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Exclusive Interview | Crossbeam Studios Talk 'Orb' With C3

on 16.02.2006 at 15:32 User Icon

Posted by Mike Mason (Mason)
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Exclusive Interview - C3 'Orbs' in on Crossbeam Studios Entertainment
Mike Mason & Adam Riley :: Thursday 16th February 2006

Recently, we carried a news piece on Orb, a game devised by independent developer Crossbeam Studios with a release aimed towards Nintendo's Revolution. We got in touch with Greg Szemiot of Crossbeam to talk about Orb and their thoughts on Revolution...

Cubed3: Please introduce yourself, your company, and describe your role within the team.

Greg Szemiot: My name is Greg Szemiot, I am the Founder and one of three Lead Designers and Directors at Crossbeam Studios Entertainment.

C3: How many people form Crossbeam Studios? How is the workload, considering your state as an independent developer and the scope of the project?

GS: In total, considering all the teams, around 17 people. The Orb team accounts for 12 of those people. With a team so small you think we'd be trying to do some smaller games... I mean, teams like Retro Studios have 30 people, Silicon Knights has 75 I believe split between 2 teams, The Zelda team I'm told is 60 people. We're trying to create a game of the same quality as those teams with half the people, it's a lot of work, a lot of pressure, and we've all been under stress, one of our concept artists even developed hives at one point... We'd like to have more people to help ease the pressure, so anyone out there with some talent feel free to contact us.

C3: Orb is intended for Nintendo Revolution. What platform do you have in mind for your other titles, 'Darkness' and the as-yet unnamed title? Could you say a little bit about each of them?

GS: This is kind of an interesting question, because just after James Bond and I decided to move to Revolution, I told Greg Nichols, the lead designer on Darkness and he said he'd love for it to be on Revolution as well. However, Darkness is still in design, it's actually been in design longer than Orb (doesn't help that Greg Nichols is the weapons system designer on Orb). As for the unannounced title...it's a FPA (First Person Adventure, � la Metroid Prime) that would fit right onto Revolution.

C3: Orb is described as 'action/adventure with RPG elements', which sounds like a very interesting mixture indeed. Just how far down the RPG route is it likely to go, and do you think this could alienate sectors of the gaming community?

GS: Well...RPG in this case mainly talks about the leveling up aspects of the weapons systems and magic systems. It's not going to be things like experience points and stat screens. That's why we say RPG elements. I am not really scared of alienating gamers. I think people who love a good story and solid gameplay will enjoy Orb immensely. I feel fans of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Myst, Skies of Arcadia, and many other top games could find something to love in Orb, and of course for each gamer it could be something different.

C3: The overall reaction to Orb at university was hugely positive. Which comments, if any, made you particularly proud and determined to go ahead with development of the game?

GS: Well, to be honest, the first in depth story I wrote was Orb 2, so some of the responses about it were from that story, while others were about Orb 1's storyline. I've heard many people say I was overly descriptive, that my stories dragged on and on. But aside from the overly descriptive nature, people liked my dialogue, how the characters had depth and actual emotion, and how I had fleshed out a whole universe. I did other versions where I toned down the descriptive detail and that version people said felt like a great movie or game because the pacing was right. In fact, when we started work on the game, someone said "Why are you ruining this story by making a game from it? A movie would be so much better." If we get the support from gamers, we even had plans for a movie, but that's a big if.

C3: Are there any particular inspirations and influences for Orb, from other games, media or life in general, throughout the team?

GS: Well, the obvious game is Zelda. But Skies of Arcadia, Eternal Darkness, Final Fantasy, and others did lend some inspiration to the gameplay and some of the world dynamics. But really, a lot of ideas and info just came from real life. I mean, I took an anthropology course when working on Delphire's culture, a bio course working on the creatures, and other courses covering various aspects. We do a lot of brainstorming, I can't tell you how many things in Orb started as some simple idea that ended becoming very complex in a couple hours of talking and throwing ideas around. It usually started with something like "you know, we have this fountain in the middle of the town...how can we mess with this and make it cool and not like every other fountain we've seen?"

