Omikron Game

The Crying Game: Quantic Dream's CEOs discuss their new PS3 game

need translation? David and Guillaume

After announcing an exclusive deal with Sony to produce a new, unnamed PS3 title, Develop spoke to Paris-based Quantic Dream’s CEOs David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière (pictured) to find out more about their approach to games and life as a French games studio…

Firstly, what are you able to tell us about the new game?
David Cage: Our next project will continue to explore the direction we initiated with Fahrenheit. We discovered with Fahrenheit that an emotional experience based on storytelling could be as appealing as more traditional game forms. We also saw with the incredible reactions to The Casting [an E3 2006 tech demo] that people were eager to discover new forms of interactivity.

With this next project, we want to build on what we learnt, continue to improve the grammar of our narrative language, while offering a very unique type of experience. We continue to experiment, explore new ideas, push the envelope as far as we can and always try to surprise the player. It is again very ambitious, unique and challenging at all levels.

The Casting was as much about emotion as it was technology – is securing that kind of emotional investment from the player/view what defines ‘next-gen’ for you?
DC: Definitely. What else could ‘next-gen’ mean? More polys? Advanced shaders? Physics? What use are they for, if we just use this technology to create the same games as those over the past ten years?

Time has come for interactive experiences to propose more than fun and adrenaline. We need to offer a wide panel of emotions, and not just fear, anger, frustration, but love, hate, empathy, sadness. We should also start to bring depth and meaning by creating experiences deeply relating to a player’s inner self. Our industry is now ready to reach a more grown-up and wider audience. We will continue to produce games for teenagers, but not all people want to shoot and drive. It is now time for our media to reach maturity. We need to become more ambitious, more creative; we need to dare to explore new directions and to take risks. I am convinced that great rewards will be found following that route.

You drew inspiration from TV dramas, horror, and noir for Fahrenheit – what kind of source material is influencing your next project?
DC: Our next project is probably more personal. I continue to explore schizophrenia – what it means to be different persons – but the game will also be about love, fear, and how both can interfere. It will really be about moral choices, and the difficulty of knowing the difference between the good and the bad.

In a previous interview, you said The Casting represented a step away from the Uncanny Valley. Will developers always have to battle with issues of verisimilitude or are we close to creating a game that is as emotional and involving as any movie?DC: The Casting showed that the day was close where a virtual actor could express and share with the audience complex emotions. It was a short test done in three months starting from scratch, including the script writing and the development of the engine on PS3, but most of all it was about understanding from an artistic point of view what creating an emotional experience will mean in the future. On this point we learnt much more than what we expected. Thinking about a video game as an emotional experience has a massive impact on every single aspect of the development, from the writing and the interface, to the technology and tools. Quantic Dream has invested in this particular approach for ten years; we now have a very clear vision of how emotions can be triggered.

Quantic Dream has also been active in blurring the lines between story and gameplay and movies and interaction, as we saw in Fahrenheit – is that still a mandate for you? And is it something you will be pushing forward with your next project?
DC: I believe that the future of video games is to create complex emotions for a more mature and wider audience. There are many ways of creating complex emotions: Rez, Katamari Damacy, Ico or Final Fantasy are just some examples amongst many possibilities.

The direction I want to explore is to tell interactive stories, where the player through his actions can affect the way the story is told. I am interested in emotions, in emergent storytelling, in how the player can project himself in different characters and contexts, how we can make him laugh, cry, scream, feel empathy.

I am interested in storytelling because this is my personal sensibility, but also because I believe that this is a fascinating direction for this media in order to discover new forms of narration.

It is difficult, because there is no established format, technique or interface. It is challenging because we need to learn how to create this type of experience and to invent this new language, but it is definitely today the most exciting place to be when you want to be creative and to innovate.

The studio has been open for almost 10 years but only released two games – most independents can’t afford to take that long over a production. What’s your secret to making games you care about and have put plenty of effort into, but also stay in business?
DC: When setting up a company, I think you have to be clear about what type of company you try to create and what your goals are. Then every single decision you make should be consistent with the direction you choose.

I started Quantic Dream to be a pioneer in the field of emotion and storytelling, with the idea of contributing to make this media a mainstream entertainment form with high creative expectations.

We developed our own technology and tools, because we believed that the format we wanted to create would require unique and dedicated features. We bought a mocap studio because we thought that creating believable virtual actors would be of paramount importance, and that this knowledge would have to be discovered and controlled. We invested time and energy in discovering writing techniques and new types of interfaces suitable for interactive storytelling, because we wanted to create a format that would be really unique.
We structured the company in order to have the time and money to do these things properly, with the hope that these decisions would bear their fruits at some point.

I would say we are at present halfway down the road: Fahrenheit has been a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate what we believed in and it’s been incredibly received by both the gaming community and the industry. The Casting demo raised the industry’s attention; everyone in our business talks now about emotion as the next big thing, something we said and invested in for the past ten years.

