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News 
Exclusive Denis Dyack Interview
- Posted By Joe
Ridino, 05.18.2001
NGenres: What do you think was the most impressive [GC game] besides Eternal Darkness?
Denis Dyack: I really liked Wave Race. It was really fun. I thought that Luigi’s Mansion was pretty cool. I liked the Star Wars game also. Actually, what was most impressive to me was the quality of all the titles that were shown today. It’s pretty clear to me that when I looked around nobody else compared.
NG: What instigated the change of Eternal Darkness from Nintendo 64 to GameCube?
DD: This was a very difficult decision for us. We didn’t really make the decision right away. Basically, we looked at how good Eternal Darkness was. We also looked at the GameCube coming out and what this would do for Nintendo and Silicon Knights as a launch title, seeing how it’s a first-generation game. It’s [ED] pretty unprecedented compared to third or fourth generation games. It was a mutual decision.
NG: What kind of changes happened to the gameplay?
DD: The gameplay is very close to what it used to be before. It’s certainly graphically enhanced-- it runs faster, 60 frames per second, 24-bit color, 640 x 480, and no load times. Actually, the load times on the GameCube are actually faster than the load times on the cartridge. What we found is that we had to slow it down on the GameCube because when the player would switch from one screen to another very quickly, the cognitive switch was too much for them. It got agitated and was too uncomfortable for the player. We actually put an eighth of a second delay in the game to make the transitions smoother.
More than anything else, we don’t really have a limit on the amount of characters we have on the screen, compared to what we used to have on N64. We estimate there could be anywhere between 10 to 15, maybe 20 characters on the screen, still maintaining 60 FPS. Those characters are bump-mapped, reflection-mapped, lit up with lighting effects, use translucency, and transparency. Each character uses 3000 polygons, and the main character has 5000 polygons. That’s more polygons than we had in the N64 version. The hardware is just cooking.
NG: Can you play through the game with more than one character?
DD: Well, what we have for E3 right now enables players to select between characters to show the variety of the gameplay. The way the story is structured is that it’s an epic story that takes place over two millennia of history. We started Eternal Darkness at 100 BC, and then we go to modern times. All the stories are tied together, so you don’t actually choose what player (there are 12 playable characters) you want to play. You play the character that is dictated by the story.
NG: Is it [Eternal Darkness] bigger on GameCube than it was on Nintendo 64?
DD: No, Eternal Darkness hasn’t changed—it’s exactly the same.
NG: Do different choices the player makes in the game affect what characters you play, etc…?
DD: Well, there are multiple storylines, multiple endings, changes in enemy placement, spell systems, etc…There are a lot of things in the game that we haven’t shown anyone yet. You’ll find that the choices you make really do affect it. For instance, if you leave a gun in the cabinet, and then you play with another character, the gun will be there. We’re actually way beyond this, however.
NG: So how many characters can you have on the screen without slowdown?
DD: We’re going to be able to do between ten and 15 characters. Actually, the game isn’t really optimized, so I don’t really know right now. There are some rooms right now that have five or six enemies in them.
NG: How many different endings are in the game?
DD: We’re not talking about that right now. I have a real strong belief, and Silicon Knights has a real strong belief, that what we try to do is entertain people. I’m a big fan of The Usual Suspects, so I wouldn’t want to tell you who Kaiser Soze is before you watch that movie. We’re taking things out because we really don’t care about what other developers think—we’re showing the game; we’re showing the game. But what we really want to do is make sure we don’t give anything away so people are entertained.
NG: Can players upgrade armor, and build stats, etc…?
DD: No, not really. There are different weapons for each character and each has different combinations. When you combine that with the spell and sanity system, you get a complex and deep experience. Players will be able to play the game in as many ways as they want to. It’s not really about ‘you have to find this gun and upgrade it.’ We have a philosophy where different weapons have advantages and disadvantages. As an example, the gladiator has a short sword, and if you were to give him a broad sword (two-handed), you’re going to have a helluva time swingin’ it. You can combine that with spells, and you can also enchant your swords. When you start combining all these mechanics with the sanity system, you’ve got a lot going on.
NG: Is the game at all similar to Resident Evil?
