David Braben - The Outsider

David Braben, official gaming legend (see that pic up there on the right) and of course the co-creator behind the true gaming classic which was Elite. The space trading/fighting sim stood head and shoulders above the pack as one of the true giants of the early days of gaming. It's credited with capturing the imaginations of a generation, unlocking gaming's potential to a whole new audience (it certainly had jaws on the floor on the BBC Micro at our school's computer club back then).

Of course, Elite appeared way back in the mists of gaming history - well, 1982 - and Braben followed its success by writing numerous other early classics including Elite II, Frontier, Zarch, Virus and V2000. Braben then went on to found Frontier Developments - responsible for innovative titles like A Dog's Life, as well as Aardman adaptation Wallace & Gromit and Rollercoaster Tycoon 3.

Well now Braben and Frontier Developments are back with a new Wallace & Gromit game, Curse of the Were Rabbit, and freshly announced Xbox 360 title The Outsider. An ideal time then to speak with Mr Braben about the Were Rabbit, his next-gen work and, for the first time in a long time, the possibility of a new Elite.

So tell us a little about your new next-gen title?

David Braben: "The Outsider" is a gripping, high-tech thriller played out against the backdrop of a living, crowded city based on present-day Washington DC and its environs including the CIA HQ at Langley, Andrews Air Force Base and Newport News Naval Dockyard. As a CIA operative the player has a mouth-watering arsenal of technology, combat talents and weaponry available to him. A shocking opening scenario wrongly makes him Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of the media and the public at large, but leaves many different ways to proceed: to wreak ultra-violent revenge, to turn the tables and exploit the shady organisations he is mixed up with for his own ends or crusading to clear his name.

How did you first get the idea for the game?

David Braben: As with "Elite", I wanted a back story that did not dictate where the player has to go next; I wanted the player to have their options truly open to carve their own path through the world. Of the many scenarios we considered, I think this one works best.

Why did you choose such a contemporary modern setting for the Outsider? Does
it reflect on current events in the wider modern world?

David Braben: The Outsider design idea has been there for quite a while now; it is nothing to do with current world events, more the opportunity for a rich story. The modern setting is important for the grounding of the story; the feeling that these events really could happen tomorrow, that give the 'thriller' feeling to it.

The 'character-driven non-linear' game mechanic sounds fascinating, how will
this work in practice? How will it directly affect gameplay?
David Braben: It brings a great deal of freedom to the player - moving away from the gameplay-cutscene-gameplay-cutscene format, which gives the player little choice but to follow the proscribed path, and it avoids the uncomfortable problem where you might go to a location to meet a character - but the character doesn't yet exist as the cut-scene hasn't yet played.

With this new approach all the characters exist in the game from the start, and their future actions are not pre-determined - their involvement can be pre-empted by the player, making for some interesting gameplay mechanics second-guessing what is going on, and novel replay value. If you're a contrary gamer like me, who is always wanting to go down the side route, to shoot the character giving the long speech-to-camera, to do the unexpected, then this is the only way forward.

You seem to be offering two distinct styles of play in the Outsider too - a visceral combat experience with high tech weaponry or more stealthy infiltration and manipulation of the organisations arrayed against you. Is this a fair summary?

David Braben: I think those two elements are actually quite closely related; one without the other would feel an empty experience before long. There is a further mechanic arching over this - one of intrigue and plotting - exploring the rich story behind your betrayal.

What new gameplay innovations and rewards will it offer?

David Braben: The game will of course offer gorgeous graphics - which we all expect on fifth generation titles - but more importantly it radically enriches the player's experience by abandoning the traditional, prescriptive, mostly linear story of current generation games, and replaces it by simulating characters' motivations and aims. This gives the player genuine freedom to change the story outcomes in a way that has not been seen before - each player will get a truly unique, sophisticated, visceral experience rather than simply switching between 'good' or 'evil'.

Is true characterisation one of the real advances for next-gen gaming?

David Braben: 'True characterisation' is dangerously like a vague marketing term, as I think it is one of those things that could mean anything, but yes I think improvements in the way characters behave are going to be a key change. How many games out there now can you walk around with a gun held out, and none of the game characters bat the proverbial eyelid? Even when you shoot the guy next to them!

Currently there is little characterisation in games, other than that delivered in the story dialogue and/or cut scenes. By this I mean the character cannot in general be tested by the player other than in utterly superficial ways like how quickly they shoot back at you.

What challenges and also advantages does the new next-gen hardware offer? Why do you think we're in for a golden age of gaming? Is it just the advance in tech or are there other factors?

David Braben: The advance in technology enables a great many new things, but I think the image of games is slowly changing for the better. Ten years ago the man/woman-in-a-street's image of gaming was annoying bleepy, repetitive things that kids played. This has slowly melted as we are all growing older, and a greater percentage of people were brought up with games now, and people (me included) are tiring of some of the current game mechanics.

We're at the stage that the film industry was at in 1930, where people had started to tire of effects driven 'car-on-a-train-track' films and wanted something more, just as technology and budgets greatly increased to bring in the golden age of Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Wells and many others. This is why I think a golden age of games is now just around the corner - it is not purely the tech, this is merely an enabling factor, it is also the timing and acceptance of the medium.

Looking across all three consoles - 360, PS3 and Revolution - what possibilities does the next gen offer to you as developer?

David Braben: They offer both huge technical opportunities to shine by making the best use of the machine, but also big risks. The quality expected for games on these consoles is very high, and this requires a great deal of work to produce the games.

The 360 is pretty well here now, and I think we all have a good idea of what to expect; the PS3 and Revolution are perhaps darker horses. Perhaps one of the most significant elements of the PS3 is the Blu-Ray disc technology. I am a little nervous that with streamed data (ie where data is loaded constantly from disc), the Xbox 360 will still be quite restricted because of the DVD format disc. Revolution is (I think) different again, and is perhaps less powerful, but to be honest it is the platform we know the least about.

