We tango with Blacklight Project Lead, Jared Gerritzen. (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
22 June 2010 | By Import
Some interviews are short, sharp affairs where you can possibly cram in about ten or fifteen questions that are greeted with quick, concise answers. Then there are interviews where you can tell that the interviewee is clearly passionate about everything they're talking about.
Zombie Studios' Jared Gerritzen falls comfortably into that latter category, talking at length about all things Blacklight: Tango Down, leaving time for only five questions and five lengthy, impassioned responses during the allotted time we're given.
And who can blame him? With the game nearing completion, an accompanying comic book in the works (due to hit comic book stores in July) and a Blacklight movie awaiting the green light later this summer, there's a lot for Gerritzen to be excited about.
He just hopes that we're as equally excited about Blacklight: Tango Down to buy the game when it launches on PC, PlayStation Network and the Xbox Live Arcade for the most bargainous price of 15 dollars later in the year.
Strategy Informer: What's behind the decision to develop a download only game into such a crowded genre?
Jared Gerritzen: The team is made up of a bunch of FPS guys going all the way back to AvP, Borderlands, MAG and SOCOM, so we've got a lot of people on board who have been making shooters. I worked on FEAR, and once you get making shooters, that's all you wanna make because it's just the most fun. We were working on a project that got sidetracked, and we decided to self-fund a first playable of this universe. We said it's a first-person shooter of course, let's make it how we want to make it and we did it. The idea was that if worse comes to worse, we put it on Steam and we just see what happens, but we started doing it and we started getting this inertia that was making the game better. Everyone was excited about what they were working on and then the DLC market started to flourish – you know, Trials HD and Castle Crashers came out – and we were really excited about that. And then Battlefield 1943 came out as we were finishing up our first playable and we instantly said, “this will be perfect for DLC on the consoles. This is what we'll do.”
We found Ignition gave us all the support that we needed and we really just took it and ran as fast as we could. We never saw this game as a 15 dollar game, we never saw it as a DLC game. All of us were from the big game studios where we were unable to do the things that we wanted to do. We didn't have to go and fill out a report and talk with five producers or get into the kind of stuff that happens at those big studios, so we were able to be that much faster. So what we did with Blacklight is say, “let's over-deliver what's expected.” There was only Battlefield 1943 around at the time and that was like three maps and six different characters, so we were like, “shit! We can do this! We can do more than this! I've always had this weapon customisation thing in my head, so let's do that!” Then everyone got really excited and more ideas started pouring in, and the level designers and the art team just started just cranking out maps, and originally we were just going to do six maps – no big deal. Then we white-boxed all of these maps and it was like, “shit! We have 12 maps!” So we did 12 maps, but then more game types started coming in and the engineers really started kicking ass getting everything in and started front-loading and prototyping it.
Then HRV (Hyper Reality Visor) appeared through a drunken night and it was just one of those perfect storms where the ball just kept on rolling faster and faster and faster. We've got to this point and it's an amazing feat when people say, “why didn't you do this as a full-priced game?” We didn't need to, and that's pretty much what it breaks down to. Our team is a quarter the size of most shooter teams and probably about a tenth the size of the real big guys. And we're not outsourcing anything – this is all internal, American-made, and so it's really cool. We're using the Unreal 3 Engine, which has given us great support too, so we're this small, scrappy underdog that's come out of nowhere and we'll see what happens with that.
But I totally believe in DLC. I'm honestly sick of going to a store to buy a game, and someone saying, “oh what? You didn't pre-order it? Would you like to pre-order another game?” or having to stand and wait just to get a game. You know, I just wanna hit download. I'm lazy, I've got kids, I don't want to have to hunt for a disc. DLC games are awesome. I've bought more DLC games than I've bought regular games and I truly think it's the new indie realm right now, so it's a really exciting place to be. And as long as people are liking it, that just gives me the juice to keep on going with it.
Strategy Informer: Does being a DLC game free you up creatively too, or does it impose certain restrictions?
Jared Gerritzen: No. There were really no restrictions at all. The only restrictions we really had were things we would have had either way. Getting a fresh copy of Unreal 3 – you have a game engine, but you don't have all of the connectivity working on all three platforms, so we had to partner up with Sony and Microsoft to use all their tools and add that stuff. But that was really the only thing we had that was a hindrance. We were doing stuff where I was surprised that we got things up online and how quickly we got things going. I would say something in a design meeting and then I'd write the design document up, give it to the engineers and like, a day later it was in and working. I was shocked and it was really, really cool to see everyone getting it and I'm thinking, I hope EA doesn't try and hire half the team, you know?
Strategy Informer: It's looking pretty complete right now in terms of gameplay. What's left to do on Blacklight before its summer release?
Jared Gerritzen: Polish. There's a lot of interface polish, then getting all of the weapons tweaked and balanced more. We've got a 150 person team in Quebec that's testing it everyday for twelve hours, and so we're getting all of that data back to balance the crap out of all the weapons. I mean it's literally just polish and that's a good place to be. It's very cool.
