Interviews

Interview with Mathieu Lariviere, Developer of Still Life

By: Dimitris Manos

This review and interview originally appeared in The Inventory 16. The Inventory is the Internet's only online, downloadable adventure magazine and is translated into seven different languages. You can download past issues of The Inventory from Just Adventure.

Yourself

Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

I would rather present the team which I'm very proud to have been a part of. Jean-Francois Pelletier worked on Post Mortem as project manager and is now doing the same thing on Still Life. Former animator on Post Mortem and Syberia 2 Elspeth Tory is lead animator on Still Life. We have Stephane Cyr as lead integrator who was doing the same on Memorick, The Apprentice Knight. Terence Chiu is now lead programmer on Still Life and whom I have worked with in the past on Tennis Master Series. Finally Hubert Corriveau and Jacques Marcoux shared the role of lead artist on the project.

Now let me say a few words about the respective teams. Still Life was very fortunate to have the best-assembled integrator team ever imagined. Let's put it this way, if they were a hockey team they would make the Canadian Olympic Hockey Team look like posers. As for the animators. they rock! Thanks to them, Still Life has motion and action never before seen either in-game or in cinematic cut scenes. The programming team made what seemed impossible actually happen. Last but not least, the art team who made the Syberia series so breathtaking made Still Life even more beautiful with an eerie atmosphere.

Have you worked for any other games or adventures before?

Yes, I've worked on Tennis Masters Series, PC and X-Box, by this company. This is my first adventure game.

Do you play adventure games in your free time? If so which ones are your favourites?

Free time, what's that? Grim Fandango is probably my all time favourite adventure game. I absolutely loved the story, the film noir-Mexican folklore setting and the great dialogue! Manny Calavera is, to me, one of the best adventure characters ever. The three-part story was brilliant. I expected them to make another one but it never came.

Still Life

Could you describe to us the story of Still Life?

Victoria McPherson is a brilliant young FBI agent who's investigating a serial murder case. The body count is now at five and with the lack of real leads and a mountain of circumstantial evidence, Victoria is beginning to show signs of fatigue and stress.

She decides to take a break and go rest at her father's home in suburban Chicago; after all, it is close to the Christmas holidays. However, Victoria does not find rest. Instead, she finds one of her grandfather's old case files and begins to read. Oddly enough, Victoria's present case resembles the one from the past, right down to the killer's MO...

Could you tell us some things about the main heroine of the game?

Victoria is the main character of Chicago 2004. She comes from a wealthy background. She is the daughter of Patrick McPherson, DA of Chicago and the grand daughter of Gustav McPherson, Private Investigator.

Victoria went to the best schools and graduated with honours. Her education primarily focused on psychology and criminology. She decided to enrol at the FBI academy in Quantico and become an agent. She passed once again at the top of her class. However, Vic's gift for profiling killers gets her a desk job chasing serial arsonists, serial rapists and serial killers. Although disappointed at being stuck behind a desk and not out doing fieldwork, Vic soon got her chance.

Today, Victoria is working her second serial murder case as a field agent. Her first case was against the infamous Mississippi Crawler, who strangled and raped young women. He would dump their bodies on the banks of the Mississippi. Now she is assigned to a case in the streets of her hometown, Chicago.

In Still Life we'll be able to play as a second character. Could you describe him to us?

Gus McPherson is originally from New York. Gustav left New York for Europe after a case that went sour on him. He was accused of murder but the charges didn't stick. Gustav didn't chance it and left for Europe shortly after the affair. He then decided that PI work wasn't fit for him and wanted to forget the past. So he picked up the brush and started painting. He was living in Paris when an irresistible case fell on his lap. The Whytes affaire; a couple murdered in their hotel room, which led to an occult artefact.

Fearing accusations of murder once again, Gustav had no choice but to leave Paris and find work elsewhere. The Whytes case rekindled his passion for PI work, and the thrill of the chase pumped through his veins once more. Gustav ended up in Prague, where he met the love of his life, Ida Skalickova. Now he is on a new case hunting a serial killer who's murdering prostitutes. Ida and her friends hired him to help stop the bloodthirsty killer.

Does the game's story delve into the supernatural?

No. Unfortunately, serial killers are not fictional. They are a very real aspect of our society. According to the FBI, there are between 50 and 500 serial killers currently active in the US.

