House Marquee has been developing a single road in the arcade genre for 23 years.
The feature of the game they released is the spectacular danmaku action that was introduced in 2017. You can see it by looking at. And from that year, he announced the withdrawal of the arcade genre. In the arcade shooter’s single-gil life, there are 80 employees in the company.
And now the Finnish arcade craftsman developer is a PS5 exclusive Came back to the public again. silver It is completely different from the works that Housemaqui has made so far. House Marquee’s masterpiece , , <에일리어네이션> Are all arcade shooting games.
It focuses on the fun of the simple and original game rather than the story. On the other hand Is more complex than games ever. The game is Story-driven It is 3D Roguelike TPS. In, the player takes on the protagonist’Celine’, who crash lands on an unknown planet. Celine Whenever we experience death, the planet’s ecosystem is reorganized each time.
With numerous PS5 release plans this It is attracting the attention of hardcore gamers. movie And a unique science fiction concept that mixes the genre of lovecraft, 3D TPS with barrage, Visual effects to show off your PS5 performance It is because it contains a freshness that is different from the game so far.
Is scheduled to be released in Korean on April 30, 2021.. This is Game Before the release of the product, I had the opportunity to ask the developer House Marquee for questions. Is it because of ambition and aspirations? Developer House Marquee There were a lot of things I wanted to say about. / Reporter Park Seong-hyun of This Is Game
Harry Kruger Game Director
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Michael Haveli Marketing Director
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“Arcade is dead” This is the content of an article posted on the official website of House Marquee in 2017. this time Is the first work out of the arcade genre that you have made until now. Is there anything special about making the AAA Roguelike game this time?
Harry: <Literal> is Hausmarque’s biggest ambitious work. At the same time, I think it is a game that inherits the arcade games we have made so far. , , I think we have advanced our know-how to the next level thanks to the next-generation console, PS5. In the past we said “Arcade is dead”, but I think arcade still lives in a different way.
‘S art style is quite original. Can you tell me how you came up with the initial project?
Michael: The source of art style is dark science fiction. In addition to dark sci-fi, it was also influenced by classic elements. Cosmic horror elements like Lovecraft would be representative.
However, in story terms, I tried to deal with a psychological mystery. It made me wonder if I wanted to continue exploring the eerie game world. As the player progresses through the game, the main character’Celine’ and the world’s secrets are uncovered.
Harry:As Michael said, silver It was influenced by various aspects such as dark science fiction and cosmic horror. I tried not to draw a lot of tentacles, but also to put the philosophical part in the story. As you can see from the video, many of the monster designs are inspired by deep sea creatures. These designs are also for intuitive gaming, but there are also things we want to show off our graphic skills.
You can see it by watching the play video, but the tentacles all move naturally. This is because we used our own particle technology. Through this technology, the colors and shapes of each object can be made more colorful, and enemies can be moved more dynamically.
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Even though various graphic effects were actively used, it maintains a smooth frame. I wonder how you did this and whether there were any difficulties.
Harry: Thanks to the PS5’s powerful performance. Thanks to its performance, there was no great difficulty in showing the technology beyond the games we have ever made. As for the technical part, it is difficult to explain in detail because it is not the corresponding part, but I think we were able to pull out a stable frame by maximizing the performance of the PS5.
In particular, we can’t forget about the SSD installed in this PS5. Thanks to the fast loading, a large amount of data can be processed in an instant, and through this, it was possible to describe vast and detailed terrain without problems.
The main character is very interesting. Since Selene is a middle-aged woman with a science fiction background, movie characters like Ripley and Sarah Connor come to mind. It is also the name of the Greek moon goddess. What is the reason for this choice, and what are the main characters’ backgrounds and goals in the game?
Harry: First of all, I am very happy to know the reference to Greek mythology in Celine’s name. It was also one of the important inspirations for a character named Celine. Our protagonist, Celine, is a Greek-American and expert in deep space reconnaissance. During her reconnaissance, she receives an unknown signal from an alien planet and decides to explore the planet and crashes onto the planet. like that You fall into an endless time loop where even death cannot escape.
When I came up with the first concept of the game, I first focused on the character. As she explored and melted her various aspects and typical characters, I hoped Celine would be considered complex and interesting. Celine is the result of such character planning, and these aspects occupy an absolute weight in the story.
To give you a few hints, Celine is the name of the moon goddess in Greek mythology. This is Celine’s past and To the things that go through Is related. This game is a very personal, important and insane journey for Celine. Who is Celine, and what happened? What happened? As you play the game, everyone will ask these questions. Information about her will be learned one by one as you play the game.
Michael: Let me give you more examples. The game keeps repeating and changing. When Celine dies, she is revived from the crashed ship, Celine reacts to how the surrounding environment changes and faces the situation. The whole story is made up of several parts, and each time you play, new parts give you a different You will experience.
