[Saty]

Gamasutra has a 4-page interview with Cliff B and it's a pretty cool read. Some of his ideas are neat.

http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/17..._the_world.php

About Japanese devs:

One of the options I've thought of was what if I left Epic right now, and became a consultant to help Japanese developers make games that are more Western-friendly -- not only from an IP perspective, but also from the game mechanics and features perspective. I could seriously have a very healthy consulting gig doing that, right?

And so my advice to Japan is that in a disc-based market right now, you cannot [ignore multiplayer]. I'm not saying tack multiplayer onto every game. But for instance, Shadows of the Damned, that was a wonderfully crazy adventure, the dialogue had me laughing out loud, just even the key-door systems in there; it was a beautifully crazy game with really fun gameplay, but no multiplayer co-op experience in there. I'm not saying tack on a versus mode; there's a billion different ways you can do some sort of "players interacting with other players" mode.

For instance there's Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. That's ironically one of the most innovative games with what we call "mingle player" that has had those kinds of blending and blurring of single player and multiplayer -- and it came from Japan! So clearly some of the developers over there get that, because that game is going to continue to inspire a lot of Western developers to figure ways that you can have connected elements in campaign games, and have more of a blended experience.

And if you're going to make a third-person shooter... the fact that Vanquish didn't have a multiplayer suite was a crime. That IP, it was pretty good as far as being Western, the gameplay was great, and the vibe... I've often said on record that if Gears is the kind of Wild, Wild West coal train chugging along, then Vanquish is the Japanese bullet train, with style and everything. There is absolutely no reason I shouldn't have been zipping around, doing the mega slides, diving up in the air in an arena with other players.

I'm sure the development team got together and was like, "Well, we probably shouldn't do multiplayer because of the budget," or the time, but at the end of the day you have an amazing product that was [handicapped] by the fact that it was seen by many gamers as a campaign rental or a used game, and not the $60, day one, gotta have it game.

I'm afraid people will see my big advice as "just tack on multiplayer." No, don't ever just tack on multiplayer; it's a huge mistake. Make the multiplayer soar and make it relevant to the game, and make it key to the DNA of what the experience is.

Fatal Frame:

Why don't I have a multiplayer Fatal Frame yet? What if I had a Fatal Frame where anonymous people could join my game and be ghosts and try to scare the crap out of me, and then I rate how well they scared me? Basically a fancy hide and go seek

Why don't I have an augmented reality version of Fatal Frame for the Vita, in which ghosts hang around the world? I think Nintendo had something similar to that, right? Why don't they have ARGs where they then actually hide real ghosts in the real world, maybe where even real people died? That's maybe a little too crazy, but this is the kind of thinking that I think needs to kind of push everything.

Silent Hill:

I miss that experience. But mark my words, if we get to just fully-connected consoles that have e-shops and everything like that, you might see the rise or re-emergence of the scary horror genres as $20 or $30 games

If I were to rate the Silent Hills in the order of the best ones... The Silent Hill series for me was like Highlander, which for me stopped after the first one. So in regards to Silent Hill, after Silent Hill 3 for me there are no Silent Hills. And that sounds really mean; I apologize to anybody who works on the Silent Hills.

I would say, in order [from favorite to least favorite], Silent Hill 2. and then actually I would go for Silent Hill 3 and then 1, because 1 for me was a great game but the graphics on the PS1 just do not hold up. It's that just getting into 3D, the textures are not perspective-correct, things are swimming everywhere, and I'm just like, "Ahh... I can't deal with this."

Mechanics:

Eventually I'd love to do a horror game someday, and I have all these mechanics I'd love to implement. One of the ones I've fantasized about is to have a game that's first person, and the monsters essentially are the most clear when they're in your periphery, and then when you actually look at them, that's when they become more and more vague. It's all about what's unseen, right?

The other mechanic I want to do -- that somebody can feel free to steal, because I'm never going to get around to doing it -- is make a game in which it's first-person and you're being stalked by giant scary creatures, and you can turn invisible, but the only way to turn invisible is to close your eyes. And then you're trying to play this Metal Gear-ish stealth game around these creatures, and you hear the alert state, at which point you close your eyes and you just have to then listen. There's this sound technology, I can't remember the name of it, where it really feels like the things are around you, and then you can only stay invisible for so long and find the right time to open your eyes. And you're either going to be in the clear, or there's going to be this thing just breathing down on you or whatnot. I thought that could be a fun mechanic to do. But who knows, right?

