Interviews

A gracious thank
you to Ricardo Cangini for taking time out from his busy schedule
to speak with Just Adventure.  Ricardo is an adventure gamer
at heart and has been responsible for many popular adventure games
over the past years:  Martin
Mystere (aka Crime Stories), The
Watchmaker,  Druuna
– Morbus Gravis and Belief & Betrayal.

JA – It’s been some time since we’ve spoke, what have you been doing with yourself?

Hi Randy, yes, it’s been some time since our last frappucino!

Since we last spoke we’ve done a lot of things as well as porting to console one of our new adventures of which we’ll speak very soon, a new Nintendo DS sporting title that will be published worldwide in 4Q 08 and, of course, we are going ahead with Julia!  In the meantime, we will soon become official developers for Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft.

JA – Congratulations on your continued and well-deserved success.  For those who are not familiar with your new game, could you provide us with a synopsis of Belief & Betrayal?

In order to avoid any spoilers, I’ll just focus on the essentials: it’s based on an ancient transgression into which our hero Jonathan Danter finds himself involved, against his father’s will.

During his adventure Jonathan will meet some new friends and will travel through some interesting locales, but …there’s always the reverse of…well, I can’t say any more! 

JA – The graphics in Belief & Betrayal are gorgeous – as they are in all of your games – can you talk a little about your graphics engine?

Jonathan Danter uses Virtools, the same engine from Crime Stories, managed by us with the same 2,5D philosophy: 3D rendered backgrounds with hand retouching in order to maintain a better-quality graphic atmosphere.

Honestly we aren’t attracted by photographic realism and we think that the right feeling is gained using the suitable manual retouch, along with proper coloring and lighting complimented by the music and sound effects. 

JA – Are the puzzles mostly inventory-based or are there a variety of puzzle types?

There are a variety of puzzle types and there is even an original feature: the ideas inventory where each idea element can be combined with other ideas or inventory objects as well as interactive elements at various locations. 

JA – What is your inspiration for your games?  You seem to have an interest in a variety of genres?

I and some of my colleagues as well as Sergio Rocco, Massimiliano Calamai, Marco Ponte, Daniele Montella and Miro Torrielli, are rather interested in novels and when we read Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code we knew that the religious themes could be a springboard for an action game that with some modification could be a great adventure game.  The timing was indeed perfect because so many publishers were interested in games with a religious subtext due to the popularity of the book. 

As for other games we’ve started to develop,  you’re right, we’re involved even in sports games as well as in casual games.  We’re currently working on a party game for the Wii (and for the same platform we’re working on adventure games 🙂

JA – Is it possible that Jonathan Danter – the hero of Belief & Betrayal – could be a franchise character for you and appear in a series of games?

It would be really interesting for us to do a sequel or a spin-off of the Jonatahn Danter character.  Currently I can only say that it is a possibility and that it’s in the “buffer” (it means in the drawer).

JA – Belief & Betrayal contains a few religious elements that are central to the story, can you discuss these elements and are you concerned that the religious overtone may scare away some of your audience?

The religious elements must spring from facts in order to be subsequently interpreted for a reliable story but, I’m not concerned because at the end our aim is not to be polemic towards any religion.  It’s a story where fiction and fact have been intertwined for no other purpose than – we hope – good entertainment!

JA – Do you find that the European marketplace is more receptive to your games than the North American audience?

To be honest, it may be that the North American market is, for us, more profitable than the European market!  For example, Martin Mystere (aka Crime Stories) has sold better in North America than in Europe!

JA – How’s development progressing on your next two projects, Diabolik Original Sin and Julia: Criminologist?

Unfortunately I can’t say too much… due to marketing directives! Anyway Diabolik is going very well and will also be released on some consoles as will Julia’s adventure which is now titled, Julia: Innocent Eyes.

I guess we could speak in detail of both above titles in a special interview at the appropriate time 😉

JA – Has anyone made the perfect adventure game yet? 

I think that is impossible!
 By this, I mean that a single designer as well as a coder
or a great team always can say “if I had just few more weeks…
I could improve this and that…”.

JA – Thanks Ricardo, it was a pleasure speaking to you again and I hope Belief & Betrayal will be a huge success for you.

Thanks Randy we’ll cross our fingers 😉