Adventure Island: De Nederlandse Adventure Site!

Home > Interviews > Vertigo Games

In dit interview praten we met het Nederlandse Vertigo Games. We hebben het onder andere over Vertigo Games zelf, Adam's Venture en Nomos.

Dit interview is in het Nederlands (waarin het oorspronkelijk gehouden is) en het Engels te lezen. Klik op de vlag om het interview in de taal van je keuze te lezen.

# We start with the inevitable question: Can you tell us somethin about yourself and Vertigo Games?

Of course! Vertigo Games is founded by three enthausiastic game-developers, with a passion for the adventure genre. We are located in Rotterdam and are currently working hard on our first PC title.

# Why did you choose to develop mostly adventure games?

In our games, we wanted to tell a story and treat the gamer to a cinematic experience. The adventure genre is a perfect fit for this. Apart from that, two of the three founders have a Christian background and don't want to work on games filled with blood and violence.

# Vertigo Games is founded by old employees from Coded Illusions. What influence did the closure of Coded Illusions had on the work at Vertigo Games? Are things done different now?

The bankruptcy of Coded Illusions was a force majeure. The economical situation was difficult because our biggest investor was in the U.S. real estate. The money stopped coming in and for a company with the size of Coded Illusions, that meant the end. Of course we use the experience we gained with Coded Illusions in our daily work, but we learned a lot on the business side too.

Vertigo Games doesn't work with an external money source and concentrate mostly on smaller projects.

# The Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam is one of the partners mentioned on your site. In which way is this school connected with Vertigo Games?

We think it is important to spend some of our time in educating young, talented people. We do this in two ways: we offer enough places for many interns and we give lessons and seminars at different schools. Not too long ago, we did a masterclass at the Grafisch Lyceum about Game Design with the goal to share as much of our experience with the students. We received very positive results and plan on doing this in the future.

# Adam's Venture will be a puzzle adventure game. Can you tell us more about this game?

In “Adam’s Venture”, we follow Adam, a young adventurer, during his search for the lost Gardens of Eden. But he discovers that the portal to paradise on earth have been closed and the seven pieces of the opening mechanism are missing. Supported by his girlfriend Evelyn and professor Jacques Saint-Omair, an employee of the mysterious Clairvaux Corporation, Adam tries to find his way through an extended cave system to get the pieces back. During his quest, Adam will encounter many challenges while a mysterious appearence follow him to a spectacular ending.

# How did you came up with the idea for Adam's Venture?

As a small company, it is important to be different from the rest. That's why we have decided to make adventure games around biblical themes. Because of this, we can at more depth to the story. Apart from that, we think that this theme hasn't been used much in games. But people are very interested in it. Look for example at the succes of the Da Vinci codex.

# As said before, the Bible plays a big part in Adam's Venture but also with What would Jesus say the Christian faith is expressed. But the story in Nomos is about rebuilding the world after a huge religious war and religion in general is called "the root of all evil". What is your take on this and how do we see that back in the games?

The description of religion as "the root of all evil" is coming from Jesse Field, one of the characters from Nomos. At the beginning of the game, you believe 100% in his story. But as the game progress, you find out that the world isn't as black and white as he wants us to believe. We think that war because of religion contradicts one of the most important objectives of religions: having respect for each other. We don't want to convert anyone with our products, but we want to inform. We don't agree with the English saying: "Ignorance is bliss". ; )

Bliss

# Can you tell us something more about Nomos?

The game Nomos, initially developed by Coded Illusions, is an action game based on the Book of Revelations. When Coded Illusions went bankrupt, the game was finished for 70%. We tought it was quite a waste to throw that all away. So we are investigating different options to do something with this project. At this moment, that's all we can say about it.

# Nomos is known on the site as an action/adventure. How is the balance between both genres?

Because Nomos was developed but a fairly large team, both aspects got enough attention. But the emphasis was more on action. In Adam's Venture the focus is more on adventure.

# You also develop other games (Tangram, The Wild West) for the XBOX360. What is the difference between making this games and adventure games. And in what way is working on a XBOX360 game different from developing a game for the PC?

Online distribution is starting to be a very interesting option for game studios, because the risk is much lower. There are also less parties between the developer and the gamer who wants to see money. Because of this, we are looking into this way of releasing games. With think a game like Tangram is a nice try-out for this.

The biggest difference with an adventure game is the size of the project. How many people are working on it, the size of the budget and the amount of time we have. Our toolset is different too. Adam's Venture uses the Unreal Engine 3 technology, while Tangram and The WildWest has been developed with an in-house made engine.

There are a lot of differences between the XBOX360 and the PC. On the XBOX we need to remember that people might use an old tv to play the game. We use the advantage of the controller and we need to listen to the demands Microsoft asks from the developers. A huge advantage is that very XBOX360 have the same hardware. Because of that, it is much easier to get the maximum out of the system. On the PC, however, there are countless hardware possibilities. So it's much harder to get the most of out if it.

# What are the plans for the future?

The last year we took some time to experiment. Right now we feel good with what we have done and we will continue in that direction. Adam's Venture is a fantastic project to work on and we would love to make it into a series.

But at the moment there is enough work to do before part 1 is ready !

# After the release of Penumbra: Black Plague, a horror adventure, it sparked a discussion about why the adventure genre isn't as popular as it used to be and in which way the adventure genre should be moving. What is your opinion about that discussion?

We notice that a specific group of gamers like the adventures genre, but we expect that this group would never form a majority. We think that the war of the best graphics will soon come to an end. After that, the focus will be more on things like gameplay, AI and story. We hope the future will be bright for the adventure genre and we would do everything in our power to contribute to this.

# Do you like to play (adventure) games in your spare time? And if so, which ones are your favourite and why?

Age of Empires II, Starcraft, Tomb Raider, Syberia, Diablo II and Baldurs Gate are all games that have lifted there specific genres to the next level. And because of that I'm not only playing them for my profession. But unfortunately I don't have a lot of time for that anymore. Now I'm thinking about it, it's is time to do some "research" again ; ).

Extra:

Visit the official site