Resident Evil:

Well, what happened is that it ceased being a horror game; it became an action game. And as much as the player was [handicapped] by pivot controls, he's still a badass dude with a laser sight and he's wiping out hundreds of zombies, right? You know, we weren't a scared girl running away from a giant guy with scissors anymore [Ed. Note: a reference to PS1 horror game Clock Tower], and that's okay.

Again, though, I would be terrified if suddenly, the doomsday scenario came along. Tim Sweeney says, "Hey you, you're fired!" and then Capcom's says, "Hey, come work for us and do the next Resident Evil game!" I'll be like, "Oh my God."

And I think the proper way to do that -- if I were to work on an RE game, hypothetically -- would be to alternate between those moments. Maybe do an RE game where there's two kinds of characters -- you know, you've got a Leon-type guy, and then mix in a scared little girl, and so you alternate between the empowerment and the fear

You know what else I would consider, from a production standpoint, is what if I was running Capcom? I would split Resident Evil -- and this may be a mistake but I'm just throwing an idea out there. I would do the Resident Evil, you know, "Merc Ops," where you're these badass soldiers who clean out zombies and you're just like "the guys." And then do Resident Evil: Special Victims Unit. Where it's the stories of the ordinary people, where you see one zombie and that's scary and maybe you can fend that one off, but you get more than two or three and you do nothing but run, Walking Dead style. And see it from both sides.

Uncharted:

But one of the things that I find missing from Uncharted is that if I'm a treasure hunter and I'm playing Uncharted 3, I'm finding like a random Faberge Egg every once in a while, and I'm in this jungle and I try to go off the beaten path and I can't.

If I were at Naughty Dog now -- wow, this is turning into an "if Cliffy ran the world" interview -- but yeah, I would do a version of Uncharted that's multiplayer, in which every person is their own version of a Nathan Drake and you're doing global treasure hunts. And have dynamic events where "A new rune has been found in Peru!", you know?

The race to get there, and then if somebody else got there first they actually left traps behind or bait/switch, and people backstabbing each other, and really have that be player-driven, and have a lot of emergent gameplay. Don't focus on the script-y stuff. You know, make the jungles and make the players race to get to it, and make The Amazing Race with treasures, you know, a version of what Indiana Jones was -- globetrotting around the world

[XANDER CAGE]

the fact that Vanquish didn't have a multiplayer suite was a crime. That IP, it was pretty good as far as being Western, the gameplay was great, and the vibe... I've often said on record that if Gears is the kind of Wild, Wild West coal train chugging along, then Vanquish is the Japanese bullet train, with style and everything. There is absolutely no reason I shouldn't have been zipping around, doing the mega slides, diving up in the air in an arena with other players.

Cliffy, you're alright.

[Endo Punk]

Woah Cliffy has a lot of Wisdom to give.

[whitehawk]

I really really want to play his version of Uncharted.

[Fabrik]

He has some interesting ideas! But I wouldn't want too many Japanese games looking like Dudebro games.

[randomwab]

Resident Evil: Special Victims Unit aka Resident Evil Outbreak?

He has really great ideas, though. Could you imagine him working with Grasshopper and consulting some with Platinum/Tango? I love those three companies but it would help a lot.

[Dascu]

Why don't I have a multiplayer Fatal Frame yet? What if I had a Fatal Frame where anonymous people could join my game and be ghosts and try to scare the crap out of me, and then I rate how well they scared me? Basically a fancy hide and go seek

The upcoming FF2 remake actually has something like this.


Lots of interesting info otherwise. I'd love to see him tackle the horror genre.

[Big-E]

Like his horror ideas but really don't like how he wants multiplayer. He keeps saying he doesn't want it to be tacked on but that is what would happen with Shadows of the Damned and Vanquish style properties. They simply can't have a budget where you don't get tacked on multiplayer.

