Interview: The Conduit – we chat with High Voltage Software

We speak to Josh Olson, Producer at High Voltage Software about The Conduit, Wii development, High Voltage and more

Vooks: For those who haven’t been following The Conduit every step of the way, tell us what the game is all about. Who do you play as? What’s the story all about?

JO: The Conduit is a first-person shooter built from the ground up for the Wii. You play as Michael Ford, a Secret Service agent who gets recruited into a secret shadow government organization known as The Trust. As a new member of The Trust, you head down a rabbit hole to uncover what’s going on – there’s a flu-like virus pandemic, terrorist attacks and assassinations, and increasing reports of alien-like creatures that all seem to be related. The Trust, of course, is the only group that claims to know what’s going on and Ford becomes central to getting to the bottom of it all.

Vooks: The Conduit went without a publisher for a while, how was the feeling and morale around the office while working on the game that may not have even been released?

JO: It was a great…but scary…feeling. Being without a publisher always makes you a bit nervous, but at the same time there was a tremendous sense of freedom. For the first time in our 16-year company history, we were making our own IP and creating our own world without having to follow a pre-defined, established format. It was extremely liberating and the team really poured a lot of themselves into making the game that you perhaps don’t get on a licensed title. I think it shows in the finished product. This is really OUR game.

Vooks: What was the feeling in the office when the team found out Sega was going to publish the game?

JO: We had never worked with Sega before, but the relationship instantly clicked on a professional and personal level. Team Banzai over at Sega has been absolutely fantastic – they understand what we’re trying to do and are entirely supportive of our vision for The Conduit. It’s been a very refreshing experience for us and I can honestly say (removes producer hat) that it’s been the best experience I’ve had working with a publisher.

Vooks: The online Wii fans around the world have been mostly behind The Conduit giving massive amounts of support, how high are your hopes for this support to carry onto the less Hardcore/Online fans, particularly after what has happened with Madworld?

JO: It’s a shame about MadWorld. That being said, however, we’re a very different game – when people see The Conduit, I think that they instantly “get it.” I’m not sure if that was the case with Madworld, unfortunately. We made an intentional decision on our side to give a Hollywood blockbuster-style of feel and look to the game – and we hope that this translates into a greater level of accessibility with the title. We’ve taken some heat for it, but I think it was the right decision – we offer a great core gamer experience but I think there’s a familiarity to it that people can understand.

Another important point as well is that it will hopefully draw in Wii owners who before were too intimidated by the mouse-and-keyboard or dual analog controls. That’s been very gratifying for us – when we demo the game for folks who may not have played a shooter before, or 360/PS3 gamers who haven’t played an FPS on the Wii, we’ve discovered that the learning curve is very fast and that people pick up how to play very quickly. There’s a direct connection between aiming a weapon and using the pointer that you don’t get with other input devices. In that regard, we may be a good gateway game to introduce more folks to the wonderful world of FPSes. (smile)

Vooks: Have you come across any difficulties in regards to marketing a more mature game on a console that clearly has a Public perception of a “you and your Mother play bowling together” console?

JO: There are 54 million Wii consoles out there the last time I checked. That’s a lot. We’re confident that there is a market out there for a title like The Conduit. We love the Wii – and want to continue making games like this for it. We’ll find out really soon.

Vooks: When development started on The Conduit, there weren’t many and still aren’t many First Person Shooters on the Wii, despite the fact that we’ve seen that the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combination is great. Why do you think more developers haven’t made FPS games on the Wii?

JO: It’s a great question…and one that we don’t know the answer to. When the Wii controls were announced, the first thing I thought of was how great they would be for an FPS. My second thought was how great it would be for a lightsaber game (which I’m still waiting for!). We just weren’t seeing developers really taking advantage of we thought were the main strengths of the system – its unique controls – so we decided to take a stab at it. We’ll leave it gamers to decide if we hit the mark. ..and if we’re successful, we really hope that other developers and publishers follow suit.

Vooks: Speaking of controls the game features some pretty in-depth customisation; are there also defaults or presets people can choose if they don’t know what they want?

JO: Of course. Three of our pre-set schemes are actually submitted by fans. We think that the defaults work pretty well, though a good chunk of the team has their own settings….some of which they share publicly….and some that they keep as closely guarded secrets! Console games have gotten away for far too long with not offering these options which were standards for so long on PC games. We want the player to play as he/she sees fit – and not force our “best” scheme down someone’s throat. Why not offer the player the choice?

Vooks: There was a lot of hoo-haa a couple months back about Motion Plus support, what happened there? Was it just not suitable or usable in the game?

JO: We could have added it – and actually had a prototype melee weapon that used it – but in the end it just didn’t make sense. In a shooting-centric game, control of your reticle is paramount – and excessive Wii motions would throw off your aim. We’re very much about quality, and if it didn’t integrate into the game on a meaningful level, we’re weren’t going to add it. It would feel cheap to do it for the sake of adding the sticker to the box…so we cut it. We’re still very interested in it, however, and continue to look at options for using it moving forward.