Having said that, we have been incredibly lucky to always find people to invest in our ideas, but also to collaborate on exciting R&D projects and earn revenues from our mocap suite to keep us alive between two projects. Our main luxury was probably to have exclusively worked over the past ten years on our own concepts without having to make compromises ‘to eat’, which is also a sign in my mind that we have been on the right track all this time.

Is that why you signed with Sony?
Guillaume de Fondaumière: We are particularly proud to be expressing our vision in partnership with Sony Worldwide Studios. It is not only a great opportunity for us to be exclusive to the Playstation 3, to focus our efforts on one console that can truly deliver on our vision, but also to be working with people who entirely share our passion and ambition.

Having a mocap service is an interesting way to offset the long-term development business with a short-term contract one working for other companies. Was that the intention when you started offering motion capture to third parties?
GDF: The only way to reach the level of quality we were targeting with mocap and to produce the massive volumes of data required by our format for a reasonable cost was to own a system. It gave us time to work on R&D, try different solutions, and most of all, to integrate mocap in our pipeline properly, which very few studios in the world can do. Very quickly, the expertise we obtained interested other companies, and we started working for movies, commercials or games, which in turn contributed to our R&D by supporting our financial effort.

Quantic Dream has recently acquired the latest Vicon system, which will help further increase the level of quality and the productivity of the studio. This hardware associated with the experience we have now gives a real competitive advantage to the company to create emotional experiences based on virtual actors. We continue to invest massively in technologies and tools, as well as improving writing and directing techniques.

Do you think that’s a useful business model for other games studios going forward?
GDF: I am not sure one can really talk about a ‘business model’. Having an internal mocap studio was a strategic decision that was taken considering the very specific nature of our own productions. It is only a good solution if a given studio has a development strategy requiring mocap and the financial and human means to support it in the long run.

Has having a wide range of clients in that field from film, TV and advertising helped shape your game productions in any way?
GDF: As a video game developer, we have to find solutions to the particular constraints of real-time and research techniques and tools that are specific to our needs. Producing high-end animations for different media does contribute to the team’s overall experience as we must be aware of the latest technologies and uses in other fields, in particular motion pictures. In that sense, it helps shape our game productions because these collaborations contribute to blurring the line between films and games.

What are your thoughts on how tax credits have effected the French games industry?
GDF: Twenty years ago, Japan, the United States, Great Britain and France were producing most of the games that were sold worldwide.

Since the late ‘90s, the growing importance of video games as a cultural form of expression targeted towards the younger generations as well as its decisive contribution to research in a variety of technical and scientific fields has drawn the attention of other countries and they have invested massively to shape a local industry, sometimes from scratch.

Today, tax incentives and other direct or indirect subsidies are commonplace in most parts of Asia, in Australia, in Canada and in a number of states in the US. We know today that these initiatives are successful in shaping local markets but also attracting major publishers and some of the best talents.
Montreal has had a major impact on the French development scene and this will now certainly spread to other countries, in particular the UK, if the gap between the production costs in Europe and other parts of the world continue to widen.

We saw the problem coming five years ago in France. When our Government finally understood in 2005 how grave the situation was, we had lost almost 60 per cent of our workforce. I hope other Governments, in particular in the UK and Germany, will react swiftly now and help us present our case to the European Commission.

We have been negotiating with the EU since 18 months to obtain a 20 per cent tax credit in France – that is half of what Montreal offers! – but France alone can obviously not convince the Commission. If we don’t react swiftly, Europe as a whole will be hit by the brain and studio drain and there won’t be a vibrant European development scene anymore. This is a serious problem and we must stop hiding behind our ‘glorious past’.

And lastly, as president of APOM Guillaume, how would you say the French development sector has changed over the last few years?
GDF: I think the major difficulties we have faced in the past five years have had a major impact on our studios, both positive and negative.

More than 60 per cent of the workforce today is employed either directly or indirectly by Ubisoft. Most of the time, these studios work on a work-for-hire basis and not on original properties. This to me is a real problem as we all know the value of a company is drawn from its capacity to create, produce and retain interest in original IPs.

On the positive side, I see some very promising new studios emerge on a variety of segments, for instance on community based games for the internet, casual and serious games for PC and console or mobile phone games. We still do have a tremendous pool of individual talents in a number of fields. I also believe that the hard times we had to go through has had a very positive impact on our overall capacity to create true production value. French studios have become much more productive, organised and focused than they were five years ago.

I think it is the right time for international publishers to come back to France and establish some long term partnerships.
Autor: Michael French
Source: Develop
Language: English

Labels: David Cage, DevelopMag.com, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Heavy Rain the Origami Killer (English), Interview English

Tuesday, July 17, 2007
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Destructoid Interview: Quantic Dream on the European gaming industry

need translation?...
What I do have is an interesting interview about how Quantic Dream competes with the big development houses, the state of the European gaming industry and where it fits into the gap left between American and Japanese gamers. M. de Fondaumière was quick to point out that Europe certainly isn't new to the mutlimedia rodeo -- birthplace of film, ftw!

