There were names like Glen Schofield, who helped create games like Gex, Soul Reaver, Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain, Knockout Kings 2003, and co-founder of Sledgehammer Games and with whom he brought to life several Call of Duty games. Like Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3, and the more futuristic Advance Warfare. But there’s no need to go around that: The title that most characterizes its long career is the sci-fi horror Dead Space, which Electronic Arts produced and destroyed within a few years.
A few years later, this video game artist, literally the artist, is back with a new project, Striking Distance Studios, a new training software house. here is ours Interview with Glen Schofield on the Callisto Protocol directly from the recently ended Summer Game Fest.
free style
The emotion we felt at the beginning of the interview, warming up talking about the last Italian lunch, gradually turned into a definitive answer after answer: Mr. Schofield is today a man with the freedom to act professionally and do as he pleases. There will be more if the Callisto Protocol already achieves the success it has promised. A PR also joined our conversation, but unlike what is increasingly common with other leading figures in the video game industry, it wasn’t he who directed the dance but Schofield himself who promoted it properly, who had no problem telling us a little more. originally intended.
Our initial goal was to understand how one sees today’s video games, which while the trend seems to have reversed in recent years, are becoming increasingly faster, faster and certainly less profound in terms of gameplay as we know it.
The answer given to us leaves hope for those hoping for a product that can transcend the fashion of the moment, according to Schofield at The Callisto Procol. creative style not much has changed and it is possible to apply an infinite number of layers in a horror game without breaking the core. The first of these layers is what makes his latest game also a sci-fi adventure, the second is defined by a combat system that tries to reach a greater depth than suggested by the same Dead Space, where the Callisto Protocol is clearly spiritual. Follow.
According to the author, in Dead Space war retained its interestingness, thanks to the possibility of neatly cutting off the limbs of enemies, but remaining “one-dimensional”; There are many more ways to kill in the new game, but above all, there are many more ways to be killed. There will also be cases where it will be possible to die from a single mistake, maybe not at the beginning of the game, but sooner or later some wild creatures will appear. Callisto Protocol is going to be a tough game, it doesn’t rain on it.
Restarting
The next step was to ask Glen Schofield if he saw more of a problem or opportunity in this new beginning. On the one hand, if it’s really convenient, if faster, to go with pre-agreed knowledge, starting from scratch from a creative perspective can represent a very attractive opportunity and allow the team to overturn what didn’t work in the first place. Unforeseen limits in terms of mission or, more simply, game design. Schofield confirms our impression: If this were a new Dead Space, it would have been easier for him and the rest of the development team: the setting would have already been decided, some of the mechanics would have already been implemented.
So, even though it hurt a little that he couldn’t continue to evolve his creature, being free was much more exciting. rethinking the concept game by working with a new environment and new characters, and possibly implementing a set of mechanics where Dead Space will appear in its place. Even with obvious links, Callisto Protocol is a completely new game and users will notice it when they can try it out.
A more narrative approach
One aspect of the Callisto Protocol outside of Dead Space is the way the story is told. A more cinematic approachIt has been fully implemented to reinforce the narrative aspect of the project, with several unplayable sequences completely absent from the project created in collaboration with Electronic Arts. This choice has also been useful for creating more structured characters than is usually seen in horror movies and games, where the simple excuse – “a bunch of kids got lost in the woods” – is all it takes to get you to the credits. .
This simplification might be fine for a harder film, but it’s something Glen Schofield wanted to avoid for The Callisto Protocol. Among other things, this new project was born with the idea of being a kind of science fiction extension.PUBG universe, that’s right, the popular battle royale, but when we reminded him of this Schofield connection he was clear: “It was the idea but honestly it never seemed like the best option. And we actually changed our minds pretty quickly but we waited for a while. a little too much to communicate”. The Callisto Protocol therefore has nothing to do with the game, which in part provides the funds necessary for the development of this hopeful horror.
stylistic continuity
Where the Callisto Protocol chooses a more canonical path is at the helm of the game., present it here in its most classic form: if you die, restart from the last checkpoint or save. Once again, the graphical interface will not occupy parts of the screen, it will always be free from useless traps, but will be scattered among the indicators located on the hero’s suit, as in Dead Space.
For Schofield, once you innovate like this, you can’t go back, and it’s really impossible to blame him. Our interlocutor later confirmed that, in terms of graphics, the Callisto Protocol is practically complete, the future optimized more to improve overall performance, but there will be no degradation of any kind.
There graphic This is one of the aspects that Glen Schofield and his team are most proud of, and in this context he wanted to highlight several times the effort made to add a dizzying number of details, with particular attention to the performance of the materials. The only thing they save, so to speak, is usually the ceilings, but only because they are largely poorly lit.
Glen vs. Schofield
As time was running out fast, we finally gave the proverb the “elephant in the room”. remake of the first Dead Space One that Electonic Arts is working on and will be released shortly after The Callisto Protocol. Glen Schifield wishes the developers well, but believes both games will have no problem sharing public interest. He recounts that all his life, they’ve warned him about any style conflicts with other games, and the same thing has happened to him in all of Call of Duty he’s been working on, and even in his first Dead Space for EA. I remembered since very recently … Resident Evil?
No, surprisingly we were told that the cause of concern was a title that was not suspect to us, or Left 4 Dead, originally distributed by Electronic Arts. We all know how it went then, and the lesson also served Glen Schofield, who today says he’s only committed to making The Callisto Protocol the best game possible.
And from what we’ve seen, the result certainly looks achievable.
Source: Multiplayer
