He reveals Square ”wanted to do DLC” months before release, but the team ”spent every waking hour” polishing the core game. New content began only when Sleeping Dogs launched.
You’ll notice this ‘read between the lines’ moment is to assure fans they aren’t just taking cut content and making it into DLC. There’s certainly no locked disc content either.
”A few months before we shipped Square told us they wanted to do DLC so we made sure we could technically do add ons,” Dan Sochan told OPM. ”But we really spent every waking hour and then some making sure the game was as polished and as bug free as it could be.”
The team only started work on downloadable content once the game was ”done and shipped out the door.”
”Square, from the very beginning, were showing that they believed in us and believed in this game as a potential franchise,” he continued. The important thing for United Front was that they were ”just having fun” with DLC.
“That was a big thing for the team,” says Sochan. “We were all really tired and a little burned out after the full game, but working on something that was a complete departure from what we had done in the past was invigorating.” The producer is referring to Sleeping Dog’s Nightmare in North Point which explores Chinese undead mythology.
“When looking at our timeline we said ‘Well, our first gameplay pack would be coming out around Halloween. We looked at Big Trouble In Little China, Chinese lore and this idea of hopping vampires. We thought the idea of these Jiang Shi, hopping vampires, is something very unique and different.”
So far the studio has ”6 months total DLC planned at this point.” They will be varied in their content and theme, he says, as they’ll have ones that explore ”aspects of Hong Kong cinema and ones that are a little more serious.” The team is also keeping fan feedback an important decision making tool for future DLC.
”We’ve got some more fun, interesting character packs which we’ve recently had up on the website – giving people different options and asking what DLC pack they wanted,” he detailed. The community decided and picked the Monkey King, “a character pack with a vehicle, new animations and some weapons as well.”
”I can’t really comment on a sequel right now. Our main focus is on putting out quality DLC so people see value and continue to want to show interest in the franchise. Then we can evaluate and look at it at that point.” With Square Enix looking hungrily at Sleeping Dogs, it’s likely a sequel effort will be in the mix.
