FEAR 2 Interview with Dave Matthews from Monolith

by jinx

So, Dave, you worked on the first FEAR title. Can you bring us up to speed with a quick overview for those who didn't play it, and where we are with the opening of the sequel?

FEAR’s story is all about the wrath of a small tortured soul named Alma. She was a girl with psychic abilities and was forced by a corporation (Armacham) to bear 2 children in the hopes of reproducing those abilities. At some point before the game starts they tried to pull the plug on her and for some reason (her rage, her powers) she became something more than just mortal. Throughout the game, you (Pointman) are trying to get to Paxton Fettel, the 2^nd child. Throughout the game she appears to the player and guides him towards the end… This end is the knowledge that you are the first son.

At the end of the game you defeat Paxton and release Alma from Containmnet. A huge3 explosion destroys part of the city.

In FEAR2 we start 30 minutes before that explosion. You play Michael Becket, charged with finding Genevieve Arestide, who works for Armacham. She is wanted in connection with the activities that Paxton was involved with in the first game. At the end of the first mission, you meet her and she tells you how important you are to her goals. You get to witness the explosion from the end of the first game, and from that point forward the two arcs merge and the timeline/story become one.

Tell me about the new protagonist. This guy isn't a FEAR Operative, but one of the Special Forces ops. Who is this guy?

Becket is just like everyone else at first… except he has a certain amount of potential. Throughout the first mission you will not have that intense focus (manifested as slow mo). Due to the story, by mission 2 you will be able to use it. It won’t become clear until the end of the game why Beckett is so special and why he can do what he does.

What's the biggest lesson you and the team learned from creating the first FEAR game?

I think the biggest lesson we learned from FEAR is that we needed to treat pacing and variety with more sophistication. We had a team mantra of variety, and tried to incorporate that in everything we did on FEAR2. Variety in the locations you will see through the game. Variety in the characters. In how we tell the story. Combat experiences…  even the use of color to trigger certain emotional responses.

Which leads to my next question as well. A lot of sequels seem to suffer because the concept isn't new anymore. You've already mentioned the variety--what else is FEAR2 doing to keep the experience fresh for gamers who played and loved the surprises from the first one?

Well, pacing of experience… if we do one thing too long you start to become numb to the experience. And we still have a great amount of story to tell about Alma. So the  manner that the story unfolds is very similar to Jhorror [Japanese horror – ed]. The horror aspects have evolved as well. We’ve taken new inspiration to add to our recipe from films like Nightwatch, Daywatch, High Tension… even the SAW film.

What is it about Alma that's so terrifying?

I think she is iconic. The idea that something so small and frail can have so much power and rage affects us on a very different level. She becomes even more obtuse with the idea that you get to see her powers manifest in-game, see what she is capable of… and the fact that no weapon made by man has that kind of destructive, toxic, vengeful force.

There's been a lot of hubbub about this game running foul of the Australian censors, but now it's all cleared up and the game is coming next month. What was the big deal, and did you have to make any changes to release it here?

You know, when we first heard about the ban we were saddened and knew we would have to make adjustments to the experience and alter what we wanted to tell. Warner Bros was awesome. They went to bat for us and explained our intent with the game, and ultimately convinced the board to overturn the ban. And because of that, Monolith and the team are super excited that we get to bring FEAR2 to Australia EXACTLY as we intended.

Speaking of changes to the experience...  The first FEAR game was release first for PC and then later ported to the consoles. The first time FEAR2 was seen was at E3 on the Xbox 360, and it's releasing simultaneously on all platforms. How has multiplatform development affected the game?

I love talking about this. I have been in the industry for many years, and this is the first time I have developed this way… no lead sku. All 3 platforms are developed simultaneously so when I create an asset I can verify how it looks, behaves, etc. on all three platforms. If it feels synonymous I can check it in. It really ensures that everyone  will receive a very similar experience. I don’t want to go back to the old way of development.

How has your development role changed between the two titles?

My role was pretty insignificant on the first one. I joined the company near the end of development on FEAR and Condemned and helped any way I could to get them out the door. On FEAR2 I am the Primary Art Lead, so I wear a whole lot of hats and ultimately am responsible for all the art assets and the art staff. I even got to do some design work on this one.

I hope you wear all your hats at jaunty angles.

Even the santa hat.

What's a typical day in the studio like?

Just kidding. It’s a lot of work. It may sound snide, but games don’t make themselves. We spend a lot of our time creating content, but then we play each others’ areas and check each others’ assets. When we find areas that need more attention, we push on it. On Fridays we have company meetings where we look at the big picture of the studio, then we examine a game for about an hour. It could be ny game… it doesn’t have to be in our genre. Gems can come from anywhere. Then we play our game some more.

So you're telling me the age-old fantasy of game developers playing games all day is only half true?

All day… that may be true if they called in sick. But in order to know what makes a great game, you need to play them.

What was last Friday's game?

Last Friday I was on my way to Australia, but the Friday before that was Fallout 3.

Verdict on Fallout 3?

There are some really cool things to do in it. The universe was maintained with great vigilance and we pretty much gave it the thumbs-up.

What other games do you play outside work? Any current addictions?

Gears of War 2, LBP… Every Friday is Rock Band night at my house.

What game would you totally destroy me at?

Driving games. I have a mutant ability to own driving games. My friends don’t like to play them with me unless they are sober, I am not, and I give them a HUGE head start. On Rock Band I play everything and I am in the top 100 (on leaderboards) on vocals in a few songs. The first God of War I would own… maybe because I was the lead character artist on that game and since I designed Kratos I know everything about him.

What do you think is the most groundbreaking game in the last 5 years? (that you didn't work on!)

I think Braid, Flow, or Technochrome. All three of those returned to the roots of gameplay and created something new. It wasn’t just about flashy graphics.

What's your gamertag?

Daveskoan

The subtitle for FEAR2 is Project Origin, and the story about how the game got that name is pretty cool. Tell me about it.

Monolith owns the universe, characters, story… everything except the name to FEAR. When we went on to FEAR2 we knew we would have to come up with a new name. Since our community is so active we put it out to them. We hade a “Name Your Fear” contest… over 10,000 name submissions. We narrowed it down to three and put it to an online vote. After over 60,000 votes were cast, Project Origin was deemed the winner.  When we got the name back (which was equally awesome) we didn’t want to lose the involvement of the community, and thus FEAR2: Project Origin was branded.

Ok, last question. are there any easter eggs we should look out for?

We don’t call them easter eggs, but there are a few neat things in the school to look at, like the 1^st graders.