QJ Interviews: Death JR 2: Root of Evil
And a fine Monday morning to all you avid videogame luvin’ guys and gals alike, we’ve got a neat little treat for you this morning, y’see we managed to score a little Q&A session with Backbone Entertainment, the dudes (and dudettes) behind Death Jr. 2: Root of Evil for the PSP, so without further ado, c’mon in and read the article after the jump!
And a fine Monday morning to all you avid videogame luvin’ guys and gals alike, we’ve got a neat little treat for you this morning, y’see we managed to score a little Q&A session with Backbone Entertainment, the dudes (and dudettes) behind Death Jr. 2: Root of Evil for the PSP, so without further ado:
QJ: Where does Death Jr. 2 pick up after the events of Death Jr.
Chris Carla: It takes place exactly a year after the first game. The kids are on a quest for a cocoon for science class. DJ and Pandora both see a massive, human-sized cocoon at the same time, and in the fight for it smash it open, revealing something that really never should have been let loose…
QJ: Did you look at user feedback from the first game? What things are you looking include or change with this sequel?
Chris Carla: Absolutely! User feedback is the #1 thing we always crave, and we definitely responded. There were three big things we heard after the first game: Change the camera; play as Pandora; and co-op. We have all those in there! Also, a lot of people really seem to like the idea of mechanized, evil, Llamas that shoot Waffle missiles dripping with acid syrup.
QJ: Have you done anything to tweak the combat and platforming elements from the first game?
Chris Carla: Absolutely. A literal ton of new melee moves and guns. DJ and Pandora have melee attacks, animations, and guns that are unique to each character. All guns past the starting weapons are cobbled together by everyday items you collect throughout the game. Blenders, bagpipes, and ice trays will never be the same after playing Death Jr. 2! Swinging mechanics have had an overhaul, DJ and Pandora can walk across balance beams (Pandora has some experience in gymnastics, so she is a little better at it than DJ).
QJ: How have you changed the camera from the first game?
Chris Carla: This is probably the biggest overall change. In DJ1, any time you shot a weapon, the game would just shoot directly towards whatever the camera was looking at, so you’d have to do a lot of camera maneuvering. This was disorientating for some people. In DJ2PSP, when you shoot, you fire the direction DJ is pointing. The camera has some AI that gradually moves it behind you, or you can move it left and right at any time with the shoulder buttons. So, it feels much more seamless when you go from platforming or melee combat to shooting. You can also go into a “strafe mode” where the camera is locked behind DJ at all times, which feels really good in some situations. Overall, the camera just feels a lot more intuitive.
We’ve also removed the lock-on, so shooting becomes a little more skill-based, versus just locking on and being able to circle strafe really easily. There is actually a smaller aiming reticule inside the main reticule that will auto-target (but not lock-on) to enemies, so skillful players can still circle-strafe.
QJ: Is there a more relaxed feeling in development with this title compared to the first which was one of the first games to be shown for the PSP?
Chris Carla: Not at all! The new-hardware stress is gone, but that just gets replaced by the desire to see what we can do with the hardware. So, instead of stressing about when you get hardware, you stress in a new way about trying to implement lots of new technical features, like HDR lighting.
QJ: HDR lighting on the PSP? You’re going to have to talk about that a little! Also, can you talk about what other kinds of technical enhancements you’ve made to the game’s engine since the original Death Jr?
Chris Carla: Well, we used Renderware on our first game on PSP, and it wasnÂ’t exactly perfectly tuned for PSP. After we removed it for DJ2PSP, we found our framerates hit 90fpsÂ… Meanwhile weÂ’d been implementing these kinds of effects on PS3, and we were keeping the runtime features between them in synch as much as possible, so before we knew it, thanks to our fantastic tech staff, we had light blooms, High Dynamic Range lighting, and lots of other lighting and frame buffer effects running in the game. The net result is that weÂ’ve probably got some of the most technically advanced features of any title on PSP at this point, which is pretty cool. WeÂ’ve done a lot more than that as well; I think people will be pleased by the tech in the game, and our loading times are still extremely short.
QJ: You’re supporting co-op fully in this game, will some of the levels or tasks be designed to take advantage of this?
Chris Carla: You can play through the entire game in co-op mode, so there are places throughout the game where Pandora and DJ need to take divergent paths. For example, DJ canÂ’t walk on balance beams, but Pandora can, so only playing as Pandora will get you to an area thatÂ’s accessible by a balance beam and there are the same type of situations where only DJ can access other areas.
QJ: Does Pandora control differently than DJ?
Chris Carla: She does, but itÂ’s not dramatically different than DJ, because we want people to be able to jump in and play as either character. So, different inputs will do different moves of course, and the characters have different weapons, so you do have to play them differently. They definitely feel different when you play them. Instead of a Scythe, Pandora has a giant segmented whip.
QJ: Will the Co-op mode be available over the PSP’s Infrastructure mode? Are there any competitive multiplayer modes in the game?
Chris Carla: No weÂ’re local only, because the time required for Infrastructure just wasnÂ’t going to work with the release schedule. Again, for time reasons we really just wanted to focus on making co-op as good as it can be, so we didnÂ’t focus on competitive multipayer.
QJ: We’ve had downloadable demos for Loco Roco, Tama Run and World Tour Soccer, Daxter had a UMD demo and it looks like we got one for Gangs of London as well, are there plans for a demo for Death Jr. 2, whether downloadable or on UMD?
Chris Carla: That would be awesome, but we donÂ’t have anything to announce at this time.
QJ: You’ve been at the forefront of pushing your characters and franchises across various media, such as manga and comics as well, what prompted this and do you feel it’s something other developers and publishers should pursue?
Chris Carla: Absolutely, when it’s appropriate. A lot of the DJ stuff, such as the comic or the manga, happened because someone told us “this would be a great comic,” and we could really envision that, because of course DJ was influenced a lot by the comic scene. We’ve been pretty clear that we want the game to be a great game, and the comic to be a great comic, etc. We have great comic guys doing the comic (Gary Whitta and Ted Naifeh), too. One thing that’s been pretty cool is people in the comic world saying “the videogame adaptation of this comic looks good too!” If people can’t always assume the character originated on the medium they’re seeing it on, I think we’ve done a pretty good job.
QJ: Is there any chance that we might see DJ and Pandora wreak havoc on a next-generation console?
Chris Carla: We would love to see DJ on as many consoles as possible, but thereÂ’s nothing to announce at this time.
QJ: Parting words for our readers?
Chris Carla: Please check out DJ2PSP! We think youÂ’ll really like it.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us guys, as always the QJ team wishes you all the best. Well readers, we’d certainly like to know what you guys thought of the interview, and what you think of DJ2 as well, comments are very much welcome below!
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