Draft:MediEvil EU site/Sorcerers

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Here the PlayStation Web site talks to the people who designed and built Medievil...

Katie Lea - Level Mapper

• Education: Art Foundation & Art at Cardiff University
• Joined Millennium/Sony: 1993
• Favourite Drink: Ribena
• Previous Jobs: Mapper for Vectordean
• Favourite Task: Texturing

LEVEL MAPPING

What is a Level Mapper?
It's quite a vague title but it means that I position all the enemies, energy pickups, money pickups etc. I also set up quite a lot of the spy cameras, chase cameras. . . various different types of cameras. I also place collision perimeters which govern where the player is allowed to walk and also keeps enemies out of places they're not supposed to go. . .

So it kind of moulds the level together?
Yes, the artist's actually responsible for building the level models and I place the things that go in it, under guidance from Jason who actually designed the individual levels. I get input from everyone in the team about where characters and items in the game should actually go.

How do you physically place them?
We have a big graphical interface. I use a Silicon Graphics machine to do mapping and use an in-house mapping tool that's called 'Mappy'. I load in the model and then I've got little markers to position them. I've got a little zombie model for example and I change any extra settings that need calibrating like doors to cells which might have certain requirements to open. . . that kind of thing.

So it's a re-usable software tool?
Yeah. It was used on Frogger as well and on Beast Wars. It's the basic interface, but it's got different kinds of plug-ins for different projects. It exploits things differently for different projects and I think it's being used by some of SCEE London's in-house teams as well.

Did you find it was hard to be the only mapper in between teams of artists and teams of programmers?
I'm actually part of both teams. I have to do a lot of work with the artists because I do some model texturing. I also have to work closely with the programmers when I position the entities they have programmed. So I've kind of been the bridge between the two.

ARTIST OR PROGRAMMER?

So what is your background? Artist? Programmer? Marketing? 
Well, actually I have an artistic background. It started off at school where art was my strongest, then I went on to do an art foundation course and I started off doing an art degree at Cardiff but left halfway through. And then I just kind of fell into the games industry.

I was friends with Chris [Sorrell, Producer of MediEvil] and one evening I was just sitting around waiting for Chris to finish, I'd played all of the games in the office, so he suggested I had a go at level mapping and off I went. This was at Vectordean. I started on a 3-month contract working on James Pond 3 doing the level mapping.

What did you work on first?
Well, first of all I started working from home doing scripting for a few projects and then I moved in-house and I worked on Deadline, Silverload and Scroll.

Mapping?
For Scroll I was event scripting. This was an RPG and very screen based. I did a very basic kind of programming: 'the player goes here and this happens'. My job title at this time was 'development assistant' which meant I got to do quite a lot of different things. On Deadline I was setting up, on Silverload I was helping one of the programmers, Gary Richards, with a lot of the basic setting up of things. This was using C, but I didn't know it very well. . . it was just cutting and pasting, setting up animations and rooms in the game.

DOWN ON THE FARM

What do you do when you aren't level mapping? 
Play games. At the moment I'm playing Alundra. I can't wait for the next one. Another favourite is Castlevania.

What's the first one you really got into?
I first started getting into games when my brother got an Amiga. I think the game was Rodland or something like that. I really liked it. It was just funny little fairies going round.

Did you fight each other to get on the machine?
We used to have a lot of 2-player games so it wasn't too bad. My brothers were younger then me so it wasn't too bad! I didn't get into games as early as a lot of other people seem to have done though.

So, if you stopped level mapping what would you do for a job?
Maybe something on the Internet, web page stuff, I like that. I like things that have got a slightly artistic bent but have also got quite a lot of technical knowledge as well, so you can combine the two. This is why games are perfect for me. Anything else has got to be something that is quite changeable so I'm not doing the same thing over and over again. When I was little I used to want to be a farmer.

Did you look at someone on a tractor and think 'that could be me'? 
No, I think it was that I used to like cows. . .

Are you a country girl?
I was brought up in Chesterfield in England which is an industrial town but we used to go on holiday to farms - where my parents would rent out a cottage.

MEDIEVIL

So it's pretty good then?
I've done so many little bits and pieces so on the whole I'm really quite proud of the game. One of my favourite parts of the game is actually the last level coz I think we've got some really cool looking enemies and it's really fun to play and funny too. . . it's really, really funny.

Which bit was the worst - the one that you had to keep re-doing to get right?
Probably setting up the cameras. You can never make everybody happy so you do one version and that's cool until someone turns round and says 'oh I don't like that'. So I guess I go round in a circle a lot of the time trying to keep everyone happy and not keeping everyone happy.

