Interview with Rebellion Software

Magazine:
When was the company started?

Jason Kingsley:
About 18 months ago. It came as a result of me being freelance, and having problems getting paid by other publishers after producing games! Getting the Jaguar contract meant that I needed to set up a proper operation.

Mag:
How come you got involved with the Jaguar so early?

JK:
Atari contacted us about our previous game, Eye of the Storm on the PC, because they were impressed with the speed of it's 3D engine. They asked us if we could work on their new machine and at first we thought they might mean the Falcon. Luckily it proved to be the Jaguar! I'd done Star Raiders on the Atari 800 ages ago, and some stuff for the Atari ST, but the Jaguar was naturally a much more exciting proposition.

Mag:
How did A.V.P. (Alien Vs. Predator) evolve?

JK
It started about a year ago when Atari told us they had the license from Twentieth Century Fox. Originally we drew 256 color graphics from scratch and then decided that these simply weren't realistic enough-it's very hard to draw graphics in 16-bit or 24-bit color that are good enough to make small models of all the scenery and characters, before photographing them and digitizing them into the game. This approach has saved us an awful lot of time, and the results are far better.

Mag:
What's been the hardest aspect of the game in it's development?

JK:
Ensuring that the game isn't just a blood-fest--trying to make sure there's balance between action and stategy. Also, despite the Jag-Peg compression, memory has still been a problem. Trying to make the levels interesting and varied and trying to cram in sampled sound effects hasn't been easy given the restrictions of a 16 meg cart.

Mag:
So what do you thing of the Jaguar's hardware? Is the machine only really suited to 3D scrolling?

JK:
Oh, no, not at all, it's very much a multi-faceted machine. Personally, I think it's a great machine, especially when you consider it's doing more impressive things than an E1000 PC, for a fraction of the cost. We're only just scratching the surface of what it can do with AVP, and I'm sure we'll be looking back in a couple of years and laughing at how we're doing things here. It's been a very fast learning experience.

Mag:
What do you think of the Jaguar CD drive?

JK:
Well, Atari still haven't decided on it's specifications yet. I'd like to see at least 2 megabytes (16 magabits) of RAM in the drive to act as a buffer to spool graphics into. The current crop of CD games technology is all so slow, and extra RAM would certainly hlp. Basically, the more hardware Atari can fit on the CD drive the better the games will be!

Mag:
What do you hope to achieve with the dungeon game?(Legions of the Undead)

JK:
Legions of the Undead (working title) will be using a significantly enhanced version of the AVP engine, and the gameplay will be changed to make it more like an Action RPG or adventure. There'll be weapons to collect, puzzles to solve, and traditional RPG elements to give the game depth. It basically follows on from the old text adventures, but obviously you'll be able to see exactly what you're doing! We're hoping to do a 24 meg version and a CD version.

Mag:
How would the CD version be different?

JK:
Size, mainly: It want it to be absolutely huge--hundreds of levels, andless new graphics, and above all, massive, massive challenge. I think it's a con how so many CD games these days are just sonically enhanced, with some video bunged on the beginning. Game players want so much more than that, but it all takes time and money.

Mag:
Can you tell us briefly about the other Jaguar project you have in the works?

JK:
We got a game called Hammerhead (previously called Cyberpunk City) {Now called Skyhammer} and it's very much a game that's been at the back of my mind for around six years now. It's a strategic combat flight simulator set in a futuristic city and we're trying to make the flight dynamics quite original for this one. I think the Jaguar is the first console that can do it justice. This one won't be out 'till next year.

Mag:
What about multi-player games on the Jaguar? Any thoughts?

JK:
Well, AVP would have made a great multi-player game, and there was even a discussion about using the a Lynx as a motion tracker! To be honest, I'm not really sure about Atari's plans for multi-player link-up just yet, but it has to be something to be given serious attention.

Mag:
What games do you like playing?

JK:
At the moment, we simply don't have any time to play anything, but I like things like Civilization. Things with a bit of depth, generally. The kind of games I'm really beginning to hate are the so-called interactive movies. They're all so linear. Even the old text adventures offered loads more interactivity than these can. Talk about B movies, these wouldn't even be classes as C movies!

Mag:
What's your opinion on 16 bit Vs. 32 and 64 bit?

JK:
It's certainly true that the current crop of 16bit games look very sad next to what's running on 32bit and, ahem, 64bit technology. We like working on new technology because it gives us freedom to do ambitious projects--I mean we just couldn't do AVP and the SNES could we? Of course the perfect machine isn't here yet, but some of the new RISC based machines are looking very sexy indeed...

Mag:
And will you be developing for any of these by any chance?

JK:
Er. I can't really say at the moment (whispers something interesting stuff I can't divulge!)
Cheers, Jason.