Articles
Scott Foe, as illustrated by Darrell Bowen
"This is our baby. And our baby is, without question, our best work to date."
"RedLynx is hands-down the finest developer of anywhere, connected entertainment on the planet."
"The game is an embeddable web widget, and you can play on PC for free -- put it on your blog, or wherever -- share Reset Generation with your friends."
July 2, 2008
Birthin' the Reset Generation
N-Gage.com talks to Nokia's Executive Producer Scott Foe
EDGE Magazine has hailed him as "Great Scott", the Escapist called him a "future gaming god", and All About Symbian referred to him as "The N-Gage's Secret Weapon."
He earned plaudits for his previous effort Pocket Kingdom, one of the first mobile massively multiplayer games on the planet, and before that cut his teeth on the Dreamcast's development. He's also a frequent speaker at shows like the Game Developer's Conference.
He is Scott Foe, executive producer within Nokia's first party games group, and he has been out on the forefront of mobile game development for some time. Now with the advent of the new N-Gage platform, he's been driving forward with Reset Generation, the videogame about videogames.
It's a project that has been under his creative direction since the beginning, from inception to release. In many ways, it is his baby.
N-Gage.com: Painful childbirth metaphors aside, is this game your baby? Is this the best work you've done?
Foe: When we set out to create Reset Generation, we didn't want to make just another game; we wanted to do something special, something which would stand in the eyes of game history. I feel that we've definitely succeeded in that goal -- the game of decades.
I've always hated the term "Creative Director," because creativity can come from everywhere. We have so many silver bullets on this project: From character designers like Darrel Bowen, Woody Hearn, and Christian Gossett, to composer Seth Sternberger of 8 Bit Weapon, to Jason Bates, who wrote all of our dialog, to the massively talented developers over at RedLynx, right down to Big Hen and the rest of our testers -- it takes a village. My heart and soul is in Reset Generation, but so are the hearts and souls of others.
That being said, I've also always hated the title "producer" (but not as much as I hate "system architect," which was my Nokia internal title up until a few months ago, don't even ask). I'm more like Hannibal, from the A-Team, in that I build up this virtual organization of incredibly talented people around me, and then, "I love it when a plan comes together." This is our baby. And our baby is, without question, our best work to date.
N-Gage.com: Talk to us about the original idea. What it is, where it came from?
Foe: I've been dreaming about a game about videogames since I was seventeen. I've always been a fan of the fractured fairy tale, but if I had to put darts in the board, I would name Sondheim's Into the Woods and Tarantino's Kill Bill as driving inspirations ... sleek homages, where you need know nothing of the source material to enjoy, but if you do carry a deep adoration of the source material, you will find more to love each time you visit them.
Most importantly, I wanted to return players to those childhood times when the teacher scolded us for not paying attention in class: We were too busy planning our next visit to whatever wonderful game world awaited us on our beloved consoles back home. I wanted to return players to the time when our imaginations were held-hostage by things we would never see in the real world, before realism conquered all in games, a time when interactive entertainment wasn't mostly about striving to recreate downtown New York or World War II battlefields in perfect detail.
N-Gage.com: When did RedLynx come into the picture? What was it like working with Finnish people who don't work for Nokia?
Foe: RedLynx was our first and only choice for developing Reset Generation; RedLynx is hands-down the finest developer of anywhere, connected entertainment on the planet. And just like the Finnish people who do work for Nokia, RedLynx takes the month of July off! You can imagine my dismay in June of 2005, when I made first contact with RedLynx, to have them tell me, "This looks great! We'll get to it in August!"
That being said, RedLynx has an amazingly talented team, led by two honest-to-goodness game development gods. Kim Lahti, the internal producer, is more of your average, run-of-the-mill, farts- lightening-bolts-type god, and with him on the mountain, we never had to worry about the development getting out-of-hand. Antti Ilvessuo, creative director, is one of those wily, Native American coyote gods of mischief -- he's the most unfettered creative person that I have ever worked with, and I never know what he's going to say or do next!
N-Gage.com: The soundtrack is spot on. You picked 8Bit Weapon to do the music yourself, right?
Foe: I selected each of the different talents that helped bring Reset Generation, save one: Christian Gosset, production designer on Star Wars Episode I and character designer of our Sci-Fi Knight, was pointed out by Scott Howard, my Reset Generation production partner-in-crime.