Destructoid: Is Heavy Rain the PS3 exclusive mentioned in last week's press release? When will it be released?

Guillaume de Fondaumière, company manager, Quantic Dream: We have not announced the name of the title nor its release date, but shall do so in due course.

Dtoid: I know that Heavy Rain isn't a Fahrenheit sequel, but are the two related in terms of art style or direction? Will Heavy Rain be as theatrical as Fahrenheit was?

QD: We are working on a totally new franchise which will be featuring an innovative narrative structure and once again push the gaming experience to realise a new level of interactivity. In particular, we want to engage players at an emotional level never experienced before. We’re looking forward to revealing more news on this special title later this year.

Dtoid: What is Heavy Rain's game engine like? Is it proprietary, and if so, would Quantic Dream be willing to license it to other development houses?

QD: Our next project is under development using a proprietary engine and tools that are under constant development since 10 years. A great number of these technologies are very unique.

We could be licensing some of them in the future, but developing games and licensing game technology as middleware are two very distinct businesses. We do however service our motion capture studio since several years and are currently analysing the opportunity to offer a complete - one-stop - solution to create real-time 3D virtual actors, which constitutes an important component of our know-how.

Dtoid: Moving away from Heavy Rain, how does Quantic Dream compete with much bigger developers, in terms of budget, resources, and creativity?

QD: Today, Quantic Dream has a 70+ in-house development team, but we are also working with a number of freelance artists around the world and subcontract some of our 3D graphics production needs to third companies. Our industry has become extremely competitive in terms of human resources in the past 12 months and real talent is difficult to come by everywhere.

David [Cage, founder and lead designer] and I saw the problem coming two years ago and very early decided that we had to look out for talent all over the world and across media. We have started to work with foreign artists 18 months ago and then started to bring in a number of high profile artists and technicians from all over the place (Japan, Australia, US, Canada, UK…). Today, we are a truly international company. I think it was essential not only because it became very hard to find the right talent here in France, but also because our industry has become a global industry; it is essential to be able to have within your team people who, because they come from abroad and have had different experiences and influences, have a different perspective on our medium. But this is not something that is easy to do, you have to carefully plan it and adapt your structure to be able to welcome these people the right way. We have for instance a dedicated person accompanying full time our foreign personnel: they don’t have the hassle of finding an apartment, a school for the children, etc… they feel comfortable and adapt quickly. Developing innovative games and having an uncompromising focus on quality has also been an important factor to attract world class talents.

Concerning budgets, you hear all sorts of things and it is very difficult to compare projects because they are sometimes very different in nature. We enjoy a partnership with one of the main actors in our market (Sony Worldwide Studios), our project is an important one in their portfolio and the budget is at the level you’d expect given these parameters.

Dtoid: Paris (and Europe in general) is quickly becoming a center for animation and video game development, with many developers located here. Any comment on the growing number of ambitious, creative European developers? How will these new companies change the gaming industry?

QD: Actually, countries like the UK or France have been creative centres in the gaming industry for more than 25 years now. You shouldn’t forget that Infogrames (today Atari) was founded in 1983 and Ubisoft in 1986, to name but these. Concerning animation, France is enjoying a solid reputation in traditional animation and graphic design since the 70’s and in more recent years also in 3D animation. The same applies actually to the UK, and to a number of countries of the “old continent”. The games industry however is evolving much faster than any other creative industry.

In less than 25 years, video gaming has grown to become one of the major forms of entertainment and cultural expression on a worldwide scale. Emerging countries like Korea, India, China, etc… are investing heavily in gaming, as they are in all digital media, and are becoming major creative centres themselves. We also witness that one of the effects of global competition is that creative talents move out of Europe, in particular to places like Canada, the US or China. Therefore, if Europe in general has historically been a vibrant artistic centre, the European video game scene cannot simply sit on these laurels.

Now on the subject of creativity and the impact of new studios, I was particularly impressed this week by John Riccitello’s statement on the stand of innovation in our industry and his very bold take on the fact that games “bore people to death” ! I will not comment on EA’s influence on this situation (innovative studios turned sweat-shops, constant sequels of sequels productions, hurriedly adapted Hollywood IP’s, etc…) but I think there is a lot of truth in what he said. I am very happy to see that new studios emerge a bit everywhere today. These new studios will certainly bring some fresh air and a breath of innovation. I think that European studios in particular will have the opportunity to show their talent as they will be able to leverage at the same time on Europe’s cultural history and natural talent pool and take maybe better advantage of the globalized environment than the older generation. If John’s “confession” is followed by actions, these new studios may well have the chance to express these new views in the short term and change the face of video gaming sooner rather than later.

Dtoid: Simultaneously, many are discussing the widening gap between Japanese and American games -- how is Quantic Dream dealing with these differences and changes in the gaming industry?

