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Hellblade - Videodiario Domande & Risposte di agosto 2015.
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00:01So hi, welcome to this Hellblade Q&A with Tameem and myself. We've got your questions from Twitter, Facebook and
00:09on hellblade.com, so we'll get started.
00:12So the first one is from Alec Chalmers and it is, have you found the team size for the game
00:20comfortable? Have you had to cut much due to team constraints?
00:26Okay, first part of the question, is it comfortable at 15? I'd say it is. It's a good sized team,
00:33it's easy to communicate and coordinate what we're doing and we can easily all jump into a room and talk
00:41about stuff if we need to.
00:43There's one of everyone that covers every discipline. When we started off, we started off with kind of like, I
00:50don't know how many, like six or seven or eight and started building up and things were really, really tight
00:56and there were gaps in development.
00:57And I think in 15, we were, it seems to be okay. We have everyone covered. In terms of cutting
01:04stuff, you tend to design around what you have in terms of the team and resources and budget.
01:11And this is true whether you're doing, working with 15 people or 150 people. So you design to the size
01:17of your team. There's never enough people, you know, even on previous projects where we have had 150 people, we
01:24still had to cut.
01:26So you always try and be a little bit more ambitious than is reasonable, no matter what your team size.
01:35I think it was quite interesting in one of our meetings yesterday when you talked about, let's try not to
01:41cut stuff, but find more innovative ways of doing things.
01:46Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, that's been the ethos when you're down to a team like 15 people. Like the
01:53ethos has to be to try and do more with, with, with the team. So rather than adding new people,
02:01when you have a problem, uh, you have to think about how you can do it a different way.
02:07And I've rarely come across any problem that can't be solved in another way. You just have to make sure
02:15that people know that there is no other way. So it gives them the freedom to then, um, think and
02:23take some chances.
02:27Okay. So next one is from Pia. Um, here we know. Yes. Um, and her question is considering the concept
02:35of independent AAA, did your approach to project management differ from the usual?
02:41Hello Pia. Uh, yes, it's very different. Uh, when you have a large team, uh, you have, um, a lot
02:51of coordination, a lot of logistics and you have producers on board. So you might have one producer for every
02:5910 people or so, or 10 or 15 people on the team and they coordinate a lot of things, including
03:06communication, uh, workflows, schedules, everything. Um,
03:10With 15 people, you don't really need to do that, do it that way. Well, you don't need to do
03:17it that way. Um, because there's mainly one person in every discipline, whether it's art or audio or character, they
03:24manage their own work and they communicate with the rest of the team by standing up and talking to them
03:32or shouting over the desks.
03:33There's the project. Um, there's the project management per se is less about traditional project management, uh, in a sense
03:46of schedules and big lists. Um, it's more about setting a good direction for the team and making sure that
03:56the steps that everyone's taking to get to get, get, get there, uh, make sense to their workflow.
04:02Um, so yes, it is very different. Uh, I wouldn't call it project management in the, in the classical sense
04:11because it's got that connotation of fastidiousness and, and in this team, we want it to feel like people have
04:18freedom over their workflow, the way they do things.
04:21They're responsible. They're responsible. Everything's time boxed. You know, they have this much time to do achieve this. Um, but
04:28instead of someone running around with a big stick, um, it's up to them to make sure that they hit
04:34that and achieve it by whatever means is possible.
04:39Okay. Uh, next one is from Charlie Zockt. Um, forgive me if I pronounced that incorrectly. Uh, does Senua develop
04:48during the plot of Hellblade? Will she overcome some of her fears?
04:51Uh, yes. Uh, yes. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Senua has to deal with what she's facing and otherwise she would, she
05:02would be overwhelmed and destroyed. It's like it was often the case. You have to face your challenges in order
05:09to overcome them. You have to face the, the insurmountable fears and, uh,
05:15not knowing whether you're not knowing whether you're going to survive to be able to then adapt to a new
05:22frame of mind. And what I'm saying here is equally applicable to Senua and to us as a development team.
05:28In a sense, you face what your fears are. You don't know how you're going to solve, resolve them, but
05:34you, you, that fear can turn into an energy that's used positively.
