Interview: Frictional Games
"We definitely have an evil grin on our face..." - Jens
We are proud to present
you our very first interview and to make it even better, it's with the
masters of horror, Frictional Games.
Frictional had already
cemented its legendary status in the horror genre with the Penumbra
series. However, they pushed the boundaries even further with the
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, as they created a masterpiece that no one who
played it could soon forget.
Frictional succeded where many
big developers failed over the years - scaring the hell out of you.
Amnesia will turn any gamer into a scared cat, shivering in his chair
with face painted in pure terror. The fact that Frictional consists of
only five men is incredible and shows how much talent they have. We
talked with one of them, Jens Nilsson.
Your first two Penumbra games were praised for their atmosphere and earned a cult status among some gamers. What is the most important thing you learned during the development of Penumbra that helped you make Amnesia a better horror experience?
Probably that the best parts of the game are when you are not trying to force gameplay onto the player, when the obstacles to overcome are more natural and leaves it to the player to solve. For each Penumbra game made we constantly increase the numbers of solutions, trying to figure out all possible ways something could be solved. With Amnesia we did not set out to make ”multiple solution puzzles”, but with the experience from Penumbra, we had an open mind to always include all solutions that testers tried but failed at due to the game not supporting the solution.
A strong influence of H. P. Lovecraft is felt in your games, even your engine's name HPL is a reference to the author, is he the only source of inspiration for your work or do you have any other influences that inspired you?
No it's only HPL.
Haha, it's difficult to narrow down the influences, everything goes as an influence for us. For example, we spent a great deal of time thinking about what makes Super Mario great and how that can be of use in a horror game.
What inspired the story of Amnesia?
Amnesia’s main inspirations are actually two scientific studies, the Milgram and Standford prison experiments. These show how evil in humans is a lot different from what we generally think and trying to show this in the game was a strong motivation. It also draws a lot from of inspiration from general science attitude in the 17th and 18th century, where the experiments conducted where not always entirely ethical by today’s standards.
True survival horror games are a rare breed these days, as most titles in the genre tend to go the action-horror route. What is the reason for that in your opinion and what makes your games stand out among other horror titles?
When games are first person or third person they are mainly based on action gameplay, so our guess would be that to increase the action element in horror games you move towards a more common ground and increase the potential player base. Perhaps with the effect of losing the original horror fans.
For us it has always been important to try and limit the action in our games. We think the more weapons you include, the more powerful the player will become and for each monster slain the horror weakens. Thinking about it, it's strange that all first and third person games are so oriented on the bashing and shooting gameplay, as there really should be a ton of other things one could do as the core gameplay.
Many players praised Amnesia for being one of the scariest horror games in a long time, for some people it was actually too scary and intense and prevented them from finishing the game. How do you feel about that and what is your secret in successfully scaring the player?
We definitely have an evil grin on our face, or perhaps a weird pleased and happy face as the goal we had was met! As we worked on the game we had a constant worry that the expectations would be hard to meet, that people thought so highly of Penumbra that it would be impossible to top that. When the game was released and both players and press gave it such a great reception, it was a feeling of relief and being proud rarely felt before.
Variety and imagination is probably our main ideas for a good horror game. That after a dark section there is a safe and lit section, after intense encounters there are moments of solitude and so on. We combine this with trying not to directly reveal, show or explain everything in great detail, but rather hint at things so that the player’s imagination can create the true horror.
We learned that Amnesia almost didn't come out due to financial issues during the development, how did you overcome that? Has Amnesia sold enough copies to keep you going and are you happy with the critics reception?
With some luck, determination and sacrifice! Some great sales occurred at times when the treasure chest was almost empty, so we could constantly stay afloat and manage a couple of more months. We also combined this with working day and night and that everyone did it for the lowest salary possible to live on each month.
We are now overwhelmed by the reception of the game and will definitely be able to keep going. Around half-way into the project we decided to release Amnesia on our own, a decision that caused the harsh production period, but in turn has paid of greatly now that the game is out.
You said that you don't have an office and that you work from home, is it difficult to develop that way?
It's the only way we know so hard to say! It's lonely that's for sure.
What are your plans for the future, will you continue to work on survival-horror genre or have you accomplished all that you wanted in the genre?
It's probably going to be a little less horror-oriented; as we do enjoy quite a lot of other genres too! At the moment we are definitely a bit worn out when it comes to horror, having worked with horror for so long. If we do something slightly different we can be more creative, instead of trying to come up with new ways to do the same thing all over again. Later on we might very well be heading back into the deepest darkness of the survival-horror genre, as it's by no means something that we are finished with.
You develop games exclusively for the PC platform, have you considered developing for the console market in the future?
Yes we have. We have considered consoles for quite some time, before we begun work on Amnesia even. But we have been holding off a bit, making sure we have the time and resources to try and explore new grounds. And maybe, just maybe, it's the right time now.
Do you have any advice for indie developers out there that would help them get into the industry?
Don't forget to tell the world that you made/are making a game! The great thing about developing games is that there is nothing stopping you from releasing it and selling it as you like. This is possible even with an extremely meager budget, as there are almost no expenses required to sell a copy.
So while making a good game, try and remember to have a nice home for it, with a simple and trustworthy way of purchasing it. Then spend a great deal of time to try and lure people to your lair for a potential purchase.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Trailer
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22.05.2012
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12 comments so far...
IvanM, 2 years ago
I almost s... my pants :(
HzerDown, 2 years ago, +1 rating
I love these guys so much. They develope games with awesome and immersive gameplay that it absolute impossible to play alone. I hope that they continue to produce this kind of games.
I totally agree and this works tons.
IvanM, 2 years ago
This game has tottaly different experience when its played with headset in dark then with a lot of friends in the morning ;).
Dendra, 2 years ago, +4 rating
"Probably that the best parts of the game are when you are not trying to force gameplay onto the player, when the obstacles to overcome are more natural and leaves it to the player to solve."
so true...many games just force options upon you, actually virtually of them do :D judging by the interview this seems like an awesome game(s) to play, definitely gonna try it :)
P.S. Scariest horror gaming experience for me thus far was in AvP1, the first mission as a marine - running in complete darkness across the corridor towards some key point of the mission with only 40 bullets left and praying you don't hear an alien somewhere :D
Symon, 2 years ago
I've never felt such level of fear in a game before. Yes I've played F.E.A.R. and AvP with marine in darkened room with headphones, but only in Amnesia have I found myself standing in a corner, looking at all the doors like a nutcase just to see if something is coming at me.
Lujo, 2 years ago, +2 rating
Frictional's games can teach other devs the ways to invoke fear in the player, and how to create the feeling of helplesness and isolation. Penumbra really made me feel stranded in some dark, god forsaken place and being able to depend only on myself.
spaceinvader, 2 years ago, +1 rating
Good interview, great game!
xXDanteXx, 2 years ago, +2 rating
awsome game from an awsome and persistent team, keep up the good ideas coming ;)
Doucheman, 2 years ago, +1 rating
well, if the game is going to be really that scary i will gonna play it without sound and with max brightness. Dont need a heart attack at the moment :D
FireFix, 2 years ago, +1 rating
Bora, last year
This is such a grate game, it is all based not on some fansy graphics, technology or anything, but that creepy, spooky atmosphere that gives you chills and it has the greatest sound effects that increase that creepy atmosphere even more. This game is so intense and scary, hope you will enjoy it!
PS: nice interview :)
IvanM, last year
Thanks for judging an interview as great, we really enjoyed talking to the developers of this great horror game.
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