Developer: Platinum Games
Designers: Atsushi Inaba (Project Producer) / Shigenori Nishikawa (Director)
Platform: Wii
Published By: SEGA
Release Dates: NA: March 10th 2009/ Aus: March 26th/ Eur: March 31st
Platinum Lounge Video Interview
Producer Atsushi Inaba and first-time Director Shigenori Nishikawa discuss Madworld in a recent ShortList interview.
Does the black-and-white negates some of the impact of the violence?
N: Yes.
Inaba: The team's initial aim was to create a game that was unique and new on the Wii and from there they decided on the colours of black and white. Then, because the content they were creating was violent, they decided to incorporate red as a signifier of the violence. The splash of red makes the violence clearer, as the black and white would de-emphasize it. The colour schemes both amplify and negate the violence.
Allowing you to be more violent?
I: That's not necessarily the case, because, regardless of the colours in the game, if the visuals were realistic, the game would be incredibly gruesome anyway. Our aim was to be different. A black-and-white game with this sort of content has never been done before.
Do you think the Wii needs more adult games?
I: Yes, we do and we would like you to buy copies of MadWorld, please (laughs).
How hard was it to strike a balance in a game that mixes visceral violence and sense of fun?
N: It's extremely challenging because many of the themes and actions we're incorporating into the game have never been done before with this balance. If the violence outweighs the comedy, it all becomes very sinister. If the comedy outweighs the violence, that's also bad - because then it all becomes macabre. So we have massive discussions at many stages in order to maintain this crucial balance.
Does the small colour palette allows you to free up more power in the console so you can concentrate on other aspects of the game?
I: In a sense, yes, because technically it allows us to put more detail into the design of the environments and the game's characters. It also requires us to put more emphasis on the gameplay as the colours can seem monotonous unless you are really enjoying yourself. At the end of the day, though, there's just as much work to do as there would be if the game was in full colour. The game actually isn't completely black, white and red. When we first started developing the game, it was, and it was so stark that the development team couldn't play through it without their eyes becoming painful and the screen becoming hard to see. What you actually see is a game which is off-colour white. And black and red (laughs).
Just how many ways are their to kill people in the game?
N: (Laughs) Well, you can use the chainsaw which is Jack's default weapon. Another would be to pick up weapons such as the daggers. And the third way would be to use something from your environment - such as gasoline drums you can pick up and use to crush an opponent's head. Those are the three basic ways. As you go through the different stages the variety of weapons and variety of kills will expand. For example, you can pick up a sign post and you smash it through someone's head - it doesn't necessarily kill them off, but it weakens them - and then you can do combos using other objects or weapons in your environment to finish them off. There's a lot of variety in the ways you can kill someone off.
Do you have a favourite method?
N: (Laughs) Mine is the rose bush - which is a wall full of spikes. There's two ways you can use it; you can pick up an opponent and throw them against the wall, or you can pick him up, close to the bush, and repeatedly impale him on the spikes.
I: My favourite is sticking a sign post through people. You can stick multiple sign posts through people before they die (laughs).
You must have realised that MadWorld was going to be controversial when you began work on it. Was it hard sticking to your vision of the finished game now that it's getting a bit of flack - what with it already being banned in Germany, for example?
N: From a director's perspective - given that the type of game we're making is violent - we do understand the concerns that the media and certain groups may have about violence. But this game is not only about the violence, it's about the over-the-top content, the laugh-out-loud humour beyond the violence. When we were making this game, we found it funny. We had a really good time. So the violence isn't really a great concern from a game developer's perspective.
I: As a game producer, I realise the concern of the media because the content is very violent, some people may be very upset about it. That is a big challenge for anyone who is trying to produce a game like this. So I feel it's very important to reiterate at every opportunity that this game is not sinister, it's trying to make fun of the violence in the game. It's important that the game and and the gameplay live up to this aim. This is a game for adults. This is a game. It all takes place in a video-game environment.
So were any kill scenes cut from the game for being to near the knuckle?
N: All the ideas go through me and if I believe that it's not funny, that it won't appeal to other people and that it won't make gamers laugh out loud, it gets cut. So there may have been ideas that were cut - but that's because they weren't funny.
http://www.shortlist.com/
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Not long now..I hear IGN.com are actually working with SEGA and PlatinumGames to showcase the game next month, starting from the 20th with a major blowout of the game. Cannot wait!. I loved Clover Games in the past and Platinum Games seem to be starting right where they left off. This time without by very weak promotion by Capcom. SEGA will do a great job and this game will be huge.
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