[WhyMe6]

I'm not the type of guy to go around whining about a lack of multiplayer modes, but yeah, Vanquish could really have used one. That game was amazing, and the way it played would have meant multiplayer could have been hectic. It really could have been one of those rare multiplayer gems that put such a unique, addictive spin on things to make it stand out. Kinda like how Red Faction: Guerrilla had freaking awesome multiplayer that nobody played :(

Also, I love his Demon's Souls-esque Project Zero multiplayer ideas.

[StuBurns]

Vanquish's core design is too heavily dependent on time manipulation to be an effective multiplayer game. It also had a tiny budget and the director already had other plans for the future, so the viability of a sequel was never of importance. It shouldn't have had multiplayer.

[rezuth]

Cliff is keeping it real.

[johnnysix]

Why do people always have to bitch about Gears and dudebro and huge characters? Anyone seen Predator or any other 80's action movie? He was making that type of game. People love it. Get over it and stop being so pretentious.

Back on topic. I love all of these ideas. I think there has to be something wrong when people spend 3 years on a game and it turns out as "generic third / first person action game #4589". Something's broken. All of his ideas are very ambitious and are exactly the kind of things the industry needs. I'm very interested to see what he does next. He definitely made an impact with Gears and influenced the industry and I'd love to see him do it again.

I think with budgets and huge projects these days you are lucky if you get to truly innovate once per generation. The risk and investment is just that big. Having said that, some studios haven't innovated at all this generation.

[maomaoIYP]

Came expecting to read him advising Japanese developers make more dudebro games, was very surprised to see lots of interesting suggestions.

[makingmusic476]

Mingle-player. I like the sound of that.

I've never heard too much out of Cliffy B prior to this, but this has made me like the guy a lot. Really good ideas, and a respectful attitude towards other properties.

[Tribes of Trusty]

Vanquish's core design is too heavily dependent on time manipulation to be an effective multiplayer game. It also had a tiny budget and the director already had other plans for the future, so the viability of a sequel was never of importance. It shouldn't have had multiplayer.

It's interesting how Max Payne 3 tackled the multiplayer mode, but it wouldn't have worked for such a fast-paced game.

It may be regrettable that there aren't any MP modes in Vanquish, but to me it's better to have a SP-only game than a SP+half-assed MP mode, where the resources and manpower could've been allocated to the SP.
Example in mind : Mass Effect 3. The MP mode is just okay, it was fun for a hour or two with a friend, but I can't see myself sinking hours in it, contrary to other MP games.

[Discotheque]

Love his Silent Hill rankings and comments on Shadows of the Damned. More people need to play the game.

[Haunted]

ideas are cheap

[Jintor]

But I should would like a game like Vanquish by Platinum and Mikami with multiplayer.

[Earthpainting]

While I'm sure he's right from a commercial point of view, I don't really like what I'm reading. As someone that doesn't care for multiplayer, hearing people advocate for making more multiplayer focused experiences makes me a bit disappointed. The projects he brought up as examples already felt like they didn't have much wiggle-room in their budget, let alone for well-developed multiplayer features.

[johnnysix]

ideas are cheap

Talk is cheap. Ideas aren't. What's cheap is cranking out the same game you've been making since the PS1. Why aren't we encouraging out of the box thinking? If we're not seeing ideas like these come to fruition then we need to look at why not, instead of discouraging discussion.

[-PXG-]

ideas are cheap

True. But Cliff isn't some Joe Blow. He's produced plenty

[Kusagari]

All of his ideas are great, but some of the games he criticizes just didn't have the budget for multiplayer.

[Varth]

I left Epic right now, and became a consultant to help Japanese developers make games that are more Western-friendly

Please, NO.

Really. NO.

Last thing gaming needs is for someone to preach the glory of brodude-ism to the east too. He poisoned the wells enough in the west already this gen, visually speaking.

[SparkTR]

Talk is cheap. Ideas aren't. What's cheap is cranking out the same game you've been making since the PS1. Why aren't we encouraging out of the box thinking? If we're not seeing ideas like these come to fruition then we need to look at why not, instead of discouraging discussion.

Because from a publisher's perspective that's a sure-fire way to get yourself bankrupt, it's only going to get worse once development costs rise. Remember when EA didn't seem so bad? In 2008-2009 they published cool stuff like Brutal Legend, Mirrors Edge, Dragon Age Origins and Dead Space, but because of that they didn't produce enough mega-sellers, had a few flops and now they're facing financial disaster. Ofcourse these days they're backpedaling to the usual checkbox of modern shooters, WoW clones and DLC/online passes and other shady tactics (like that server business) to recoup funds. There's just not enough incentive to finance "out of the box thinking" these days.