They don't give you too much stick then?
Oh, I get lots of stick. People are always coming up to me going 'Oh Katie can you do this, can you do that'. My monitor's normally covered in Post-it notes.

Do you give some back?
Only when it's late at night and I'm dead tired and want to go home.

How long does it take to map a level in MediEvil?
Initially it takes about a week just to set up the camera, build the collision and initial placement of enemies but it gets re-made so many times, it's difficult to say. So you're still working on it?
Oh yeah, fixing various things, we are changing things all the time.

Do you work on different levels every day, simultaneously?
Yeah. So it's quite hectic. For the artists it's more clear-cut when a task is complete, but for the programmers and me, it's less specific.

It's got to be worth it though.
The feedback has been good. We just hope the reviewers like it. You never can tell, they either love things or hate them.

CROSS-DRESSING

Somebody was telling us about Matt doing weird stuff?
You mean the cross dressing? He only does it for a laugh - he doesn't do it every time he goes out somewhere.

What is it, a stockings thing?
Well he's got striped stockings, he's got various skirts and dresses. He recently bought a long silver dress. You can imagine how he looks with his hair as he's not a petite boy is he?

PINHEAD

What's your favourite genre?
I like a lot of different types of games - probably some kind of action game, but I like platform-type things and puzzle games. My favourite game of late has been Resident Evil 2. Really cool. I am a big horror fan.

So you like horror films as well?
Oh yeah. I love horror films. Hellraiser is my all-time favourite film.

I've never seen that.
It's about a magic puzzle box. It's gory. It's had quite a lot of sequels but the first one is the best; Cenovites and Pinhead. I'd love to play a puzzle game head to head against Pinhead.

Jason Riley - FMV Artist

• Education: Art at Farnmouth College, UK
• Joined Sony/Millennium: 1993
• Born: Hinkley, Leicestershire, UK
• Previous Jobs: Digger (Amiga Game), Creatures, Silverload

CAMEL NIGHTS

What did you do before working here?
I was a book illustrator, I had just finished college in Farnmouth and I was just trying to make a living but couldn't, because there are so many illustrators out there. So I tried computers. At Farnmouth we did technical drawing and life science - taking animals apart, drawing the insides, looking at butterflies.

Ripping their insides out? Are you the one that takes the team's cuddly toy camel apart? I heard that someone cut the tail off at a Christmas party.
That's right. They dismembered Calvin the Camel. People have done all sorts to him. He survived it though. I've taken him on holiday. He had a good time.

Where did you take him?
I've taken him to Madeira and Greece. He's been to South Africa. Camels are meant to travel.

Not meant to sit there and have it's tail pulled off?
Yeah. It's got big floppy feet. They're there for a reason.

What's this story about the monkey?
That was the programmers. I've got nothing to do with that. I called it Chunky the Monkey and it just stuck.

DRAWING

How did you get to work here?
I just turned up here. I arrived with my portfolio - I had no computer experience whatsoever, and I came here entirely on the strength of my portfolio. And the management here said, "Right, you've got two weeks to learn D Paint". I had never touched a computer before. We had Apple Macs in college. But we hated them. You thought that using computers wasn't doing 'proper' drawing?
Yeah. But I realised that computers were the way forward. They were taking over the easiest jobs. That's why we didn't like them. But now we know why - it's a production thing and it works incredibly fast. It's cheaper. So I had to join in.

So you had to put the paint down?
Yeah, I haven't put paint to canvas in two to three years.

So you haven't got this creative urge to. . .
All the creative juices get taken out during the day.

Do you rush around being a dramatic artist or are you down to earth?
I'm pretty down to earth. If I get uptight I take it out during kickboxing.

Have you always drawn?
Yes, almost since the age of six. I did not fit any standard. The teachers said "oh, Jason, his mind wanders in the classroom." But, I am an artist, I am different. I did not think I was going to work on games or these kind of animations. But I fell in love with the animation. It allows me to really see my images move while before they remained static. They become something else, it gives them life. I wanted to illustrate children's books, but now I just want to stay where I am. I am much happier as well.

MEDIEVIL

Has MediEvil got a lot of FMV?
It's got about fifteen minutes of it. And there are a couple of scenes that I would have liked to put in but as a last minute decision we decided not to because they didn't quite link in with the story. So we took them out. But it doesn't matter as the story is told better. The FMV is throughout the whole game. There's is a two-and-a-half minute intro that tells you what happens at the beginning. And within the next four to five levels there are about fifteen seconds of animation each. Then the story builds and the timeline of the FMV gets longer and longer and longer telling you more and more of the storyline and getting more exciting.

So there's a bit at the end, as well?
Yes, there's an outro as a reward that goes on for about two minutes. You don't get any FMV's if Dan dies. If he completes the game, there is the reward outro.