Strategy Informer: And as to the low price point of around 15 Dollars/Euros you're releasing the game for, it seems very cheap. Will you break even considering the production is supposed to be retail level?
Jared Gerritzen: It's surprising how low our budget was, so we don't really need to sell that many copies to break even, which is good. And also the way that people are taking it is very awesome. I mean when Ignition announced that it'd be 15 dollars, I was shocked. I was borderline angry because it was like, “15 bucks? That's how much some developers are selling maps for! How are we gonna do this? We have to sell how many copies?!” Then we were told, well you only have to sell this many, so we were like, “oh, okay then!”
So, yeah it was a shock, but there are a lot of studios that are trying to get a DLC game out to break even or make ends meet, and I'm hearing horror stories where some people didn't get paid and that's just scary, but not that's not what we're going through. We're doing it because it was always a decision and not because we need to do it or we're struggling. So, it's been a really cool ride and when people ask, why are we doing this as DLC? It's because we can and that's pretty much what it comes down to. We can and we want to own it. I would love it if when people thought of a DLC shooter, they instantly think of Blacklight, like when you think 'Xbox console shooter', you think 'Bungie'. That's just the way it is and to be able to whittle a route into the minds of gamers is all we want to do.
Strategy Informer: How did the forthcoming movie and comic book come about then? That seems interesting for a game that's not even out yet.
Jared Gerritzen: When we were working on the original version, we had a huge amount of source material. We've even got three different stories written for it – the prequel, the current one and then the advanced – so we had this universe and so we took the middle part of the story and wrote it as a comic, so the movie actually happens after the comic book itself. We've got this amazing universe that we want people to get to know and get really excited about it. If everything goes right, we'll have a novel, a TV show, lunchboxes... The thing is, we really looked at it as a game that we want kids of a certain age to play and have fun with. We made it 16+/Teen for a reason. We wanted that younger generation to get excited about it. Is it a bit like GI Joe and Cobra? Well maybe, but kids don't know that! We're just really excited about the universe and I've done a lot of games where I've thought we shouldn't do something because it's kinda weird, but all of the team believe in this and want to expand the crap out of it. The comic book's actually turning out to be really, really rad and we co-wrote it with some of the movie production team and studio, so that's seriously cool. And hopefully I'll get to play a dead guy in the movie or something like that, y'know?
Blacklight: Tango Down is due to launch on PC, PSN and XBLA later this summer.
Zombie Studios' Jared Gerritzen falls comfortably into that latter category, talking at length about all things Blacklight: Tango Down, leaving time for only five questions and five lengthy, impassioned responses during the allotted time we're given.
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| Gerritzen hopes that Blacklight's universe will reach far beyond the game |
And who can blame him? With the game nearing completion, an accompanying comic book in the works (due to hit comic book stores in July) and a Blacklight movie awaiting the green light later this summer, there's a lot for Gerritzen to be excited about.
He just hopes that we're as equally excited about Blacklight: Tango Down to buy the game when it launches on PC, PlayStation Network and the Xbox Live Arcade for the most bargainous price of 15 dollars later in the year.
Strategy Informer: What's behind the decision to develop a download only game into such a crowded genre?
Jared Gerritzen: The team is made up of a bunch of FPS guys going all the way back to AvP, Borderlands, MAG and SOCOM, so we've got a lot of people on board who have been making shooters. I worked on FEAR, and once you get making shooters, that's all you wanna make because it's just the most fun. We were working on a project that got sidetracked, and we decided to self-fund a first playable of this universe. We said it's a first-person shooter of course, let's make it how we want to make it and we did it. The idea was that if worse comes to worse, we put it on Steam and we just see what happens, but we started doing it and we started getting this inertia that was making the game better. Everyone was excited about what they were working on and then the DLC market started to flourish – you know, Trials HD and Castle Crashers came out – and we were really excited about that. And then Battlefield 1943 came out as we were finishing up our first playable and we instantly said, “this will be perfect for DLC on the consoles. This is what we'll do.”
We found Ignition gave us all the support that we needed and we really just took it and ran as fast as we could. We never saw this game as a 15 dollar game, we never saw it as a DLC game. All of us were from the big game studios where we were unable to do the things that we wanted to do. We didn't have to go and fill out a report and talk with five producers or get into the kind of stuff that happens at those big studios, so we were able to be that much faster. So what we did with Blacklight is say, “let's over-deliver what's expected.” There was only Battlefield 1943 around at the time and that was like three maps and six different characters, so we were like, “shit! We can do this! We can do more than this! I've always had this weapon customisation thing in my head, so let's do that!” Then everyone got really excited and more ideas started pouring in, and the level designers and the art team just started just cranking out maps, and originally we were just going to do six maps – no big deal. Then we white-boxed all of these maps and it was like, “shit! We have 12 maps!” So we did 12 maps, but then more game types started coming in and the engineers really started kicking ass getting everything in and started front-loading and prototyping it.