There have been mentions of links to the Post Mortem story. Post Mortem featured a story about the Templars. Will Still Life have anything to do with esoteric societies?

Victoria discovers a secret S&M club during her investigation. That's all I can say about that.

Will we get to meet any other characters from the Post Mortem franchise?

Besides Gus McPherson, nothing from Post Mortem is recycled. Still Life is not a sequel to Post Mortem, but more of a spin off.

How many characters will we meet in the game and how many locations will we get to visit?

You will meet 24 characters in all: 11 in Chicago and 13 in Prague. As for environments, we have 7 locations in Chicago and 11 in Prague. There are over 300 camera shots that cover the different environments.

Will the story be linear or non-linear?

The story is non-linear. When Victoria finds her grandfather's journal and starts reading it, we are transported to Prague of the late 20s. Then we start playing Gus. There are a number of chapters in the game, moving between the different time periods (2004 Chicago and 1929 Prague). Cinematic cut scenes that create the bridge between the two time periods. The game is linear though. The player cannot switch from one period to the other whenever he or she wants to. The switches are predetermined.

Is the game's story inspired in some way by movies, books or other games?

The first inspiration would be Patricia Cornwell's Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed. I found her Walter Sickert theory to be very interesting, so much so that our killer in Prague is an artist. Anything that John Douglas wrote, but more specifically The Anatomy of Motive. His books are an absolute must if you ever create a murderer as a character. There were a lot of movies that inspired us but the one that was the most referred to was undoubtedly Se7en. There is an Internet site I have to mention is www.crimelibrary.com, which was an important source of information.

The game seems quite gory. What kind of rating are you hoping for?

It does tend to get the gory reputation but I assure you that it will never be gratuitous. Still Life does have murder scenes and dodgy subject matter but I believe that we stayed out of the horror genre and remained in the thriller genre.

Post Mortem used a 1st person perspective while Syberia, which rumour has it that it was more successful than Post Mortem in terms of sales and critical acclaim, used a 3rd person perspective. Did this success play any role in your decision to use a 3rd person perspective, or did you take this decision for other reasons?

Post Mortem was the last 1st person adventure game that Microids produced. With the creation of Syberia came new expertise and a better engine. We simply wanted to continue what the Syberia 2 team accomplished.

Will Still Life use 3D characters on 2D prerendered backgrounds?

Yes, Still Life uses 3D characters on 2D prerendered backgrounds.

In what ways is the engine of Still Life improved compared to the engine of Syberia 2?

Still Life is similar to the Syberia series in its basic point-and-click gameplay, but we have added some notable features. The dialogue system has totally changed. Another addition is the full-screen inventory with two new features - an examine (with zoom functions) and a combine button. Shadow effects have been greatly improved. The path finding has improved also (less slipping and sliding).

What is the highest graphics resolution the game can reach?

800x600.

Will Still Life feature numerous cinematic cut scenes like previous Microids titles did?

Since pre-rendered scenes and point and click gameplay doesn't allow for much action, (though I liked what they did on Broken Sword), we concentrated in bringing the action and a great deal of suspense to our cinematics. We have 15 breathtaking cinematics for Still Life.

In Syberia 2 there were usually 2 different camera angles used during each dialogue. Do you plan to use similar cuts in Still Life, use even more cuts or use just a fixed camera throughout the whole dialogue?

Certain dialogues will use the dynamic approach and others will use a fixed camera. There were certain environments that were impossible to have more then one shot.

Microids have got us used to great soundtracks for its releases. What kind of music will you use for the purposes of Still Life and how much time will the total soundtrack last?

We know that Still Life needs great music to keep players on the edge of their seat. Fortunately, we have terrific musicians that will give Still Life just that! The people who scored Syberia 1 and 2 are back for Still Life. They will be scoring all the cinematics and all the in-game sounds. We have Tom Salta, who will handle all the ambient in-game music, which will chill the spine of any thriller fan. As for the soundtrack's running time, I haven't a clue because they haven't finished it yet.

Do you plan to use voice-actors that have appeared in previous Microids titles or are you going to hire a whole new cast?

We are very happy to have Sara Leger back with us. She played a small role in Post Mortem (Bebe, or Berenice). Now Sara Leger will play Victoria McPherson. For the other voice talents, I'd rather not comment because we are still in the casting process.