QD: Historically, the two major video game producing nations are Japan and the US. Since the beginning, there has been a clear difference between the games produced in these two countries. Games are a cultural form of expression and therefore, these differences, be they in graphical style or gameplay mechanics or else, are the natural illustration of the cultural differences that exist between the two nations. I am not sure if this differentiation is more important today than it was in the past. In the contrary, I tend to think that games are a formidable media to promote culture; certain Japanese games have crossed many borders and by doing so, they contributed a great deal to popularise Japanese realms of imagination amongst western audiences and also western game creators, and vice versa.

The European video game scene is I think equally influenced by the two sides and of course, we do also have our very own style and aspirations. If you take “French” games, I think you can find certain similarities in style between them. We are greatly influenced by our cinema, our comic books etc… We also have a natural tendency to intellectualise our creations – sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst -, something you won’t find in a lot of countries.

At Quantic Dream, we are developing a very distinct kind of games. David Cage, the founder of the company and the creative director behind all our creations, is putting a very strong focus on pushing the boundaries of interactive narration and to diversify emotional responses from audiences in front of a game. We are looking very closely at what other developers across the world are doing and of course, we are also influenced by certain creations, for instance original gameplay mechanics that could contribute to what we are trying to achieve. On the other hand, as pioneers in certain fields, we are also venturing into virgin territories and are probably the ones who influence others around the world. We like to think that through our original creations, we contribute to the diversity of this fantastic media that video games are.

Autor: Orcist
Source: Destructoid
Language: English

Labels: Destructoid.com, Interview English, Quantic Dream Inside

Saturday, July 14, 2007
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Guillaume de Fondaumière: 'EC must act on tax breaks'

need translation?France's games development trade body APOM says the European Union must support studios and ensure local companies survive in a climate threatened by financial subsidies in other continents.
Speaking to Develop Guillaume de Fondaumière (pictured), the president of France' games development trade body APOM, and also COO of Quantic Dream, spoke out in support of SCi boss Jane Cavanagh's comments to the Financial Times yesterday (reprinted here) saying the UK government should consider tax breaks for games companies.

SCi's games brand Eidos is setting up a studio in Montreal, where generous Quebec government grants mean up to 40 per cent of salaries are paid for by the State.

"The French video game developers, whom I represent as the President of the APOM warmly welcome Jane Cavanagh's urge to the UK government," he said.

French developers, he added, have been hard-hit most by Quebec's tax breaks given that the shared language has attracted tempted its talent to Canada. But this means that until now they have been alone in advocating that Europe device similar tax incentives. The French government recently approved a bill proposing tax credits for French games developers, but the move is pending a formal investigation by the European Commission.

Added de Fondaumière : "Europe, in particular the UK, Germany, Austria, the Nordic countries, Benelux, Spain and France used to be vibrant places for video game creation. Since video games have become a massmarket entertainment form however, other countries have understood the importance of it for their economy and their cultural heritage and have put in place a true arsenal of measures and incentives to attract the best talents in the world."

This has meant France has been witnessing "a huge brain drain" losing "creative and
high-tech talents to places like Canada, China or Korea".

But now de Fondaumière says that with the boss of a publisher from the UK, the biggest region in Europe for games development, speaking out against this problem as well, it's clear France is not alone in the creative suffering: "This wave is hitting the creative community in all European countries.

"The European Commission has no more alternative but to finally react and give all European countries equal chances to compete with these new challengers."

Autor: Michael French
Source: DevelopMag
Language: English

Labels: Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Interview English

Friday, April 13, 2007
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Interview with Guillaume de Fondaumiere! (Indigo Prophecy)

need translation?I was assigned a project for my English class, which entailed interviewing a person in the profession that we would be entering after high school/college. Mine was game development, so I emailed Quantic Dream, the creators of Indigo Prophecy (AKA Fahrenheit) and I was stunned when I got the response back from Guillaume de Fondaumiere, the executive producer of the whole project!
Well I received my email response from Mr. de Fondaumiere today, and he was kind enough to answer each of the questions that I sent him.

Here they are:

1. You’ve had quite a bit of experience in both founding companies and working for existing development studios. What are the benefits of each?
First of all, I would like to say how fortunate I am to have spent my entire career so far in small companies I either created myself or, as is the case with Quantic Dream, joined at a rather early stage to help develop it.
The obvious benefit is, I have always been in charge and most of the time, I was capable to lead the company in a very precise direction. I do not see a big difference between my earlier functions with structures I founded (C de C, Arxel Tribe and later The Arxel Guild) and my current job at Quantic Dream where David Cage and I work closely together, each of us having his own competences that complement each other smoothly.
What is very important for me is to work with people I trust, who are good at what they are doing and with whom I can share the same objectives.

2.In your own words, what does it mean to YOU to be a game developer/producer?
Developing games is a difficult enterprise and every new project is a new challenge. Starting a new project nearly always means to reinvent yourself and your team. Of course, you and your team build on what you created in the past, but the fact that our industry is so technologically driven and still so young means you constantly need to look for different ways to do things.
For me, being a game developer/producer means to be a pioneer in entertainment and I only went into games because I thought this is The future of entertainment.

