Family is a big part of the studio and is really
important to me. We make sure that each
person at the studio has the freedom to be at
home with their family, to be with their loved
ones and friends, to have that flexibility of
living a happy life outside of the office. Sowe’re healthy internally. Really, it’s the whole
point of why we founded V1. I wanted to make
sure we could create an environment where
everybody is happy. And when you’re happy,
and you’re excited about your life outside, you
bring that right into what you’re doing in the
office. I think it shows in the end result.Did you look anywhere for inspiration?
Sure, we looked at other games out there
like MOBAs and what’s been happening in the
last, you know, five years with first-person
shooters, looking at what was positive aboutsome of those explorations and some of that
could influence us, for sure. Like it does in
map design, the multiplayer map we’ve been
showing has a little bit of MOBA in it with the
lanes and that kind of thing, but only just a
little bit. It’s enough for you to see some of
the influence
there. But
with regards
to the core
inspiration
for the game,
I can’t say. I
can’t pinpoint
on anything
in particular
as far as what
the influence was because it really was just
an internal exploration that drove us to the
end result of where we’re at right now, of us
just focusing on the fiction first, and then
focusing on those mechanics that don’t exist
anywhere else. We had to just try things and
be fearless and just say, ‘Alright, we’re going
to give it a shot. We’ll see if it works or not.’Would you be looking to expand the story
through different media?
I think there’s a lot of possibility there. We’re
excited to continue to explore that kind ofstuff, for sure. Just like we’ve done in the
past with other franchises. There’s been
comics, novels and podcasts and other
things. The fiction for this game is big enough
that it can accommodate several different
outputs, but we’re focused 100 per cent on
just this game at the moment and making
sure that we can ship it as 30 people. We
have to maintain that kind of solid focus and
scope on it in order to make sure we do it
right and with the right quality.What do you think people will be most excited
about when they finally get to play the game?
I’m hoping that the community that engages
with this game immediately embraces the
uniqueness of the gameplay mechanics and
that they delve deep into what the game has
to offer. I’m hoping they give it that chance.
One of the biggest fears we had when we
started building this game was that the
gameplay was going to be so different that
just too many people deflect off it and don’t
give it the time necessary to engage with it
and let it get its claws into them. Initially we
weren’t sure exactly how long it would take.
Was it going to be two hours of playing the
game, or would it be five minutes? To our
joy it really is around the five-to-ten-minute
mark where things start to sink in. That’s a
lot faster than we thought. People start to
have fun and quickly understand some of
the basic mechanics that we thought would
take a lot longer to pick up. So that gives
us a lot of encouragement. That’s the thing
that I hope people engage with the most
initially. Because that’s the fun part, and then
I hope that they delve into the fiction of the
game and really immerse themselves and get
their mind spinning on what else could be
happening in this universe. Q“Family is a big part of
the studio and is really
important to me”
More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 047