Theseis Interview with Track 7 Games

Genuine adventure games are far and few between in this day and age, this is one reason we’ve kept a close eye on Thesis from Track 7 games since running across it at the now infamous E3 2005.

We sat down with Track 7 General Director Fayez Daud and asked him to give us the latest on this Greek epic.

QJ.net: The last footage we saw was released in May, how’s development going on the game and where are you at the moment?

Fayez: We are now in the process of finishing a Publisher Targeted Demo, that shows off the most important and fun elements of our game. We are working with a solid engine and our asset pipeline is also final. Which means we have a clear path to the finish and it’s time to approach some publishers.

QJ.net: The “Ruined” teaser gave off a distinct survival horror vibe, we know there are supernatural enemies in the game such as the Minotaur we’ve seen in some of the early screens, will the final game incorporate elements of survival horror?

Fayez: There are elements of Survival Horror in Theseis, the lack of gunplay however has been balanced by sort of forcing the player to use his brain instead of the crosshair.

QJ.net: On that topic, when can we expect to see some new video?

Fayez: There is no plan of releasing a new video in the near future, at least until the completion of the demo which is our priority right now. Once the demo is completed by March 2009, we will be releasing gameplay footage.
 
 QJ.net: Based on what we’ve seen thus far it’s still a little hard to get an idea of what the gameplay in Theseis will be like. Will there be gun play, hand to hand combat and what sorts of puzzles will the player encounter?

Fayez: There is no combat system in Theseis.The action involves avoiding enemies with many ways for example by trapping them or use the environment to escape from them. There are many dangers in the game other than creatures. The player must avoid deadly traps and action platform-gameplay hazards.

Regarding the adventure elements in Theseis, some puzzles are based on interaction with the environment and require more that just pulling levers.In some cases knowledge (by finding readings & speaking to NPCs) must be obtained by the player in order to solve the puzzle. Other puzzles require specific items from the inventory to be used on certain objects or even be combined with other inventory items. The puzzles in Theseis cover a big variety of mind-intriguing problems.

Our greatest concern in Theseis is keeping the right balance between action and adventure under a non-violence umbrella. That goal was very difficult to achieve and required a lot of testing.

 
QJ.net In our last interview we learned that Theseis would have some of the characteristics of games such as Tomb Raider, Broken Sword, Splinter Cell and Prey… the first three we can see, exploration, adventure and stealth respectively, but the comparison to Prey is a little harder to understand. Does this have anything to do with the “sixth sense” the player acquires later in the game?

Fayez: One of the special abilities of the characters in Theseis has a similar look with a specific mode in Prey, when the player can see invisible paths and walk on them, although in our game this feature is different and allows for richer gameplay.

 QJ.net: In our earlier interview it was mentioned that Thesies “doesn’t depend on finishing up a level”, and that the game is more akin to one big, continuous game, does Theseis take place in an open world or are the “levels” simply extremely large?

Fayez: What you are quoting isn’t reffering to the vastness of the leves or an open world as you put it.

What was ment by this statement is that we are focused on making a continuous game experience, as in a story that unwinds and the player experiences it as a whole.”Chapters” are only used to quantify the game space and allow the loading of areas, they work more like in a book. The idea is that we want the player to understand the story and think of it as a whole, rather than a series of quests that sort of tie up in the end.

So as you understand progressing in the game isn’t about just finishing a Level, it’s a progression through the storyline and at the end of it you will only want to play the next one.

 QJ.net: Do you have any plans for a playable demo on Xbox Live and for PC?
 
Fayez: The demo which we are working on is for Xbox360 and PC and it is a Publisher Targeted Demo. We don’t know yet when a public demo will be released.

QJ.net: A number of adventure games, such as the Penny Arcade Adventures RPG, Strong Bads various misadventures, and Sam and Max  series have gone episodic, has this ever been considered as a delivery method for Theseis?

Fayez: Yes, this has been considered as an option to actually deliver Theseis on time, but there is a conflict with the idea of playing out a story. Why should the player wait in order to finish the story? We didn’t think it was fair.

QJ.net Will the game be available as a digital download on PC through services like Steam, Impulse and Direct2Drive?

Fayez: We don’t know yet. It is a publisher’s decision.

QJ.net Are the PC and 360 versions going to be released simultaneously?

Fayez: The game will be released first for the Xbox360 and after a short time for the PC.

QJ.net What differences will there be between the two versions of the game?

Fayez: Differences between the 2 version will be minimal, we only expect that the PC version will look sharper and have more graphical options, due to the amazing advancement in graphics cards. Everything else has been designed to work on both platforms with the least amount of changes.

QJ.net: Obviously the game’s still in development and as such system requirements aren’t final, but can you give an idea of what kind of gaming rig you’ll need to be able to play the game on PC?

Fayez: As you stated the development of the game is in progress so the system requirements are not final, however our goal is to make run smoothly on an average system.

QJ.net Will there be DLC available for Theseis post release?

Fayez: Since Theseis is a story based game, downloadable content doesn’t seem to fit anywhere.

QJ.net: Will Theseis contain any sort of multiplayer or online component?

Fayez: No

 QJ.net: You mentioned that a PS3 version of Thesis will depend on many factors, can you go into a bit more detail about what might have to happen to make a PS3 version viable?

Fayez: A PS3 version mostly depends on corporate decisions, the engine we are using supports PS3, our assets might need tweaking for it, so technically there isn’t something stopping us.

QJ.net: If Theseis were a first person shooter featuring a bald space marine laying waste to alien hordes it’s probably safe to say it would have been picked up by a publisher by this point. How hard has it been shopping a unique adventure game around in the current industry climate?

 Fayez: Shopping for a developer hasn’t been hard, it’s more difficult to finalize a deal though when you don’t have a finished demo. Some of the major publishers have shown interest in Theseis, but in order to get a deal that would reward all our hard work and keep the game idea intact, a demo showing off the quality of our product has to be finished. Rushing into a deal would only do our product harm, sometimes you have to wait until everything is ready. In Greece there is a saying: “Good things need their time”.

QJ.net: Does Track 7 have any plans for smaller downloadable titles on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or the Wii Ware?

Fayez: No

QJ.net: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about Theseis?

Fayez:Theseis is our first game in which we have invested a lot of time and energy and we are determined to deliver the game with the highest possible quality and make it appealing even to the most demanding gamer.