Evo
Tank
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- May 6, 2005
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I jumped on the case of getting an interview with the guys behind Portal Prelude pretty soon after I heard about it. What you see below is a little Q&A between myself and Nicholas from the team behind Prelude.[br]
Halflife2.net - What was the inspiration behind starting Prelude?[br]We started as yet another basic map pack, and as the adventure was growing, we all thought is would be a waste of time to release this as yet another map pack for Portal. Map packs are great, but they're lacking the story and the voices, that's why we finally decided to add a story, and we reworked a part of the levels that were already finished to include them in a whole big test. Then we thought of a few test chambers that would be required by the story, and we stuck them in the adventure.[br]It?s as simple as that.[br]
Halflife2.net - You are a team of three, how did you come together and what has the development process been like?[br]We knew each other for a long time, and at the start, there was no one else but me. But, as time passed by, I knew I'd have to ask for help, because the task was far too heavy for a single man. I asked J?m?ry first, because I knew he was making portal maps for his own pleasure. I asked him if he'd like his maps to be part of my adventure, and he said OK. Then he started to reword on it, and imagine a few others. Finally, he made four of the nineteen test chambers while I was working on the final map. I asked Marc a little later because we needed both textures and models, and J?m?ry and I were not really skilled for that. So he made us a few models, and textures, and eventually, he gave us level-designer advice on the project and ended up like our main tester.[br]
Halflife2.net - You have tried to make it very clear on the website that this isn't just a map pack, tell us more about what Prelude really is.[br]Portal: Prelude is a copy of Portal. Nothing else. Nothing really changes, the environment is the same, the ambience too, and the goal is similar. We're not pretending to "revolutionize" the genre. We're only making a map pack with a whole storyline, with something more challenging than Portal (but not too challenging either) and with a bit more gameplay. We don't really know how much gameplay hours it takes to finish the game, because we know it perfectly now, but one of the hardcore testers finished it in three to four hours when he was finishing the original Portal in an hour or two.[br]
Halflife2.net - I see that Valve have been in touch with you, anything interesting come out of that?[br]Not really. The community manager said that he was impressed by what we did so far, and that they were following what we do. Basically, I think they're just waiting to see the game before making any move. And that's OK with us.[br]
Halflife2.net - What are your thoughts on the general reaction from fans of Portal and other gamers since the initial announcement of Prelude?[br]It was huge. We NEVER thought it could become this large in this short amount of time. Really. At first, we were really scared, because, you know, we're only three guys making stuff during our free time, no big deal. And then, we made a few new tests with people that were out of the project since the beginning, and we saw that they were really enjoying the game. So, we're not that scared anymore, and we're doing our best to meet our deadline. But we always like to remind players and Portal fans that it's only a mod, a personal project made by three people. We can't even imagine competing with the original Portal.[br]
Halflife2.net - How do you feel fans of Portal are going to react to seeing other NPCs in the game?[br]Our testers were not that annoyed. Because there's no GlaDOS, and because it's in the past. We needed to find something a bit more "realistic" and "familiar" to talk with the player. The former human employees of Aperture Science were a really good idea, because basically, we never really see them during the test. You hear them, and you know they're watching you, just like if it was GlaDOS.[br]
Halflife2.net - How hard was it to create a decent prequel story that maintained the feel of Portal without falling into the trap of rehashing the whole GLaDos thing?[br]Lol, as I said, that was easy. We completely trashed GlaDOS as if it never existed and we first worked on the level-design and environment around the player. We wanted the player to understand what he has to do fast, and we didn't want him to learn the basics a second time. That's why we decided to stick to the original Portal feeling. In fact, that's the whole point of the Portal story. The complex was gassed a few years ago and is completely abandoned since the incident. There was absolutely no reason to make things different, because we need to have the impression that it's familiar, without making the same thing.[br]
Halflife2.net - How far before Portal is Prelude set? Can we expect to see more rudimentary tests to illustrate the pre-GLaDOS nature of Aperture, or is GLaDOS set to arrive imminently from the start of Prelude?[br]You got it from the second try. It's not that far in the past, not as far as the clues may tell it in Portal (calendars of 1983 on the walls:click here). We didn't had the time or skills to make things completely different and it wouldn't be logic. To be honest, things HAD to stay the same as in Portal for many reasons.[br]
Halflife2.net - Are we going to see anything to do with the other test subjects that escape, as mentioned in Portal itself, the moleman fellow who carved all those clues into the wall for example?[br]No, not really. Because of that reason just above. Our story is set after that "moleman fellow" story.[br]
Halflife2.net - Are we going to see many different areas of the Aperture Laboratory such as the office areas seen in Portal?[br]Yes =)[br]
Halflife2.net - What are the new advanced maps going to be like?[br]Really hard! In fact, this is the only place were we could really go mad when making the game.[br]Players already know it will be difficult so there is a problem if it's really difficult. I took care of these advanced maps, and believe me, I'm a real bastard =D [br]
Halflife2.net - 400 lines of new speech, how the hell have you managed that?[br]I can't say much on the voices for the moment. But in fact, there are 418 lines of free speech (and it's still growing), and there is something like 90 developer commentaries. Valve released the tool to make commentaries a few weeks before the end, so we though it could be a good idea to add bonuses like that. And still it took a really little time, because we're talking in French in these commentaries, that's for all the pain we had to endure with Valve's commentaries solely in English =D[br]
Halflife2.net - Finally when can we expect to see this be released into the wild?[br]When I made the first news, I said it should be somewhere around the end of September or the beginning of October. For the moment it's going great, but I think it will probably be more around the beginning of October. Ultimately, we'd like to release on the first birthday of the Orange Box, on October 10th.
