Alone In The Dark Q&A

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It's been seven years since the last Alone In The Dark flopped on PlayStation2. Seven years in which Silent Hill 3, Resident Evil 4 and even the likes of Condemned have raised the bar for survival horror.

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Seven years is a long time, an eternity in the fast evolving world of videogames, so how does Alone In The Dark plan to reclaim its title as the horror game to be seen playing? We talked to Nour Polloni, Alone In The Dark producer, about the enemies you'll be facing, how it will go about scaring you, how you can protect yourself and if Uwe Boll had been in touch with the team... also check out the brand new screens and video!

We know that Alone In The Dark focuses on Central Park and its dark mysteries... but what exactly is the main threat to Edward Carnby?
At the start of the game Carnby finds himself in the hands of a group of men who plainly plan to kill him. Their threat pales next to the danger that's tearing the city apart however. This violent entity unwittingly frees Carnby from his captors, but after that it's gloves off and Carnby has his work cut out just to stay alive.

Where does the plot fit into the overall timeline of the Alone In The Dark series?
The very first Alone in the Dark is our inspiration and the only game in the series we're making any reference to, so while we don't consider this game a direct sequel to that game, it's that same 1920's same Edward Carnby (albeit without moustache) but plunged 80 years into the future without having aged a day.

What kind of enemies will Edward Carnby be up against?
There's an enemy the like of which you haven't seen before in a game. It can appear anywhere, at any time. You might hear it coming, but you'll have to move fast to get out of its way. And if you don't, you'd better have something to hang on to.

Apart from Edward Carnby, what can you tell us about the other characters in Alone In The Dark?
The story starts with Carnby held captive by a group of men, led by an unpleasant character called Mr Crowley who clearly wants him dead. Carnby breaks free of his captors as New York and the building he's in starts to tear itself apart around them.

Sarah is someone you meet in the early stages of the story who has a key role to play, then there's Theo who becomes somewhat of a mysterious mentor - he knows much more about Carnby and what's going on than he is able to explain, but what he does say helps Carnby find the right path to follow.

Silent Hill is famous for its psychological horror while Resident Evil has been more about jump scares - how would you describe the scares in Alone In The Dark?
For us the idea of suggested fear is more interesting, so we build tension by having the player worry about what's behind the next door or hiding in a dark corner. Immersion is key to making fear or any other emotion effective. A sense of unease and tension is created in a number of ways, using lighting, cameras, sound design etc. The music is also a vital part of creating atmosphere and tension.

We have a brilliant, haunting score written by Oliver Deriviere with dynamic music which responds intelligently to the gameplay, and a theme which will stay with you long after you've left the game. He recorded an award winning Bulgarian choir called The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices who sing in their own language about what's happening to New York and Carnby. Some bilingual fans have already posted translations on some online threads which can give you an interesting perspective on the game. Music is key, but in fact sometimes a cleverly placed silence is just as effective.

Is Alone In The Dark's Central Park an exact replica of the real park in New York or has artistic license been used for gameplay purposes?
We used the same technology as Test Drive Unlimited to map the park's terrain, which is to say it's accurately done using GPS satellite data to an accuracy of 50cm. Every major landmark and feature of the park is where you'd find it in the real park, although we've taken liberties with the trees, benches and lamp-posts, so if you go looking for the bench where you had your first kiss or something you might be disappointed.

We've also adapted the building interiors, partly because we didn't have the rights to use them as they are, and partly to make them fit our needs both in terms of ambience and gameplay. For example the museum in the game is a combination of museum and church interiors which gives a great atmosphere and lots of extra dark corners.

We've seen a lot on the inventory system and how you can combine items but how will the action work?
We want the player to apply the real world rules they've learned and use their imagination to create original weapons. Every situation has multiple solutions and how the player gets through is up to them. What we discovered is that everyone who plays finds a different way to do things, which is really exciting and leads to emergent gameplay.

In terms of how the player manages his inventory and the weapons he creates, of course we want this to be fluid, and it would quickly get frustrating if you had to go into your jacket and combine a bottle, cloth and a light each time you wanted to launch a Molotov cocktail, so we've got two systems to make the use of objects fluid.

First there's a quick draw system which lets you pull out or put back the last thing in your hand at a button push and even quickly scroll through the individual things in your inventory. The other system lets you assign favourite combinations of objects to buttons on the controller so as long as you have the components in your inventory a deadly Molotov cocktail is never more than a button push away.

How is Alone In The Dark paced between combat and puzzles?
The game is designed in a TV season format, which means that each episode can almost stand on its own, with action, plot revelations, story development and cliffhangers. We emulated the style of pacing from the TV series we loved so that each episode has its own well-paced dynamic, and this includes in terms of the gameplay content.

There are sections of the game which are puzzle based, but you're never far away from action, fighting or a plot twist. All these elements are paced throughout each episode, obviously with the balance changing from episode to episode, but this variety of the gameplay throughout the game is one of the key things that makes it so interesting.

Does Alone In The Dark progress in a linear fashion or are you free to do as you please?
We want the game to tell a story, so you follow a clear path through that story. As you work your way through the game areas of Central Park will open up to you to discover and during the later stages of the game pretty much the whole park will be open for you to explore, with lots of extra stuff to do.

Was the Xbox 360 the lead platform for development?
Yes, the game is being built first and foremost on the Xbox 360 which as a developer we have a good level of experience on thanks to Test Drive Unlimited. It's a great platform to develop on, with good tools, support and lots of power to let us do the things we want to do.

Are there any cool visual tricks in Alone In The Dark that have never been done before?
We've approached the rendering in a highly cinematographic way using lots of different post-production effects to bring a really distinct ambience to the environments. The most impressive thing though is that the engine we created lets us use a virtually unlimited number of real time lights in any one scene. This lets us create some fantastic lighting effects which generate a really powerful atmosphere and helps make the fire particularly impressive, as well as letting us use light as an element in the gameplay.

What can you tell us about the achievements for Alone In The Dark?
There's achievements linked to different aspects of the game including different combat objectives, completing all the side gameplay objectives in certain areas of Central Park for example, and one that's intimately entwined with the story of the game.

Another achievement is linked to whether or not the player skips. We want everybody to be able to finish our game, so one of the other new features we've added is the ability to skip sections using a DVD-style menu if you get stuck, but always at a cost, and achievements is one way to reward players who don't skip.

Uwe Boll is planning a sequel to his Alone In The Dark movie - has he been in touch with you guys about it? What did you think of the original movie?
The film has absolutely nothing to do with the game as far as we're concerned and there hasn't been any contact. I haven't seen the movie and I don't plan to!

What are the plans for downloadable content?
The TV season style of the game and the fact that it's been designed in episodes makes it really interesting in terms of downloadable content, however although we've got lots of ideas, we can't confirm anything at this time.

Ryan King