05:42I think that concept of our characters developing over throughout the course of the game is something that you find
05:47in, in all of our games, actually, that it still seems to be quite rare in games now that you
05:53see a character actually change throughout the course of the game.
05:57Yeah. Yeah. I mean, in, in films and books and things, it's, it's, it's, um, considered a requirement. I don't
06:03think it is a requirement, but I think it's, it's, um, when you're telling a story, you're,
06:10I think it's not really, for me anyway, it's not about plot. It's not about plot devices. I don't, I
06:17don't really find that aspect of stories interesting. What I find interesting in a story is, is, uh, the, the
06:24protagonists, the characters and what happens to them and how they react to things.
06:29And that, that, that's what's interesting. And when you see someone suffer and change and, uh, evolve as a character,
06:37it's, it's, it's more interesting than seeing someone that's just the same all the way through.
06:41Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Uh, from Ducky, um, will the level of success of Hellblade determine if you'll continue to
06:50use open development in future projects?
06:53Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, you know, part of the reason we're doing open development is to, uh, connect
07:02to, um, our fans, people like you guys to get an inside view of what we're doing, the kind of,
07:10the care and, uh, the, the process.
07:13I think it's, for me, it's, it's, it's always been the most interesting part of development is actually the process
07:19of making a game.
07:20And it feels good to share that with, with, with everyone. Um, I think there's a lot there for people
07:27to get from, you know, to learn. Um, but also it, it, it helps us to connect with our fans
07:37in a way that we've never really been able to do in the past,
07:39because we've always been behind a wall of publisher PR and sometimes our message doesn't really get through that. Um,
07:47and I think in the, in future, I can see open development going more, going further than just us, a
07:55one way thing where we show you what we're doing.
07:58But I, I, I, I can see in a, in a few years' time that, that people get involved in
08:03the actual development themselves.
08:06And I, I'm not clear on the path to that, but there are very good examples of that happening right
08:11now, like, um, the Unreal, the new Unreal project.
08:14I think there's a real opportunity to, um, help people who are interested in the art of, and craft of
08:23making games,
08:24to, to, to learn with developers, and then contribute back to the developers, and, uh, maybe it's a slightly utopian
08:34vision,
08:35but I think it's, it's something that, um, is to, is to the benefits of everyone, and I think it
08:40should, we should try and find a way for that to happen in future.
08:44Yeah, we see a lot of, um, fan art and, uh, mods that people create that are really, really good.
08:53Yeah.
08:53And we'd actually, um, you know, like to be part of our games.
08:57Like, with DMC Definitive Edition, we had the chance to look at some community mods that had been created,
09:02and actually integrate them into that version of the game, which was, which was great.
09:06So, I think with Hellblade, you know, beyond release, it'd be really interesting to see what people, um, do with
09:12the game,
09:12and maybe that's the type of thing that we'll be able to integrate into, into future updates.
09:17Yeah, yeah.
09:18Uh, so, from Andrew Hawkins, were you influenced by any philosophers or analytical psychiatrists in particular?
09:29Uh, well, uh, as you probably know if you've been watching our dev diaries, Paul Fletcher, um, is a psychiatrist
09:37and, um, uh, neuroscientist,
09:41and he's been enormously influential, uh, he's been very good at introducing us to the science behind, like, um, psycho-,
09:53behind psychosis and schizophrenia and those kinds of conditions.
09:57And, and we've been, we, we have regular chats with him, um, in person, but also on email.
10:04I chat to him one-on-one, and, and sometimes it's not really even about the game.
10:09It's, it's just about theories of how the mind works.
10:13And then I have a, I have a, a thought or an idea, and I check with him and see
10:18whether that makes sense about how our brains work.
10:22It's, it's, it's endlessly fascinating.
10:26And out of that then comes ideas on how we could actually represent it.
10:31So, like, talking to Paul's been amazing.
10:33I've also, I've been reading a few books.
10:37Uh, I've been reading, um, How to Create a Mind by Ray Kurzweil, um, who's famous for his theory on
10:45the singularity, AI singularity.
