Luckily, Remedy had enough Max Payne money and Microsoft support to bulk up to cope with the increased demands of current-generation console games. That's not a hallucination-Alan Wake will finally ship to stores in May. Myllyrinne joked this was "taking the long road home." However, the game's three stages of development-preproduction, production, and the extensive postproduction Remedy is known for-ended up taking nearly twice as long as originally planned. Wheeling to Alan Wake in particular, Myllyrinne said that they set out to make a scary game and deliberately modeled the town of Bright Falls after TV's fictional hamlet of Twin Peaks. Myllyrinne said he wants every ad to make viewers feel like they're in a thriller. As a result, Myllyrinne said only "three or four" members of the core Alan Wake team left during the game's development.įinally, Remedy has a focus on branding and is very involved with the game's marketing. Remedy has also invested heavily in tools and technology, allowing for maximum worker productivity. To get the most out of his smaller staff, Myllyrinne encourages active-sometimes even heated-debate between coworkers because new ideas can arise from conflict. They focus on multitalented people from all over the world: One Danish game designer has a background in drama, and a Brazilian level designer has a degree in psychology, which came in handy on Alan Wake. He declared he'd rather ship a game that sells 4 million units every four years than release a game that sells 1 million units every year.Īnother key principle is "people" at Remedy, which uses a smaller team than most AAA developers. Remedy's principles are at the key of its development, and first among these is the core value of "focus." Myllyrinne said that this results in better games.
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He did not mention that as part of that support, the PC version of the now Xbox 360-exclusive game was put on indefinite hold last year.Īlan Wake's character has evolved over five years into a more tired, paranoid figure. The company's backing is "letting us punch above our own weight," said an effusively thankful Myllyrinne. "We'll discuss the method behind our madness," he declared.įirst off, Myllyrinne said Alan Wake's long development cycle would not have been possible without the support of Microsoft. However, with Alan Wake now set for a May 18 release, the designer took the stage to explain why it has taken so long to make the psychological horror game. Has Remedy Entertainment really not shipped a game since October 2003? "Some of your parents may remember our last game, Max Payne 2," joked Matias Myllyrinne, president of the Finnish studio at his DICE Summit session this afternoon.