Which is your favourite bit of the game?
I like the ghost ship. I have always liked galleons and ships and stuff like that.

Coming from Leicestershire in the centre of the UK!
Yeah. Something you don't get to see very often where I come from. That's my favourite one. The galleon. The ghost ship. This bit happens almost at the end. It's a ship in the clouds and you also get to play it in the game as well.

Did you ever feel constrained working in a creative team?
It's good to get other people's opinions. I don't mind that at all. Sometimes it can be frustrating, but at the end of the day, we are all moving towards the same goal. If you only have your opinion it just doesn't work. There are probably a whole lot of people who disagree.

GAMES

So do you play games as an artist or a gamer?
Both really. I kinda like Crash Bandicoot 2. I like a lot of racing games, I like a fast game. I like the look of Command and Conquer, but my mind span just can't hack a computer game that lasts longer than fifteen minutes. It has to end in fifteen minutes.

Do you find that because you are a creative person , you can't just get on and enjoy playing them because you are always looking at them with a creative eye?
Precisely, I just look for the inspiration from films, books, comics. I do like to look at a wide variety of visual material.

TOOLS

What tools do you use for graphics?
Alias and Matador. I've got about three years knowledge of Alias. I would like to try some more software packages out, but Alias seems to be the main thing to use for development suites and stuff like that.

Have you not used Softimage?
I would love to have a go, because it has a better rendering engine. I am pretty impressed by the other tools on Softimage like the ray tracing. This means that you can have a suitable amount of reflections and refractions. And you can also have motion blur. Whereas in Alias, you can't get motion blur from ray tracer. You have to go into a ray caster, which is a cheaper rendering system.

BRANDY

What else do you do besides taking camels on holiday?
I do Thai boxing and circuit training. The circuit training I've only done over the past two years. When I first started, I didn't do any exercise and I thought "my body's losing it". So I decided to do some exercising. It clears my mind a little bit. And then I can come back and work better.

So you are Mr Healthy?
No. I still eat dodgy food, drink coffee but I don't smoke or drink too much. I only drink on special occasions. Every now and then. I drink shorts mostly. Brandy. No ice. Straight.

What kind of Brandy? Metaxa?
I drank a lot in Greece. It's like a medicine. I don't care about the brand, as long as it's pure Brandy. My father brought me cheap Spanish Brandy and I didn't like it.

Matt Johnson - Programmer

• Lives: Cambridge, UK (born Manchester)
• Education: Computer Science at Leeds University
• Joined MediEvil Team: February 1996
• Previous Jobs: Technology team at Millennium Interactive
• Nickname: Vileda Boy

VILEDA BOY

Is your hair real?
No, they're false hair extensions

How long have you had them?
Three months, but my real hair is only a few inches shorter. It looks really rocky 'cause it breaks really easy. Unless I kind of do something with it, it ends up being a bouffant.

Does it hurt?
Having this done? Yeah, they have to put it in really tight.

What did the others say when you got them?
I had announced that for a long time, because I wanted to do something with my hair. Everyone said, "Do not do it, Matty, do not do it." But in the end, it just happened, and when I got in ... they called me "Vileda"!

Is this a character in MediEvil?
No. Vileda is a brand name for a mop. You know, the ones you "get in every corner" with. There is plenty of advertising for it. And now I am always called "Vileda Boy".

CARNAGE

Why are you working in the Games Industry?
Because I've always loved games since I was a kid. The first game I ever played properly was Manic Miner on the Spectrum in the 80's. Ever since then I've been into games.

So you've been making games at home?
Yeah. And at university, I helped on a few projects on the Amiga that some other people were working on.

Did they really want your help?
Yes. I was writing stuff at home but of course, being a student, I did not have time to do something really serious. The first time, one of my friends made a cheap title called Carnage on an Amiga and learned that he had only two weeks to finish it, or "otherwise ...". He panicked and asked me "help me, I will not get there, it will not be finished, HELP ME". So we put two computers in his room and we finished the game. This is the first thing I was paid for and it was nice.

GIS A JOB

How did you end up working here?
When I finished college, I did a few bits of work at home for a while until my parents got in financial trouble and I needed a proper job.

"Get thee out of t'house and get thee down t'mine?"
That was exactly it. I didn't think that having a computer science degree would be enough to get me a decent position, so I spent a lot of time at home building up my portfolio. . . and it worked. I had a lot of offers. I must have gone to ten interviews and received five offers.