10:48Um, so that takes on a more computational model of the mind and how that works, and it's, but also
10:57are some good philosophical questions.
11:01Um, so, yes, I'm, I'm always looking out for kind of interesting perspectives and thoughts.
11:09And some of it's nothing to do with necessarily Hellblade, it's just personal interest, you know.
11:15Yeah.
11:15But often that's where ideas come from.
11:17They don't come from sitting down and saying, right, I'm going to make a game.
11:21They come from general interests and thoughts and ideas that you have outside of games that you bring in.
11:29Okay, uh, so from Heyrull Baron,
11:33How can I order merchandise items, uh, of Hellblade if I'm in another country?
11:39So, uh, yeah, so we're kind of at the final stages of setting up the, uh, Ninja Theory store.
11:46Um, and the way that we are, uh, offering, uh, merchandise to people in different countries is that we're holding
11:53stock, uh, in different distribution centers.
11:55So, I know the frustration when there's something that you want to buy, like a t-shirt on a website,
12:01and it's on the other side of the world, and it's going to cost you a lot of money to
12:03get it to your country.
12:05And that's why we've, we've got distribution centers in, in different parts of the world to try and, to try
12:10and get the stock as close to you as possible.
12:12So that when you order, um, A, it doesn't take a huge amount of time to get to you, and
12:16B, it doesn't cost too much as well.
12:19So, we'll be launching the store very, very soon.
12:22We're just making sure that everything is perfect before we go ahead and do that.
12:25Uh, so, number seven is from Jade Newman, who is a long-time Ninja Theory fan.
12:34Hello, Jade.
12:35Uh, what made you want to tackle the issue of mental illness in Hellblade?
12:40It's, it's, again, it's, it's not one, it doesn't come from one place.
12:48Um, like, creativity is a, is a subject I'm interested in.
12:54Um, uh, mental health is a subject I'm interested in.
12:59And at some point, a lot of these threads came together.
13:04And, and I guess the aha moment was, is to think that actually a video game could represent some of
13:11the issues, um, in a way that we're not normally exposed to.
13:16I thought it was quite, uh, is, it was, uh, I'll, I'll, I'll be more specific.
13:22Like, okay, so, like, uh, I was reading about, um, I was reading about people's experiences on Reddit.
13:33And, and that was one of the most eye-opening threads I've read on, on the condition.
13:39I had no idea of how intense and powerful, um, psych, psych, psychosis could be for people or schizophrenia could
13:48be.
13:48How, uh, it's just really, I, I actually got quite frightened.
13:53I was in my house on my own and I was reading this stuff and I, I started to get
13:56a little bit paranoid and frightened, which is, you know, and then you imagine what someone must be going through
14:03when they have a voice screaming at them or, or there's a demon in their room staring at them.
14:10And then these are vivid, real things that happen to them.
14:13It's no good saying it's not real to someone that's seeing someone or hearing something because for them it's absolutely
14:19real.
14:20It makes no difference whether you say it's not real.
14:23Um, and, uh, so that, that was one thing.
14:26Um, and I started reading about it after that as well, but also like, I think it's, it's one in
14:3310 people will develop schizophrenia.
14:36And, uh, sorry, one in a hundred people, 1% of the population develops, um, psychosis or symptoms or schizophrenia
14:45across the world.
14:47Um, that's a huge number and a much larger proportion suffers from serious mental conditions.
14:54I think 40% of Americans, um, at some point in their lives, I personally think that it's everyone.
15:02Everyone, everyone at some point in their life will suffer from a serious or fairly serious mental health condition.
15:11They may not recognize it, you know, it might not be understood, but, but they do.
15:17So again, I think it's something that's worth, um, understanding and talking about and, and perhaps not hiding away and
15:28saying,
15:28this is a subject that's too sensitive to touch, but if it's affecting us all either directly or through people
15:35we know,
15:36then I think it should be something that, um, is out there in the open.
15:41And that when you see it acknowledged in a video game or in a movie or in a book, you
15:49understand that it's not just you,
15:53that there's, that there's, that it's, um, that it's out there and that it's not, um, hopeless.
