Infamous Interview with IGN UK: "The moon's going to crack in two..."

IGN: We just saw the demo for the first time and we're seriously impressed. It's a really accomplished open world. Was that a big technical challenge?

Nate Fox: It's been difficult making an open world, mainly because the technology costs of getting the streaming working are really high. As you might imagine, it's really fun making an open world game, because when you put something new in the game it's all over the place. The whole city benefits from the addition of a traffic simulation. So everyday when I'm playing the game I'm seeing new things getting added in -- like pedestrians digging in trashcans for food -- and you're just constantly surprised. It's hard because it's so vast, but it's cool in that everybody gets to share in this thing. It's not like lots of little pieces. It's like one big cake.

IGN: Do you feel any pressure because it's a new IP?

Nate Fox: I think there is a certain pressure because you're defining what it is first time out, but it's really exciting too because you get to define what it is, you're not bound by the fiction you established in the first one. Say, for instance, we're working on a superpower and it's not much fun, we can cut it because it's not part of the canon, right? We've got the freedom to just focus on making the game as fun as possible.

IGN: The whole world seemed scalable from what we saw in the demo -- has that been difficult to implement?

Nate Fox: Our rule is that if you think you should be able to climb on it, we let you do it. It's a tough rule to stick to, but it's worth it because there's a sense of freedom. Because it's an open world game, it's freedom in all three dimensions, so it's very tactile. It has been really hard because we wanted to make our interface really easy and not a complex combination of button presses like playing the saxophone or anything. We have a full time employee, and all he does is make things be climbable, that's all he does.

IGN: How are the missions going to present themselves?

Nate Fox: Our mission structure is kind of similar to GTA in that you have this open world and then you become aware that a mission exists. Our missions are different in that they have very strong beginnings, middles and ends with a lot of scripted events along the way to make you feel like you're the star of the action. You're the big event in the city.

IGN: Are you happy that a lot of people are comparing it to Crackdown?

Nate Fox: I think it's up to journalists to decide. It's like saying 'Do you like Aliens? Do you like Star Wars?' They're both science fiction, so that's great. Fun games are fun games. I think Crackdown's a blast to play, but I don't think our game's like Crackdown. There's a city and a guy who can do a lot of spectacular things in a city.

IGN: How much of the Sly games are in there -- is it identifiably a Sucker Punch game?

Nate Fox: There are certainly aspects of the Sly Racoon franchise in Infamous. There's a love of story and character development, as well as a sense of improvisational gameplay where you make up how you interact with the environment and enemies, which is something that we really like from Sly 2.

IGN: So it's exclusively a single-player game?

Nate Fox: We'll tell you in two months time. Right now we're showing the single-player stuff, which we're excited about and it's going to be fun. That's currently our schtick.

IGN: What exactly is going to happen in two months time?

Nate Fox: The moon's going to crack in two and out of it will come all knowledge of Infamous.

IGN: How's it working with Sony Worldwide Studios?

Nate Fox: I feel very, very lucky because our Sony producers are smart. They come in and they look at our product and they give us a lot of crisp critical feedback and it's great because they make our game a lot better. The game wouldn't be half as good without them being so honest and frank and then giving us the freedom to solve things how we see fit. They've also shown us the power of user testing, watching kids play the game, see where they get frustrated and internalise it, so when you make new content you're a better designer for it. I'm grateful.

IGN: We spoke to Richard Lemarchand of Naughty Dog recently, and he said it's like a big family. Is there a real sense of community?

Nate Fox: There's a fair amount of sharing with other studios, but the big one is that our producer Brady Hunt is also the producer for Insomniac and Naughty Dog, so it does feel like a family atmosphere. Everyone's really friendly and they're willing to tell you how they've solved technical problems or artistic problems. That's great, because we shouldn't all have to reinvent the wheel. The gamers benefit from us communicating with each other because they get better games, and we benefit because we can help each other.