00:14A ninja theory we always really pay particular attention to character, not just characters in the game, but also environments,
00:20the lighting, everything we try and give character to.
00:23Character is really important because it's the thing that draws you into the game. If you connect with your character,
00:28then you're in that place, in that emotion.
00:32Character is ultimately what makes us like or dislike a person.
00:38Journey to the West is an ancient Chinese story. It's incredibly popular.
00:44Journey to the West is a story about two characters who not only go on a physical journey to the
00:50West, they are going on an emotional journey where they are discovering who they themselves are and they change and
00:57grow over time.
00:58And so when we wanted to adapt it, we took free reign in kind of mashing together lots of different
01:04elements of popular culture that we like.
01:07The core idea of the game is really the interplay between Monkey and Trip. So we've got these two characters,
01:12Monkey, who's a strong, brutish character, and Trip, who's kind of weak, but she's very tech savvy.
01:18So she is stuck on this slave ship with Monkey and she manages to feel escape, as does Monkey.
01:23And she decides to use this guy as a tool, a weapon, to help her get through this very dangerous
01:28land and get her cell phone.
01:30Monkey is a wild man, self-sufficient, standalone individual.
01:34It's kind of like Tarzan having a really bad day. Essentially, he doesn't need anybody.
01:39He's very dismissive of culture and looking after people because he's been hurt by it time and time again.
01:45Trip is the complete opposite to Monkey. She's always lived within a community of peaceful people.
01:51She's the brains of the couple, really.
01:53I mean, if you put yourself in Monkey's shoes, how would you feel if you were minding your own business,
01:57suddenly someone made you a slave and then told you to do something you didn't want to do?
02:01She can choose whether he lives or whether he dies.
02:04How do I know you're coming back?
02:05You die, I die, right?
02:10Yeah.
02:11The performance capture with Andy Serkis is always a really great experience.
02:15Andy co-directed the performance capture.
02:19I think Andy is undoubtedly one of the best character actors we have in the UK or anywhere.
02:25He has a very particular way of warming everyone up.
02:26One of Andy's key skills is being able to actually make them relax and understand how it's not that different
02:33to a film production.
02:35The first morning when we got together, he said, right, everyone outside into the large area.
02:39And we ended up kind of running around for quite a few minutes playing tag, going under people's legs to
02:43free us up.
02:44And he's sprinting.
02:45With 20 adults running around trying to do this all at once, it's very hectic and the energy is just
02:51there.
02:53Alex Garland is a novelist and screenplay writer.
02:57And he's responsible for the beach.
02:5828 days later, Sunshine.
03:01I want to say the right thing about him because he's brilliant.
03:04Because we wanted the game to feel like a movie when you're playing it, we thought we've got to find
03:08a really great screenwriter.
03:10So when Alex came on board, it gave us an opportunity to work with someone who's a master of his
03:15craft in an area that we don't actually know a lot about.
03:18And so what he brought to the game was this amazing kind of almost directorial eye of how to tell
03:25a story.
03:25And he worked with us for two years on that.
03:27And we learned a hell of a lot from him.
03:29At a very high level, Enslaved was inspired by the Chinese story of A Journey to the West.
03:34But if we move below that, Enslaved is inspired by Ninja Theory's desire to make beautiful games,
03:40to create believable characters in beautiful settings and give them really exciting situations to deal with.
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