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{{Infobox personnel | {{Infobox personnel | ||
|image= | |image = | ||
|caption=[[Chris Sorrell]] in ''The Making of MediEvil'' video. | |caption=[[Chris Sorrell]] in ''The Making of MediEvil'' video. | ||
|medievil= Game Concept / Direction<br>Main Programming<br>Producer | |medievil= Game Concept / Direction<br>Main Programming<br>Producer | ||
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'''Chris Sorrell''': ''[[MediEvil]]'' presented a real mountain of challenges. The game started life as a project of a small, cash-strapped independent developer – [[Millennium Interactive]]. In addition to bringing together a brand new team – none of whom had really made a 3D game of this scale before – we were in ‘sell’ mode almost from day one, with the future of the studio riding on our ability to attract a major publishing deal as quickly as possible. | '''Chris Sorrell''': ''[[MediEvil]]'' presented a real mountain of challenges. The game started life as a project of a small, cash-strapped independent developer – [[Millennium Interactive]]. In addition to bringing together a brand new team – none of whom had really made a 3D game of this scale before – we were in ‘sell’ mode almost from day one, with the future of the studio riding on our ability to attract a major publishing deal as quickly as possible. | ||
We were initially working on multiple platforms including Windows and Sega Saturn as well as PlayStation before we finally had the chance to demo the game for Sony. Thankfully that was probably our best pitch ever: SCEE had some really inspiring people in management, they loved ''MediEvil'', and within a few weeks we were signed to make an exclusive | We were initially working on multiple platforms including Windows and Sega Saturn as well as PlayStation before we finally had the chance to demo the game for Sony. Thankfully that was probably our best pitch ever: SCEE had some really inspiring people in management, they loved ''MediEvil'', and within a few weeks we were signed to make an exclusive PlayStation game. In a few more months we became [[SCE Cambridge Studio|Sony’s second studio in the UK]]. | ||
Of course another layer of challenge came from the fact that, like most other developers at that time, we were still feeling our way with 3D. Things like camera and character control presented a lot of interesting new challenges and required us to try out a number of approaches before we settled on solutions that seemed to work. | Of course another layer of challenge came from the fact that, like most other developers at that time, we were still feeling our way with 3D. Things like camera and character control presented a lot of interesting new challenges and required us to try out a number of approaches before we settled on solutions that seemed to work. | ||
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'''CS''' - That was a little extra added by one of the level programmers (Matt Johnston). There's a rock jutting out of the pond in the village and the idea was that if you stood there for a moment or two the game would start to spawn ducks swimming across the pond that you could shoot with a ranged weapon. I don't recall exactly why it didn't make the final cut. Most likely there were just too many other things to finish and debug. Shame - I love little easter eggs like this! | '''CS''' - That was a little extra added by one of the level programmers (Matt Johnston). There's a rock jutting out of the pond in the village and the idea was that if you stood there for a moment or two the game would start to spawn ducks swimming across the pond that you could shoot with a ranged weapon. I don't recall exactly why it didn't make the final cut. Most likely there were just too many other things to finish and debug. Shame - I love little easter eggs like this! | ||
'''3) '''An in-game model of the exterior of the [[Inside | '''3) '''An in-game model of the exterior of the [[Inside The Asylum|Asylum]] is featured within the prototype; | ||
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'''CS''' - That's really part of the grander notion that we originally had for the Asylum - that you'd complete the maze and then go inside, playing a side-viewed platform section as Morten. That platform section never materialized, and we ended up almost having to cut the Asylum interior altogether - until we realized that we could pretty easily create those 'Smash TV' style attack rooms that we finally shipped with. ...Sometimes you put a lot of effort into something and it doesn't pan out and other times something really simple to create totally pays off as those I think those rooms did. | '''CS''' - That's really part of the grander notion that we originally had for the Asylum - that you'd complete the maze and then go inside, playing a side-viewed platform section as Morten. That platform section never materialized, and we ended up almost having to cut the Asylum interior altogether - until we realized that we could pretty easily create those 'Smash TV' style attack rooms that we finally shipped with. ...Sometimes you put a lot of effort into something and it doesn't pan out and other times something really simple to create totally pays off as those I think those rooms did. | ||
'''4)''' This is a bit of an oddball; there's a message in the beginning of the [[The Graveyard | '''4)''' This is a bit of an oddball; there's a message in the beginning of the [[The Graveyard|Graveyard]] level which talks about "visitors from space in sci-fi movies and how genetic cloning is making Mary Shelley's Frankenstein closer to reality"; | ||
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'''2)''' This question is just related to an image in ''MediEvil 1'', which is found in the "[[The Gallows Gauntlet|Gallows Gauntlet]]" stage; | '''2)''' This question is just related to an image in ''MediEvil 1'', which is found in the "[[The Gallows Gauntlet|Gallows Gauntlet]]" stage; | ||
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'''5) '''Also, I have question about a character called "[[Uncle Mad]]" who can be found in Sleeping Village in the prototype; | '''5) '''Also, I have question about a character called "[[Uncle Mad]]" who can be found in Sleeping Village in the prototype; | ||
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I don't know if every one of those ideas would have stuck had I directed M2 myself, but I passed them all over to James Shepherd during a couple of meetings we had at the start of the project. After the first such meeting a couple of things we'd been discussing clicked together and I went into the second session with a sketch of Dan's head atop one of the severed hands - the basis for [[Dan-hand]]. | I don't know if every one of those ideas would have stuck had I directed M2 myself, but I passed them all over to James Shepherd during a couple of meetings we had at the start of the project. After the first such meeting a couple of things we'd been discussing clicked together and I went into the second session with a sketch of Dan's head atop one of the severed hands - the basis for [[Dan-hand]]. | ||
James ran with the ideas and - of course - introduced many of his own. Jason was involved too, although I don't know how he and James worked together. Overall I liked most of what they came up with for M2, although I disliked the [[Winston, the Help Ghost|squeaky voiced helper ghost]], and definitely in places the game's humour crossed a line for me from the silly/bawdy tone we had in M1 to something a little too puerile for my liking! (I guess the [[Professor ]] embodied a lot of that.) I would also have definitely kept the [[Hall of Heroes]] since I always thought that was one of the more distinctive presentational mechanics we created in M1, oh and Dan's voice was *horrible* - incoherent mumbling was a far better way to go! | James ran with the ideas and - of course - introduced many of his own. Jason was involved too, although I don't know how he and James worked together. Overall I liked most of what they came up with for M2, although I disliked the [[Winston, the Help Ghost|squeaky voiced helper ghost]], and definitely in places the game's humour crossed a line for me from the silly/bawdy tone we had in M1 to something a little too puerile for my liking! (I guess the [[Professor]] embodied a lot of that.) I would also have definitely kept the [[Hall of Heroes]] since I always thought that was one of the more distinctive presentational mechanics we created in M1, oh and Dan's voice was *horrible* - incoherent mumbling was a far better way to go! | ||
On balance I was probably more in tune with what they did in M2 than the changes that were made in MPSP. | On balance I was probably more in tune with what they did in M2 than the changes that were made in MPSP. | ||
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*[https://twitter.com/trepan Chris Sorrell] on Twitter | *[https://twitter.com/trepan Chris Sorrell] on Twitter | ||
*[https://rawg.io/creators/chris-sorrell Chris Sorrell] at RAWG.io | *[https://rawg.io/creators/chris-sorrell Chris Sorrell] at RAWG.io | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:People]] | ||
[[Category:Interviews]] | [[Category:Interviews]] | ||