As for the Reset Generation soundtrack, many names were thrown out as potential composers. "This person did this game soundtrack, this person did this game soundtrack, etc." But the music, it is fair to say, sets the tone for the entire game: Unlike a given character or event, the music is always present, so we needed something -- someone - truly special to bring the soundtrack home. We found that someone truly special in 8 Bit Weapon's Seth Sternberger.
I was in Kentia Hall at E3, 2005, when I saw 8 Bit Weapon for the first time -- there they were, rocking out, performing old game theme songs using old Nintendos and GameBoys as instruments -- and I immediately knew that we had to work together. As is sometimes the way when two dogs sniff each other's butts, Seth and I took an immediate liking to each other -- here's a guy that is an encyclopedic tsunami of videogame music knowledge -- and the rest is game history. The sound is brilliant nostalgia, and I urge all of you to download the Reset Generation soundtrack and listen for yourselves.
N-Gage.com: The technical feats are also impressive. We're talking cross-platform, PC to mobile gameplay, live, with four players.
Foe: Yes, we have mobile vs. PC gameplay, live with four players, but we are, of course, overachievers: We did not stop there. The game is an embeddable web widget, and you can play on PC for free -- put it on your blog, or wherever -- share Reset Generation with your friends. For a lot of people the world-over, Reset Generation will be their first exposure to N-Gage Platform gaming, and I expect a lot of people will be shocked to discover that mobile gaming does not have to be a 64k experience. There is no country on the internet: Reset Generation launches in seven languages -- including Simplified and Traditional Chinese -- offering a truly global online play experience.
And, oh yes, we have Global Rankings. There has been a lot of speculation in the media -- Pocket Gamer, I'm talkin' to you, buddy -- about just how useful global rankings are: "Are global rankings only useful to ten people in the world?" The answer is that global rankings are a base-line feature for enabling other features, one of which is friends rankings where you can see how you stack up against your friends.
When you click on any player name on the Reset Generation website, you will be taken to that player's "player page," which houses a replay of every game that player has ever played. Want to see how the greatest player in the world plays? Click on that player's name and watch the replays. For me, that's the most exciting use of global rankings, and the most exciting feature offered for Reset Generation community, period.
N-Gage.com: A little hedgehog told me that www.resetgeneration.com is going to be the bomb when it goes live. The lovebomb, to be exact. Can you tell us about that?
Foe: Oh baby, ResetGeneration.com is going to explode! In addition to the rankings, player pages, and replays that I mentioned above, we also have belts -- like the belts in heavyweight boxing -- which can each be held by one player at a time: See who the Best Plumber in the world is, or who has the Most Rescues. And, of course, you can always find the Reset Generation PC version for free play on ResetGeneration.com .
In addition to everything we've been talking about, there is also "Reset Arcade:" On day one of launch, we are going to make available all game assets -- graphics, voice-overs, sound effects, soundtrack -- available for download. We are inviting the community to show us what they can do: With all of the blocks, bombs, character animations available, any number of games, machinima videos, web comics, etc. are possible! Knock our laser swords off! The community content that we like the best -- the content that lacks hot, elf-on-elf action -- will be featured on a section of the site that we call "Reset Arcade."
N-Gage.com: Who is your favorite character to play and why? Do you have any special tips or tricks for using him?
Foe: I can say that I have always felt that Dr. Lovebomber is the character that is closest to my own heart -- he just wants to be loved, but he never goes about it in the right way. He's the villain of our story. As far as playing the characters goes, gosu play random: I don't have a favorite hero, as they're all fun to play, but I can outline some of my favorite Reset Generation strategies and tactics ...
"Race Track" - Blocks in Reset Generation are everything -- building combos, five blocks in a row, is essential to rescuing, as your hero has unlimited movement on his or her combos. Most players will tend to drop their blocks toward the center of the playfield, which leaves a golden opportunity to "hit'em where they ain't:" Build your combos along the outside edge of the playfield -- this also means that attackers can only come at you from three sides instead of four.
"Paintbrush Assassin" - Your hero's and your monsters' attack power is dramatically strong while both you and your opponent are standing on your own combo. If you have a wolf on the board, grab a paintbrush -- which builds an automatic combo -- and toss it under an opponent near your wolf. Your wolf will smack your opponent back into the Atari-era, and you'll get the princess. (This is an exceptionally good Plumber strategy - using his "Ladies' Man" power, he can drop a wolf and a paintbrush in one move.)
"Monster Vanish" -- The Ninja can use his "Ninja Vanish" power to trade places with any hero or monster on the playfield. Wait until your "Ninja Vanish" power is charged, and then drop a monster anywhere you want to go, and then vanish with that monster. It's like having a teleport, and can be insanely useful, especially if you are holding a princess -- drop a monster on your castle and vanish back for the rescue!