Though I'm talking from a AAA perspective, you still see interesting stuff from indies and mid-tier developers like Amnesia and Lone Survivor (when looking at the horror genre).

[subversus]

One of the ones I've fantasized about is to have a game that's first person, and the monsters essentially are the most clear when they're in your periphery, and then when you actually look at them, that's when they become more and more vague. It's all about what's unseen, right?

Cliff needs to play Amnesia

[Anteater]

I'm not too into multiplayer but I do agree with him with it.

Multiplayers not only add replay value, but also encourage people to actually replay them with a friend to explore what the game has to offer, people doesn't mind playing on higher difficulty and replaying the game again, and they will talk about it with the friends, encouraging other friends to try it, etc.

With a game like Vanquish or Bayonetta, a lot of people probably just play through normal, sell it, and tell his friends "lol it's short and easy, story sucks, rent it."

[dygiT]

Last thing gaming needs is for someone to preach the glory of brodude-ism to the east too. He poisoned the wells enough in the west already this gen, visually speaking.

Not really...

[subversus]

Speaking of horror multiplayer I recommend everybody who owns a PC and Valve's game to download Hidden Source. It's a very, very tense multiplayer game/mod and I'm surprised that some big publisher hasn't stole the idea.

[2San]

Please, NO. Really. NO. Last thing gaming needs is for someone to preach the glory of brodude-ism to the east too. He poisoned the wells enough in the west already this gen, visually speaking.

What? Wat?

[wsippel]

"Why don't I have an augmented reality version of Fatal Frame for the Vita, in which ghosts hang around the world?"

Because it's a Nintendo IP, Clifford. And they just did an AR Fatal Frame. Nobody bought it. ;)

I agree that multiplayer survival horror could work, though. Not necessarily the way he described, I think there are much better solutions, but yeah - I believe it's possible.

[dragonelite]

Please, NO. Really. NO. Last thing gaming needs is for someone to preach the glory of brodude-ism to the east too. He poisoned the wells enough in the west already this gen, visually speaking.

Because of Gears?

[Dapperk]

Please, NO. Really. NO. Last thing gaming needs is for someone to preach the glory of brodude-ism to the east too. He poisoned the wells enough in the west already this gen, visually speaking.

Someone obviously didn't read the OP.

[subversus]

The first Gears had this great factory level with horror vibe. Do Gears 2-3 have stuff like that? I haven't played them.

[adamma666]

"Why don't I have an augmented reality version of Fatal Frame for the Vita, in which ghosts hang around the world?" Because it's a Nintendo IP, Clifford. And they just did an AR Fatal Frame. Nobody bought it. ;)

huh? since when? I honestly don't know, all I know ist that I have some Fatal Frames for Playstation 2 and Xbox. when did Nintendo buy the IP?

[Varth]

Someone obviously didn't read the OP.

Someone didn't compare all the fancy talk in the interview with his games.

[Haunted]

Talk is cheap. Ideas aren't. What's cheap is cranking out the same game you've been making since the PS1. Why aren't we encouraging out of the box thinking? If we're not seeing ideas like these come to fruition then we need to look at why not, instead of discouraging discussion.

True. But Cliff isn't some Joe Blow. He's produced plenty

Oh, I'm totally encouraging out of the box thinking. You're probably right, I shouldn't have dismissed the practice of throwing out your ideas like this.

I was probably spoiled by reading this post about evolving horror from Frictional Games. Cliffy's ideas don't seem particularly noteworthy next to that.

[Criminal Upper]

Gears being a huge coal train chugging along, and Vanquish being a Japanese bullet train is a pretty great comparison.

