Retribution: Developer Q & A
Name: John Garvin
Position at Sony Bend: Creative Director
The Game
Story and characters:
1. The Resistance franchise sees the history of mankind change with the rise of the Chimera. Where does Resistance: Retribution sit in the timeline of the alternative history?
Retribution begins in the aftermath of Resistance: Fall of Man. The Chimera have just been defeated in England, and as the nation begins to assess their military they face a new dilemma. A hero emerged during the Chimeran war, but this soldier is also guilty of military abandonment, and the law considers this treason. In a time of war this means the hero must be executed to send a message to others.
2. Who is James Grayson?
Grayson is the last person anyone would expect to save the world, including Grayson. While the British military has been in his blood for generations, James rebelled against the family profession and found a new home and family running with a gang on the streets of London. His new life taught him how to survive by fighting dirty, which prepared him to take on the Chimera. Grayson is a man of his era; he smokes, drinks, objectifies women, and hates the French.
3. Can you take us through the locations in which battle will take place?
The Chimera have been in Europe for two years, transforming the continent for habitation and for their push to invade the rest of the world. The Atlantic coastline has been fortified with hundreds of anti-air gun batteries, each the size of a soccer stadium. The Rhine River has been diverted into a massive conversion facility beneath the ghost town of Bonn, Germany. The countryside has been gouged open by earth movers and turned into a shipyard where massive aircraft are being constructed (the same ships used to invade America in Resistance 2). The few thousand surviving humans have huddled together inside a castle fortress in Luxembourg. The catacombs beneath Paris have been infested with Cloven. In a snow-covered Paris, the Chimera have excavated a tower that dwarves the Eiffel Tower.
4. What new enemies are there?
Retribution introduces a line of female Chimera possessing highly evolved versions of the telepathic abilities seen in Angels. Players will also encounter the enigmatic Cloven, the Keyzer Sozes of the Resistance universe.
5. What are the main characteristics of new enemies the Cloven?
Cloven are Russian soldiers who were infected with an early version of the Chimeran virus that infected Nathan Hale. Physically unchanged, the soldiers experienced psychological stresses that eventually drove them insane, and then to grossly disfigure themselves. The Cloven live and fight in small packs, and appear to function as part of a hive mentality. When members of this hive are killed the entire pack becomes less effective and the survivors descend further into madness, turning them into primal, savage fighters.
6. How will Grayson develop throughout the game?
Resistance Retribution begins with Grayson in complete disgrace. He's killed his own brother, and been stripped of his rank and sentenced to death for military abandonment. To make matters worse, his sentence is commuted on the condition he be expelled from England to forced fight for the Maquis, a French resistance group. Without a country or reason to live, Grayson has nothing to fight for. Retribution's story details Grayson's quest across Europe as he seeks satisfaction in the slaughter of thousands of Chimera. His ultimate test comes when the fate of Europe's refugees rests in his hands, and he has to choose between seeking retribution or saving humanity.
Gameplay
7. What are the main differences when playing a Resistance title on PSP as opposed to PS3? How do the specific controls differ?
The first thing you’ll notice is that Resistance: Retribution is a completely new game, not just a port of the R2. Everything was built from the ground up for this title. When it came to controls, we spent a lot of time on how we could keep the combat intense yet make it easily accessible to all players since aim was going to be done without two analog sticks. In the end we created an aim assist system that easily lets players get into heavy gun battles without much effort to aim with the PSP’s face buttons.
8. What will shooter fans love most about the game?
I think the heavy amount of frenetic gunplay is what they’ll love. As mentioned above, our goal was to keep the combat intense and of course, no shooter game would be complete without a bevy of weapons at the player’s disposal. There are over 14 unique weapons players can find and unlock throughout the game.
9. Taking cover is an important element of the gameplay, which is reminiscent of the Syphon Filter titles. Are there any other Syphon Filter traits that players will recognise?
Cover has actually been simplified for this title. Instead of requiring the player to hit a button to take cover, all that needs to be done is to stand near any valid piece of cover and the player will automatically take it as long as enemy threats are present. As for other Syphon Filter traits, how the player navigates through the world whether it be climbing, vaulting, or crawling will be recognizable for those that have played Syphon Filter on PSP.
