Interviews
by Harriet Gurganus March 2002 |
Just Developer/Publisher: |
Why did you choose the
name Vulcan for your company? Is there something in the title that
is representative of your approach to the gaming industry?
We primarily chose the
name Vulcan based on the Greek God of Fire, the metal forger, but
it is true that Vulcan’s directors are Star Trek fans and over time
we adopted a more logical approach to running a software company and
so our identity has geared itself more towards the Trekkie reference
to Vulcan. However, our company logo still remains as the symbol of
the hammer head hitting an anvil, creating sparks.
How long has Vulcan
been together and when did you start developing for the PC?
Vulcan Software was established
in l994 by myself (Paul Carrington) and partner in life, Lisa Tunnah.
Our very first commercial game was called Valhalla & The Lord
of Infinity. It was the first ever speech adventure for the Amiga
computer. Valhalla achieved ‘retailer best buy awards’
for that year and became the most controversial release of its time,
establishing Vulcan as a mainstream commercial software developer
and publishing company.
From our humble beginnings
through to the end of 1998, we developed and published 15 award winning
entertainment titles for the Amiga. The ‘MiniSeries’ was
our collection of floppy based games which included a seaside simulation
in Hillsea Lido, complex puzzeling in Timekeepers, TimeKeepers
II and Bograts, flight simulation in JetPilot ,
strategic warfare in Tiny Troops, multi-palyer carbashing in
Burnout and two more speech adventures in the series, namely,
Valhalla Before The War and Valhalla & The Fortress
of Eve.
In 1997 we took the pioneering
role of pushing the specifications of Amiga development onto the CD
format. Catering for graphics cards, full digital speech, 3D rendering
and multi language localization, we founded the ‘MegaSeries’
Amiga CD collection with the multi-player beat-em-up The Strangers,
adventure puzzler’s Uropa2 and The Final Odyssey and
a first-person 3D shooter, Genetic Species.
Vulcan’s 10 ‘MiniSeries’
titles and 5 ‘MegaSeries’ titles all received review scores
over 90% and 1998 saw Genetic Species scoop 22 awards from
Amiga press around the world, heralded as the fastest 3D title the
Amiga platform had ever seen, outselling rival title Amiga Quake.
Due to economic changes
and the constant decline of the commercial Amiga market, in January
1999 Vulcan made the decision to switch development emphasis to the
PC platform and began implementing a massive overhaul and refinement
of it’s operating procedures and concentrated all of it’s resources
and energy into redefining the boundaries of 3D gaming technology
for the PC market.
It’s been three
years since you started developing for the PC. What have you achieved
so far?
Three years later we are
slowly coming out of this long development phase and throughout this
time we have developed our own 3D engine and 3D game development tools
under the name Mother3D. Using these tools, we have started creating
our flagship entry into the PC market called Valhalla 3D The Curse
of Infinity. It’s a first person speech adventure (FPSA)
that is promoted as follows:
‘Prepare to
be thrown into a world of lateral and logical thinking, shrouded in
suspense, intrigue and atmospheric diversion. This first person 3d
speech adventure will captivate your imagination offering true world
physics and total immersion into confined locations. No more running
around bland locations looking for the exit, this 3d technology focuses
on the inward infinite, creating a world that is hard to leave and
even harder to forget.’
It’s a bold claim
but we’re confident we can deliver. We are hoping to launch the
first episode of this game mid to end of 2002 and aiming for a demo
around April time. Valhalla 3D The Curse of Infinity is of
course, an extension of our original Valhalla series (from
1994) taking it from 2D simplicity to 3D complexity.
So Valhalla 3D The Curse
of Infinity is going to be an episodic game?
Yes, and each episode will
be digitally distributed direct to the users’ computer over the internet.
We plan to make the first episode free, with subsequent episodes based
on a pay per play bases. For this grand plan to succeed, we needed
to develop a special application that could distribute the episodes
(as painlessly as possible) and so we have spent the last year developing
the Vulcan Portal.
We released this application
in beta stage in February 2001 and so far it’s proving very popular.
The first reason is that the Vulcan Portal is free but mainly because
it is also a community building application. The Vulcan Portal could
be imagined as a gateway to everything Vulcan, primarily a way to
download our games (present and future) but it also allows you to
join a virtual community by the way of a 3D character who synthetically
speaks. You have the ability to define how you look, either from default
skins or creating your own, and can send/receive 3D voice mail to
other Portal users (as well as the Vulcan staff) and collect daily
3D voice news from Vulcan which is also spoken to you by a 3D news
reader.
The reasoning behind this
special application is that a user has access to a community (of other
users) formed around Vulcan products, whether it’s for help on
a game, technical advise or simply to meet like minded people, express
themselves, chat, get involved in (and be up to date on) Vulcan’s
development activities.
What are the Valhalla
Classics?
The Valhalla Classics
are something that we are excited about. Ever since we changed from
Amiga development to PC development, we have been constantly hounded
by our old Amiga fans (who also made the switch to PC) to convert
our three original Valhalla Speech Adventure games to PC. We put it
off for many years as we wanted to concentrate on our new 3D technology.