3. If you could give someone a piece of advice who is pursuing a career in the game development and design field, what would it be?
Video games are about inventing a new, interactive form of entertainment, and this is still a young and vibrant industry.
Don’t fit into the mould, create your own thing. Be different and stick to your vision. Don’t let others, especially those who are well “established” in this business, tell you what your game should be. The good people to follow in this industry, and they are still a good few, are those who understand and cherish true innovation.

4. What does your normal work day look like from start to finish?
I drive approx. 40 minutes to the office and I usually use this time to give phone calls to fellow developer’s (I am the President of the French video game developer association APOM and an active member of the EGDF – Europe’s organization - and therefore I am very regularly in contact with a number of studio heads) or to call up some contacts we have in Asia.
When I arrive, at around 9 am, I take a first coffee and read entertainment related news on Internet or news magazines. When David arrives, we discuss for approx.15 to 30 minutes.
After the meeting I like to wander around the studio for 15 to 20 minutes and discuss the latest developments with department leads of our studio. If there is something I have to see in more details, this can last up to 1 hour, usually not more. I then return to my desk I read through my emails for the first time in the day and respond to the most urgent ones. I then turn to my administrative tasks, go over planning, budget, accounting and finance, all the “boring tasks” that are necessary to run a business efficiently.
David and I usually go to lunch at around 1 pm followed by his assistant, our VP production and our associate producer. We discuss the latest games we played, films we have seen and usually end up discussing the current stage of our production.
In the afternoon, I share my time between the reading of production documents created by the leads on our intranet, meetings with different people on particular subjects on the strategy of the company or the production, phone calls to our publisher(s) and other people in the business and the creation of my own production/marketing/strategic planning related documents. I also pursue a “diversification plan” that is still confidential and that has taken me quite some time in the past months.
I usually spend my late afternoon and evening reading and responding a second time to emails and any legal documents I either have to produce or read and amend. I like to work alone in our big office on complicated matters and contracts are certainly a complicated matter in our industryJ.
When I drive back home, it is usually the good time to call some folks up in the US…
It is very diverse and I like it very much like this.

5.Your current position in Quantic Dream is obviously a very important one that comes with a lot of responsibilities. What would you say is the most vital responsibility?
The most vital one is probably to make sure we have the financial means to create our games. That means hitting deadlines on time and getting paid on time in return, as well as planning our expenditures and finding sometimes financing solutions, including subsidies.
Another vital aspect I believe is to make sure everyone in the team understands what our objectives are and what the expectations of the outside world are. I am the main interface between Quantic and this outside world – in particular the publishers and the “market” – and as such I must make sure the communication, both ways, is accurate and fluid.

6.What inspired/motivated you to become a game developer/producer?
Creating games is the magical alchemy between creativity and highly complex technology. It means working with highly skilled professionals and making sure they surpass themselves individually and move forward as a team. Video games offer me a unique opportunity to express myself in different fields, be it finances, management, business and creativity.

7.Projects are full of deadlines and organized timetables, and missing these deadlines can potentially lead to the scrapping of an entire game. What do you do to motivate and keep the developers on track and on time?
The most important thing is to make sure people understand what they are working on and why a deadline is important. People can only give their best is they have the global picture…

8.Indigo Prophecy was a game that took an approach that the industry was not used to. According to the director David Cage, he wanted to make a “contribution to the transformation of video games into a true form of expression that conveys emotion.” It’s a very bold and interesting move that seemed to turn out very well. What was your favorite part of this aspect of the project?
I think the best aspect is when you release a game that has taken thousands of men/month to be created and suddenly the press, the industry and gamers write to you and say: “well done, I really enjoyed this one, please produce another game like this”. On Indigo Prophecy, we have received an astonishing amount of “fan” letters and, for a game in a genre that most predicted some time ago was “dead” a strong signal from the specialized press with a great number of awards and high marks. David is a remarkable person in our industry, the reason why I joined Quantic Dream, and I believe with our next project, the whole industry will understand how important his contribution is to games. We want games to be more than just Toys for Kids. It is the most vibrant entertainment form and has the capacity to really become a massive culture.

9.What would you say is the best part of being involved in the game industry?
Being able to redefine with each project certain paradigms or concepts that everyone thought are written in hard stone and reinvent yourself.

10.The Quantic team must spend a lot of time together during the development of game projects, as does a lot of other dev. teams. But looking at your team in particular, what would you say is the relationships between everyone at Quantic?
I believe the relationship between people in a game’s team has evolved dramatically in the past 15 years. “In the old days” you would create games with a few friends, usually a small group of 4/5 people that have no problem sharing the same vision and communicating with each other. Today, with teams that are in average 80+ that has become much more difficult. However at Quantic Dream, we have organized our studio into smaller teams of people that closely work together on specific tasks. On top of these teams, we have a very compact group that is essentially here to oversee the project and make sure all the smaller teams are working in harmony on the same project. Sharing regularly the vision during complete studio meetings ensures that everyone is perfectly aware of what is going on and where we are aiming at. Again, communication is key in game development, and you need to have the proper organization and communication tools in place. The way we are organised works very well and the relationship is therefore excellent.