C3: How did you originally come up with the storyline? How did it begin and how did it/what caused it to evolve into the form it's in now?

GS: The original draft of the storyline was I think 5 pages. It was just the draft for Orb 1, and the idea actually came from a series of dreams I'd been having at the time. When I couldn't figure out where Orb 1 was going... I wrote Orb 2 and just made the ends meet. The game originally had anthropomorphic animals a la Starfox, and used elemental themed magic and dungeons. We dropped the elemental stuff about a year and a half ago (which required a re-write of most of the game), and then we dropped the anthropomorphic characters about a year ago, requiring a rewrite as well. The current form of the storyline is the end result of a lot of people. I used to just work by myself, but the team has come up with some great ideas and characters that really made the storyline that much better. In the concept art we've released is a character with wings coming from her back...That whole character is based off of one simple idea our former lead concept artist had, we took the idea, ran with it, and now she's a major character in the whole series.

C3: What has been the reaction to Orb from publishers that you've shown it to thus far (if any)? Have any other developers commented upon it or shown interest?

Well, publishers we've not talked to yet, at least not seriously. It's a bit of a catch 22 that many publishers won't talk to you unless you have a game published already. This industry has not been very indie friendly for years... hopefully that will change. But in terms of other developers, the storyline has gotten great responses from other developers. One of CSE's old friends would actually beg us for more storyline info so he could read it to his kids at night, and they loved it. The surprising thing is he would read it again before going to bed while smoking a nice cigar just so he could enjoy it himself. It was great to hear it does work on different levels. Other developers have commented on how deep the storyline is, asking how do we plan to fit all this into one game and still have enough for a whole series. Yet others have commented on our tests and early screens from other engines and such saying we really pushed the atmosphere far and matched the storyline perfectly.

C3: Could you give us any hints about Orb's planned uses of the Revolution controller, or any of Revolution's other features?

GS: Well, aside from the basics (using the pointer for aiming, attacking, and magic) we could use it for many other things that are story based. Unfortunately I'm not able to talk about those just yet. We're trying to keep as much of the story under wraps as possible because there's plenty of twists and turns and with a story so deep, there's so much to be discovered that the less you know when you begin playing, the better.

C3: If the chance arises, what are your thoughts of incorporating Wi-Fi Internet technology into Orb?

GS: Well, not in Orb , the game is designed for single player only...However, we've been tossing some ideas around like new chapters to add on between the time Orb 1 and Orb 2 release.

C3: In an ideal world, who would you like to publish Orb and why?

GS: Nintendo, because we feel the game first off, will work best on Revolution, fits in with Nintendo's library of franchises, and Nintendo is also more likely to try things that are new and different. The only thing that worries me is Nintendo has thrown out far too many game ideas because they think it won't fly, when in fact they are great ideas. They are too scared of not making it.

C3: Is there any particular reason for having the Revolution as system of choice? Have you and the team been regular Nintendo supporters or is it more to do with the new direction the company is offering?

GS: Well, I know almost everyone on CSE has a lean towards Nintendo in console preference, and that is not surprising given Nintendo's history. I'll say the new energy and direction Nintendo is going is very exciting, and as developers we definitely like the challenge of trying to push our game to new heights.

C3: What would your dream project be if Nintendo chose to let you use some of its IP?

GS: Well, for me, I'd say Eternal Darkness or Starfox. One of my co-workers here said he'd do Zelda, but is far too humble to take that project, so he'd do Eternal Darkness as well. So I'd say all around, if we we're asked to do the sequel to Eternal Darkness, we'd jump at it.

C3: Greg, thank you for your time. Are there any final words you would like to say to conclude?

GS: Nothing at this point except keep a lookout for some new info from us soon. I'll make sure to keep you guys informed on any further updates, in the mean time, we'll have the new site up soon and hope you guys will enjoy it.

The Cubed3 team, and myself personally, would like to thank Greg for taking the time to conduct this interview. Please show your support for Orb and Crossbeam either on our own forums or on Crossbeam Studios' website:

Crossbeam Studios Entertainment Official Website

Look out for more coverage of Orb on Cubed3 in the near future.

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