Tijdens gamescom kregen wij al een vroege uitgebreide blik op 007 First Light, naast een gameplay presentatie konden we ook twee kernleden van het development team spreken. De eerste was Theuns Smit, de Senior Licensing Producer voor 007 First Light. We hebben het onder andere over hoe anders het werken aan James Bond vs Hitman en de implementatie van MI6’s license to kill. We hebben ook nog meer van de game gezien en een interview met de Art Director dus lees die ook vooral terug.
DN: To start off. Could you maby at start with telling us a bit about yourself? What’s your history over the past few years and your current fuction?
TS: My name is Tian Smith. I am our senior licensing producer on 007 First Light obviously as a license IP. You know, we have a big collaboration with our licensors at Amazon and MGM, and they get to, you know, review and improve like everything kind of going into the game so we have a great partnership with the collaboration there and I help to, you know, maintain and manage giving track. Of you know, all of those things as well, the same goes for the various grand partnerships that we have. I mean with James Bond, you expect to have the Omega watch and the Jagguar land rover, Triumph and Aston Martin in all of these projects. And everybody and all our partners are very excited to collaborate and work together and yeah, bring this experience to life.
In terms of past experiences. I’ve worked on other games such as Avatar:Frontiers of Pandora, which was also a licensed by Ubisoft. But also on The Division 2 franchise and Hitman as well. The latter being the only one that wasn’t licensed.
DN: So with this project, have you been part of it from the beginning of the game development or did you jump in later?
TS: I was previously with IO Interactive when I was working on Hitman, and you know, therefore, some of the beginning phases of our plans for the First Light, but that’s when I, you know, moved away for a while, worked on the other games, and then finally came back. So now I’m here to, you know, just help work with our entire team that we have back home, which are a fantastic group of individuals everybody pours in their, you know, hard and soul into this, and it’s very exciting to bring the suppliers into this.
DN:So with Bond the legacy has been spanning over 60 years. So, how hard was it to keep the balance between IOI’s own identity as a gaming developer. Which, of course, mostly consists of the Hitman franchise, but also looking at what is expected by Bond fans.
TS: I think what’s really to our favor is the trust we have from our licensing source. I mean, they understand the pedigree that IO Interactive comes from over 25 years of agent fantasy experience. You know, there’s a certain expertise that comes with how we’ve been moving into the sphere and the space and the genre of gaming. Of course, you know, getting to work on someone say the original actions by, you know, that territory comes with what you would expect from a cinematic narrative experience. So that’s why from the beginning, we really put the focus on telling a original reimagining of an origin story for a young James Bond, and that has been a very, very exciting premise for us.
DN: Yeah, so you say you get a lot of trust from the license holder work. So how does the feedback loop from them work? Like have they had feedback that results in the significant changes or just small things?
TS: I mean, it’s an open collaboration, but, for us being the gaming veterans, that’s where we get a lot of trust in how we how we imagine the experience to come to life. But from the very beginning. There’s obviously different phases to development, but there’s a lot of creative flow between us. And the whole with working with them also means that over the times we’ve been exposed and gained access to the various consultants that have worked on previous iterations of Bond.
So making sure that when it comes to the costume design, the character art, the art direction all of these things that we have that bridge to the others who have part of that expertise as well. So we really get to go shoulder to shoulder working on many of these things, but at the end of the day it is still IO Interactive’s heart going into this and for this story that we want to tell. We see it as a as an ushering in of a new chapter for Bond in gaming, and that is the sphere that we mean to elevate, because there’s a level of interactivity and that comes with that. Also when you think of you know, creating this digital space, there might be certain limitations to film crews, or real life locations..
But when it comes to gaming, there’s no limitation there, we really get to take you, the player, on this journey to exotic places and areas that perhaps are too far, too extreme, too dangerous for us mere mortals to go to, but James Bond gets to move into that space. And we get to take you there on that journey with him.
DN: So like, you say, this game is a new era in gaming for the franchise. The previous James Bond games were pretty much like just killing, and it’s pretty much a shooter. So why did you decide to go this direction? Like with Hitman, you pretty much didn’t have any legal consequences. You could just shoot someone, because, of course, you are an assassin. Whereas in Bond, you have the license to kill, but only when in danger. Why was this direction chosen?
TS: Yeah, and I mean, it’s a great question. The first thing I would almost say is that, 47, as you know, you mentioned some of our other games, like he can be seen as a chaos agent, as you mentioned, he’s just an assassin, and so there’s a difference. There’s a different sphere that comes with that, but for an agent of MI6, there are certain rules of engagement. If we were to break that and go outside of the law, it just wouldn’t fit well.
First of all it wouldn’t be befitting off the franchise, and it sort of makes sense from a narrative one view, so we see it more as an opportunity to play into that as a strength to make it a part of a gameplay loop that is fun and engaging. So it has been very exciting to lean into those elements that you expect from the franchise, you know, all the gadgets from Q. As you progress to this story, you will unlock more of them and you get to choose, you know, kind of like your loadout. Then as you move into spaces, you saw some of from the example, sometimes we take things a little bit more into a linear path to drive the action forward and the gameplay, the momentum, the huge spectacle moments and then other times we open it up again, and we give you this kind of almost arena to move through. Here you decide if you want. I want to rely on stealth for your brain’s brawn gadgets, taking that creative approach into your own hands.
DN: Speaking of getting the freedom to do things. How hard was it to limit new mechanics. Hitman has been build over the years, but while there are some similarities, this game is very different. So I imagine you couldn’t work from the Hitman base.
TS: Exactly. I mean, in a nutshell, 007 First Light is a 3rd person story-driven action adventure game. That’s very much a departure from what you’ve seen from IO Interactive before. So, yes, there are certain elements where we play into our strength, but there’s also the space we get to move into to explore new ways of not only storytelling, but gameplay as wel. You notice the combat segment in the demo showcase when you are getting like, you know, close. There’s a lot more improvisation from Bond.
Fast reactions, using the environment around him, grabbing enemies, throwing them, rushing with them off onto a platform. You know, kicking up a gun into his hand, shooting it and without bullets, don’t just drop the gun, use it as a whip, throw it at the guy, rush in.So we like to carry that momentum and just see that as an opportunity to lean into that action adventure side in a different, new way than what you may have seen from us before.
DN: Talking about things not seen before, in the movies we have seen multiple bonds in multiple times and ages in time. So why was this time and era chosen for First Light. Because for example what you can do with gadgets is of course limited by the era a Bond plays in.
TS: Yes, there were a variety of different elements to consider. There’s also a rich history of source material that we get to draw from not only the films, but the novels and things as well, but we decided to make it a contemporary story of a re-imagined origin. For some of the reasons you mentioned as well, but in a way to connect also with our audiences and our players of today, who felt that it was a great vehicle to place this young bond in a more contemporary setting and go on that journey with him. Because as he aims to, you know, earn his number because, you know when you meet him is not dated at MI6, he hasn’t gone through any double O training yet. So you as a player, you get to go along that journey with him and form that connection and that bond with this character.
DN: To finish off Which bond media is your personal favorite/biggest inspiration?
TS: I mean, as you have said, there’s a super long, you know, like rich history. For me, personally, I grew up with Pierce Brosnan, as being my Bond, so there’s always a level of charm and connection that I have there. But I’m also super impressed with the era that Daniel Craig had in the films, I think if I had to narrow it down and choose one particular firm, my personal favorite would most likely be Casino Royale.