DD: No, it’s not really. I could go on for a long time with how it’s different than Resident Evil. Resident Evil, on a certain level, is really based on B-Horror movies. Eternal Darkness is a classical horror story. It’s got nothing to do with a virus, or zombies coming back to eat the planet. We’re not doing that. There are different reasons why things are happening, and it’s like nothing anyone has ever seen before, as far as we know. We’re taking a very Hitchcock approach to the story. I think people will find Eternal Darkness very different. On another level too, Resident Evil is really like a survival horror game. What they [Capcom] really want to do is want players to be scared and survive, and you only have five shells with ten zombies in the next room. So you have to use five of those shells, even though you have to run away from the zombies. With the sanity system, the way it’s structured, we did the opposite. Rather than just running from enemies, you’ll go insane and die [laughter throughout]. We’re allowing players be creative. You can’t just go into a room with the biggest gun, because with some creatures, you’ll want to take off their limbs, and with others, you won’t want to.
NG: Why, do they grow back?
DD: [laughing] Oh, far worse than that! You just have to be real careful. We have only shown less than 10% of the game here at E3. A lot of people think that the big creature in the game is the boss.
NG: Are there bosses in the game?
DD: Oh yeah!
NG: Are there real-time cutscenes in the game?
DD: Yes. There’s at least two hours of cutscenes in the game. I know there’s over an hour and a half of solid dialogue.
NG: Will this game scare me?
DD: Yeah, I hope so. I can’t make you frightened--I can only try. We’re not out to just shock you. We’ll see. You tell me.
NG: How much space have you used on the mini DVD?
DD: I think we’re up to about 300 to 400 megabytes. We’re going to pack this thing.
NG: Is the 1.5 gigabyte space on the mini DVD giving you a limit on development?
DD: Do I find it limiting? Uh, not really. When you have the music at 48K, which is better than CD quality, it’s really high-quality stuff. This is well beyond what people are used to in the game industry. We’ve got room on the disk, so we’re going to pack that thing.
NG: Eternal Darkness looks very intriguing, but if you have something to do, will you be able to pause the game and come back to it? How does the save system work?
DD: You can save anytime.
NG: What kind of difficulty level does ED have?
DD: A lot of game developers make the game artificially hard because the game is too short. There is going to be at least 40 to 60 hours of gameplay. The game is very large. You’ll find that the puzzles are not random, and are not just sitting there.
NG: What kind of puzzles are in the game? Cause and effect? Arbitrary puzzles?
DD: The puzzles are created to lead the player further into the game. You’re not going to get anything arbitrary.
NG: Will people get too frustrated with game and throw the controller across the room?
DD: Yeah, like turn three lights green. We’re not going to do any of that.
NG: Are gamers going to get die a lot?
DD: Do you mean if the game is going to be really difficult? No. Our real goal is to make an engaging experience. We want to take you along for a ride. If you have to worry about dying all the time, you’re not going to have fun. But it’s not going to be a cakewalk. Once you start getting used to it, it’ll be great. We want to hit that perfect medium between challenge and difficulty.
NG: Are there multiple difficulty levels?
DD: Nope.
NG: What’s your stance on the PS2 and X-Box? We’re kinda Nintendo-centric [laughter].
DD: I think developers for the PS2 are going to have problems because of the limited texture space. You can see on the GameCube that it’s a texture monster. We’re doing more textures on Eternal Darkness than what people have done on PC games with tremendous amounts of memory. That’s the basic limitations of the PS2. A big limitation for the X-Box is that it’s basically a PC. It’s got the traditional bottlenecks. When you’re trying to do multiple things at once, the system is fighting for contention on the bus. It’s equivalent to a single highway, where you have a lot of cars going through, and the graphics chip can only do so many polygons per second. The cars have to wait because of this. With the GameCube, imagine ten highways, all custom made with the most RAM, audio memory, multiple texture passes, and MoSys technology. The GameCube is such a well-rounded machine that the games are far superior on the launch compared to PS2 second-generation titles. The X-Box, as far as I have heard, has framerate problems. I think this is going to continue to be a problem because of the bus. I wish them the best of luck and I think Playstation and X-Box will compete for second place [laughter].
NG: What about future projects?
DD: Well, you guys are aware that we’re not showing Too Human here. The decision was made with Nintendo about whether or not we can show many products or what we think is closer to launch. There will be future announcements on our other projects, and we’re not really talking about those at this time.
NG: What about handhelds? Are you considering making games for the Game Boy Advance?
DD: We’re very interested in the Game Boy Advance. There’s a strong possibility that we’ll be going in that direction.
NG: Is Eternal Darkness coming to GBA?
DD: That’s a good question. We do want to do some Game Boy Advance stuff. If Eternal Darkness turns out to be a huge hit, then that would certainly be a possibility.
We’d like to personally thank Mr. Dyack for answering our Eternal Darkness questions!
Interview conducted by Joe Ridino, Tariq Bashir, Andrew Weatherton, and Travis Coats
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