Interviews
|
Developer: Akella |
 |
Designed as a thrilling blend of role-playing, adventure and action
Pirates of the Caribbean takes place in a large group of Caribbean
islands during the golden age of piracy and high seas adventure.
You take command of a pirate ship and its crew, engage in swordfights
with other captains, accept and complete daring quests and sail after
rumors of dangers and riches. Skill and daring are your allies as
you battle and scheme to become the most powerful and feared pirate
captain in history.
We gathered the
JA staff and informed them that they were each permitted to ask
a question
of the Pirates of the Caribbean Bethesda team.
Those who refused to participate were forced to walk the plank. Little
did we know that Bob Freese did not know how to swim. We’ll
miss you Bob.
Interview conducted by the JA staff
JA – Will there be any major differences between the Xbox and pc
versions of Pirates of the Caribbean?
There are no differences between the two versions and they should
both be in stores by July.
JA – How closely does the storyline follow the film?
The game takes place during the same time and place as the film,
but the two storylines are completely separate.
JA – Many RPGs incorporate elements from different genres. Could
you please estimate the percentage of adventure, arcade and strategy?
For instance, will the player get to control elements of a party,
or is this game pretty much hack and slash action?
Pirates has a little bit
of everything. You get to decide how to develop your character
(and your ship) as the game goes along. There’s
lots of action in the land and sea battles, where the land-based
combat has more of a hack-and-slash feel to it, while the sea battles
are a little more strategic because you may have multiple ships on
either side to keep track of and fight. At sea, you have some control
over the other ships under your command (you can have up to three),
as you can tell them which enemy ship to attack, or to follow you,
etc.
JA – Is POC mostly
in 3rd person perspective 3D or can the player control the “camera”?
In town the game is played
in 3rd person and you can pan the camera using the Right Thumbstick.
At sea, you can play in 1st or 3rd person.
So, you can either pan around your ship and look at it from any side,
or you can walk around on deck. The difference between the two views
is that while on deck, you’re actually aiming your cannons.
In 3rd person, the guns auto-target any enemies within range, picking
the closest one to you in the case of more than one ship.
JA – Is there character creation in the beginning, or does the player
start as a defined character?
You start with a defined
character at the beginning with a set of skills, and from there
it’s up to you as to how you develop
your character in terms of his skills and abilities.
JA – How were Akella, and Disney Interactive involved in the project?
Akella developed the game
with help from Bethesda. The development team is at Akella, it’s
their technology, etc. We helped out in the areas of dialog, the
main storyline, balancing, testing, and
generally helping get the game finished. Disney Interactive and Jerry
Bruckheimer Films have been very supportive in helping us get assets
from the film that we have requested, and with efforts like getting
Keira Knightley to do the narration for the game.
JA – Will the game have digitized voiceovers? Were any of the film
actors involved?
We recorded voices for
all the greetings in the game. In addition, Keira Knightley – who plays Elizabeth Swann in the film – is
the narrator for the game.
JA – How would you compare this game with your previous “seaworthy” releases:
Sea Dogs, and Redguard?
Well, I think it features a lot of elements that made Sea
Dogs popular
with fans and the press, while building on a lot of areas that needed
to be addressed. For example, when you visit towns there are now
lots of places to go and things to do, or you can quickly jump to/from
the docks to the local tavern, store, or shipyard to take care of
business and get back out to see without a lot of walking around.
JA – How large is the game world? Could you estimate hours of game
play (assuming an experienced RPG player)? Non-linear play?
It’s, uh, big. It will take you somewhere between 20-40 hours
to finish the main quest. Outside of the main quest, there’s
essentially an unlimited number of hours of gameplay with all the
side quests, miscellaneous quests, and freeform things you can do
(ie, trade, fight ships).
JA – Some thought the learning curve for Sea Dogs was fairly steep.
Will game play and player interface be more streamlined in Pirates
of the Caribbean?
We think it’s a
very easy game to play. Part of that is because Pirates was designed
with the Xbox in mind, so that helps in terms
of streamlining controls and making things easy-to-use. We have a
bit of a tutorial at the beginning to introduce the player to the
gameplay basics as well. I think the learning curve is much shorter
and easier to get through.
JA – Was the film’s director, Gore Verbinski, involved
in the project at all? Any chance that Bethsoft will produce or
publish
a game based on his film The Ring?
He wasn’t involved in the development of the game. He was
fairly busy with the movie, I imagine. We haven’t considered
doing a game based on The Ring.
Thanks very much for the time away from your swashbuckling.
Best wishes and may you send your foes to Davy Jones’ Locker
before you.