10. What sort of new weapons will we get to battle the Chimera with?
To list a couple, we created a modified version of the Bullseye which we call the BM001 Razor. Its main fire is the same as that of the Bullseye but its alternate fire lets you charge the weapon to shoot out an energy blade that is capable of tracking and killing multiple targets with one shot. Very useful when things get a little heated. Another new weapon is something we created from scratch called the Longbow 1S-1K. This weapon acts like a railgun capable of dispatching multiple targets at once if your aim and weapon is charged up correctly.
11. Tell us more about Infection mode and PSP Plus Mode…
Infection mode, done through Resistance Connect, is a component that offers quite a few things for the player that helps add to the overall experience of the game. One feature that gets enabled from infecting your PSP with R2 is the ability to play the game with the DUALSHOCK 3 for those truly yearning for a classic dual stick shooter feel. Another feature affects the game from a gameplay and story standpoint by infecting Grayson with the Chimeran virus thus giving him the ability to regenerate health and the ability to access Infected Intel items which provide more insight about the Resistance universe.
12. What will the experience of eight-player multiplayer be like? How does it work?
The overall experience will be pretty robust given the amount of content we have for a PSP game. The online component of the game supports up to 8 players total with 4 on 4 for team games. There are 5 maps that each can be played using one of the 5 game types including well known modes like Free-for-All, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag. We also have Containment, which is borrowed from R1, and Assimilation, which you could say is our take on the ever so popular Zombie mode found in many other games.
Our multiplayer component works with both Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure game play and of course provides community features like rankings and clan support.
Development
1. Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 has been one of the best-received PS3 games yet with rave reviews from critics. Nervous?
Not at all. We feel we did a great job with our last two PSP Syphon Filter titles as the reviews have shown and we feel we did an even better job this time around delivering a well polished experience for the PSP.
2. What elements of the PS3 Resistance titles were vital to bring across to Resistance: Retribution?
The enemies and weapons were key for us to get right. Knowing that we were going to get players that were already familiar with Resistance, we knew they would have expectations that we needed to hit.
3. You’ve built Resistance: Retribution from the ground up for PSP – was it a challenge recreating the atmospherics and feel that the series is renowned for?
Somewhat given the obvious limitations the PSP has when compared to the PS3. The amount of detail and verts needed to faithfully recreate Chimeran architecture to create that look and feel found in the PS3 versions took some iteration on our part to get right.
4. How closely have you worked with Insomniac on the game?
We worked very closely with Insomniac, especially when it came to tying the three games together. Our game provides the player with additional information on certain characters and back-story elements that were introduced in R1 and R2. The goal from the start was to have our game bridge R1 and R2 and provide an outlet to tackle some of the unknowns that Insomniac hinted at in their games.
5. Resistance stands out for its backstory – who developed the story for this title?
Our Creative Director, John Garvin and our Senior Designer, Jeff Ross both worked together in creating the backstory and dialog for the entire game.
6. What have the Syphon Filter titles that you’ve developed taught you about making PSP shooters?
If the Syphon Filter titles taught us anything, it’s that they taught us to always keep innovating, no matter how good previous games reviews were. Though our controls for both Syphon Filter titles were well received, we felt we could still do much improvement on making the game even more accessible, hence the creation of aim assist and the introduction of auto-cover. Anything you can do to simplify the game, the better.
7. What opportunities has the PSP platform provided – and were there any challenges?
More of a benefit than an opportunity that the PSP platform has provided is the ability to create a game with a much smaller team. This allowed for a much more friendlier environment, even during those late night hours of crunch.
8. This is the first PSP game to feature cross-talk functionality. What did you have to work with – did you design most of it yourselves? How does it work?
At the start, we just had our imagination to work with as cross-talk wasn’t really defined or scheduled to implement at the start of the project so in a sense, our team was able to design and dictate what cross-talk was going to be in the end. Cross-talk allows you to “infect” your copy of Resistance: Retribution via a USB cable connected from your PSP to your PS3 while running R2. From the main menu in R2, simply select the option and you’ll be on your way enjoying the benefits of Infection mode mentioned earlier.
9. Which PSP shooters do you see Resistance: Retribution competing against?
When it comes to features and overall experience, we’re currently only competing against our last two Syphon Filter titles.
And finally…
1. Who would win in single combat (armed or unarmed) – James Grayson or Nathan Hale?
I’m going to have to give the nod to Nathan Hale on this one. Without giving away any spoilers, let’s just say that Nathan at the end of R2 is a force to be reckoned with.