16:00Like it's lots of people recover, lots of people are treated, lots of people learn to live with it,
16:04but you're not going to get to that point if, if you're hiding.
16:11Okay. Um, this is from Leo Franco Susie, Sir Tam, are you a sir now? Have you been knighted?
16:20I don't think so.
16:21Let's say you are. So Sir Tam, are you also the one who will write and create the script?
16:27Okay. So story development, I've covered, um, we covered in our last diary, uh,
16:33which gives a good overview of the process we're taking.
16:38So, um, I, I always think of story development as, as, um, one with level design.
16:46So when you see our games, you don't get someone that's written the story
16:52and then a bunch of designers that have designed the levels
16:54and then they come together at some point and we add the script.
16:57It's, it's all part of the same process.
16:59So it's a group effort. Um, we get together,
17:04um, I do a lot of planning work and then we get together as a group
17:08and start talking about it and making notes as we're talking.
17:12And then I go off and write a rough pass of the script
17:16and then we get back together and we go through it and read through it
17:19and talk through things and massage it and stuff.
17:22So, um, I'd say, um, I'm, I'm, I'm, um, leading the effort, but I'm not
17:30the solely responsible.
17:32In the end, this will be a game that's, um, that'll be a story by Ninja Theory.
17:38I think the story as well is something that is not just told through the dialogue.
17:43So the script is one thing, but it's like the entire game is a story experience.
17:46So the art tells a story and the mechanics tell a story, the whole thing is a story.
17:51So I think it's, it's, everyone needs to be on the same page.
17:54And of course, having 15 people, it makes it a smoother process to have a smaller group
18:00that everyone's got a very clear understanding of the direction and where we're heading to with it.
18:04Absolutely. It's, it's, it's, um, you tell a story through, um, cameras, lighting, action.
18:12In fact, uh, yeah, I actually recommend looking at some of the, um, I think, I think it's worth
18:20looking at some of the lessons from people like Alfred Hitchcock and, um, Kurosawa.
18:24They're available on YouTube on their, on their methods of cinematic storytelling.
18:29It just shows just how much of storytelling is nonverbal.
18:36Okay. So question number nine from Cameron Craig, uh, how has it been working towards
18:41making the game elements less, sorry, making the game elements less gamey, like optical illusions?
18:50What are the challenges that you've faced when trying to integrate these sorts of things
18:54and the narrative into gameplay in a less obvious and less traditional way?
18:58So I suppose this goes back to the, the, the point that we've made early on is that we're,
19:02uh, we're going without a HUD in the game because we want to keep the player in Senua's world
19:09and on that journey with her.
19:11Yes. Um, it's, it's a very difficult thing, um, because my experience of testing the game
19:19with players in the past, not this game, previous games, is that no matter how much you think
19:24you're buttoned up, no matter how much you're showing in terms of on the screen and everything.
19:29When you put it in front of someone, they get lost and confused and usually the solution
19:36is to put more stuff up on the HUD. Um, and I think we have to take a leap in,
19:43in the opposite direction
19:44for this game to, to make it feel like you're in the world and it feels real.
19:49Um, when we did the vertical slice, people did get lost and confused and things weren't clear.
19:55Um, so the challenge is still there, but we, we have to find other ways.
20:01like, it's almost like putting things on the HUD is too easy.
20:06You know, like, how do you do, like, I mean, instead of having a locator bar that tells
20:12you where your next objective is, why not have the pad rumble? And if you're pointing
20:17in the right direction, it, it, it changes its rumble, so you get a feeling for where things are.
20:22Um, or with, doing things with sound or visually on the character. Like, I, I think it's, again,
20:31interesting if you, if you kind of ban one thing that's common that everyone uses and knows
20:37it's what works. Um, it forces you to think creatively about how else you can do it. And, and that
20:44in itself is interesting. Like it's, it's, that's another good, fun, creative challenge to try
20:50and work out. Yeah. But also we have to make, we have to assume that our, that the people
20:55who play this game is, are, are people who have played games for years. So we have to
21:00give, we have, that's why we were, you know, we're targeting our fans, people who have played
21:04games, they are, they're familiar with them. Yeah. It's not an every man's game. So I, I
21:08think we also have to know that, um, we have to give the player the benefit of the doubt
21:14that they will figure it out and they'll learn it. Hmm. Okay. Final question for the
21:20today is from Raphael. As creative minds, what kinds of experiences are you crafting that
21:26will get gamers emotionally invested in Hellblade? Uh, everyone's a creative mind by the way.
