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Interview with Brian Allgeier: Ratchet's Future after R&C Future
In the midst of some serious Ratchet and Clank Future gameplay I managed to ask Brian Allgeier a few questions about Crack in Time and the future of the Ratchet series.
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Cat: There's been a lot of talk that this is the best Ratchet game yet, and even a culmination for the Ratchet series.
Brian: For us we're definitely wrapping up a chapter of the Ratchet and Clank games. We started our story arc in tools of Destruction and now we're answering a lot of fan questions here. This is kind of, for us, more of a love letter to the franchise. It's a chance to really delve into the space exploration aspect of it, like with the spherical worlds, and then we're focusing more on Clank and his origins and Ratchet and his origins, too. It's been quite a journey. This is a great game to wrap a lot of things up and give the players a sense of closure.
Cat: Closure, that's a scary word for a big fan like me...
Brian: (laughs) You know, never say never. Certainly, you know, we think that Ratchet and Clank's gonna live on for a long time and we're certainly really in love with it. It's a fantastic universe, we enjoy the flexibility that it gives us.
Cat: Yeah, I'm kinda freaked out now. You guys have been doing Ratchet for so long, as developers do you guys ever feel like you love this, have an affection for it, but you feel limited because this is Ratchet, and there are expectations?
Brian: Oh yeah, that's always been a challenge with the franchise because we each get in and we feel like we always have to top ourselves. We know the fans are craving a bigger, better game. It definitely pushes us and it challenges us. We have a lot of people that come to work at Insomniac and it's just to work on the Ratchet titles. It's really strange because I've worked on them since the first Ratchet game and there's a lot of people who were fans, who were, you know, kids and played through them who are now getting a job. (laughs)
Cat: In your wildest dreams, what sort of game would you be making next?
Brian: Well, you know, the standard answer I give most people is I'm just focused on this game right now and I think that Ratchet's got a fantastic future so...I'll just leave it at that!
Cat: What are your favorite games to play?
Brian: I don't know, I like a combination of a lot of games. I sort of play a lot of Nintendo games, or the God of War Series, I like how that's got a really cool action adventure experience. I play games like Bioshock, GrandTheft Auto, Fallout 3. Oftentimes I don't finish games, I sample a lot of them mainly for research. I enjoy a lot of the smaller games, too, and I even play flash games. (laughs)
Cat: Games for research, like a kid in a toy store!
Brian: Pretty much. And sometimes we get them for free. I'm actually part of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences and they give us games. It's kind of like the Academy Awards where you get movies to watch, so we just play through a bunch of them and rate them.
Cat: How are you guys inspired for the weapons?
Brian: That's a good question. Weapon ideas can come from anywhere. We oftentimes will all get into a room and sort of brainstorm and write down just a bunch of funny ideas. Sometimes an idea might seem just too crazy and we'll say "Oh, yeah whatever" and then later we'll actually find that we can do it.
Cat: So with a massive brainstorming like the weapons contest, what was it like to whittle down the entries?
Brian: That was definitely tough there were a lot of really fun ideas and we all sat in a room and we just reviewed each one of them. We had over a thousand submissions and there were a lot of zany ones. There were ones that it was like there was no possible way - you press the button and you blow up the planet, (laughs) and it was like "uh, I don't think that's gonna work!". Not much gameplay there.
Cat: The ultimate R.Y.N.O.
Brian: That's right, yeah. (laughs) We narrowed it down to five and then we had the fans pick out one.
At this point I become wholly distracted by the gameplay, which helped with the preview that will be live soon!
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N4G Radio Podcast
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