However, luck would have it, the Vulcan Portal was at a level where
it required a thorough testing of it’s digital distribution capabilities
along with credit card processing and the formation of user accounts.
We mmm’d and aaaa’d for a few weeks thinking how best to
test this technology and then made an impulse decision to convert
our old 2D speech adventure games to PC and use them as a guinea pig
for the Vulcan Portal’s digital distribution functionality. The PC
versions of these games, now called the Valhalla Classics,
bare witness to some major graphic and sound enhancements, but we
have also placed a great emphasis on making the conversions as close
to the originals as possible. The end result, a preservation of gaming
history.
Why did you decide to
develop an online game?
The Valhalla Classics
are not online games. They are a single player experience and are
simply distributed online. The three original Valhalla games
each had four levels. We have taken all oaf those levels and created
twelve episodes. Each episode can be downloaded from within Vulcan
Portal and then played right inside that same application. The user
only needs to be online when downloading the episode for the first
time and can then play the episodes offline and at their own pace.
We have structured it so the first episode is completely free to ensure
that old fans can evaluate the changes and complete new comers to
these adventures can experience the Valhalla Classics. From
then on each subsequent episode is based on a play-per-play scenario,
each priced at approximately $3.60. Breaking the game down into episodes
not only makes downloading a quicker and nicer experience, it also
allows the user to decide if and when to progress through all of the
episodes.
How do you view the
market potential for games delivered online?
Vulcan believes that ALL
games will eventually be delivered online. I have been thoroughly
active in this debate for many years and have always shouted the demise
of physical product from a physical location. As we see more and more
people with faster, better and cheaper connections to the internet
we will also see the up rise in software products being exclusively
delivered online.
The manufacturing savings
of software is enormous and you are also cutting out the ‘share
of revenue’ from the many middle men involved in traditional
distribution. All of these savings can be passed directly onto the
consumer, allowing them to get the same product, quicker and cheaper
and on impulse direct from the people who made that software.
This I believe is the future
and the only future for software distribution. This thinking is one
of the reasons why we developed the Vulcan Portal. We know that digital
distribution is the way to go but we are also aware that the experience
of purchasing and obtaining the software needs to be easier, more
reliable and fun for the end user. This was why we incorporated 3D
speaking characters into our digital distribution application with
a hole heap of clever technology to ensure that the acquiring of software
was fun, secure and error free, (we are not 100% there yet, but definitely
getting there!)
What is the storyline
of the Valhalla Classics
The story that covers all
twelve episodes is a meandering of historic events and change of rule
and to blurb it all out (in one go) would be somewhat overwhelming
and perhaps hard to absorb. The best way to set the mood is to outline
the periods in which the episodes cover, for example, the first four
episodes cover the period known as The Lord Of Infinity and is written
as such:
The Kingdom of Valhalla
is currently ruled by the evil Lord of Infinity, a mean spirited,
devious and twisted man, who is feared by the people of the land.
His rule is one of betrayal based upon jealousy. His predecessor was
his older brother, the great King Garamond, who was the true leader
of the kingdom but Infinity always believed he should have been king
and so murdered Garamond (by electrocution) and crowned himself king,
thus marking the period known as Valhalla & the Lord of Infinity.
This abominable act resulted
in civil war amongst the people of Valhalla and Infinity ordered the
death of all Garamond’s followers and to drown the Little Prince,
the two year old son of Garamond who was the rightful heir to the
throne. But the Little Prince was never found. Unknown to Infinity,
the Bishop of Valhalla had rescued the child, and fled to a neighboring
kingdom.
Fourteen years have now
passed, and whilst in exile, the Little Prince has learned of wisdom,
the history of Valhalla and most importantly, justice. Now come of
age, the Little Prince has returned to the castle of Valhalla on a
quest to destroy his father’s murderer and take his rightful place
as King of this once beautiful land.
Armed with this knowledge,
the best way to absorb the linear plot progression, is to actually
play the episodes (in turn), as within each, you learn a little bit
more background knowledge and also experience first hand the various
characters within the story. We always run into problems explaining
episodes five to eight to newcomers as this period goes back in time,
and really only makes sense to people having experienced the first
four episodes. But needless to say, in episodes five to eight you
get the chance to play the evil character and in episodes nine to
twelve you get to play the Little Prince all grown up.
Tell me about the research
that went into the development of the Valhalla Classics.
Interesting question, one
thing to bare in mind about the storyline, is that the development
of these games were originally spread over three years, so it’s
true to say it has expanded at a slow pace, and could be said that
the storyline was made up (and continued) as and when needed. This
approach has turned out quite useful as it allowed us to meander the
story at will always using what went before as a solid foundation.
In a way I guess it’s easier to do this than to think of the
entire story on day one. It has also allowed us some creative freedom
to explore new areas with each episode and keep it all fresh for the
more determined players progressing through all twelve episodes.