Then HRV (Hyper Reality Visor) appeared through a drunken night and it was just one of those perfect storms where the ball just kept on rolling faster and faster and faster. We've got to this point and it's an amazing feat when people say, “why didn't you do this as a full-priced game?” We didn't need to, and that's pretty much what it breaks down to. Our team is a quarter the size of most shooter teams and probably about a tenth the size of the real big guys. And we're not outsourcing anything – this is all internal, American-made, and so it's really cool. We're using the Unreal 3 Engine, which has given us great support too, so we're this small, scrappy underdog that's come out of nowhere and we'll see what happens with that.
But I totally believe in DLC. I'm honestly sick of going to a store to buy a game, and someone saying, “oh what? You didn't pre-order it? Would you like to pre-order another game?” or having to stand and wait just to get a game. You know, I just wanna hit download. I'm lazy, I've got kids, I don't want to have to hunt for a disc. DLC games are awesome. I've bought more DLC games than I've bought regular games and I truly think it's the new indie realm right now, so it's a really exciting place to be. And as long as people are liking it, that just gives me the juice to keep on going with it.
 |
| Blacklight's weapon customisation was something that Gerritzen had always wanted to do |
Strategy Informer: Does being a DLC game free you up creatively too, or does it impose certain restrictions?
Jared Gerritzen: No. There were really no restrictions at all. The only restrictions we really had were things we would have had either way. Getting a fresh copy of Unreal 3 – you have a game engine, but you don't have all of the connectivity working on all three platforms, so we had to partner up with Sony and Microsoft to use all their tools and add that stuff. But that was really the only thing we had that was a hindrance. We were doing stuff where I was surprised that we got things up online and how quickly we got things going. I would say something in a design meeting and then I'd write the design document up, give it to the engineers and like, a day later it was in and working. I was shocked and it was really, really cool to see everyone getting it and I'm thinking, I hope EA doesn't try and hire half the team, you know?
Strategy Informer: It's looking pretty complete right now in terms of gameplay. What's left to do on Blacklight before its summer release?
Jared Gerritzen: Polish. There's a lot of interface polish, then getting all of the weapons tweaked and balanced more. We've got a 150 person team in Quebec that's testing it everyday for twelve hours, and so we're getting all of that data back to balance the crap out of all the weapons. I mean it's literally just polish and that's a good place to be. It's very cool.
Strategy Informer: And as to the low price point of around 15 Dollars/Euros you're releasing the game for, it seems very cheap. Will you break even considering the production is supposed to be retail level?
Jared Gerritzen: It's surprising how low our budget was, so we don't really need to sell that many copies to break even, which is good. And also the way that people are taking it is very awesome. I mean when Ignition announced that it'd be 15 dollars, I was shocked. I was borderline angry because it was like, “15 bucks? That's how much some developers are selling maps for! How are we gonna do this? We have to sell how many copies?!” Then we were told, well you only have to sell this many, so we were like, “oh, okay then!”
So, yeah it was a shock, but there are a lot of studios that are trying to get a DLC game out to break even or make ends meet, and I'm hearing horror stories where some people didn't get paid and that's just scary, but not that's not what we're going through. We're doing it because it was always a decision and not because we need to do it or we're struggling. So, it's been a really cool ride and when people ask, why are we doing this as DLC? It's because we can and that's pretty much what it comes down to. We can and we want to own it. I would love it if when people thought of a DLC shooter, they instantly think of Blacklight, like when you think 'Xbox console shooter', you think 'Bungie'. That's just the way it is and to be able to whittle a route into the minds of gamers is all we want to do.
 |
| Zombie is promising something in the same vein as Battlefield 1943, but with more of everything |
Strategy Informer: How did the forthcoming movie and comic book come about then? That seems interesting for a game that's not even out yet.
Jared Gerritzen: When we were working on the original version, we had a huge amount of source material. We've even got three different stories written for it – the prequel, the current one and then the advanced – so we had this universe and so we took the middle part of the story and wrote it as a comic, so the movie actually happens after the comic book itself. We've got this amazing universe that we want people to get to know and get really excited about it. If everything goes right, we'll have a novel, a TV show, lunchboxes... The thing is, we really looked at it as a game that we want kids of a certain age to play and have fun with. We made it 16+/Teen for a reason. We wanted that younger generation to get excited about it. Is it a bit like GI Joe and Cobra? Well maybe, but kids don't know that! We're just really excited about the universe and I've done a lot of games where I've thought we shouldn't do something because it's kinda weird, but all of the team believe in this and want to expand the crap out of it. The comic book's actually turning out to be really, really rad and we co-wrote it with some of the movie production team and studio, so that's seriously cool. And hopefully I'll get to play a dead guy in the movie or something like that, y'know?
Blacklight: Tango Down is due to launch on PC, PSN and XBLA later this summer.
