Interview: A Tørnquist Of The Screw
RockPaperShotgun has a cool, if tardy, interview with The Longest Journey and Dreamfall kaiser, Funcom's Ragnar Tørnquist. While everyone else was eulogizing the adventure game, megahottie Tørnquist was crafting the tale of two worlds that is The Longest Journey, and designing one of the coolest heroines of the gaming world, Miss April Ryan.
So what's the skinny? April was almost the star of a platformer:
“The dark secret is that The Longest Journey began life as a platform game,” reminisces Ragnar, “ Fortunately, that didn’t last long.”
Fortunate indeed, mein liebeschlange. Ragnar goes on to explain the three year birthing process of the groundbreaking adventure game, as well as the lessons learned from his success: Dreamfall was a shorter, easier-to-play game that focused more on story than puzzle-solving as a direct result of fan feedback. Inspiration for the series was pulled from Neil Gaiman and the Vertigo imprint, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and even Gabriel Knight. Not bad...
“I remember getting an e-mail from one guy who told me that the ending made him cry,” Ragnar recalls, “He’d never even cried at a movie before, let alone a computer game. It was a really strong and honest emotional reaction, and that mail made me realise we’d accomplished something valuable. Just touching one person that strongly – it made the whole thing worth it.”
If you're an adventure game nut like me - or any other kind of so-called "granny gamer" - you might enjoy checking out Ragnar's big, long...journey.
Making Of: The Longest Journey [RockPaperShotgun]
[via Slashdot]
tiny dancer
Posted to Miscellany on 19 October 2007
Other stuff like this: adventure games, dreamfall, funcom, interview, pc, Ragnar Tørnquist, the longest journey