Adventures from Microids have been praised for their technical standards (graphics and music) but when it comes to gameplay they have received their fair share of criticism from adventurers. First of all, some adventurers claim that the Syberia series for example is lacking a bit on interactivity. For example there are many screens where the player cannot do anything else but walk through them, i.e. there are no objects to look at/interact with or persons to talk to. Will there be such 'empty' screens in Still Life or do you plan to increase the interactivity level with this new title?

Still Life will have less empty spaces simply because Still Life is very different from the Syberia series on many levels, especially the narrative pacing. Syberia is an epic voyage, making it important to make things a little 'slower' and create breathtaking environments. It would be boring in a game like Syberia to give everything right away. The goal was to witness Kate Walker's voyage to Syberia and her personal evolution throughout her journey. However Still Life's story revolves around an investigation of a series of murders in the streets of Chicago (and Prague). The narrative structure in Still Life is one that leads players to a series of cliffhangers, due to the switches from one time period to the other. Most objects we find in the game are used on location.

Some of the mechanical puzzles in Syberia 2 were quite illogical and gave almost nonexisting feedback to the gamers. Will Still Life feature mechanical puzzles or will you base gameplay more on investigation and character interaction?

There are no mechanical puzzles in Still Life. However, Still Life is not a CSI clone, where Victoria has to collect evidence throughout the entire game (it happens only once). We have what I like to call classic adventure style puzzles, and some that are very original. We took great care to integrate the puzzles into the storyline.

2 puzzles from Post Mortem that were deemed impossible to solve by many adventurers were the portrait puzzle and the lock pick puzzle, both due to non-existent feedback to the player. I.e. when you presented the portrait you had drawn you just got an answer that it is not the right person instead of pinpointing which part of the face you had drawn wrong so that you know what you have to change. Do you plan to take better care this time of giving feedback to players?

Yes. Victoria will say things to point the player in the right direction without it being a walkthrough of course. Also, depending on the puzzle, there will be sound or actions (taken by Gus, Victoria or NPCs) that will let the player know if he's doing things right or wrong.

If we say that Syberia 1 was an easy game while Post Mortem and Syberia 2 leaned more on the difficult side would you describe Still Life as an easy or a difficult game?

It is hard to determine whether a puzzle is difficult or easy. Some players will breeze through one while others will be stuck for hours. That's why Still Life will go through extensive focus groups to give us a good idea of the level of difficulty. When the results from the focus groups come in certain aspects of the game will be adjusted. To me Syberia 1 is the easiest one, Syberia 2 was a bit harder and Post Mortem is definitely the hardest of the three. My personal prediction is that Still Life will be like Syberia 2 in terms of challenge. The puzzles are difficult, but logical.

Do you plan to use any new and innovative kind of tasks/challenges/puzzles for Still Life that has not been seen before in adventure games?

I don't know if this has ever been seen before but there is one puzzle that the team is proud of; the robot puzzle. Victoria 'borrows' a small experimental robot from the bomb squad. The goal is to navigate the little robot through a maze of lasers so that the robot can shut them down for Victoria.

Kate Walker from the Syberia series remained quiet for the most part of the game not commenting on her surroundings and the objects that she picks up, unlike what some other adventures have got us used to. Will the main characters of Still Life make more comments or will they be 'silent' like Kate Walker?

Victoria is quite different from Kate Walker. She does have a tendency to give her opinion about certain things in her environment. For example we have Victoria commenting on a couple of dolls. The dolls are hanging from a noose in an abandoned building (crime scene) and when the player clicks on them Victoria says: 'Nice Christmas decorations'.

Could you describe to us the interface of the game? Is it similar to Syberia?

As I mentioned earlier, the inventory interface is now full screen. This will have two new features. The first one is a examine button. This will allow players to get an up-close view of the object that can even reveal clues. The other is the combine button. This will allow players to combine two objects in the inventory like for example combining film to a camera.

Do you plan to use a new dialogue interface for the game? If so could you describe it to us?

The conversations are divided into a right click and a left click of the mouse (or left and right arrow key on the keyboard). The left click represents professional subject matter, so for players who want to get to the point quickly and move on, they may do so. The right click is for more personal or off beat subject matter that adds depth to the characters and the story line.

