Jazz and Faust Interview
Interviews
| by Harriet Gurganus |
Jazz and Faust Interview Developer/Publisher: 1C Company / Saturn Plus See screenshots here. |
1. Tell us about 1C developer and publishers.
1C Company specializes in distribution, support, publishing and development of business software and games. Founded in 1991, 1C has become the leading the leading software company in Russia. 1C Company entered the games publishing business in 1996 and has a strong line of successful titles, developed in Russia and licensed from international publishers. 1C Company is also widely acknowledged as a game developer and has 2 internal studios that created “Konung Legend of the North” (1999) and “IL-2 Sturmovik” (developed by 1C/Maddox Games and published worldwide by Ubi Soft). 1C works as a publisher and producer with all leading native independent studios, such as: Nival Interactive, Snowball Interactive, SoftLab-Nsk, K-D Lab, Akella, Creat Studio, Saturn Plus and Gamos.
The developer of “Jazz and Faust” is a Russian company named Saturn Plus and is located in the heart of the country in the old and beautiful city of Voronezh. Saturn Plus has been in adventure game development business since 1997. Jazz and Faust is their fifth project and the first to be published outside Russia.
2. How have the changes in the Russian government, political ideology and the current Russian economic situation influenced your game development philosophy?
Well, it’s hard to say…. All Russian developers did exist before the changes in the Russian government, and they continue their work. The quality of Russian games has increased considerably during the past few years and more and more Russian games are being published outside Russia. I guess that this far the most well-known Russian games are “IL-2 Sturmovik”, “Hard Truck 2”, “Sea Dogs”, “Evil Islands” and “Etherlords”. We do not think it has much to do with the government. Though today the government pays more attention to the development of IT industry. We would say that the government is not much of help, but at the same time it does not stand in the way. At present we observe some positive tendencies in the government’s work, like, say, fighting against computer piracy, which has already brought some palpable results. And game development philosophy is still the same – we are trying to make games that are FUN.
3. Do the Russian people in general like computer games? What about accessibility to home PC’s in your country.
Oh, yes, the Russians are really hard core gamers! All of us! The number of those who have PC’s at home has increased as well. There are around 10,000,000 PC’s in the country.
4. What is the favorite game genre in your country? Favorite platform?
PC games are very popular in Russia. Most popular genres are RPG, action and RTS. Adventures are quite popular as well. Consoles are almost nonexistent. There are some old generation consoles though.
5. Are new gaming platforms available in Russia in a timely manner? Such as XBox, PS2.
All platforms are available, but they are not widely accepted by the public.
6. It is my impression that you have been keeping Jazz and Faust information “quiet” until recently. Am I correct? Was there a reason for that?
Well, we prefer to concentrate on development and not on PR. Our target is to please gamers and not just boast with screenshots. I suppose that Jazz and Faust will speak for itself. The best possible marketing tool for the game will be happy fans that advertise the game to their friends.
7. What can you tell us about the storyline now?
The storyline focuses on a mysterious murder in a seaport. Then both characters are suddenly involved in a mysterious treasure hunt, wild adventures and romance. I don’t want to give out too many details.
8. Tell the JA readers about the names of your main characters. Jazz? Faust? Where did the names come from? Tell us about their personalities and about their roles in the game.
Everyone’s curious about the names…Even the scriptwriter does not remember where the idea came from. He said something about Borhes, but actually we do not see any connection between the names of the characters and Borhes… The script to the game was written in 1998 and developers planned to make a cartoon first. Later they worked it into a game script and added some new characters. But the main characters – Jazz and Faust – and their role in the game remained unchanged. Jazz is a covetous smuggler. He is in constant search for adventure. Faust is an enchanting sea captain. We decided to keep the name – it sounds uncommon and a bit funny.
9. Do the characters play in partnership or do they play through different storylines?
The game features two variant paths, depending on which character was selected, each offering its own unique storyline, but progressing to equally rich endings.
10. Is the game linear or nonlinear? 3D? 360? What are the PC requirements?
The game is linear. Technologically it is a combination of 2D and 3D, i.e., 3D characters move on prerendered 2D backgrounds. This allows us to combine very detailed backgrounds with modern tendencies. System requirements are PII 400 with any graphic accelerator. A P 200 with no graphic accelerator will do as well though some special effects won’t be available then.
11. Is the world of Jazz and Faust realistic or is it a fantasy land? Why the Ancient East?
The world of “Jazz and Faust” somehow resembles that of the Ancient East but it’s not just the Ancient East. The game is divided into 3 main zones, one being a medieval city, another one – an oriental town and the third part is a colonial type outpost. The game has nothing to do with the existing countries or cities. It is sort of a fantasy world but without goblins.
12. How many other characters are available for the player to interact with? How many plots and sub plots? How many environments?
It’s hard to say what the exact number of quests is… Depends what to count. All in all, there are about 30 major quests in each character path. The total number of characters is about 50, not including the animals of course. There are 86 locations in the game.
13. Is the game primarily adventure or does it have action components? How much action by percentage? Combat?
This is a classical adventure game. It contains no arcade elements, but has some puzzles.
Though it is not pure pixel hunting – the game is heavily dependent on interaction. You will have to talk to all those characters in order to advance.
14. Tell us about the graphics.
Take a look at screenshots! They will explain everything better than me.
15. What about music? Is there an original score for the game?
Our staff writer wrote the soundtrack. There are 10 original tracks in the game.
16. What do you think is the strongest feature of the game?
The strongest features of the game are the graphics components: colourful backgrounds and
3D effects like real time shadows and 2 variants of walkthrough.
17. Are you using a game engine developed by 1C or have you decided to use one that is already a proven commodity?
The engine was fully developed by Saturn Plus.
18. How many countries and languages will Jazz and Faust be tailored for? Do you have an anticipated release date for each country?
Thus far, “Jazz and Faust” will be released in the US, Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary near the end of April, 2002. There is strong interest in other countries but the release dates are not set yet.
19. Will Jazz and Faust be the name of the game on release?
Yes. It used to be a working title but everyone got used to it and after long debates we decided to leave it as it is.
20. Is there anything else that you would like the JA readers to know about your game or your company?
If “Jazz and Faust” is a success we will definitely create a sequel. We could make a trilogy, for example.
21. What about other games do you have in development? What can we expect from 1C in the future?
Next year a new project of Saturn Plus called “Borderzone” (working title) will see the light. It is a 3D action RPG. 1C will also produce a sequel to “IL-2 Sturmovik”, “Perimeter” and “Smash Cars”. Other titles are not yet confirmed for 2002.
22. If you could stretch your developmental capabilities to the maximum, what kind of game would you want to create? What would your dream game be like?
It will be something very innovative. Maybe “Tetris #2”. 😉
23. What is your personal favorite game? Least favorite game?
I like RPG’s mostly. Bad games? I’m not playing bad games.
Regards and all the best to your web-site and readers,
Nikolay Baryshnikov,
International Marketing Manager