How important will online be in the next generation?

David Braben: At the moment, certainly the platform of choice for online is still the PC, though Xbox Live has been quite a success, PS2 online has not really taken off in the same way. I expect the online platform of choice will start to move across to the fifth generation consoles as the games supporting them start to appear - but it may well require input devices like keyboards to be widely adopted on the new machines before they become the definitive choice for online. So online will clearly be important - for some types of games it will be vital, for others it will offer a community, at least.

Curse of the Were Rabbit - sounds intriguing. What's it been like working Aardman?

David Braben: It has been great working with Aardman. Seeing the intricacies and attention to detail on their sets is heart-warming, even though much of the detail can't even be seen in the film. For example on every gravestone in their church set, there is a joke. Nick Park has always been one of my heroes, and I think has done fantastically to retain the quintessentially English quality of Wallace and Gromit despite the worldwide audience.

Movie to game titles haven't always delivered decent games - what do you think will make Were Rabbit a success?

David Braben: There is little doubt that the games of some film licenses are a little forced - the subject matter is simply unsuitable for a good game. Others are commissioned so late - after the film is in full production - so there is not enough time to do an innovative or interesting game. This leads to a 'sausage factory' approach to making the game.

We have been working with Aardman for a long time now, so we have been able to plan the game properly and, I think, come up with a great game. There are a great many simple game mechanics that work fantastically in the Wallace and Gromit world - perhaps my favourite of these is the umbrella for flying around. Other features like the ability for a second player to dip in and out at will make the game work very well in a family environment, as well as being a great single player game. I think perhaps the most important thing is we have not lost sight of the importance of making a great game irrespective of the charms of the dynamic duo, and I expect the reviews will reflect this.

Bringing two much-loved characters in Wallace and Gromit to gamers' screens must have been an interesting challenge? Did you work with Peter Sallis et al?

David Braben: Yes. It is a little like looking after someone else's babies (as I think that is how Nick Park sees Wallace and Gromit!), so we have to take great care of them, but still push on various aspects of them to round them out as worthy videogame characters. We have to give Nick great credit and thanks for working so closely with us, going along with it and even encouraging us. We did indeed work with Peter Sallis for the voice of Wallace, and the voice of Lady Tottington is Helena Bonham Carter.

Inevitably of course, we'll have to quiz you on that old classic Elite - what's the story there? Do you still plan to follow the game up at some point? Or have you lost interest in developing space games? What kind of games excite you now?

David Braben: Absolutely, we will be following it up, but for many reasons we have held off doing so. People's expectations are understandably high, as are mine, and I absolutely will not do a 'knock-out' game.

Does it surprise you that people still have huge interest in the title even after all these years?

David Braben: It doesn't surprise me at all. I do too! Many senior people in the business have told me over the years, that "Elite" was what enticed them into the games industry. "Elite" was a pivotal game at the time, and many, me included, fondly look back at it.

Could the next generation finally offer you an appropriate platform technically to do what you've always wanted to with the series?

David Braben: Yes indeed. As always we will have to push the limits of the machines, and will doubtless be clamouring for more (more RAM, especially), but it should be possible to go to the next stage, at least.

How do you think Brit soft is doing? Are we still a force in world games development?

David Braben: There isn't really a major distinction these days as almost all games software is operating in a world market. There have been quite a number of developers disappearing from the UK in the last couple of years, and the increasingly unfavourable conditions in this country compared to elsewhere don't help, but there are still some great software houses left in the UK producing high quality games. If you look at the top of the charts, particularly in Europe and the US, typically a third are developed in the UK, like GTA (Rockstar North) and Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 (Frontier). So overall it's still doing pretty well, I think.

How did it feel to recently become a gaming legend?

David Braben: It was a great honour, and much appreciated. With such awards, I also feel that the award is granted as much for all those people behind the scenes that have worked on the games that have enabled me to stay in the limelight since writing "Elite" with Ian Bell all those years ago. It also highlights how things have changed over those 23 odd years, from a small, techie, back-bedroom type operation to a massive worldwide industry, and I feel very lucky to have been a part of it from the start.

What new challenges do game designers face as we head into the handheld era? Is handheld a platform that interests you at all?

David Braben: The various handheld platforms are very interesting, and I don't think we have got to grips with them all yet. Certainly the older handheld platforms like the GBA have found a niche with kids playing them on the move and at school, but the jury is still out with mobile phone games and with Sony's PSP.

The PSP particularly is being used in different ways by different people - I've seen a lot of people using it to watch video (as I do myself) at airports and on 'planes - more, in fact, than playing games. The challenge is to get people playing multi-player games on the move. I felt this was great when I first got my PSP; playing multi-player Ridge Racer in a hotel foyer felt quite different from other multi-player gaming - but it really hasn't caught on - mostly because players tend not to have the same game UMD with them - and there is currently little support for multi-player off a single disc.

What kind of games do you think we'll be playing in a few years time? Will we be exploring new game types and genres or just building on what we already have?

David Braben: Sadly, I think much of the output from the games industry in general will still be building on what we already have, but we will also see some timeless gems, in addition to some more delightful left-field surprises like Keita Takahashi's recent Katamari Damacy. As with the 1930s in film, when looking back from the future it will be these timeless gems that stand out - in much the same way we remember the 80s in games nostalgically - forgetting quite how many utterly forgettable games there were too!

What does the future hold for Frontier?

David Braben: The projects we are working on now, on both fourth and fifth generation gaming consoles are really amazing - its just a shame I can't talk about it all yet! All in good time. But if there's anyone out there who wants to be a part of it, we are hiring now!

John Houlihan