Big Willy Unleashed! Q and A

By: Eric M. Martin

Friday March 14, 2008

Tons of talk about THQ’s triumph of platformer excellence!
Playing DAH! 2 revitalized my respect for platform games, so there was no argument when given the chance to explore the next chapter in Crypto’s plot to rule the school. Straight from the Furon’s mouth, Static Multimedia had the opportunity to abduct developer Ken Allen and probe his deepest thoughts on the freshly released project, Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed.

Static Multimedia: So far, the Destroy All Humans franchise has exhibited success! In your opinion, what do you think the key factor(s) of that success could be?

Ken Allen: As with most success stories, a lot of hard work by a lot of talented people is what I think makes Destroy All Humans the phenomenon that it is. It’s common knowledge in our industry that ideas are only 5% of a game’s success, the rest is execution. So, in my opinion, everyone connected with the series has executed beautifully. Not just the development teams, but marketing, testing, the talent, and so on. But to really make it happen, THQ’s executives had to have faith enough in the concept to fund it. And as a gamer, I admire the attention to detail and the careful play-balance that went into the games. So when we took the reins of the Wii version, I knew we had a lot to live up to.

Static Multimedia: In DAH! 2, one of my favorite distractions was kidnapping the various people in the spaceship and collecting so many of each type in order to unlock a few bonus niceties. Is there an equivalent to that in Big Willy Unleashed?

Ken Allen: Yeah, the whole gene blending thing was great! And if you recall, it was linked to research and upgrades. For upgrades in Big Willy Unleashed, we approached this feature by looking for more ways to integrate your activities to what was upgraded. So, to upgrade Crypto’s psychokinetic powers, you not only collect a certain number of energy cells and data cores, but you also have to use the psychokinetic powers a certain way and for a certain number of times. For example, to decrease the time it takes to bodysnatch a human, you bodysnatch 20 humans before that ability is upgraded. It’s a lighter touch of RPG character development and grinding. We looked at gene blending for our game, but in the end we liked giving the player an excuse to destroy all humans other than just to fulfill a mission objective.

Static Multimedia: Aside from the Big Willy mech, what are some of your favorite new weapons for this installment?

Ken Allen: Oh, by far the Zombie Gun tops my list! One of the things we wanted to give the player was a decoy weapon. So the zombie gun not only disables a hostile NPC, but other enemies begin to attack the zombie, too! And one of the upgrades for the zombie gun is to create zombies that attack other humans to create more zombies. We also added a weapon for the saucer called The Electro-cone that destroys targets directly beneath the saucer, a capability I believe the previous games did not have. But don’t discount Big Willy as simply a mech. He’s got a range of weapons that really stand on their own. From the Regurg-a-tron, which turns humans into puddles of goo, to the WindBreaker, which is a stinky concussive radial attack that destroys buildings. And if you haven’t seen how Big Willy recharges his battery power, check out some of the videos floating around on the web.

Static Multimedia: One of the more charming aspects of DAH! 2 was all of the side dialogue that came from reading human minds. How much side dialogue has gone into the making of Big Willy Unleashed?

Ken Allen: Mind reading is not required for any of the missions in Big Willy Unleashed. But we do have missions where you have to bodysnatch an NPC, sneak into an area, and eavesdrop on your enemies’ conversations. And rather than write a lot of incidental lines for a feature you only need to use a few times, we had our writers create side dialog for all the characters in the game that are uttered as you walk by, use a weapon or ability, or when the game’s “heat level” goes up. This adds a layer of life to your experience with the game and, as you noted, lends an element charm and appeal. I think conceptually, mind reading fits the fiction of the game, but as a play mechanic we decided to go another way.

Static Multimedia: Has there been a consideration for multiplayer co-op modes for any future installments of DAH! ?

Ken Allen: Multiplayer on DAH! 2 took the form of two people completing the game’s single player missions together. And there was also a spot in each invasion site where you could activate a head-to-head match. So, if you look back on DAH! 2, the kind of missions offered in the game had to be limited to certain kinds of play-mechanic because it all had to played in co-op as well. I don’t say this as criticism because DAH! 2, is an excellent game. But for Big Willy Unleashed, a lot of the missions our designers created for the game just didn’t lend themselves to co-op multiplayer, like the bodysnatch mission I mentioned. And those missions were very important to the game’s story. So we decided to offer head-to-head AND co-op missions as stand-alone missions. This is a pretty traditional way to offer multiplayer, and we’ve taken a little heat in the press because of this decision, but the variety of our solo missions really benefited from making them solo-only. As to the future of multiplayer in the DAH! series, I have my own wishes, such as networked multiplayer for 16 players. But as fun as it would be to work on another DAH! game, it’s not in our team’s near future.

Static Multimedia: What are some of the more notable control differences for the Wii version, in regards to its motion technology?

Ken Allen: We have a whole range of controls that take advantage of the Wii controllers’ motion sensing feature; tossing, clubbing, flying, and so on. And we looked to use the controller in ways that was an extension of your hand, and not just to detect motion like the controller does for the PS3. So for activities like picking up stuff, you pinch your thumb and index finger together while holding the Wii remote in a very natural way. And since we use the pointer to also control the movement of the camera, we had to look at ways to allow you to use gestures and motions without causing the camera to go crazy. I can tell you making the Wii remote feel organic as a game controller takes some pretty smart programmers and designers.

Static Multimedia: I see how the storyline from DAH! 2 carries over into this title. Will the storyline of Big Willy Unleashed have any direct connection to the upcoming Path of the Furon?

Ken Allen: Yeah, we have a lot of references to DAH! 2 and even have a DAH! 2 character return for a set of side missions. Tapping into the story from previous games was very satisfying. To keep up this kind of continuity, we met with Sandblast, our sister studio that’s developing Path of Furon for the hi-def platforms, and we also hired the same writers to keep the story telling tone in both games very similar. So don’t be surprised if there is some sharing in our story elements and even some game assets. Without spoiling any surprises, I can say that Big Willy Unleashed ends shortly before the beginning of Path of the Furon. Both are set in the seventies and complement each other nicely. So if you own a Wii and a PS3 or Xbox 360, you can play both games and have a completely different experience but also see how both games work together.

Thanks to Ken Allen and THQ for their time and effort in bringing us Big Willy Unleashed, available now for the Nintendo Wii. Also, be sure to enter our giveaway contest, which ends on March 25th, for your chance to win a copy of Big Willy Unleashed.