"Hold The Soap" -- During the alpha and beta phases of production, our testers got it into their heads that whenever I came online, they all had to gang stomp on me. If you know you're going into a three-vs- one situation, better to take Sci-Fi Knight along for the rescues. By using her "Sci-Fi Mind Trick" power, you can force your opponents into attacking each other -- or into stranding themselves away from their combos.
N-Gage.com: This is a game about videogames, so 'fess up. What's your favorite?
Foe: I'd have to say that WarCraft 3 is my favorite game of all time, and that World of Warcraft is right up there -- the level of polish and amaze on those titles isn't off the hook, the level of polish and amaze on those titles breaks the rod. Now the first think you might be thinking is, "Hey! Those are both titles from the last few years! You didn't like Zork? You're not a real gamer!" Sure I liked Zork, but our industry is maturing at a rabid clip, and games just keep getting better and better. We wanted Reset Generation to be a summary of everything that came before, but also to open the door for the future.
The second thing that you might be thinking is, "Aren't both of your favorite games from Blizzard?" Yes, both of my favorite games are from Blizzard: Blizzard is notorious for its quality-driven game development methodologies, and that quality really speaks through the final products. Very few game companies can actually ignore external factors to say, "If it's not fun, it's not done." I really must take this opportunity to thank the good people of Nokia for allowing us -- for investing in -- time to make Reset Generation a high-quality gameplay experience, for allowing us to make Reset Generation unfairly addictive. And I'd like to thank the community for your patience: Reset Generation is worth your wait.
N-Gage.com: When does the rest of the world get to play?
Foe: We are a matter of weeks away ... the game is fun; the game is done! Right now, we are ramping up our online infrastructure to assure that Reset Generation can accommodate the community. Launching an online game is a lot like rolling a fireball: It sears the hands to roll the fireball, and there is that temptation to just kick the fireball and hope that it rolls in the right direction, but we're going to stick with it, no matter how much it burns, and carefully make sure that the fireball reaches its intended destination.
Having been in online console gaming since there even was online console gaming, I can tell you that, despite all of our meticulous planning, there will still be that holy $#!+ moment during the first few weeks of release - something will go wrong -- that's just the nature of the boss monster. When the issues arise, we will address them, and five years out, people will still be enjoying Reset Generation, the game about videogames.
-ikona
Birthin' the Reset Generation
N-Gage.com talks to Nokia's Executive Producer Scott Foe
EDGE Magazine has hailed him as "Great Scott", the Escapist called him a "future gaming god", and All About Symbian referred to him as "The N-Gage's Secret Weapon."
He earned plaudits for his previous effort Pocket Kingdom, one of the first mobile massively multiplayer games on the planet, and before that cut his teeth on the Dreamcast's development. He's also a frequent speaker at shows like the Game Developer's Conference.
He is Scott Foe, executive producer within Nokia's first party games group, and he has been out on the forefront of mobile game development for some time. Now with the advent of the new N-Gage platform, he's been driving forward with Reset Generation, the videogame about videogames.
It's a project that has been under his creative direction since the beginning, from inception to release. In many ways, it is his baby.
N-Gage.com: Painful childbirth metaphors aside, is this game your baby? Is this the best work you've done?
Foe: When we set out to create Reset Generation, we didn't want to make just another game; we wanted to do something special, something which would stand in the eyes of game history. I feel that we've definitely succeeded in that goal -- the game of decades.
I've always hated the term "Creative Director," because creativity can come from everywhere. We have so many silver bullets on this project: From character designers like Darrel Bowen, Woody Hearn, and Christian Gossett, to composer Seth Sternberger of 8 Bit Weapon, to Jason Bates, who wrote all of our dialog, to the massively talented developers over at RedLynx, right down to Big Hen and the rest of our testers -- it takes a village. My heart and soul is in Reset Generation, but so are the hearts and souls of others.
That being said, I've also always hated the title "producer" (but not as much as I hate "system architect," which was my Nokia internal title up until a few months ago, don't even ask). I'm more like Hannibal, from the A-Team, in that I build up this virtual organization of incredibly talented people around me, and then, "I love it when a plan comes together." This is our baby. And our baby is, without question, our best work to date.
N-Gage.com: Talk to us about the original idea. What it is, where it came from?