Which offer did you reject?
A shop near Birmingham that looked like a ghost town in the Wild West, with tumbleweeds running down the street. There was such an atmosphere of "I WANT OUT OF HERE"

Why do you like working with computer games?
I like it because you have a lot of freedom and real challenges. Either you think it's great, or you can not stand it. At the moment I do not want to get out of the industry, because that's exactly my thing.

GET SLASHED UP

What's your favourite game on PlayStation.
I really like Tempest X, it's an old arcade game.

No one's ever said they like that one before. Everyone says GT.
It's a terrible crime, but because I've been so busy at work, I haven't played it.

You've never even seen the game? THE racing game? 
I've seen it. I've actually been given it by the company. I just haven't had the chance to play it yet. So it's just been sat there. It seems alright, but I'm not really into driving games.

What types of games do you like? 
I love shoot'em ups and all arcade games like that.

Is this penchant for the violence of shoot'em ups reflected in MediEvil? 
I'm always accused of making enemies too hard to beat, so maybe.

MEDIEVIL

What's the part of the game you're thinking, "Yes, I'm really glad I put that in. It was really worth it." 
Without a doubt, the ability to kill rats.

. . .and the one for which you had the most difficulty? 
Probably the level we call "The Ghost Ship". I did the initial version of the level and James finished it. The level is very unusual because there's a lot of original stuff in there that was quite difficult to write due to technical issues. That gave me a lot of headaches.

HYGIENE

So do you sleep in the office? 
Yeah

It's you. I knew somebody had.
Yeah. It's me

What do you do about having a shower? Or do you not bother?
I get a wash. We have got fairly big sinks. I really dream about having showers here though. It would be really good.

I think all game developers should have showers available because they all end up sleeping at the office.
When we approach deadlines, despite all the goodwill of the world, there is always something that we want to add just before the deadline. It's just not possible to do that in the expected time. We arrive at the set date and we think "Oh, I should have done that" or we have new ideas. And since we really want to do the best we can, we can not say "oh, never mind" and go home instead of continuing to work.

STIMULANTS

How do you stay awake?
It's just a quesiton of habit. When I go out at night I can stay awake for a long time without needing anything to help me hold on. But yesterday, as soon as we finished an important demo, I completely passed out.

Did they have to carry you home? I heard someone had to order a taxi.
Yes that was me. They just left me here. I woke up and talked about what went well with the demo and what did not and talked more and more confused stuff until I realized that I was in a total dream world. And then I woke up, and several hours had passed, and all the screens were off, and the office was completely deserted. . .

TAKE-AWAYS

What are your favorite takeaways? 
I absolutely hate takeaway. We are desperately searching for new things to eat. At one time, I could not even look at Indian food anymore. It was not long before I started eating it again. I eat pizzas like bread. Thai food is fine. Chinese is OK right now because we do not eat it too much.

REST

What's your average working day?
It's a bit weird, 'cause there are up and down times. I went through times that were like really, really busy. At the beginning of projects and when we go through big upheavals, we can usually work from ten in the morning until ten in the evening.

Do you have to come in on the weekend?
Sometimes, yeah. We usually have to. Until seven or eight o'clock is usually standard. When it gets really bad, we go through the whole night and through the next day as well. It can be a bit monstrous.

What will you do when it's completely finished?
I rest.

You are not going on vacation? 
No, I'm broke. I cannot afford a vacation. . . I think I'll go see most of my friends. Take a little time for me. Take a walk in the country, go to see friends in the north.

Nina Kristensen - Artist

• Education: Industrial Design at Australian University specialised in International Multimedia
• Joined Millennium/Sony: 1996
• Nationality: Australian
• Previous Jobs: Technical Drawing, Contracting

INVOLVEMENT

What was your role in designing MediEvil?
I worked mainly on the construction of maps, levels and environments in which the characters move. I worked with Mike Philbin. Between the two of us, we have almost done everything with regards to this part of the project. I also animated some of the characters, ants, witches, little hands and rats. . . little things. . . Mr. Organ is a strange little character who appears only once in the game and is a kind of little secret. . . He sits and plays the organ, looking a little ghostly and half crazy. . . Does he turn up in a certain level?
Yes, he is sitting in the desecrated church. . .

So he has a secret?
Yes, a little puzzle about him.

Does it have to be discovered to advance in the game?
No, it's optional.

Is this part of the game the part that you consider "your" part and that you are really happy with.
Yes, it's one of my favorite parts.

GRAVEYARD HASSLE

What's the bit you sweated most over - the bit you went over again and again. . . The most hassle?
The very first level I think has caused the entire team the most hassle. . . The graveyard.

Is that because it was the first level and you wanted it to be right?
It was the first level we made and it's gone through so many changes. You know, it was a sort of practice first time round so that one has evolved immensely. I hate it now! I'll be very happy if I never have to touch that level again.