The research for the puzzles
was the hardest thing. We always had to strike a fine balance of logic
and lateral thinking and be careful not to be too obvious and not
too obscure, oh and try not to repeat ourselves too much. In the early
days, we were never sure if we got the balance correct, as we always
had some people say, ‘it was too easy’ or ‘it’s
too damn hard’, but at the end of the day it’s down to the
players own intellect that dictates the speed of progress. Eight years
later, we now believe the mix of puzzle simplicity and complexity
is just right. We get an awful lot more mail saying ‘how wonderful
it was’ as opposed to ‘how hard it was’, and so take
this as an overall gauge.
What do you view as
the most exciting component of the Valhalla Classics?
I think it’s got to
be the combination of two things, the first is the way in which the
character looks up at you and speaks. These games are overhead scrolling
worlds. A reviewer recently referred to the Valhalla Classics
as ‘God games’, in the sense that you (the player) look
down onto the main character within his world and in a way feel like
a ‘God’ controlling his actions.
As these games are speech
adventures then the main character is constantly speaking to you and
constantly looking up to you, relaying his actions and opinions, and
after a few minutes of play you are completely settled into this relationship,
a relationship that is totally unreal but hard to explain as it feels
kind of real.
The second component has
to be the characters dry sense of humor, we have an absolute scream
coming up with all the things the character can say (based on a specific
situation) and must admit that the recording of speech is the most
enjoyable part of developing these games. The PC conversion has allowed
us to offer much more digital speech (than the old Amiga versions)
and also at a better quality, and has allowed us to be more extravagant
in the delivery of speech and diversity of wit.
Which episode is your
favorite? Why?
Oooh, I think it has to
be episode three (at present). By this episode, the Little Prince
is getting rather cocky and used to his surroundings and so the dialogue
is more boisterous. An example would be if you instructed the Little
Prince to operate something that was obviously not an object that
could be operated, he may look up and shout, ‘must you fiddle with
everything’, enforcing his personality onto the player. Of course
all this changes in episode four when he is getting more frightened
nearing the evil Lord of Infinity.
Are you meeting your
deadline schedule?
Yes and no. We now have
three episodes of the Valhalla Classics available through the
Vulcan Portal with the fourth episode due for release in the coming
days. We did set ourself ten days for the conversion of each subsequent
episode, but as with all software development the schedules go out
the window as each new day passes and new challenges enter the equation.
Where did the idea for
the story come from? Why multiple episodes?
The story originated from
Lisa’s brain as mentioned, evolving from a simple concept that
slowly expanded over the years. Since that time she has spent many
a year fleshing out the background history and defining the changing
events in Valhalla’s history making it more solid and believable.
The reason for this is that we will be continuing this story within
our new Valhalla 3D game and require the story to be established,
giving us a good solid framework to work from.
We chose multiple episodes
for several reasons. The first is that the episodes are easier to
download via the Vulcan Portal being in small sections. The second
is that it allows the user to decide when and if to progress based
on their own enjoyment. And thirdly, we can set a very small fee for
each episode. This not only proves great value for money (from the
consumers perspective) but also allows a gamer to pay when they decide
to play as opposed to buying the game all at once.
How do you feel that
the Valhalla Classics fits into the overall adventure genre?
We believe that the Valhalla
Classics fits perfectly into the adventure genre though admittedly
they could be perceived as puzzle games (due to the amount of puzzles
needed to be solved). The puzzles are all based on logic and the adventures
own story progression. We always thought of Valhalla as the genre
that proceeded the graphical point and click adventure games, as it
made the objects within the locations more obvious and removed the
moving of mouse pointer over a graphic image, instead offering a solid
character to find, pick up, operate, consume, insert the objects within
his immediate surroundings. The best way to define the style of the
Valhalla Classics is to merge a crossword puzzle with a point
and click and you are someway to describing the Valhalla Classics
genre.
What will you and your
team view as success with this project?
Our first ‘success’
will be to convert all twelve episodes of the Valhalla Classics
to PC. Once achieved, I believe we can finally put to rest these adventure
games (that have haunted us since 1994) and finally move on to our
new 3D projects with a clear conscience. I think one of the reasons
for doing the conversions is that, although the Valhalla Classics
were hugely successful on the Amiga, the Amiga market was a lot smaller
than what the PC market is today, and they never really got the mass
exposure we think they deserved. Perhaps now being made accessible
to PC adventure fans, we can at least say that ‘they are out there’
and any enjoyment gleaned from them (from PC users) is enough.
Another success will be
the engraving of these games. What I mean is that they are (and will
be) available for the mainstream platform for all time, solidifying
the brand, and hopefully creating awareness for our forth coming 3D
extension of this brand.
And lastly, it allows us
to establish a solid technology of purchasing and digital distribution
through the Vulcan Portal at the same time as offering a cheap and
fun source of entertainment from the resurrection of these speech
adventures from a bygone era.
Paul Carrington (Director
Vulcan Software)
The Valhalla Classics
http://www.valhalla-online.co.uk/classics/english
Valhalla 3D
http://www.valhalla-online.co.uk
The Vulcan Portal
http://www.vulcan-portal.co.uk
Vulcan Software Ltd
http://www.vulcan.co.uk
