Those mad fools over at Adventure Classic Gaming are at it again with this splendid interview with Bill Tiller about all things A Vampyre Story. A snippet:
Designers and artists once worked at LucasArts during its prime are worshipped as almost demigods by classic adventure game fans. In consequence, expectations are very high for A Vampyre Story to revive the spirit of classic LucasArts adventures. How do you deal with such high expectations of your work?Much is learned, and there's even some new artwork in there, so there's really no defendable reason for you to not be there by now.
Well, let’s be realistic; adventures are a good solid market, but they have suffered a bit from the variety of genres out now that weren’t there 12 years ago. So consequently the sales and budgets have been affected. So if people expect us to have the same size and scope of Grim Fandango or Curse of Monkey Island, it just isn’t going to happen on half or 1/3 of those game budgets. But on the other hand 3d makes creating assets go a lot faster and look better. So some things will be better than those old games and some things won’t. That’s just the reality of today’s market place. And that is fine; we just have to take that into consideration when making our production plan. And if the game sells really well then who knows? Maybe we will be back to selling the same number of units we did in the mid to late nineties, and the next game can be even bigger.
As far as the design and humor go I just stick to the hope that my training under Brian Moriarty, Hal Barwood, Larry Ahern, Jonathan Ackley, Sean Clark, Peter Chan and Bill Eaken pay off. I’m pretty sure it will. I don’t know how it will measure up to those classic titles, but I think we have created a really fun game that people will enjoy.
About the wee bit of fame we get, I enjoy it because generally I am a shy person and am a little nervous meeting new people. But when I meet LucasArts fans they already seem to like me so I am not so nervous, which is a nice change. Though I could still make a bad impression but I am at least not as nervous about it. But trust me I am so full of insecurities that I’m pretty sure no amount of fame will ever go to my head. I’m just happy people are looking forward to my game and like what they see so far because I want to keep making it for them. It’s sort of like I have a bargain with the fans: I will work my ass off and do my best to make a fun, beautiful adventure game for you, if you just buy the game and help me pay the bills. It’s a good deal for me and the fans I think.
LOL!
About the wee bit of fame we get, I enjoy it because generally I am a shy person and am a little nervous meeting new people. But when I meet LucasArts fans they already seem to like me so I am not so nervous, which is a nice change.
ohh, and arrrr!