QJ interview: Penny Arcade Adventures – On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness

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You can’t talk about web comics without mentioning Tycho and Gabe’s Penny Arcade Adventures. With their off-beat, tongue-in-cheek style of comedy about the video gaming industry, gamers will finally get to experience this unique brand of humor in Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness (I personally blame Tycho and Gabe for such a mouthful of a title for their game) developed by Hothead Games.

Suffice to say, the developers are having a lot of fun making the game, probably as much as players will have playing it. Don’t take my word for it – in an interview with Joel DeYoung, the producer of Hothead, he gives the team at QJ.net the low-down on the upcoming game based, of course, on the Penny Arcade Adventures web comic. He talks about many interesting points regarding the game’s mechanics, as well as the active involvement of the web comic’s creators.

The game was originally unveiled during last year’s Penny Arcade Expo. There’s been no official release date set, however, you can expect it to come out by years end. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is slated to come out on the PC, Mac, Linux, and Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade) platforms. Either way, fans everywhere will be waiting with baited breath for the game’s release. Don’t worry, though, we’ll be sure to give you up-to-date reports on the game as we get them.

Check out the full interview right after the jump!

Banner - Image 1 

You can’t talk about web comics without mentioning Tycho and Gabe’s Penny Arcade Adventures. With their off-beat, tongue-in-cheek style of comedy about the video gaming industry, gamers will finally get to experience this unique brand of humor in Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness (I personally blame Tycho and Gabe for such a mouthful of a title for their game) developed by Hothead Games.

Suffice to say, the developers are having a lot of fun making the game, probably as much as players will have playing it. Don’t take my word for it – in an interview with Joel DeYoung, the producer of Hothead, he gives the team at QJ.net the low-down on the upcoming game based, of course, on the Penny Arcade Adventures web comic. He talks about many interesting points regarding the game’s mechanics, as well as the active involvement of the web comic’s creators.

QJ: Humor in videogames is notoriously difficult to get right, considering Gabe and Tycho’s ah… unique brand of humor, how hard has it been to incorporate these elements into the game?

DeYoung: It certainly helps that Gabe and Tycho are working on the game so directly. Tycho is writing all the dialogue for instance. And we iterate with those guys on an almost daily basis so that integration of the writing, story and gameplay gets the attention it needs to get it right.

QJ: The footage so far shows that you seem to have taken a lot of elements from the web comic story line, Penny Arcade: Armadeaddon, as well as their… um, little robotic friend. Any other characters from the comics that might have a cameo appearance in this episode?

DeYoung: We aren’t saying too much specifically about the storyline or characters so that we avoid spoilers. But it’s fair to say that you’ll see lots of familiar Penny Arcade characters, and quite a few new ones too.

QJ: Let’s talk gameplay… what’s it like?

DeYoung: It’s like an old-school point and click adventure game like King’s Quest and Monkey Island. You move around the world, interact with different characters and slowly unravel the story by solving various mysteries and performing quests. The game also features real-time turn-based RPG combat, with all kinds of crazy enemies spread through the world.

Gameplay screenshots of Hothead Games' Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Image 1 Gameplay screenshots of Hothead Games' Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Image 2 

QJ: We know that Ron Gilbert of the Monkey Island series and Maniac Mansion series fame is working on the project as well, what does this mean for the adventure elements, especially in terms of mechanics?

DeYoung: Ron has been instrumental in a couple of key aspects. First, he has taught us how to structure the adventure game puzzles with the right level of complexity and difficulty, and to integrate them with the story. He has also been a huge help with how to structure the non-linear dialogues in the game. A number of times during production, a few of us from Hothead will sit down in a room with Gabe, Tycho and Ron and hash out elements of the story and gameplay. It’s a ton of fun.

QJ: It’s nice to see there’ll be a certain amount of continuity between episodes. How much content can a player carry over to the next episode after finishing the previous one?

DeYoung: You create a customized player character when you start the game. The look of that character will carry from episode to episode. In addition, your character’s level and stats will carry over, as well as your inventory of items. I should point out that if you start an episode without playing previous ones, you’ll start at an appropriate level with appropriate inventory items. But someone that has played previous episodes will definitely have an advantage.

QJ: Have you decided how many episodes you’re going to need to tell your sordid tale, and perhaps how long a break gamers will have between episodes?

DeYoung: We haven’t finalized the total number of episodes yet–I think it’s fair to say we’d love to keep making Penny Arcade games for a long time to come! And while we’re still finalizing our episodic production cycle, our current goal is to get episodes out every 3-4 months.

QJ: How long are we looking at with regards to playtime per episode?

DeYoung: Right now each episode is clocking in at 5-6 hours of gameplay. Of course that can vary quite a bit depending on how thorough the player is about achieving 100% complete.

QJ: We’ve seen a lot of the customizable character creation tool that allows players to design their own hero, will this affect gameplay in any way other than the obvious cosmetic stylings of our perfectly coiffed hero(ine)?

DeYoung: For the first episode, it’s cosmetic. But it’s cool that you’ll see your custom player not only in the 3D world but also in the comic-style 2D cutscenes.

Character creation screen of Hothead Games' Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Image 1 

QJ: Penny Arcade regularly offers cutting commentary on the state of the industry, at PAX 2007, Gabe and Tycho expressed their desire that PAA:OTRSPOD EP:I (!!) break from this tradition and offer players just a simple, fun gaming experience. How much pressure do you guys feel knowing that the Penny Arcade fans, and possibly a good number of sore toed developers will be leveling an extremely critical eye at this projects outcome?

DeYoung: We feel a ton of pressure! We’ve got a veteran team at Hothead though, so we definitely feel up to the task. Our main goal is to create something that is both fun and an authentic Penny Arcade experience. Gabe and Tycho and the Hothead crew are putting our best foot forward, but you can bet we’ll be listening to the feedback on episode 1 and responding appropriately with what we put into future episodes.

QJ: What do you think it was that convinced Gabe and Tycho to go with Hothead for the games development. Did you pitch the idea to them or was there some sort of proof of concept phase wherein you had to prove you could do the license justice?

DeYoung: They said that the clincher for them was the amount of creative control we were willing to leave in their hands. The fact that we’re working so closely with them helps them to know that what people play will be authentically Penny Arcade.

QJ: Thanks for your time. We really enjoyed talking to you.

The game was originally unveiled during last year’s Penny Arcade Expo. There’s been no official release date set, however, you can expect it to come out by years end. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is slated to come out on the PC, Mac, Linux, and Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade) platforms. Either way, fans everywhere will be waiting with baited breath for the game’s release. Don’t worry, though, we’ll be sure to give you up-to-date reports on the game as we get them.

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