Foe: I've been dreaming about a game about videogames since I was seventeen. I've always been a fan of the fractured fairy tale, but if I had to put darts in the board, I would name Sondheim's Into the Woods and Tarantino's Kill Bill as driving inspirations ... sleek homages, where you need know nothing of the source material to enjoy, but if you do carry a deep adoration of the source material, you will find more to love each time you visit them.
Most importantly, I wanted to return players to those childhood times when the teacher scolded us for not paying attention in class: We were too busy planning our next visit to whatever wonderful game world awaited us on our beloved consoles back home. I wanted to return players to the time when our imaginations were held-hostage by things we would never see in the real world, before realism conquered all in games, a time when interactive entertainment wasn't mostly about striving to recreate downtown New York or World War II battlefields in perfect detail.
N-Gage.com: When did RedLynx come into the picture? What was it like working with Finnish people who don't work for Nokia?
Foe: RedLynx was our first and only choice for developing Reset Generation; RedLynx is hands-down the finest developer of anywhere, connected entertainment on the planet. And just like the Finnish people who do work for Nokia, RedLynx takes the month of July off! You can imagine my dismay in June of 2005, when I made first contact with RedLynx, to have them tell me, "This looks great! We'll get to it in August!"
That being said, RedLynx has an amazingly talented team, led by two honest-to-goodness game development gods. Kim Lahti, the internal producer, is more of your average, run-of-the-mill, farts- lightening-bolts-type god, and with him on the mountain, we never had to worry about the development getting out-of-hand. Antti Ilvessuo, creative director, is one of those wily, Native American coyote gods of mischief -- he's the most unfettered creative person that I have ever worked with, and I never know what he's going to say or do next!
N-Gage.com: The soundtrack is spot on. You picked 8Bit Weapon to do the music yourself, right?
Foe: I selected each of the different talents that helped bring Reset Generation, save one: Christian Gosset, production designer on Star Wars Episode I and character designer of our Sci-Fi Knight, was pointed out by Scott Howard, my Reset Generation production partner-in-crime.
As for the Reset Generation soundtrack, many names were thrown out as potential composers. "This person did this game soundtrack, this person did this game soundtrack, etc." But the music, it is fair to say, sets the tone for the entire game: Unlike a given character or event, the music is always present, so we needed something -- someone - truly special to bring the soundtrack home. We found that someone truly special in 8 Bit Weapon's Seth Sternberger.
I was in Kentia Hall at E3, 2005, when I saw 8 Bit Weapon for the first time -- there they were, rocking out, performing old game theme songs using old Nintendos and GameBoys as instruments -- and I immediately knew that we had to work together. As is sometimes the way when two dogs sniff each other's butts, Seth and I took an immediate liking to each other -- here's a guy that is an encyclopedic tsunami of videogame music knowledge -- and the rest is game history. The sound is brilliant nostalgia, and I urge all of you to download the Reset Generation soundtrack and listen for yourselves.
N-Gage.com: The technical feats are also impressive. We're talking cross-platform, PC to mobile gameplay, live, with four players.
Foe: Yes, we have mobile vs. PC gameplay, live with four players, but we are, of course, overachievers: We did not stop there. The game is an embeddable web widget, and you can play on PC for free -- put it on your blog, or wherever -- share Reset Generation with your friends. For a lot of people the world-over, Reset Generation will be their first exposure to N-Gage Platform gaming, and I expect a lot of people will be shocked to discover that mobile gaming does not have to be a 64k experience. There is no country on the internet: Reset Generation launches in seven languages -- including Simplified and Traditional Chinese -- offering a truly global online play experience.
And, oh yes, we have Global Rankings. There has been a lot of speculation in the media -- Pocket Gamer, I'm talkin' to you, buddy -- about just how useful global rankings are: "Are global rankings only useful to ten people in the world?" The answer is that global rankings are a base-line feature for enabling other features, one of which is friends rankings where you can see how you stack up against your friends.
When you click on any player name on the Reset Generation website, you will be taken to that player's "player page," which houses a replay of every game that player has ever played. Want to see how the greatest player in the world plays? Click on that player's name and watch the replays. For me, that's the most exciting use of global rankings, and the most exciting feature offered for Reset Generation community, period.
N-Gage.com: A little hedgehog told me that www.resetgeneration.com is going to be the bomb when it goes live. The lovebomb, to be exact. Can you tell us about that?
Foe: Oh baby, ResetGeneration.com is going to explode! In addition to the rankings, player pages, and replays that I mentioned above, we also have belts -- like the belts in heavyweight boxing -- which can each be held by one player at a time: See who the Best Plumber in the world is, or who has the Most Rescues. And, of course, you can always find the Reset Generation PC version for free play on ResetGeneration.com .