Halflife2.net - What was the inspiration behind starting Prelude?[br]We started as yet another basic map pack, and as the adventure was growing, we all thought is would be a waste of time to release this as yet another map pack for Portal. Map packs are great, but they're lacking the story and the voices, that's why we finally decided to add a story, and we reworked a part of the levels that were already finished to include them in a whole big test. Then we thought of a few test chambers that would be required by the story, and we stuck them in the adventure.[br]It?s as simple as that.[br]
Halflife2.net - You are a team of three, how did you come together and what has the development process been like?[br]We knew each other for a long time, and at the start, there was no one else but me. But, as time passed by, I knew I'd have to ask for help, because the task was far too heavy for a single man. I asked J?m?ry first, because I knew he was making portal maps for his own pleasure. I asked him if he'd like his maps to be part of my adventure, and he said OK. Then he started to reword on it, and imagine a few others. Finally, he made four of the nineteen test chambers while I was working on the final map. I asked Marc a little later because we needed both textures and models, and J?m?ry and I were not really skilled for that. So he made us a few models, and textures, and eventually, he gave us level-designer advice on the project and ended up like our main tester.[br]
Halflife2.net - You have tried to make it very clear on the website that this isn't just a map pack, tell us more about what Prelude really is.[br]Portal: Prelude is a copy of Portal. Nothing else. Nothing really changes, the environment is the same, the ambience too, and the goal is similar. We're not pretending to "revolutionize" the genre. We're only making a map pack with a whole storyline, with something more challenging than Portal (but not too challenging either) and with a bit more gameplay. We don't really know how much gameplay hours it takes to finish the game, because we know it perfectly now, but one of the hardcore testers finished it in three to four hours when he was finishing the original Portal in an hour or two.[br]
Halflife2.net - I see that Valve have been in touch with you, anything interesting come out of that?[br]Not really. The community manager said that he was impressed by what we did so far, and that they were following what we do. Basically, I think they're just waiting to see the game before making any move. And that's OK with us.[br]
Halflife2.net - What are your thoughts on the general reaction from fans of Portal and other gamers since the initial announcement of Prelude?[br]It was huge. We NEVER thought it could become this large in this short amount of time. Really. At first, we were really scared, because, you know, we're only three guys making stuff during our free time, no big deal. And then, we made a few new tests with people that were out of the project since the beginning, and we saw that they were really enjoying the game. So, we're not that scared anymore, and we're doing our best to meet our deadline. But we always like to remind players and Portal fans that it's only a mod, a personal project made by three people. We can't even imagine competing with the original Portal.[br]
Halflife2.net - How do you feel fans of Portal are going to react to seeing other NPCs in the game?[br]Our testers were not that annoyed. Because there's no GlaDOS, and because it's in the past. We needed to find something a bit more "realistic" and "familiar" to talk with the player. The former human employees of Aperture Science were a really good idea, because basically, we never really see them during the test. You hear them, and you know they're watching you, just like if it was GlaDOS.[br]
Halflife2.net - How hard was it to create a decent prequel story that maintained the feel of Portal without falling into the trap of rehashing the whole GLaDos thing?[br]Lol, as I said, that was easy. We completely trashed GlaDOS as if it never existed and we first worked on the level-design and environment around the player. We wanted the player to understand what he has to do fast, and we didn't want him to learn the basics a second time. That's why we decided to stick to the original Portal feeling. In fact, that's the whole point of the Portal story. The complex was gassed a few years ago and is completely abandoned since the incident. There was absolutely no reason to make things different, because we need to have the impression that it's familiar, without making the same thing.[br]
Halflife2.net - How far before Portal is Prelude set? Can we expect to see more rudimentary tests to illustrate the pre-GLaDOS nature of Aperture, or is GLaDOS set to arrive imminently from the start of Prelude?[br]You got it from the second try. It's not that far in the past, not as far as the clues may tell it in Portal (calendars of 1983 on the walls:click here). We didn't had the time or skills to make things completely different and it wouldn't be logic. To be honest, things HAD to stay the same as in Portal for many reasons.[br]
Halflife2.net - Are we going to see anything to do with the other test subjects that escape, as mentioned in Portal itself, the moleman fellow who carved all those clues into the wall for example?[br]No, not really. Because of that reason just above. Our story is set after that "moleman fellow" story.[br]
Halflife2.net - Are we going to see many different areas of the Aperture Laboratory such as the office areas seen in Portal?[br]Yes =)[br]
Halflife2.net - What are the new advanced maps going to be like?[br]Really hard! In fact, this is the only place were we could really go mad when making the game.[br]Players already know it will be difficult so there is a problem if it's really difficult. I took care of these advanced maps, and believe me, I'm a real bastard =D [br]
Halflife2.net - 400 lines of new speech, how the hell have you managed that?[br]I can't say much on the voices for the moment. But in fact, there are 418 lines of free speech (and it's still growing), and there is something like 90 developer commentaries. Valve released the tool to make commentaries a few weeks before the end, so we though it could be a good idea to add bonuses like that. And still it took a really little time, because we're talking in French in these commentaries, that's for all the pain we had to endure with Valve's commentaries solely in English =D[br]
Halflife2.net - Finally when can we expect to see this be released into the wild?[br]When I made the first news, I said it should be somewhere around the end of September or the beginning of October. For the moment it's going great, but I think it will probably be more around the beginning of October. Ultimately, we'd like to release on the first birthday of the Orange Box, on October 10th.