But you are working on a new project now so you do not have to go back to it.
Yes, I am working on a new project.

So in a few months, you will go back there, look at it and it will please you.
Oh yes, I like to play it, I do not want to have to change it again, that's all.

WORKING DAY

What's your working day like when you are here? What do you actually do?
Come in. Usually I'd know what I'd be working on. Constructing a map or a character. Sometimes animation which is a really nice change. In the later stages of the project, the last few months, it's been a lot of time fixing so it's been quite monotonous and no longer exciting like the first few days by the fact that I've no artistic input any more. But at the start it was very exciting because you have a new map to build or a new character. . .

So you come here in the morning at what time - 9 or 10?
I start at 10. . .

Are you here until 6?
Yes. Half past six. . . except when things go wrong.

Long nights?
Very, very few. The graphics team is well organised. Everything under control.

You seem to be a normal person. . . ? 
We work very well together, actually.

. . . ! 
Well, when it comes to work, yes. I am not an early bird.

NICE IS THE OPERATIVE WORD

Are you working here?
Um, in Cambridge.

Do you drive here by car?
Yes, I drive.

And, how do you like it?
Cambridge is nice city to live in. Nice is the operative word. Working there is not very exciting, but it's nice.

Is it due to the students?
No, it's not because of the students. There is no nightlife after 23:00 in general.

Would you like to stay in London?
I love London but my work is here. . . This new project really fascinates me. I have a new title: "art manager" on this project.

Does this entail a lot of responsibilities?
Yes, lots of responsibilities but a lot of fun too.

SOMETHING LIKE THAT

If you could do any job what would it be?
I'd probably have to be a sculptor, I think. Or something like that.

Do you like that?
Yeah, quite a lot.

Do you do it in your spare time as well?
I haven't done any for a very long time but I can see that I'm very lucky actually. I get to be very creative at work, which is nice.

So if you did not have your work here, would you probably be a sculptor?
Yes. Yes. I have to be creative. Luckily, I'm getting paid for it!

So this is the right job for you?
Yes, I like it here.

It seems that the people who work on the games are all relatively satisfied with their work. They sometimes complain about the company or something, but the reality is that they are creative. . . Back on topic. . . What's your favorite drink?
Is this about Colin?! . . . Poison, pure poison. Vodka is my favorite alcohol. Vodka with a lemon soft drink or something else.

Mike Philbin - Artist

• Education: Art at College
• Joined Millennium/Sony: 1996
• Favourite Drink: Anything not Alcoholic
• Previous Jobs: Freelancing for graphics publications.

EXHAUSTED

How exhausted are you? Or are you quite calm today?
No, I'm okay.

So what did you do before you worked here?
Same thing for another company.

Who was that? 
Software Creations up in Manchester.

What games did you work on when you were there? 
Nintendo games.

And before that? 
I had another life.

What were you doing? Something exciting?
I worked as an independent graphic designer in the field of publishing.

Did you take art classes at the university? Drawing, etc.
Yes, drawing.

Then you started as a freelancer?
Yes.

And where did you start working?
In St Helens.

Is that where you're from?
Yes.

And do you live in Cambridge now?
Yes.

How did you get into computer games, what happened?
I needed a life change and I learned to use computers.

And suddenly you thought "aha".
Yes.

And you left?
Yes.

KINKY IDEAS

What did you do on MediEvil?
All the levels alongside Nina Chritiansen. I modelled all the characters with her. Animated several characters just for a laugh. Some kinky ideas. And that's it.

That's it. That's quite good. What do you mean that's it?! Did you find that your characters were very much your creations or did they come from the team? How did that work?
All the maps and character designs are done by Jason Wilson. And then we discussed how to do them as models.

Did you find that it put a damper on your creativity? 
It was not a problem for this game.

When you say that they were done by him, do you mean that he created them? 
Oh yes, he drew them. Then all I had to do was just turn a large curved object into a triangular one.

Do you like doing that kind of thing? 
It's a kind of challenge. The trick is to discover how to make an object look nice, while you can only work with triangles.

So do you really like what you are doing or is there another more creative job you would like to do in games?
I would like to have fun a little more. At the mental level.

I think you didn't tell us everything yet. What's the best thing that you worked on in the game?
I enjoyed getting the best out of the few elements based on real-time polygons. It was fun.

GAME PARTS

Do you think that that is a really good part of the game
Yeah, it looks really good.

And what parts did you sweat the most blood over?
Some of the levels that went into the game that were quite tricky to construct. And there are a couple of characters in there that were difficult to animate.

Were there some that weren't in the game?
Yeah, there were supposed to be thirty-odd levels in the game

How many levels are there?
Twenty. Or so. So there's all that work and there are some characters too. . .