During the dialogue shot, there will be a mouse icon to the left of the screen showing the player if the left or right click is available. When the player gets to a certain point into the conversation he or she can always quit the conversation when the exit icon appears. It appears when the player has the necessary information to continue.

Will the choices made by the players affect the story? Are there multiple endings like in Post Mortem?

No, we have no side quests or alternate endings.

Many adventurers do not like action elements in adventure games. Will Still Life contain action elements or will it be a pure adventure?

Still Life's action will be handled by the cinematic cut scenes and not in game. Still Life has no action in-game, but it will have plenty of atmosphere. I think adventure gamers will appreciate that.

One thing that most gamers despise is pixel hunting. Do you plan to use any special techniques to avoid extreme pixel hunting?

We addressed this in a pretty unique way, I think. Victoria reacts whenever she passes near a clickable object, catching the player's attention, who can then take a closer look. For fans of more traditional adventure game play, moving the mouse over the screen works as in most adventure games as a concession to those who do enjoy pixel hunting.

Post Mortem featured a nifty notepad option where Gus McPherson would keep notes of all-important finds he would make and keeping track of all-important events in the game. Will we see this feature in Still Life also?

We will have this feature, but it will be slightly different. Victoria (and Gus) will both keep a personal diary throughout the investigations. Their personal thoughts are available to the player. It will act as a sort of reminder for the player if he or she ever loses track of the investigation. Also, the entire dialogue script is recorded. This also will help the players if they get lost.

What will the minimum system requirements be for Still Life?

Minimal configuration: Pentium III 500 MHz, 3D Video Card 16 MB compatible DirectX 8.1, 128 MB RAM, 400 MB of available space on hard drive, CD-Rom 16X, DirectSound compatible sound card

Recommended configuration: Pentium III 800 MHz, 3D Video Card 32 MB compatible Direct3D 8.1, 800 MB of available space on hard drive, 256 MB RAM, CD-Rom 24X, DirectSound compatible sound card

When will Still Life be released? Is it going to be released simultaneously worldwide?

Q1 2005, we intend to release Still Life simultaneously worldwide.

And do you plan to release a demo or a trailer to the public before that?

We've already showed a playable demo at E3. We will release a more polished demo, and of course there will be a trailer.

Is Microids going to publish Still Life or are you going to co-operate with XS Games as with Syberia 2?

This is still under discussion.

Are you going to publish Still Life exclusively for the PC or are you going to publish it for consoles as well?

We are producing Still Life for the X-Box at the same time as the PC version. We intend to launch both around the same time.

Is there anything else you would like to add concerning Still Life?

What we tried to create with Still Life is a new standard in story telling, cinematics, graphics, and animation for the adventure genre. We believe we have achieved this by adding to the formula some great puzzles, rich characters and dark and mysterious environments. We hope to give players an experience of gaming they won't soon forget.

Adventure Games / General
answers by Edouard Lussan, Publishing Director

How many copies has Syberia 2 sold so far?

US+Europe, 215 000, all platforms, and 100 000 PC copies in Russia.

What is the feedback that you have received from gamers so far regarding Syberia 2?

Excellent, just go visit the forums that will give you an indication! Honestly, the feedback has been incredible and we're quite pleased.

We have heard that since Microids faced bankruptcy problems a lot have changed in the company. Would you like to talk to us about those changes?

The main change at Microids, under the new management, is the new editorial focus towards universe-based games, mostly adventure games. We'll focus our efforts on what we do best.

Do you plan to continue supporting the adventure genre in the near future?

Indeed, this is the new direction we intend to take.

Do you have any other adventures in development right now apart from Still Life?

We currently have two adventure titles in development, and another original DVD project in the works, but it's too early to go into details.

Some previous members of Microids have founded their own company in France called White Birds Productions. Are you in contact with them nowadays and are there any plans for some sort of publisher/developer cooperation between Microids and White Birds Productions?

We are in contact with the White Birds team, and we are currently discussing potential partnerships and projects.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Microids' strategy will focus on the adventure genre, but will also take advantage of the convergence phenomenon we are witnessing in the multimedia industry, adding the online component, and DVD projects. There is a large online community of adventure fans, and this is an avenue we will develop.