Position at Sony Bend: Creative Director
The Game
Story and characters:
1. The Resistance franchise sees the history of mankind change with the rise of the Chimera. Where does Resistance: Retribution sit in the timeline of the alternative history?
Retribution begins in the aftermath of Resistance: Fall of Man. The Chimera have just been defeated in England, and as the nation begins to assess their military they face a new dilemma. A hero emerged during the Chimeran war, but this soldier is also guilty of military abandonment, and the law considers this treason. In a time of war this means the hero must be executed to send a message to others.
2. Who is James Grayson?
Grayson is the last person anyone would expect to save the world, including Grayson. While the British military has been in his blood for generations, James rebelled against the family profession and found a new home and family running with a gang on the streets of London. His new life taught him how to survive by fighting dirty, which prepared him to take on the Chimera. Grayson is a man of his era; he smokes, drinks, objectifies women, and hates the French.
3. Can you take us through the locations in which battle will take place?
The Chimera have been in Europe for two years, transforming the continent for habitation and for their push to invade the rest of the world. The Atlantic coastline has been fortified with hundreds of anti-air gun batteries, each the size of a soccer stadium. The Rhine River has been diverted into a massive conversion facility beneath the ghost town of Bonn, Germany. The countryside has been gouged open by earth movers and turned into a shipyard where massive aircraft are being constructed (the same ships used to invade America in Resistance 2). The few thousand surviving humans have huddled together inside a castle fortress in Luxembourg. The catacombs beneath Paris have been infested with Cloven. In a snow-covered Paris, the Chimera have excavated a tower that dwarves the Eiffel Tower.
4. What new enemies are there?
Retribution introduces a line of female Chimera possessing highly evolved versions of the telepathic abilities seen in Angels. Players will also encounter the enigmatic Cloven, the Keyzer Sozes of the Resistance universe.
5. What are the main characteristics of new enemies the Cloven?
Cloven are Russian soldiers who were infected with an early version of the Chimeran virus that infected Nathan Hale. Physically unchanged, the soldiers experienced psychological stresses that eventually drove them insane, and then to grossly disfigure themselves. The Cloven live and fight in small packs, and appear to function as part of a hive mentality. When members of this hive are killed the entire pack becomes less effective and the survivors descend further into madness, turning them into primal, savage fighters.
6. How will Grayson develop throughout the game?
Resistance Retribution begins with Grayson in complete disgrace. He's killed his own brother, and been stripped of his rank and sentenced to death for military abandonment. To make matters worse, his sentence is commuted on the condition he be expelled from England to forced fight for the Maquis, a French resistance group. Without a country or reason to live, Grayson has nothing to fight for. Retribution's story details Grayson's quest across Europe as he seeks satisfaction in the slaughter of thousands of Chimera. His ultimate test comes when the fate of Europe's refugees rests in his hands, and he has to choose between seeking retribution or saving humanity.
Gameplay
7. What are the main differences when playing a Resistance title on PSP as opposed to PS3? How do the specific controls differ?
The first thing you’ll notice is that Resistance: Retribution is a completely new game, not just a port of the R2. Everything was built from the ground up for this title. When it came to controls, we spent a lot of time on how we could keep the combat intense yet make it easily accessible to all players since aim was going to be done without two analog sticks. In the end we created an aim assist system that easily lets players get into heavy gun battles without much effort to aim with the PSP’s face buttons.
8. What will shooter fans love most about the game?
I think the heavy amount of frenetic gunplay is what they’ll love. As mentioned above, our goal was to keep the combat intense and of course, no shooter game would be complete without a bevy of weapons at the player’s disposal. There are over 14 unique weapons players can find and unlock throughout the game.
9. Taking cover is an important element of the gameplay, which is reminiscent of the Syphon Filter titles. Are there any other Syphon Filter traits that players will recognise?
Cover has actually been simplified for this title. Instead of requiring the player to hit a button to take cover, all that needs to be done is to stand near any valid piece of cover and the player will automatically take it as long as enemy threats are present. As for other Syphon Filter traits, how the player navigates through the world whether it be climbing, vaulting, or crawling will be recognizable for those that have played Syphon Filter on PSP.
10. What sort of new weapons will we get to battle the Chimera with?
To list a couple, we created a modified version of the Bullseye which we call the BM001 Razor. Its main fire is the same as that of the Bullseye but its alternate fire lets you charge the weapon to shoot out an energy blade that is capable of tracking and killing multiple targets with one shot. Very useful when things get a little heated. Another new weapon is something we created from scratch called the Longbow 1S-1K. This weapon acts like a railgun capable of dispatching multiple targets at once if your aim and weapon is charged up correctly.