So is that a negative
No, it's better in the sense that you could have thirty sprawling levels that make no sense or twenty nice, tight levels that will make a good game. So that didn't hurt me at all.

Are you sure?
Yeah. I just sound sarcastic all the time. Sorry.

Is it a natural sarcasm? 
Absolutely.

What software do you use? 
All the software we use are SGO.

And how do you get along with Unix? 
All right. I have a couple of commands up my sleeve.

NO MUCKING ABOUT

What time do you get up in the morning?
I'm in work for 9 o'clock. About half eight, 9 o'clock. I get home before 6. I like to be on time and on schedule basically.

So you just like to come in and do your work? 
No mucking about. . .

What time is your lunch break? 
Between 12 and half twelve. . .

Do you work weekends? 
If I have to, yeah.

You don't like to do it? 
It is not a matter of my liking, but that it must be done.

Is it because you are very disciplined? 
I like to be disciplined.

Do you think it is frustrating that others are not disciplined? 
Huh . . no comment.

Ok, enough. Is it a nightmare to work with you? 
Jesus!

Is it a nightmare to work with you? 
Absolutely!! I can speak for myself, right? Because in that case, no. Just kidding.

Are you one of those people who arrives at 9 and thinks "Why isn't everyone in at 9?"? Are you like that?
Yes, if I need to do something.

BOOZE WISE

Do you drink?
Do I drink?

Yeah, what's your favourite drink? 
Umm, booze wise? Well, I don't really drink.

No?? What's got into people? 
Is that worrying or what?

It always amazes me that people don't drink anything! 
Ermm. . . no, not really.

Not at all? Not on special occasions? 
I certainly drink on special occasions, yeah.

What do you drink? 
Erm, something that I'm not allergic to.

Oh really, have you got quite a lot of allergies? 
Possibly. Certain things set me off so I avoid them…

Like what? 
Like the classic lager. . . I think it's Kronenburg. . . does me in.

Really? I have a problem with Labbatts Ice. It makes me really sick. I just drink one and. . . 
Yes.

It's horrible: everyone thinks I have a hangover. Absolutely awful. 
And in the morning, we do not really feel well.

Yeah and just with a single drink. It's not because I'm drunk, of course! It's the same kind of reaction when you're about to sneeze and you do not really feel good at all. 
Yeah, all that.

Sneeze?
It is awful. If the drink feels bad for you, it's scary.

ON THE RECORD

Do you feel pleased with MediEvil?
I'm pleased with my contribution towards it.

Yeah, that's what I mean 
. . . Oh that's good. . . You can put that on the record if you want.

No, we'll put that in. . . so you won't be like 'oh my god, I said that' but you haven't really said much so we won't be able to say anything about you anyway. 
Really? I thought I was going to be out of work today.

You did?
No

Ok. Alright. . . Thank you very much.

Chris Sorrell - Producer (also programmer and designer)

• Education: Usual school qualifications, but (to the horror of my parents!) I left as soon as I could to pursue a career in games.
• Joined Millenium/Sony: July 1994
• Colour of Socks: Black… Like most of my clothes

JAMES POND

What do you do?
On MediEvil my official title is producer, but I was also responsible for the initial design concept. As the project progressed I became increasingly involved in its programming side too. By the end of the project this was the main thing occupying my time.

What's your background?
I've been working in games for about nine years now. I started off working for a small development company called Vectordean, in Derbyshire (where I grew up). There were only three of us to begin with and my initial work was as a graphic artist. After a couple of projects, I went on to the thing I really wanted to do, which was programming. After a simple conversion title, my first 'big' project was James Pond, for which I handled design, graphics and programming. James Pond 2 and 3 followed, before I left the fish behind and moved on to the PlayStation.

How old were you when you started making games?
From the time I was given my first computer (an Atari 400) when I was 11, I knew that I wanted to make games. Atari BASIC wasn't great for this however, so I moved on from the Atari to a Commodore 64. I taught myself assembly language, and spend all my spare time writing pieces of game and demo code (and creating fonts and sprites to use in these). By the time I had done my GCSEs and had by this time moved on to the Amiga, I took the first opportunity to leave school and take some practical steps towards my goal!

STANDARD IN POLISH

What games do you like to Play?
My favourite genres are action adventures, platform games, and action RPGs. There are some great examples of these genres on PlayStation - my favourites would certainly include Resident Evil 1 and 2. I also have a lot of admiration for the Crash Bandicoot games - they set a standard in polish and graphical quality that's quite remarkable.

