NEWS - Tuesday, June 1, 2004
Sudeki Interview With NTSC-UK
Climax’s "Sudeki" is one of the most important releases for the XBox in 2004. As a Western RPG with Eastern artistic influences, gamers are either relishing or reviling its release. We spoke directly with Climax to put forward their view and find out how the different elements came together in what will certainly prove to be, at the very least, the most interesting British RPG to be released for years. NTSC-uk. Tuomas Pirinen – Lead Designer, Climax. Who was responsible for the delicious early concept drawings? Various Climax concept artists through the stages . How was the decision made to use a more Japanese style of aesthetics in Sudeki made? Was it a case of East approaching West or West approaching East? I’d say it was a case of East meeting west. We had both eastern and western artists working on the title, each bringing their own unique talents into the mix. Whilst the character designs feature a strong Eastern influence, the environments feature medieval-esque villages and castles - traditional staples of more western designs. How did you decide upon this balance of eastern and western design influences and where else can we expect to see this mixture of cultures in Sudeki? In the pre-production phase we got lots of reference material together to inspire our artists. There are bits from all over the world: will see lots of very gothic buildings later in the game, for example. And this is hardly the only exotic influence: the initial movie is based on Indonesian shadow puppet plays -we looked for new interesting art from all over the globe and incorporated it in Sudeki. Climax has a commendably strong "gameplay first" ethic. How prevalent was this idea in the conception and design of Sudeki? At what stage were the Japanese character designs brought into the game? The concept art was brought in at a very early stage. Concept artists worked together with the designers right from the beginning. Be sure to check out the rest of the interview at NTSC-UKSource: http://www.ntsc-uk.com