Vooks: The Conduit’s graphics are great, some of the best we’ve seen on the Wii. As the engine is made by yourselves, can you tell us a little about how it works on the Wii?

JO: The Quantum3 engine was designed exclusively for the Wii. I’m not a super technical guy – we have some guys with 1000-pound heads in our technology group that would perhaps be better to answer the question – but I do know that the Wii is much more capable than people give it credit for. We have to employ some special techniques and tricks to do certain “next-gen” things, it’s all very doable given a commitment to the system. We push the console pretty hard – and would of course always like to have more memory – but it can do a lot. I think The Conduit demonstrates that.

Vooks: Have any other developers or publishers enquired about using the engine for other purposes?

JO: We like the competitive advantage that the Quantum3 engine affords us. We’ve talked with folks but aren’t ready to announce anything.

Vooks: Do you think that in seeing The Conduit, it’s given the spark back to other developers to say “Hey look, the Wii can do these types of games and produce great graphics”?

JO: We certainly hope so. I think that we’ve shown that the Wii is a much more capable platform than people give it credit for. It does take work, but it really is up to the task. We don’t want to be the guys setting the bar – we’d prefer to be challenged and constantly have to stay on our toes and deliver bigger and better – and hope that other developers jump into Wii development as whole heartedly as we have.

Vooks: The game along with filling the FPS void looks like it’ll be filling the online void too with a compliment of online modes, just what can we expect?

JO: We’re confident that it’s the best online experience available on the Wii. We offer all of the modes that shooter fans expect – we have DM, TDM, and CTF – as well as a few additional modes that mix up the standard gameplay a bit. One of our big challenges has been convincing FPS gamers to pick up – there’s an immediate aversion to the Wii from hard-core FPS gamers (and for justifiable reasons) – but once they spend a little time with it, there hasn’t been an instance yet where they haven’t had a good time with it. Give it a shot – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Vooks: Was there any other online modes planned for the game? If so, what were they and why were they dropped?

JO: A lot of stuff always ends up being cut. Game development is a very iterative process – and we had a few modes that we unfortunately had to cut because we couldn’t get them polished enough for the final release. As it stands though, we offer 13 modes and think that there’s a ton of variety for gamers to keep them busy for months.

Vooks: What other multiplayer games did High Voltage draw from to make sure that The Conduit’s online was a great experience?

JO: We get a lot of comparisons to the feel of Perfect Dark and Goldeneye on the N64. I think that we share the same spirit of these games – I’m not sure exactly how to define it – but I think it’s a fair comparison. We also looked very closely at Halo – it sets the standard for console FPSes and we’d be foolish to not take a look. Finally, we looked at the other Wii FPSes titles out there and tried to learn what works and what doesn’t work on the Wii. The big take-away from the Wii titles is to avoid gimmicky implementation of motion-controls. Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should – and we worked really hard with our motion controls to make sure that it felt like an intuitive and natural extension of the controls. If it felt contrived or if we felt it would get annoying after repeated play, we cut it. Buttons have worked great for 30+ years now – no need to get rid of them in favour of a motion if they just make sense in a particular instance.

Vooks: The Conduit is one of the few Wii games to actually make use of Wii Speak in Multiplayer which is great, how does it work in the game and can it be used in team games?

JO: WiiSpeak is absolutely essential to online shooters – and while we would much have preferred a headset to an omni-directional mic – it adds tremendously to the experience in team-based games. Per Nintendo’s guidelines, you can only communicate with your Friends. In FFA matches, it’s proximity based allowing you to talk with the 5 nearest players. In team-based games, you can talk with your teammates.

Vooks: How will the online be set up regarding regions? Will it be region-based or can you do whatever you want? Did the inclusion of Wii Speak have an impact on the final online player count?

JO: We have three different matchmaking options – Worldwide, Regional, and Friends – so the player can define who he wants to get matched with. In regards to WiiSpeak, it wasn’t a factor in our final decision to limit player counts to 12. It was driven by gameplay considerations.

Vooks : With the Wii’s new storage abilities, has High Voltage considered releasing DLC in the future, such as new maps or Single Player missions? What is your standpoint on offering DLC for games after they release, is it good for the industry?

JO: We’re very interesting in extending the life of our games and building a strong community around our titles. DLC is a central aspect of this philosophy. It’s something that we’re looking at very closely as we move forward.

Vooks: No spoilers obviously, but what is your favourite part of the game?

JO: Easy. Wrapping a deatomizer shot around someone’s head in MP. There’s nothing more cathartic. They have a second or so before they explode in a big blue ball of electricity – plenty of time to have their lives flash before their eyes before I get the kill. It brings a smile to my face every time.

Vooks: Lastly, What’s next for High Voltage?

JO: It’s a very exciting time for the company as we work on original IP for the first time. The best is still to come!

The Conduit is due out in Australia on July 16th, thanks to Josh at High Voltage for taking the time to answer our questions, the HVS team for the game and Sega for organising the interview.