When you designed Medievil, what area did you start with?
Its inspirations were the arcade classic Ghouls'n'Ghosts, and the art style of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. This set the look and feel for the game, which meant the next big step was to build up our gameplay and visual ideas, striving for a combination that would set the game apart from the crowd and make good use of the target platform.

At present, is it pretty much how you envisaged it?
Visually, it's certainly all I hoped it would be. On the design front, things have shifted away from the simple arcade feel to offer a more involved, quest based structure containing a real mix of gameplay styles, and certainly greater diversity in play than I had initially anticipated… It's certainly a more complex and larger scale project than I first envisaged!

How many people worked on the project?
The core team consisted of around 10 people, 4 programmers, 5 artists and 1 mapper but there have been a number of extra people working on the project at various times during development. In addition, our internal A/V team were responsible for all the music and sound effects, our technologies department offered general support, and several vital development tools, and our QA group provided all important testing and feedback, helping us to bring all the elements together. So, all in all it's been a pretty big project.

LATE NIGHTS

What was your working schedule like during Medievil?
Pretty crazy (or sad, depending how you look at things!)… Since December '96, I've worked pretty much every day including weekends, working late on most. Most of the core team have invested many long hours and late nights into the project. 

My favourite time to work has been weekends. It's quiet, no other office duties to worry about, and a great chance to put some music on and get absorbed in some programming work, usually until four or five in the morning… Fortunately my girlfriend, being part of the team, has been very understanding of all this. We're looking forward to a nice break now things are complete!

What's the game's camera system like?
A big challenge of the game has been the camera, our goals being a system allowing the player the freedom to explore, offering a clear enough view to counter attacks from all sides, and allowing for cinematic and interesting views. We started with a purely spline based system (like Pandemonium, but with full 3d freedom). Unfortunately this proved to be rather inadequate for the game we wanted to make, and we lost quite a bit of time reworking things to enable a freeform 'chase' style camera. The final game uses a mixture of spline and chase camera styles, and I believe meets the initial goals pretty well, especially considering the complexity of the worlds it has to work within.

DIVERSITY

In the game what is your favourite part?
I'm really pleased with the diversity of the game - all the levels are very individual, both graphically and gameplay wise. There are also plenty of weapons and enemies, and so quite a few different ways that the player can tackle the game. Also, Medievil doesn't take itself too seriously - it has a sense of humour, offering some genuinely funny moments, something not often found in an action game.
If I had to name a single favourite part, it would have to be the final showdown with the evil sorcerer Zarok. This is a pretty unique blend of action, humour and wacky ideas that define the game very well, and should offer a few surprises to the player!

FORTY HOURS

How long do you think it will take to get through the entire game?
It's hard to say. We've got people in QA who know everything there is to know about the game and it takes them about four to five hours of solid play to get through. First time, it will take people a lot more than that, probably between twenty and forty hours.

James Busby - Programmer

• Education: Computer Science at Aston in Birmingham
• Joined Millenium/Sony: March 1996
• Most Unpleasant Experience: Sleeping in Office

BANK

Why did you go into games?
I've always liked games and I knew I didn't want to work for a bank.

What part of the game is your favourite? 
The bit I'm kind of most proud of is the Stained Glass Demon the first boss, because I wrote him on my own.

What's the bit that you spilt the most blood over? 
The collision between the enemies, that's been a complete nightmare, it's a lot more complicated than collision detection in most games and it's cool because we can use it to do cool stuff, like sticking projectiles on the enemies when they get hurt. On the other hand because it's complicated it can be a bit of a nightmare.

How's the geometry then?
That fine, MediEvil is very strong on that front in that we've got a lot of polygons in the enemies and that we've got a real 3D world, we don't use sprites at all whereas most games rely heavily on sprites.

SCARY

Is it scary? 
In places.

Does it scare you? 
Sometimes, because I get used to some of the levels because I've worked on them but other ones because of the way we split into little mini teams to do different areas, there is probably half of the game that I'm not that familiar with, like the content, the levels. I can play it and get surprised and sometimes a bit scared because I don't know what's coming even though I am working on the project, it's so big and there's so much in there that there is a lot of stuff I haven't seen.

EASY LIFE

What are your average working day hours like? 
Two or three late nights a week and then one or two days a weekend

Did you know it was going to be like that when you went into games? 
No, it is more than I expected really, I knew it was the kind of job where you kind of end up working more hours really because you feel that you want to. 
The thing that annoys me most is everyone says "Oh you must have such an easy life, writing games must be so easy".

What's your favourite drink? 
I don't drink much coffee, I don't drink many fizzy drinks, I drink water and I quite like a cup of tea, basically I'm not a caffeine drinker because it gives me a headache.