You can check out the latest project of Quantic Dream at their website: Quantic Dream

Autor: CloudStrife07
Source: PlayStation Lounge
Language: English

Labels: Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Interview English, PlayStation Lounge

Thursday, December 21, 2006
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ImagineFX Interviews Thierry Doizon

need translation?

THIERRY DOIZON

Age: 32
Country: I consider myself a world citizen but I currently live in Montreal, until I can move to Mars.
Software used: Photoshop CS, but sometimes I like to use Painter – it has a different feeling to it. I also use 3D software for some basic modelling, because it helps in building complex environments.
Web: http://www.steambotstudios.com
(Thierry Doison was one of Omikron artist and Quark artist director - UL)

This image, developed from a sketchbook fragment shows Thierry’s love of cyberpunk.

"Maybe I was just born in the wrong century.”

The artist known as BARoNTiERi explains why he’s partial to robots…

Madagascar. This huge island, situated off the east coast of Africa, is known by ecologists as the ‘eighth continent’ thanks to its abundant, rare and diverse wildlife. Now almost denuded of its forest covering by slash and burn farming, this dramatic part of the world is where Thierry Doizon grew up.

As exotic, precious and threatened as this island may be, the creative mind always wants more than it sees. That’s how Thierry (aka BARoNTiERi) got started as a concept artist – Madagascar needed spicing up a bit. “I always tried to design arrow guns for fishing and alien spacesuits,” Thierry laughs. “And plenty more funny, stupid things.”

Today, while working as a concept artist for Ubisoft, in Toronto, Thierry has brought together a collective of artists calling themselves Steambot Studios. Their first art book is in the offing, as is a Gnomon project and a slew of freelance work. His perceived ‘stupid things’ are in demand.

Logic

After studying art and literature in Africa, Thierry “did the logical thing” and returned to France where he moved into industrial and aesthetic design. After three years in the south of France, he moved to Rochester in the UK where, in 1995, he received a BA in 3D design. Game development beckoned.

But even as an artist with obvious talent, he reckons the game industry is a tough market. It’s still a young and evolving business, not the kind of world where you can afford to be overly precious, as having games cancelled is a normal occurrence. “I worked on many games which never passed the green light,” laments Thierry.

This wasn’t always the case, as concept artist on games such as Vexx, I-Ninja and the soon to be released Quake Wars, Thierry has developed an ability for producing snapshots of a technologically superior future. One where mankind has come out the other side of our currently looming crisis, not necessarily better, but certainly different.

Digital

Thierry’s training largely pre-dates the dominance of digital techniques. “I started with my pencils, paintings and especially Pantone markers,” he recalls. They were tough times for a concept artist. “Ten years ago, I had a crazy library, I spent all my spare time in bookshops to find cheap references.” The arrival of the web has meant a revolution in his working practice: “It’s magical!”

The digital era just makes things easier and faster. Thierry marvels at the change wrought by the intervention of the silicon chip. “When you think about the time it took on paper to make the same stuff that we do now with a PC it’s just insane.” And it’s only going to get more crazy.

“Nowadays there are a lot of forums for concept artists showing and sharing images, tutorials and techniques.” This abundance of readily available sources of information, training and review for artists means there’s a wave of incredible talent building up. “It’s something I would have loved to experience a decade ago,” he muses.

Thanks, Ridley

“Blade Runner and Alien had a huge impact on me as a kid,” adds the artist. “And since then I’ve been obsessed by sci-fi.” You can certainly see the influence of both those movies in images such as Explorers and Thai Flight, but there’s more going on here than a homage to Ridley Scott. Thierry confirms: “I also love fantasy, cyberpunk and steampunk as much as futuristic worlds.” They’re all part of the mix. “They offer the best terrain for my imagination to explore.”

You get the feeling that Thierry may have been asked to justify his sci-fi passion more than once. He goes on: “I like science, technology, stories and movies. If you combine all this, you can guess my favourite genre.” Despite this fascination with futuristic technology, Thierry is an artist first – he puts no constraints on his creativity.

“I don’t fill my sketchbooks with any particular subjects, just the inspiration of the moment!” For the moment that inspiration is scientific but, not all that convincingly, he insists that could all change. “At the moment I’m doing a lot of SF-based images,” he admits. But it’s not a compulsion: “It depends on my feelings. I don’t think that I’m consistent in the process of doing them.”

The keys

Inspiration alone is not enough, talent is only the raw material. “I practice a lot,” Thierry nods. “Even though I consider myself lazy.” Art is a discipline, you can’t just pick it up when you feel like it: “It’s a typical subject of discussion among all artists,” agrees Thierry. “But it all comes down to this: talent is nothing without work!”

“Experimentation and experience are the keys,” says Thierry. These two things determine his creative choices. “I can use one of my sketches, a thumbnail, a stain, a speedpainting, a tile, anything really, it’s just a matter of having fun.”