In addition to everything we've been talking about, there is also "Reset Arcade:" On day one of launch, we are going to make available all game assets -- graphics, voice-overs, sound effects, soundtrack -- available for download. We are inviting the community to show us what they can do: With all of the blocks, bombs, character animations available, any number of games, machinima videos, web comics, etc. are possible! Knock our laser swords off! The community content that we like the best -- the content that lacks hot, elf-on-elf action -- will be featured on a section of the site that we call "Reset Arcade."
N-Gage.com: Who is your favorite character to play and why? Do you have any special tips or tricks for using him?
Foe: I can say that I have always felt that Dr. Lovebomber is the character that is closest to my own heart -- he just wants to be loved, but he never goes about it in the right way. He's the villain of our story. As far as playing the characters goes, gosu play random: I don't have a favorite hero, as they're all fun to play, but I can outline some of my favorite Reset Generation strategies and tactics ...
"Race Track" - Blocks in Reset Generation are everything -- building combos, five blocks in a row, is essential to rescuing, as your hero has unlimited movement on his or her combos. Most players will tend to drop their blocks toward the center of the playfield, which leaves a golden opportunity to "hit'em where they ain't:" Build your combos along the outside edge of the playfield -- this also means that attackers can only come at you from three sides instead of four.
"Paintbrush Assassin" - Your hero's and your monsters' attack power is dramatically strong while both you and your opponent are standing on your own combo. If you have a wolf on the board, grab a paintbrush -- which builds an automatic combo -- and toss it under an opponent near your wolf. Your wolf will smack your opponent back into the Atari-era, and you'll get the princess. (This is an exceptionally good Plumber strategy - using his "Ladies' Man" power, he can drop a wolf and a paintbrush in one move.)
"Monster Vanish" -- The Ninja can use his "Ninja Vanish" power to trade places with any hero or monster on the playfield. Wait until your "Ninja Vanish" power is charged, and then drop a monster anywhere you want to go, and then vanish with that monster. It's like having a teleport, and can be insanely useful, especially if you are holding a princess -- drop a monster on your castle and vanish back for the rescue!
"Hold The Soap" -- During the alpha and beta phases of production, our testers got it into their heads that whenever I came online, they all had to gang stomp on me. If you know you're going into a three-vs- one situation, better to take Sci-Fi Knight along for the rescues. By using her "Sci-Fi Mind Trick" power, you can force your opponents into attacking each other -- or into stranding themselves away from their combos.
N-Gage.com: This is a game about videogames, so 'fess up. What's your favorite?
Foe: I'd have to say that WarCraft 3 is my favorite game of all time, and that World of Warcraft is right up there -- the level of polish and amaze on those titles isn't off the hook, the level of polish and amaze on those titles breaks the rod. Now the first think you might be thinking is, "Hey! Those are both titles from the last few years! You didn't like Zork? You're not a real gamer!" Sure I liked Zork, but our industry is maturing at a rabid clip, and games just keep getting better and better. We wanted Reset Generation to be a summary of everything that came before, but also to open the door for the future.
The second thing that you might be thinking is, "Aren't both of your favorite games from Blizzard?" Yes, both of my favorite games are from Blizzard: Blizzard is notorious for its quality-driven game development methodologies, and that quality really speaks through the final products. Very few game companies can actually ignore external factors to say, "If it's not fun, it's not done." I really must take this opportunity to thank the good people of Nokia for allowing us -- for investing in -- time to make Reset Generation a high-quality gameplay experience, for allowing us to make Reset Generation unfairly addictive. And I'd like to thank the community for your patience: Reset Generation is worth your wait.
N-Gage.com: When does the rest of the world get to play?
Foe: We are a matter of weeks away ... the game is fun; the game is done! Right now, we are ramping up our online infrastructure to assure that Reset Generation can accommodate the community. Launching an online game is a lot like rolling a fireball: It sears the hands to roll the fireball, and there is that temptation to just kick the fireball and hope that it rolls in the right direction, but we're going to stick with it, no matter how much it burns, and carefully make sure that the fireball reaches its intended destination.
Having been in online console gaming since there even was online console gaming, I can tell you that, despite all of our meticulous planning, there will still be that holy $#!+ moment during the first few weeks of release - something will go wrong -- that's just the nature of the boss monster. When the issues arise, we will address them, and five years out, people will still be enjoying Reset Generation, the game about videogames.
-ikona
