My name is Jerome Collette, scriptwriter on Red Steel. I’m here today to talk a little about the game experience in Red Steel and why the Wii Pad is a central element of it.

To begin, I wanted to say that my role as a scriptwriter was to be part of the core creative team since the very beginning of the project. We worked hand in hand with the creative director, producers and level designers so that the plot, the universe and the gameplay all go in the same direction to give a consistent and interesting experience to the player.

As the game is a First Person Shooter, we needed a simple plot, understandable from the point of view of the hero and also a hero anyone could identify with. This is something really important to me as I really consider that especially in FPS it is key, that the player feel he is the hero acting.

In Red Steel, this immersion is reinforced by the use of the Nintendo controller. I had to write a story focused on it and the experience the player feels while handling it and mastering it.

That is why I came to the idea that the plot turns around a sword, the Katana Giri. The hero’s journey, trying and mastering the sword is the same as the player using and mastering the Wii Pad. The identification prevails.

And the importance of the sword/Wii Pad is reinforced by the fact that this is also the only solution to solve your problems: It’s the thing your enemies want, the only way to get back your love one.
So, you have to fight with it, you have to train, to master it and prove your skills against your enemies or in front of your mentors to progress and succeed.

Later in the game, you discover that Tokai, your enemy, wants to take the katana giri, as it represents a symbol of power inside the yakuza underground. The only way to get out of this tricky situation is then to learn how to master the sword fighting and then the Wii remote to fight back all your enemies.

As you will go through the game, you will learn how attacks and moves. So my role at this level, as a scriptwriter, was to find an exciting way to make you learn how to manipulate the Wii remote. That is to say to find a scenario that fits to this game structure. I came to the idea of having masters you can visit regularly and who will teach you new tricks. The mentors also give you all the values of a modern samurai. Among them, there are control and mastery, which are the keys to be a very good player with the Wii remote. If you control your moves, you’ll be super efficient. If you just gesticulate, it will be much harder & exhausting.

As you can see, my job is to find situations, dialogs and characters that make you live the game system as something really exciting and not artificial.

I hope you will really enjoy discovering more while playing Red Steel soon!!
Domo arigato !!

Jérôme

Francois Mahieu
I am the Lead Engineer on Red Steel and with a strong team of 12 people we have quickly learned how to master the Wii hardware, ensuring we are maximising its potential accross graphics, sound, controlability, animation, SFX and AI elements to produce the best possible software experiences.

Romain Rimokh
My name is Romain and I am in charge of all the cut scenes within the game. I therefore work closely with a ‘story-boarder’ to develop the look and feel. Then my team transforms this into actual scripted events and programmes the camera to make it happen “live” in the game.

Gregoire Spillman
I am the Lead Sound Designer on Red Steel so I am in charge of anything that generates sound, from music, voices and sound effects to ambiance. I am responsible for developing these individual sounds then integrating them into game itself with my team. We determine how and when you will hear them while you play.

Damien Moret
Hello, I am the Marketing Game Manager on Red Steel and I work closely with the core team to understand what their development needs are and to see how these tie-in with the player’s expectations. I also work with three people to produce all the screenshots, videos and game information you read or see on the Internet or in magazines.

David Legrand
I am David and I am the Lead Level Designer. I manage the largest team as I am responsible for all the graphic and level designers who work on the game’s many different and unique maps. I organize the production of the assets and I check the quality of those levels with the core team.

While I know this isn’t the most riveting Blog entry, I think it’s important that you get to know the Red Steel team so when they post on various topics later, you’ll understand who’s who.

Thanks again for stopping by and we appreciate your comments and support. While I won’t share exactly what will be discussed in the next Blog entry, know that there will be a new reveal.

Ciao,
Marie-Sol