21:33Yeah. We're just allowed to do it for a living. Um, what kind of experiences of crafting that
21:39will get you emotionally invested? Okay. So that's a tough question because how do you make
21:44something emotional, right? So you can buy a book called Emotioneering and it'll give
21:49you like several hundred rules on what, on how you, um, create emotion. There's all kinds
21:57of guides on how you create emotions. I don't buy any of it. I like, I think, um, you create,
22:07you, you have to understand who your character is and you have to tell her story. Like her story
22:12has to be at its core, um, emotional for her. And then the skill is in how you portray that.
22:22Like, do you do it in dialogue? Which is often not the effective way. Hmm. Or do you do it
22:28by,
22:28um, you know, with things like cinematography and camera editing? Yes, you can do it that way.
22:34But ultimately you have to believe that she is real and the world is real. And that the challenges she
22:41faces are plausible and real. And then you have to connect with her. Like, if you can make her feel
22:51real and the world feel real, um, you don't even have to make a character particularly likable. You just have
22:56to make that person feel real in a, in a real world with real challenges. And once you're invested in
23:02that.
23:02Uh, you start to feel like you start to bond. You like in the same way that when you know
23:11someone very well, a friend, you bond with them. And if you see them going through trouble, you feel distressed
23:18or, or, you know, you, you, you get a connection. That's what you have to do. You have to create
23:22a connection.
23:24And so that, and that is really why we use things like performance capture to shoot our cinema, cinematics, because
23:32it makes that character believable down to the nuance of their facial movement or the way that they move their
23:38body while they're talking, which is why we capture face, body and voice all at the same time is because
23:42it makes it believable.
23:43So that as a player, you are with that character, you're in that world, you're, you're believing it. And that
23:49does in itself evoke emotion.
23:51Yes. It's not to, we're not doing it to show off.
23:53Yes.
23:53Like, it's not about, look, we can capture face, body, voice cameras. All I know is that when you, when
23:59you're filming someone on set with a camera,
24:02and you've asked them to put everything into their performance and everything's working together, like into a scene on set,
24:12people watching that scene start to feel something like it's palpable and that's what you want to capture.
24:18And you can't, in my opinion, capture that if you do have someone doing the body mocap and then another
24:24person doing facial expressions and then another person doing voiceover.
24:29Like, where does that honestly come from when you're doing things that way? It's, it's not the same.
24:36Apart from it taking a lot longer to actually all put together, you're trying to capture something that's real, fundamentally.
24:45You can, you can miss the nuance. You miss the, the things that, that you don't necessarily notice, but that
24:51make it special.
24:52Yes. And I, and I think, and I think that's true, not just of acting, but like, that's true of,
24:58um, the world you create.
25:01The world has to feel like it's believable, that it's not overly inconsistent, that it doesn't go, rip you out
25:07because you go, oh, it's just a video game.
25:10You know, once you've, once you've ripped someone out of a world, you've lost them and you're probably not going
25:16to get them back.
25:18You really have to try, it's very delicate. You have to do everything possible to make someone believe in that
25:23world.
25:24And, and even a game like Tetris, like, it's, it's consistent, it's simple, the world is very simply defined and
25:34you're in it.
25:36Like, it's, it's fine. Even something as simple as that can be believable.
25:40But when you're creating human journeys, yeah, um, it's, it's much, much harder and you have to be very careful.
25:50Okay. That's great. Thanks a lot. Uh, so thanks a lot for all of your questions. Um, and, and for
25:55all of your support, it means, uh, it means so much to us and, and the team working on Hellblade.
26:01Um, so until next time, thank you.
26:04Thank you.