocturne is marketed for an adult audience only, and we applaud their honesty in a industry plagued with hypocrites.

Whereas most Internet reviewers are satisfied asking questions about game specs and graphics, Randy is known for asking the tough questions that are usually avoided in game interviews. To the credit of Jeff and Drew, they were honest and forthright in their answers.

Of all the games I saw at the E3 this year, Nocturne is still the one that is most vivid in my imagination. Nocturne is set in the 1930s; aren't you afraid that you will lose some of your potential younger audience by setting the game in this era? After all, you are drawing heavily on The Shadow, Pulp Fiction and The Untouchables, not to mention a political atmosphere that many players just are not familiar with.

Nocturne isn't intended for younger audiences. The intention from the beginning of Nocturne was to create a gaming experience adults could enjoy on their level and not feel coddled or spoken down to. The politics touched on in the game are actually pretty basic grade-school history class stuff. Though the stories have a lot more depth than a vast majority of other games, we really just picked up on themes that modern pop culture awareness assigns to a roughly "30s" period: gangsters, Universal horror films, men that wore hats and overcoats. Think of it as "30s Lite."

Spookhouse: did you have any basis in fact for this? If not, then what gave you the idea to transport was is basically a 1990s X-Files/Koljack the Night Stalker theme back to this particular period of time?

Theodore Roosevelt and Attorney General Charles Bonaparte actually formed the first federal investigations bureau in 1908. It eventually evolved into the FBI. We're just advancing the postulation that, as a world adventurer and big-game hunter, Roosevelt would have encountered many unexplainable phenomena abroad. He would rightly have considered the supernatural as a threat to domestic tranquility. The formation of a secret, shadow organization to preserve the general welfare coincides perfectly with his "speak softly and carry a big stick" stance. Remember that Spookhouse in its original incarnation was formed as a strictly domestic agency and comprised of staunchly patriotic supernatural experts (and creatures).

Nocturne is a cinematic game, and you guys have captured the feel and atmosphere of the 30s quite well. Do you have any current plans to use the Nocturne engine anywhere else?

Speaking of cinema, we're currently in production on an unnamed Blair Witch Project tie-in with Haxan Films. It's shaping up to be a remarkable gaming experience.

Our readers are adventures, pure and simple. This is your chance to reach an audience that you would normally not reach as most adventure gamers don't haunt the action web sites or newsgroups. What can you say to convince an adventure player that Nocturne is worth purchasing?

Four distinct, self-contained tales of pulp-style horror fiction for adults. Realized characters with actual depth. Exceptional screenplays with unparalleled voice acting. Exotic locales, amazing abominations, and real, honest-to-God scares. Fiendish puzzles galore. Nocturne stands tall and spits in the eye of the notion that adventure gaming is stale or dead.

Your screenplay for this game was 170 pages--is there a lot of dialogue and adventure elements, or are we looking at an out-and-out gorefest?

Over 1,100 lines of spoken dialogue. You've never heard voice acting this good in a game before. One of the coolest things about Nocturne is that gore-hunters can blast their way clear through the chapters and feel satiated by that experience. For careful explorers, however, story runs very deep--the more they look, the more there is to find. Subtext and revealing conversation abound everywhere. If you want adventure, Nocturne's dripping with it.

Run down the plot for us. The chapters, etc. Is there a common link that provides some sense of cohesiveness to the story?

Really, Stranger, Spookhouse agents and operations, and the time period are the only running threads. We've been promising since inception that there will be no "Final" boss, no wicked overlord that coordinates the actions of all monsters worldwide, no "Monster Mash." As much as we slay a ton of monsters in Nocturne, we're also paying homage to them, updating them, making them scary again. The approach of "all monsters in one story because it's convenient" just cheapens their image and the fascination they hold for people everywhere.

Most adventure gamers don't care or even know about real-time shadows or real-time cloth simulation (though I must say on a side note that having seen the game, these two features add to it immensely). How do you market the product to capture an audience that is not aware of these features?

We believe that audiences haven't clamored for these features in games because it's never been reasonable to expect them before. But now that we've provided a glimpse into what a real, immerse experience these features provide? Well, we just may have ruined audiences for games without real shadows and cloth forever.

Mark Randel has said "Our goal is to ensure that our audience is appropriate for the mature themes presented in Nocturne." If that is so, then why would you include an option to contain a setting whereby adult language, nudity and bloodshed can be turned off? Is this not more of an attempt to appeal to an inappropriate audience--namely children? Nocturne will feature a prominent parental warning on the front of the box. Which is fine. But it will also feature an option to turn off the blood, gore and nudity. How do you guys feel about this option? Isn't a little like your work is being edited?

Nocturne's not for children, regardless of the Mature option. Even without gore, nudity, and language, its themes and situations are just too adult for the kids. However, we want all adults to be able to enjoy the wealth of game Nocturne has to offer. We feel that we've been vigilant in employing those "questionable" elements only where they enrich the adventure. Some grown-ups are just turned off by this stuff, though. They're the ones we put the Mature option in for. (And for adults that live in places where their governments or local retailers see fit to require such restrictions.) Because Terminal Reality loves them, too.

You have made no bones about it--Nocturne is geared toward high-end users--P400 and above. Is there enough of an audience out there to support such a product?

Yeah, we believe there is. History has proved that if a software title is desirable enough, people will purchase or upgrade systems accordingly. We feel strongly that Nocturne is one of those titles. Hell, I bought a CD-ROM drive just to play 7th Guest! And for people that have just purchased a shiny new hot-rod system, what better way to bask in all its processing glory than running the very gorgeous Nocturne?

Even if you do reach this audience, are you not worried that the game might be too difficult for "newbies" to play? You have spent months of product testing raising the difficulty bar of the scenarios.

Really, even for neophytes, Nocturne is very easy to control after about a half-hour of playtime. There is a single universal action key that performs myriad tasks in-game. Moving Stranger around is a great deal of fun--our skeletal animation system with inverse Kinematics makes him very responsive.

Being realistic, if Nocturne is not a hit--what next? If Nocturne is a hit--what next?

Terminal Reality and the Gathering of Developers are firmly committed to Nocturne. If, in some weird science-fiction twist of events, Nocturne falls flat, we'll analyze why very closely. Many Nocturne fans have told us that our close relationship with the public is unprecedented for a game developer. We ask, and then we listen. Very, very closely. At the absolute worst, there will be one more Nocturne title, but we expect to be expanding the mythology of Spookhouse for a long time to come.

Thank you for your time.