http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/05/19/11853/
ACE Team have just announced the excellent news that they’re already working on a sequel to Zeno Clash, the first-person beat-em-up we poured praise upon last month. Zeno Clash 2, as it’s currently known, will take place after the events of the first game, continuing the adventures of Ghat, this time in a larger world, with mysterious “RPG elements”.
“ACE Team wants the next installment to be much larger in scope, so the new game will feature open ended gameplay with large explorable environments and RPG elements. The unique melee combat system that made the first game a success will also be expanded to feature even more brutal and engaging gameplay.”
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06 ... -clash-ii/
RPS: Let’s talk about the open-world structure of the new game, why have you done that, rather than produce another linear story?
Bordeu: A very big part of this decision was due to fan requests, but mainly because the team agreed with them as we all felt that exploration would be an extremely cool addition to the title. In a world as surreal and unusual as Zenozoik, the experience of finding new locations can be a very rewarding experience in itself. For instance, in the original Zeno Clash, if you saw a massive tower in the distance up in the mountains you wouldn’t have been able to travel and check it out. In Zeno Clash 2, players will be able to do so and we think this is an addition that adds a higher level of immersion to our new world.
RPS: How large is the world you’ve created? Is it broken up into distinct sections? And what reasons does the player have to explore this area?
Bordeu: The game is broken up into several different areas, a bit like a Zelda game where you travel from one area to the other, and they are all connected in a natural, organic way.
In terms of scale people shouldn’t expect anything massive like a Stalker or Elder Scrolls game (we have to emphasize that we are still a small indie studio and that Zeno Clash 2 is a downloadable title) — But as an example I would say that just combining a couple of areas in the game would cover an area as large as all the walkable sections of the original Zeno Clash combined.
Now, in terms of the reasons the player would have to visit new locations; that goes hand-to-hand with the story we’ve envisioned – which is linear. We are preserving the narrative structure from the first game, only that now instead of being teleported to specific areas from one level to the next, you have to reach them and experience getting from one place to another, choosing your own path. But you can always choose to stray from the main story branch and focus on other objectives.
RPS: The melee combat stood out in the original Zeno Clash, is that something you’ve changed for this game?
Bordeu: It is constantly changing, evolving – both being improved and also expanded. We already have a functional preview in our pre-alpha E3 demo that feels a lot like the original game, but smoother. Because it’s an early build it’s still missing a lot of new stuff that is coming, but things like collision detection and other features have already been improved. For instance now you can aim your punches at the head while locked-onto an enemy. This makes the regular punching more interesting and less monotonous, since your punches can miss, graze or fully hit the face. Same with different parts of the body – they are all independent now. We still have eludes, counters, deflects, run-into attacks. We also have some new face deform-punches (a rather early implementation is in the E3 build) plus some new stuff we are currently working on. Some things are still under development and we will be showing them later on – probably with a gameplay trailer.
RPS: There’s going to be co-op multiplayer this time, can you talk a little about how that will work? It must change the dynamic of the game considerably to have two players in there, rather than one?
Bordeu: In Zeno Clash 1 we had Deadra following Ghat for most of the game, and we eventually made a coop mode for the Ultimate Edition on XBLA (the tower challenges), which ended up being quite fun to play. Considering that now Rimat is Ghat’s partner in this adventure, it felt like a logical step to make the campaign cooperative as well. We’ve still got many things to refine and test out in terms of how the game works in multiplayer – but much of that experience comes from what we did for the tower challenges on the Xbox. The multiplayer is still a bit early in development, and we have been planning on having an “ally system” where you can call up NPCs to fight alongside your character during specific fights, so putting it another way, having a second player means that basically you have a human ally throughout the game.
Anyways, for those who prefer to play the game solo: that will also work perfectly fine. I know a lot of people enjoyed the original for the world and story, and if they don’t want to be distracted by a second player and be fully immersed in the game – they can choose to play the game by themselves just as well. I think many people will want to play it by themselves first and then go at it again with a friend for replay value.
RPS: The stand out aspect of the Zeno Clash games is just how beautiful and strange they are. Can you tell us a bit about what inspired and influenced you to make that, rather than something more familiar?
Bordeu: Our sources of inspiration continue to be rather unconventional: Mainly the punk fantasy art of John Blanche and the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch (among many other things). Out of the three screenshots we’ve released to the public, if you look closely at the green fields with the bubble trees, you will find that a lot of inspiration for that environment came from Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights triptych. Many other references to surreal art are being incorporated, so I think some fans will be able to identify other masterpieces from which we’re taking some cues.
All these aesthetic choices have been intentionally made to make our game stand out from the mass of traditional fantasy games that continue to mimic each other. We want something unlike any other thing that is being made in this industry, and just like with the first game I think we’re going to achieve it again.
E3 2012 Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJk2qqXbPiM
