Jarek Parchanski

By Craig White

Explain how you began the design process of Jack Orlando.

First there was an idea--who, where and when? Next we made the storyboard that helped us to complete materials and layouts for animators. Animators were using those layouts to make final animations. Materials for graphic artists and programmers were made basing on storyboard, too.

Is Jack Orlando based on someone you know?

Yes, he is. Because the action of the game is placed in the thirties, we wanted Jack to be like a character from those times. We chose private eye Marlowe from the books by Raymond Chandler.

Did you always plan to have JO be a 2D cartoon game, or did 3D ever come to mind? Why did you pick 2D animated graphics?

Yes, I always wanted Jack Orlando to be a 2D game based on classic animations because only this technique (handmade drawn animation and painted decorations) lets you feel the atmosphere of those times.

Describe some of the people involved behind the project and what they did.

Jack Orlando's authors are a team of young, energetic people working in this branch for years. They are supported by older and experienced graphic artists like Boleslaw Kasza who designed characters and decorations producing the one and only climate of the thirties in America. Malgorzata Luszczak as an artistic supervisor was taking care of artistic vision of the whole game. Wiktor Kasza--chief of animators with a boundless energy. The main programmer, Andrzej Postrzednik--a professional computer scientist--very carefully converted his and his friends' ideas into computer language, giving players all over the world the possibility to find a solution for Jack Orlando's case. Jaroslaw Parchanski--a director--watched over the harmony in team and good cooperation.

Do you think a sequel will follow for Jack?

I don't think so. We are now looking at other genres that we think are interesting as well. Our next game will be a 3D accelerated third-person action game involving mechs. It's called Devastator and is due to be released for Christmas.

Is it hard making a game for more than one language?

No, because the game was designed to be localized. If you plan to do different language versions all the way from the beginning, it's no big deal at all. Currently there is a Dutch, a Spanish, a German and an English version on the market, with Turkish and even Chinese versions on the way. The game contains roughly 7,500 lines of dialogue and over 80 characters, so it's quite a challenge. However, we won't record speech for each country. We recorded German and American English voices; the smaller countries will have English speech with their respective subtitles.

How do you feel about the finished product? Are you happy with the way Jack Orlando turned out, and is there anything you would change if you could do it over again?

Generally I'm satisfied with the whole game, but of course there are things that could be changed. If I could, I'd add more animations and interactive elements.

What game are you working on next?

I'm not working on any game. Currently I'm localizing the Chinese version of Jack Orlando. The rest of the team here in Bielsko is working on Devastator.

How did you get your job at TopWare?

I saw an advertisement in a Polish gaming magazine and applied for the job.

Can you tell us some key points you think make up a great adventure game?

Of course, here they are:

• Interesting story
• Great decorations
• A lot of animated characters
• Smooth animation
• Big interactivity
• Great soundtrack
• Spectacular additional movies