Everyone by now should have heard rumor about a brand new intellectual property called Darksiders. As a fan of open world games with tons of exploring this game has really taken my interests by the horns since it was announced. As the game draws near I got to talk Haydn Dalton who is the Lead Designer of the Vigil Development team for this game.
Toby: Can you give a summary of the game Darksiders? I only ask because I found that some people still don’t know about this game.
Haydn: Darksiders is a 3rd person action/adventure game set after an apocalypse has hit the earth. You play as War, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, trying to find out who caused the event, while attempting to clear his name and regain his powers and horse Ruin. It’s a lot of adventuring, puzzle solving and a whole case full of kickass!
T: During the development of the game how was the Musical Score chosen? Also was there anything that did not get picked that was also good?
Haydn: The musical score starts with a style you’re looking for. We wanted something that was a mix between Han Zimmer’s GLADIATOR combined with DARK KNIGHT. These two styles had the epic, comic book/superhero and brooding elements that we thought matched the game we were making. There were a few pieces we didn’t use during normal game time, but tweaked them so they were all used within all our 50+ cinematics.
T: Every team has some great moments in development. What was one of the great team moments you can share with me?
Haydn: There was a time when Ryan, our lead level designer, Joe and few others attempted to wall run along an office wall. Ryan ended up putting his foot/leg through the wall when he tried just a little too hard. Plus, there’s been many times in the early hours where everyone is tired and giddy, but you’re all their like a unit and people end up getting into wrestle matches, or throwing around huge inflatable balls, taco ninja stars and the list continues. You need the fun with the serious.
T: Which do you find harder on the Darksiders process and why? 1) Getting the game finished on time for your publisher. Or 2) Waiting to see the reactions from the fans and people who play this game.
Haydn: That’s a hard question, as they’re both hard for different reasons. I’d say getting the game done was the hardest physically as we crunched hard for a long time to get the game done to a standard we were happy with. Luckily, we don’t have long now before we hear the reactions from the public!
T: At PAX09 this year you all had a Mechanical Horse to show Ruin that War will ride in the game. How did this event come about and had anyone did rodeo events before?
Haydn: This was a total THQ stunt. We found out about it a few weeks before the world knew about it. We saw construction pictures and thought it was a cool marketing idea. We were so busy developing the game at the time that it was all like a delicious blur! We hope to get that bad boy in one of the rooms of our new Vigil offices.
T: What is one of the weapons, bad guys or game item that was left out that no one knows about that the team thought was cool. Why did you leave it out and what was was the purpose or feature of it?
Haydn: We had these creatures called the Stewards. They could only be defeated via the Scythe weapon, or they’d reform and keep attacking, but, once they’d been defeated, they would follow War around and attack with you. They were also critical in the completion of a set of puzzles. There were 3 of these ghostly looking creatures, but we ended up cutting the level they were in, thus rendering them useless, as we had no room to accommodate them anymore and time was ticking.
T: Collectively as a team what do you think the three most commonly used words have been during this development cycle on Darksiders?
Haydn: I’d say the 3 most commonly used words would be “Epic, Cool & Zelda”
T: With as much Fluff in the story on before the games story and maybe after it and with everyone in between. Do you think down the road for the writers there may be a chance for maybe a book series to go further in the Darksiders Universe?
Haydn: Joe Mad & Joe Kelly shaped the final script for the game. I don’t think a book series is a possibility, unless THQ decide to expand the IP externally. Our Joe will be too busy with other things internally J
T: Next year the Natal and the PS3 motion controller comes out. Will either one of these gadgets be incorporated to Darksiders game play via a patch or another method?
Haydn: No, there are no plans currently to patch Darksiders with the aforementioned controller systems.
I want to thank you all for your time. Personally I am looking forward to January 5th, 2010 in the US for the games release. Now if you’re into this kind of game then you may want to look into as well.
