games. With that respect comes
bigger budgets, more time, and
reaching out to developers.”
Lionsgate approached Bithell to
make something less obvious
than theMax Payneclone you
might dream up while watching
John Wick. “They’re a company
that’s looking for interesting,
weird stuff,” Bithell says. “And
Good Shepherd, the publisher,
want to make stuff that’s maybe a
bit pretentious. I’m sure they
wouldn’t mind me saying that.”
With that care comes close
attention. A few months intoJohn
Wick Hex’s development, Bithell
presented a prototype to a
conference room filled with
Hollywood executives. “It’s
exactly what you imagine,” he
says. “Lots of weird glass walls for
no apparent reason, lots of men in
suits looking quite stern but also
cool and zany.”
The most important suit in the
room was Jason Constantine, the
man in charge of the entireJohn
Wickfranchise at Lionsgate.
Unfortunately, he was also theman asking: “Why doesJohn Wick
keep waiting while people shoot
at him?”
Bithell patiently explained that
Hex was a turn-based strategy
game. You know, like chess.
“Sure,” said Constantine. “But
isn’t the whole thing aboutJohn
Wickthat he’s always moving?”
Bithell booted up YouTube, and
typed ‘XCOM’ into the search bar.
Before long, he was losing the
room. “Mike, we trust you,”
Constantine interrupted. “If you
say thatJohn Wickshould stand on
the spot while people shoot at
him, I am happy to drop this.”
It was the kind of trust that had
been missing from the licensed
projects Bithell had worked on in
the past. A mutual respect that
would enable his studio to build a
worthyJohn Wickgame – one that
complemented its inspiration,
independent yet interlinked.
It was also the cruelest thing
Constantine could have said. “I
spent an eight hour flight home
trying to work out how the hell I
was going to save the project,”
Bithell says.
Ultimately, the prototype’s
turn-based system was replaced
with a timeline that could be
regularly paused. Every action and
its duration became visible along
the top of the screen – each
gunshot, shove, and reload. It was
as if the player was Chad
Stahelski, fine-tuning a fight
scene in his editing suite, only
without the nagging questions
from the nearby game developer
at his laptop.
Even now, there’s a chance that
Stahelski believes fog of war, a
beloved staple of the RTS genre,
was invented forJohn Wick Hex,
and Bithell is in no hurry to
correct him. “I’ve seen him talk
about it since then, and he was
giving me credit,” says the
developer. “I’m not telling him.
Please don’t tell Chad, he’s
ve r y pr oud.”
It turns out mutual trust
still leaves room for a few
white lies.Aside from a
unique
stop-start
interruption
mechanic,John
Wick Hexsports
a fantastic
artistic style.LEFT:Although
you can pause,
the action never
stops, and you’re
always
responding to
new threats.