The composition, the subjects and the style, even the medium should be chosen by instinct: “For the moment I spend most of my time on digital but I will soon work on some more traditional things.” Thierry won’t be tied to a single style or technique: “I just don’t have a particular method,” he shrugs. “I try to use the most efficient process depending on the situation.” This approach has served him well in the journey though the world of game development and continues to draw attention to his latest adventure: Steambot Studios.

Interview with 2D awarded graphics artist Thierry " Barontieri " Doizon
Omikron and Quark credits

Autor:
Source: ImagineFX
Language: English

Labels: ImagineFX, Interview English, Project Concept Art, Thierry Doison

Wednesday, October 11, 2006
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Mayrem Chat with David Cage

need translation?Maybe you can noticed a NEW! menu at the top of the main page. (moved to links - last edited)
This is a link to our French site friendly community.
Yeah, David Cage comes there to answer fans questions about Heavy Rain production and something more. The same way as it was with Fahrenheit (but JeuxVideo Forum used fo this). Thought it's a French speaking community, but you'll have no great problem asking in English.
As usual we try to collect forum posts at the site.

Old stuff

Babble: I had intended to speak about a news according to which you had to publish the sources of TNS (Or perhaps tools of extraction, I do not know exactly of what it was a matter)... I have never succeeded in finding of official reference to this news. Therefore I wonder, was it a simple rumour?
DC: It is something of that it was extensively inside a matter. Game is now enough ancient so that we can librer source in the community to allow those who want to use them or to divert them.
We are going to make it, it is just necessary that they find the time to take a shovel and a pecker and to go to search archives to put everything online.
We are going to try to make this shortly...

kyllman: I read in an interview (which goes back to 2001 hein) that you had of racourcir (announced?) the end of NS but Eidos wanted that the play left for Christmas. Do you rappellez (?) yourselves in what the end would have been different?
DC:The end was much more complex initially. I had in particular provided that the player takes part in the revolution of Omikron and the final attack of the district of Ix by joining together the forces of Eveilles and of the people of Mayerem.
I have to be solved to mainly untie the history by kinematics instead of the epic attack which I had written…

Walkthrough

Younes38: I am not the only one to ask me this question, namely or this finds this dear Vosda' N.
I reach every pixel in the game but did not find it, is it necessary to find him only be incarnated under a specific character, to have an unspecified object or with a certain part of the play?
DC: Frankly speaking, I do not have the least idea of it… It is that that starts a little to go up with far. I suppose that there is somebody on the Net which found the answer to your question. It is a little stupid, but the players remember the plays often better than what wrote them (or then, they so much were suffered to make that one tries to forget them.

Younes38: Quite simply: Can one open the cupboard in the room of Agatha? (Lucas says that it is closed with key)
DC: No one can open the cupboard. DC: The scene was designed to be more complex, but we chose to simplify it.

Fahrenheit vs. Omikron

E-Boz: ...can one laissezr go himself to regard Fahrenheit as a genesis of the world of Phaenon, Kushulainn would become thus the downward one of Lukas Kane and the Ix virtual conscience that the Demons controlled. Or even Boz is he a malicious impostor machiavelic who succeeded in seizing Omikron while being useful itself of confidence that eveilles carries to him… TNS would not be whereas the continuation of a gigantic confrontation between Oranges and the Mauves where the player would be only one pawn.
DC:Good, there are like you it changings very quite certain sets of themes common between NOMAD Soul and Fahrenheit. I suppose that there are things which return in what I have desire for expressing. I think that my principal topic turns around the identity, schizophrenia (reincarnation in NOMAD Soul, multi-characters and the loss of control of Lucas in Fahrenheit).

E-Boz: ...do you have to think of Thelis with the character of Tiffany?
DC: For Tiffany, I actually thought of Telis. I suppose that there are psychoanalytical reasons with this character of woman well under all reports/ratios but which finishes badly… Complex of badly solved Oedipus?
All this being known as, one should not seek of another relationship between NS and F. Lucas Kane is not the back large father of Kayl; -)

Heavy Rain

UL:Heavy Rain wasl absent in Sony list of games. official E3 site E3 Insider still have no Heavy Rain on list. What was the problem?
David Cage:No issue. I guess they just forget the title... although it was number 1 of the most expected PS3 games on GameSpot for three weeks after E3...

UL:Heavy Rain. Is it final game? or just the technology name?
DC: Final title of the game... hopefully.

UL: What's the story? Is it a sequel to Fahrenheit?
DC: The story is still secret and no, it is not a sequel to Fahrenheit.

UL: What's the difference in "capturing -> rendering" between Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit?
DC: Totally new engine on PS3. The MoCap is three times more defined, we used facial mocap and the rendering is HR with Normal Maps, Spherical Harmonics and post rendering. It is really another world...

UL:Why do you need AGEIA? as I know all physics motions can be resolved by CPU and Video chip, without any problem. Also first PC AGEIA chip products sees not satisfactory results.
DC: We use AGEIA technology on console for physics in general. There will be a version using their card and a version without the card on PC. Consoles versions will include physics without needing anything else, of course.
In the demo, physics manage Marie's hair.

