STACK #138 Apr 2016

1 2

3 4

Who comes up with the new weapon ideas – are there ever any that are too crazy even for Ratchet & Clank ? The whole team collaborates to think of weapon ideas. It’s a favourite thing to do for just about everyone here. We get together and brainstorm, and always end up with more weapon ideas than we can possibly execute. And yes,

drop it into the game. At other times, we’d send over location concept art, then grab a still frame from the film and match it carefully in the game. It was a constant back-and-forth. Did both begin production around the same time? Yes, both stuck to almost identical production schedules.

Ratchet and Clank has always been predominantly a single player experience – minus All 4 One .Why do you think that is? Are people just looking for an escape from all the multiplayer games out there? The series is fundamentally about story. It’s about discovering an amazing sci-fi universe. And it’s about Ratchet and Clank’s character arcs, about how they face challenges and grow from their experiences. Given the narrative focus, a single player experience usually makes the most sense for the series. That’s not to say we don’t dip a toe into multiplayer from time to time— Up Your Arsenal, Full Frontal Assault , and (as you mention) All 4 One all have big multiplayer components. It’s really a game-to-game decision about what best supports the material.

some are too crazy, weird, and downright silly even for Ratchet & Clank - we once prototyped a weapon called the “Mackerel 3000” that was nothing but a big electric fish. Another time, we prototyped a Captain Qwark airstrike beacon—Captain Qwark would fly in, but instead of helping in battle he’d stand around and admire himself in a mirror. We dropped both of those even though we thought they were funny; we want Ratchet’s weapons to be strategically useful as well as unique. Has making a movie based on your franchise always been something you’ve wanted to implement? It’s been a dream of ours for a long time. We’ve always thought that Ratchet, Clank, Qwark, and the rest of the universe would make a great feature film. We’re pretty ecstatic that the movie is about

to arrive in theatres; in some ways, it’s deeply surreal.

What’s it like working with the voice talent? They were great! Everyone involved was gracious, talented, and intuitively tapped in to the characters. How much collaboration did you have with those working on the film? Quite a lot. The game and film were a true co-development. Ratchet & Clank ’s long-time writer TJ Fixman wrote the script for both projects. Rainmaker Entertainment was very open to suggestions for the film, and in turn their contributions helped shape the game. At times, we’d send a model from the game to Rainmaker. They’d rework it for the film. And then we’d take the model back and

stack.net.au