11. Tell us more about Infection mode and PSP Plus Mode…
Infection mode, done through Resistance Connect, is a component that offers quite a few things for the player that helps add to the overall experience of the game. One feature that gets enabled from infecting your PSP with R2 is the ability to play the game with the DUALSHOCK 3 for those truly yearning for a classic dual stick shooter feel. Another feature affects the game from a gameplay and story standpoint by infecting Grayson with the Chimeran virus thus giving him the ability to regenerate health and the ability to access Infected Intel items which provide more insight about the Resistance universe.
12. What will the experience of eight-player multiplayer be like? How does it work?
The overall experience will be pretty robust given the amount of content we have for a PSP game. The online component of the game supports up to 8 players total with 4 on 4 for team games. There are 5 maps that each can be played using one of the 5 game types including well known modes like Free-for-All, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag. We also have Containment, which is borrowed from R1, and Assimilation, which you could say is our take on the ever so popular Zombie mode found in many other games.
Our multiplayer component works with both Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure game play and of course provides community features like rankings and clan support.
Development
1. Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 has been one of the best-received PS3 games yet with rave reviews from critics. Nervous?
Not at all. We feel we did a great job with our last two PSP Syphon Filter titles as the reviews have shown and we feel we did an even better job this time around delivering a well polished experience for the PSP.
2. What elements of the PS3 Resistance titles were vital to bring across to Resistance: Retribution?
The enemies and weapons were key for us to get right. Knowing that we were going to get players that were already familiar with Resistance, we knew they would have expectations that we needed to hit.
3. You’ve built Resistance: Retribution from the ground up for PSP – was it a challenge recreating the atmospherics and feel that the series is renowned for?
Somewhat given the obvious limitations the PSP has when compared to the PS3. The amount of detail and verts needed to faithfully recreate Chimeran architecture to create that look and feel found in the PS3 versions took some iteration on our part to get right.
4. How closely have you worked with Insomniac on the game?
We worked very closely with Insomniac, especially when it came to tying the three games together. Our game provides the player with additional information on certain characters and back-story elements that were introduced in R1 and R2. The goal from the start was to have our game bridge R1 and R2 and provide an outlet to tackle some of the unknowns that Insomniac hinted at in their games.
5. Resistance stands out for its backstory – who developed the story for this title?
Our Creative Director, John Garvin and our Senior Designer, Jeff Ross both worked together in creating the backstory and dialog for the entire game.
6. What have the Syphon Filter titles that you’ve developed taught you about making PSP shooters?
If the Syphon Filter titles taught us anything, it’s that they taught us to always keep innovating, no matter how good previous games reviews were. Though our controls for both Syphon Filter titles were well received, we felt we could still do much improvement on making the game even more accessible, hence the creation of aim assist and the introduction of auto-cover. Anything you can do to simplify the game, the better.
7. What opportunities has the PSP platform provided – and were there any challenges?
More of a benefit than an opportunity that the PSP platform has provided is the ability to create a game with a much smaller team. This allowed for a much more friendlier environment, even during those late night hours of crunch.
8. This is the first PSP game to feature cross-talk functionality. What did you have to work with – did you design most of it yourselves? How does it work?
At the start, we just had our imagination to work with as cross-talk wasn’t really defined or scheduled to implement at the start of the project so in a sense, our team was able to design and dictate what cross-talk was going to be in the end. Cross-talk allows you to “infect” your copy of Resistance: Retribution via a USB cable connected from your PSP to your PS3 while running R2. From the main menu in R2, simply select the option and you’ll be on your way enjoying the benefits of Infection mode mentioned earlier.
9. Which PSP shooters do you see Resistance: Retribution competing against?
When it comes to features and overall experience, we’re currently only competing against our last two Syphon Filter titles.
And finally…
1. Who would win in single combat (armed or unarmed) – James Grayson or Nathan Hale?
I’m going to have to give the nod to Nathan Hale on this one. Without giving away any spoilers, let’s just say that Nathan at the end of R2 is a force to be reckoned with.
Resistance: Retribution™ ©2009 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Developed by Bend Game Studio. Resistance: Retribution is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. All rights reserved.