UL: How much people working on it? Heavy Rain collect all people sources you have, or somebody works at the next game?
DC: Heavy Rain will probably need more than 120 people, some internally, other externally. We start a second team working on another project.

UL: When QD began to work on this project? year? two years? (this questions was during E3 2006 - comm: UL)
DC: For Heavy Rain, Feburary 06.

UL: Press release actress name and video titles differences in Second Name BRAncilhon versus BAncilhon. How right? Is it mistake?
DC: Aurelie Brancilhon.

UL: Does QD canceled projects live in this new project? bLast, Quark... other?
DC: We usually start several projects at the same time. Over the last years, one of them get so much interest from publishers that we had to cancel or at least postpone the others. Each Quantic Dream's project requires up to 80 people and all our attention. It is difficult to start several original project with the same ambition in matter of quality...

kyllman: I read, that Heavy Rain, from its creation, will cancel TNS2, because Quantic could not work on the 2 projects at the same time.
DC:Mmmmm… It is a little more complicated than that…
Whereas the beginning of Fahrenheit, all the editors asked for why one wanted to make this odd play rather than one following NS, at the end of Fahrenheit, all the editors wanted Fahrenheit 2 and did not include/understand why one wanted to make NS2…
One embarked in-house on this demonstration of virtual actor while thinking of the two projects, and the feedback of the editors, the press and the community a little took us of short (600 000 remote loadings…).
Conclusion: temporary pause on NS2 time that HR correctly is launched, but it is in the plans of launching a second project in the months which come.

General

E-Boz: In fact my question is simple: why do you make video game, Mr. Cage?

DC: Why I make video game? Parce interactivity and real time are a new exciting mass media which is going to allow to create new emotions. It is also siily as this. I one am not frustrated of cinema, I like interactivity and I chose this mass media rather than other one intentionally, even if I try to employ it in another way.
What interests me, it is to participate in the creation of this new language. It is surely the most exciting adventure that an inventive can live at present. I search new words, new codes.
With their qualities and their defects, I hope that TNS and Fahrenheit bring each something once again.

E-Boz: You make me think of Serge Gainsbourg... " In the French song, it is necessary to invent a new language, a new sonority the French song is to invent. "
And I wish you a similar parcour because you have all that is needed for.
Admirer's word!
It what titille me is précisement the fact that you want to create a new language. But they want to create a new language only if they want to express something that cannot be satisfied with already existing languages. Otherwise they speak to say nothing.
What do you therefore want to express that you cannot say otherwise than by video game?...
That has t-il therefore in the bottom of you there that you want all to say to us we, the players who penetrons your world at your invitation?
DC:I really do not have message which I try to reveal in the planet across my "work".
I think that I am very interested by schizophrenia, question setting on why they are the one what they are, what this makes to be somebody else.
It is themes which seems to come back regularly in my work without that I try to cause it (the change of body in Nomad Soul, Lucas Kane who kills dnas a second state and the possibiité to control several figures all at once in Fahrenheit).
No idea of the source of my interest for schizophrenia, I obviously do not suffer from it (unless I do not know it).
I think that interactivity is ideal mass media to recall this topic.

UL: Do you really think a very expensive Motion Capture can concurrent with some mathematics modeling of people moving? Cause it's not very difficult to write an algorithm of man's moves, and using some sources like Havok engine may be not simple, but real.
DC: Mmmmm, it is unfortunately not as easy. There is no algorithm of human move and I don't think we will see that in the coming years. Physics is great for rag doll for example and there are some great technologies merging animations with physics, but you always need mocap animations at the start. MoCap is by far the fastest, cheapest and higher quality you can get.

UL: Also as I know AGEIA technology use HAVOK engine too, so why you need capturing and not simply sit and write moving scripts?
For example looking for the game world (thought I'm just a gamer) I see Movies and Games future without real actors at all.
DC: Some confusing here. HAVOK and AGEIA are two totally separate technologies. Again, there is no "moving scripts" in any of these technologies or in any tehcnology I know. You always need key framed or mocap animations.

UL: About developers diary. It was very interesting to read David's notes at the site, when I began to look for Omikron project in 97.
Fahrenheit has a postrelease developer diary posted at unknown site. (1UP). Yeah I know you work hardly you have no time to write, but may be other QD team members want to write? Can we hope to see the stages of Heavy Rain and Karma ?
DC: I would love to, but it really takes a lot of time. Once my writing work is finished on Heavy RAin, I may consider writing a blog again...
Meanwhile, there is a very long post-mortem of Fahrenheit on Gamasutra.

UL: Quantic Dream has more popularity in game industry after Fahrenheit release, and what about cinema industry, how they react?
DC: Very well... but I cannot say more for the moment ;-)

Want read more. Be at our news pulse.
Else welcome to the French community site Mayerem, but before you living Onikron Game site read answers for your question, not to ask already answered. Just type in search what you want.

Sorry for English. Some posts was cutted. ;) - UL
Source: Mayrem