Records are left throughout the game. This includes audio logs left by Celine in the past or in the future. Celine is a strong character who does not collapse even in the face of infinite death and continues to explore the planet. Nevertheless The never-ending time loop is a huge stress for Celine. This is a first-person story part in the middle of the game where players will learn who Celine is, what past, and what secrets surround her.
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Roguelike and story seem to be well combined. Can you explain more about this?
Harry: Yes. We have a lot of story elements placed in the game. The part that tells the story of Celine, the part that tells the story of the planet, and the contents of the extraterrestrial life on the planet. Such elements emerge newly as the game is repeated.
We call this game’alien apocalypse’. There are records and artifacts left by ancient extraterrestrial creatures throughout the planet, and as Celine continues his exploration, he learns their language and learns more. Different tools, such as planetary hieroglyphs and Celine’s recollections, each have different tools to tell the story, and the player will experience all of it as Celine.
In the gameplay video, various alien parasites are actively used for play. Are there any multi-ending factors that depend on the use of these?
Harry: There is no ending change depending on the parasite. Game There are parasites, and they have different advantages and disadvantages. So no matter how many hours you play, new combinations are possible each time. Up to 5 can be installed, and it affects the appearance of the character. In a sense, it can be called transformation. I think this part is interesting for storytelling as well. “How much more will Celine experiment and try deeper?” I think this kind of doubt is the part that will increase the depth of exploration.
If you get a parasite, can you feel the sensation associated with haptic feedback about it?
Harry: Still, I think that is an interesting part of working with this PS5. In fact, through haptic feedback, it was possible to increase the sense of immersion. Acquisition of parasites is a representative experience. If you pick up a parasite in the game, you will be able to feel its unique sense. Also, I think 3D audio will enhance this sensational experience.
Michael: Housemarque values immersion. I think this work will be able to know the surrounding environment more clearly thanks to 3D audio. It is a bonus to feel the surrounding atmosphere more vividly.
Usually roguelike games are made in 2D. There are many reasons, but I think the level design is the biggest. However, looking at the play video, the 3D three-dimensional terrain was well organized without any problems. How did you do it technically? Was there any difficulty?
Michael: Moving Roguelike into 3D, especially in high quality, was challenging. So I decided to do a little more complex work. Areas such as the Treasure Room and Arena were handcrafted and audio feeds added. Through this, even if you face a randomly formed area, you can experience a little elaborate feeling.
Even in randomly generated regions I tried to show a differentiated appearance. For example, in terrain such as an arena, meet elite enemies, or see a general treasure chest. Through this, it was possible to experience various scenarios in each region. Basically, I think the PS5 helped a lot to run this large amount of data at once, so I could get a’seamless’ feeling.
Harry: Various levels were also added in the level design. Some areas can’t be reached yet, and some areas can be reached later. Roguelike, but there are upgrades that remain permanent, so you can have a new experience every time. So you will be able to experience the fun of developing little by little.
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There are many parts designed with an emphasis on repetitive play. Whenever the game is repeated, what is maintained, what is initialized, and what new play and fun can be found through iteration.
Michael: Whenever he resurrects, Celine starts with the crashed ship, Helios. And from the moment you leave Helios Everything is different, such as the fields and enemies you face. However, permanent upgrades start with them even when they come back to life.
Harry: In addition to the upgrade, there are a number of elements that do not lose progress. Collected items are lost when revived, but weapons and knowledge acquired once are stored in the arsenal and data bank and can be used when revived. In order to obtain a new weapon, you must complete an ordeal in a specific area. After completing the trial, you can equip the weapon from the next game. If you’re lucky, it might come out of a box you’ve never seen before.
As I said earlier The more you play, the more you expand and reveal. Through these game characteristics, we tried to create value that can be played repeatedly.
Looking at the lines in the game, the protagonist found his body still moving and battled with him. During the game, is there a situation where the main character’s doppelganger encounters the enemy at the point of death?
Michael: There is something called a’afterimage system’. When you play the game, you will face the afterimages of other players as well as the bodies of other players. You can get revenge on the dead, or you can go through the corpses to get items. You don’t face Doppelganger, but there are some interactions.
In addition to these social features, there are also leaderboards. Challenges with different conditions exist for each day, and are recorded in the leaderboard according to the clearing time.
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Finally, what do you want to convey to Korean gamers?
Harry:Personally Is an evolution of our arcade game know-how. It is a game that contains all the knowledge we have accumulated so far, and takes it to the next level. For gamers, it will surely be felt that it is a work of House Marquee, and I hope it will be an indicator of the games that House Marquee will show.
Michael: First of all, I am really happy that such a game can be released. Thinks it will be a great PS5 game full of mystery and challenging fun. We want gamers to see the future of Housemarque through games. ‘Thank you.’
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