US, July 15, 2008 - We haven't heard much about inFamous since its debut trailer was shown at last year's E3, but all that is changing this week as Sucker Punch and Sony are planning on blowing the cover off of one of the PlayStation 3's biggest upcoming titles. We fired off a ton of questions to Nate Fox, game director over at Sucker Punch, to find out about the game. Here's what he had to tell us:
IGN: How does the game begin? What can you tell us about the story and Cole's history? Who exactly are you up against?
Nate Fox: The game begins as Empire City is rocked by a large explosion. Cole is a city messenger, who delivers a package to the epicenter just a few moments before the blast. Unlike others in the vicinity of the blast, Cole survives and escapes the collapsing city center. Why he survived, who's behind the blast, and what has changed within Cole, those are key plot points along the way to unraveling the story of inFamous.
IGN: How much choice do you have in being good or evil? Is it on the scale of Knights of the Old Republic, where your actions carry over for the length of the game?
Nate Fox: We don't think of good and evil as binary choices in the narrative the player makes. It's not like you come to the point in the script where must press Circle to rescue the trapped baby, or press Triangle to apprehend the carjacker. Instead you are playing through the game deciding how at each moment you want to proceed. If you lob grenades across the street, you'll probably harm some civilians along with the thugs there. Maybe that's the choice you make, maybe not. Similarly, the civilians don't just have a love or hate relationship with Cole, each person and each small neighborhood in the city has a unique relationship with Cole, and they'll act that out during gameplay.
IGN: Are you able to control your powers to just knock people out instead of killing them if you wish to play the good angle?
Nate Fox: Absolutely. The hero has a variety of powers- some are surgical, some are not lethal, doing the minimum amount of damage to incapacitate the enemy; some are brutal, leading to overkill moments and lots of collateral damage. The choice of which to use and when is up to the player. They'll just have to live with the consequences.
IGN: What sorts of powers will players have access to through the game?
Nate Fox: Probably the best way to characterize it without being overly specific right now is to think in groups. There are pure offensive powers (smaller bolts, lightning strikes) which you can see in the videos. There are electro-kinetic powers (blasts and grenades) and there are heroic powers (shock-healings, arrests). There will of course be more than the list here, but I'm just trying to give you the basic groupings now.
IGN: With regards to electricity, does he control it or simply generate it without a direct target?
Nate Fox: A good way to think of it is Cole is developing command of electricity. He's not an intrinsic source of energy, but he's able to manipulate it quite effectively.
IGN: Given that this is essentially a superhero game, does that mean that we're going to see some over-the-top boss battles?
Nate Fox: Enthusiastically YES! We think having incredible villains is core to this genre. …and that's all I can say for now.
IGN: How does movement play into the overall mechanics? How easy is it to leap around from wall to rooftop to light post?
Nate Fox: Pre-blast, Cole's passion was urban exploring. He's got excellent climbing and athletic skills; climbing up a face of a building, leaping across rooftops, and jumping from a light post to the elevated train tracks are all things Cole can effortlessly execute. We've worked really hard to try to make the climbing and movements all feel great, and we're excited with where we are.
IGN: How immersive and full is the world? Will you see people going about their business, like you might in Grand Theft Auto?
Nate Fox: We have a team of guys who are working on that specific area! It's not just "going about their business" to add flavor for flavors sake though. The entire city is built up from objects the citizens can use and interact with. When you enter new areas of the city, the civilians are unhappy and desperate – you'll find them digging through trash, sleeping on the streets. As the tide turns in the city, their behaviors will all change. This all is one of the most important and visible parts of making you feel heroic or villainous.
IGN: How destructible is the city?
Nate Fox: When you get done fighting in the street it'll often look as if a tornado has torn through the place --it's very satisfying. But really the city is more than just destructible... it's completely wired for electricity and conduction. It's also completely climbable and useful for combat.
IGN: Do other characters in the game have powers like Cole, or is he one-of-a-kind?
Nate Fox: I'm going to politely duck this question in terms of specifics, but we certainly think it would be a very boring game if Cole didn't meet any powerful enemies.
IGN: How does the power progression work, and how are new abilities introduced to players?
Nate Fox: We will be discussing that in the near future.
IGN: inFamous has drawn a lot of comparisons to Prototype. What makes inFamous stand out against its competition?
Nate Fox: This is probably a question for me to ask you!
IGN: Being that Cole's powers look to be largely electric in nature, does that mean that water is a hazard to him?
Nate Fox: Not a bad guess. Not that I'm confirming anything….
IGN: What sort of cool whiz-bang visual tricks are we going to see? Are you implementing pro-pixel leatherization diffusion?
Nate Fox: I think the most important "visual trick" isn't really a trick at all. It's building the technology and artwork necessary to create an incredibly detailed urban landscape. Buildings are detailed down to the last window frame, lighting sconce and storefront. Of course this is necessary for us because you're climbing all over everything! Oh, I guess the other "trick" is that we're using a somewhat unusual lighting model called Deferred Shading. That makes it possible for us to have any and every light in the scene moving, flickering, or changing colors. It's not just the headlights on all cars, it's also the power grid turning on and off, and Cole destroying individual pieces of the lighting setup.
IGN: Could Cole beat Batman? (You can answer Adam West vs. Michael Keaton vs. Christian Bale as separate answers if you'd like)
Nate Fox: Cole certainly has a larger arsenal of powers than Batman, but … he's Batman. Let's just say I'd pay a lot of money to read the graphic novel that had that battle in it!
IGN: Why the shift from the family-friendly Sly Cooper to a much darker theme?
Nate Fox: First, we'd worked for 6 years on Sly, and we were ready for a change. However, I think the technology and pipeline we've built for inFamous will make a stunningly great Sly Cooper title if the time ever arrives!
IGN: What movies, comics or anything else has inspired elements of the game?
Nate Fox: Batman: No Man's Land. DMZ graphic novels. Grounded superhero movies (e.g. Batman Begins).
IGN: Are there going to be scattered secrets through the game to find to encourage replayability?
Nate Fox: It would be crazy for us to build a super richly detailed city and not hide at least some items in our favorite places!
Originally Posted by IGN
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