[FrontalMonk]

See, this is why I like Cliffy. He has the dudebro persona and attitude, but when you dig into his head he's a really smart, really creative guy. I'm not a fan of his "make everything multiplayer" standpoint from a gamer perspective, but I realize why it makes sense from a business perspective, and even more importantly, I LOVE that he was able to tie the idea of multiplayer in to specifically how the genre worked. I really like the idea of more emergent, less scripted gameplay, and would love to play his vision of Fatal Frame, his vision of Uncharted, and frankly, while his idea for Resident Evil has already come and gone (outbreak) I really think it needs to make a comeback - It's the kind of game that was really awesome in concept, but was just way ahead of its time. The PS2 wasn't ready for a game like that, because we didn't have this "always online" mentality with regards to consoles. I'd love to see a "back to basics" Outbreak vol. 3 on PS360.

[wsippel]

huh? since when? I honestly don't know, all I know ist that I have some Fatal Frames for Playstation 2 and Xbox. when did Nintendo buy the IP?

January 2008.

[NoirVisage]

ideas are cheap

I *think? know exactly what you're getting at and what you're referring to. i believe vanquish just couldn't afford multiplayer without the core game suffering, some of his ideas are incredibly sound though, especially the "unseen" bit which is actually the name of an idea i'm working on.


edit:*maybe not..

[Night_Trekker]

Cliffy needs to play the Siren games. (The PS2 ones.)

If I were to rate the Silent Hills in the order of the best ones... The Silent Hill series for me was like Highlander, which for me stopped after the first one. So in regards to Silent Hill, after Silent Hill 3 for me there are no Silent Hills. And that sounds really mean; I apologize to anybody who works on the Silent Hills.

I respect this statement way more than I do someone saying, "Come on, guys, give the new SH games a chance."

I would say, in order [from favorite to least favorite], Silent Hill 2. and then actually I would go for Silent Hill 3 and then 1, because 1 for me was a great game but the graphics on the PS1 just do not hold up. It's that just getting into 3D, the textures are not perspective-correct, things are swimming everywhere, and I'm just like, "Ahh... I can't deal with this."

...and then he had to go ruin things. *fart noise*

[adamma666]

January 2008.

are you sure about this? I only find info about Nintendo publishing the Wii-games and co-developing FF4, but not owning the IP?

[Haunted]

I *think? know exactly what you're getting at and what you're referring to. i believe vanquish just couldn't afford multiplayer without the core game suffering, some of his ideas are incredibly sound though, especially the "unseen" bit which is actually the name of an idea i'm working on. edit:*maybe not..

haha no I wasn't talking about budget constraints and dev realities.

But you're correct that they're certainly a factor (as he mentions in the interview as well).

[Phat Michael]

Example in mind : Mass Effect 3. The MP mode is just okay, it was fun for a hour or two with a friend, but I can't see myself sinking hours in it, contrary to other MP games.

Um no. the multi in mass effect is fantastic. But let me guess, youve never done.a.gold run or even a silver run have u?

[Shiggy]

"Why don't I have an augmented reality version of Fatal Frame for the Vita, in which ghosts hang around the world?" Because it's a Nintendo IP, Clifford. And they just did an AR Fatal Frame. Nobody bought it. ;) I agree that multiplayer survival horror could work, though. Not necessarily the way he described, I think there are much better solutions, but yeah - I believe it's possible.

Are you sure that they bought the IP?

And Project Zero 2 Wii Edition does have a multiplayer mode though, and it somewhat reminds me of his 'idea'.

[wsippel]

are you sure about this? I only find info about Nintendo publishing the Wii-games and co-developing FF4, but not owning the IP?

Nintendo has the publishing rights. The press release never said it was just for one game, or limited to a certain platform. And Nintendo is just about to release the third Fatal Frame title since 2008.

[Raide]

As much as I would love Cliff to do this, just to sort out and improve Japanese development, I am not sure Epic works well without their front-man.

Get Epic over to FromSoft, get them using UE4 ready for Dark Souls Next-Gen. Shit would be glorious.

[ponpo]

Speaking of which, is RE6 getting Multiplayer?

[R_thanatos]

i came reading this Op plenty surprised ..some nice ideas in there , even if some of them are hard to make IMO... ( not beecause of the idea , but because of the teams )

Speaking of which, is RE6 getting Multiplayer?

You should expect the same MP modes as RE5 ( dlc included ) day one ..

[Pie and Beans]

Not understanding why Vanquish couldnt be done in multiplayer and in essence focussing on the single player is what made it so good with no "this would be too fast to ever work across servers" compromises has made me think sufficiently less of Cliffy.