SLEEP

How do you stay awake? 
I just don't get that tired really, I've always stayed up late ever since I was a little kid. I'd never go to bed so I'm just kind of used to it really.

Do you sleep in the office? 
I have slept in the office, but not on this project. I found it was a really unpleasant experience getting woken up at five am by the cleaners coming round whacking me in the stomach with a vacuum cleaner, so no, I either work all the way through a night and then go home and sleep or I just go home and sleep.

Do you go home and drink yourself to sleep? 
No, I don't drink a lot either.

CAMEL

Do you drink any alcohol at all? 
I drink occasionally.

What's your favourite PlayStation game? 
Gran Turismo, at the moment.

What is the camel story? 
He's been around for years really, sort of the MediEvil mascot, he came with a chocolate bar's competition tokens and he's been taken on holiday to five or six places already now: - Cape Town, Greece, America a couple of times, etc.

Paul Donovan - Programmer

• Education: Computer Science, Warwick University
• Joined Millenium/Sony: Sept 1995
• Favourite Drink: Beer

PILOT

Why did you decide to work in games?
I don't know really I always wanted to be an airline pilot.

Is that your dream job then? 
It was at one point, yeah. I actually went for an RAF flying scholarship, it wasn't actually to join the RAF, they would pay for you to fly. I passed everything, the medical, everything apart, from my eyesight.

Are you short sighted? 
Yeah, so I couldn't do it. And when that happened I thought ah I'm not going to be a pilot.

24 HOURS

You could be a commercial pilot.
I could have been, yeah, but it also got to the point where they weren't recruiting anyone, so I went to university, computer science and decided I wanted to be a games programmer.

So you came straight here? 
Yeah. I have always loved games since I was about ten or eleven and I think when I was at university I sort of decided that a lot of computing was incredible boring and the best bit of it would be the games. I had written games when I was a kid on my own.

When was the last time you went home? 
I went home yesterday, for the first time in 24 hours, because we worked all day and all night Wednesday.

RED BULL

 What's your average working day then?
Get in about quarter to ten, work to midday then have lunch, finish lunch at one and then work till about seven or eight in the evening, go home, eat, watch TV and go to bed. Although the last year we've been working till midnight twice a week and then obviously depending on what we're doing, like this week we're here every night till nine.

So do you drink Red Bull? 
I drink Red Bull, but I don't drink that here I generally drink just Pepsi. 
We've got a coffee machine downstairs that does espresso, I tried one of those at three in the morning and that's like ooh!

NEARLY DIED

What's your favourite drink? 
Beer, I don't drink spirits anymore, because I've had bad experiences with spirits since I was about 18. Two years ago I nearly died drinking tequila and I don't know what else. It made me unconscious.

How many cartons of pizza boxes do you end up with? 
We're sick of pizzas. Basically it goes pizza, Thai, curry, Chinese are the four things we have.

I bet you end up getting the same pizza every time as well? 
Yes, I've worked out a set of Domino's toppings where it almost manages to not turn into a soggy mess! As for the Indian restaurant we get our food from, James always places the orders and they recognise him on the phone and say, "How are you", because we've ordered like twice a week for the past two years. I'm sick of pizza, not quite sick of curries yet.

So what was your favourite game when you were younger? 
I can't remember really. I remember getting Elite on the Electron for Christmas, because it came out on the BBCB a few months before. it was in my stocking at Christmas and when we were playing that all Christmas and trying to dock before I got the docking computer and crashing. Then I moved my computer into the lounge, to play it there, because my parents were saying, "Don't hide in the room."

So now you're in games, there's no escape you're trapped here! What's your favourite bit about the game your working on? 
The detail in the world. Medievil isn't based around height fields or grids, but allows for complicated, freeform geometry.

What bit did you spill the most blood over? 
Collision detection. Because the level geometry doesn't follow a set of rules this was incredibly difficult to achieve effectively.

CHIMPS

What's your favourite game on PlayStation? 
CastleVania or Gran Turismo, CastleVania I love even though it's a 2D sprite game. I love driving and driving games.

Who would you most like to play a PlayStation game with? 
Probably, Cindy Crawford.

What's the story about the monkey? 
Well, I don't know why but our group has got this obsession about chimps, they think chimps are very funny. We've always wanted to get one of those big chimps you can get in somewhere like Harrods. 
Whenever someone does something wrong we all say, "well you're the chimp and we put the chimp on their desk for a few of hours, to signify that they've done something wrong."

What's the thing with the Camel? 
That's James, he's had it since he started working here, I think it's one of those things you get in like packets of tea or something. 
Whenever anyone goes on holiday they have to take him away with them. He's been to South Africa, etc. At the Christmas party he had his tail chopped off and sown back on again, so that's Calvin the Camel.