Overlord's Dean Scott Interview

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Eurogamer: MadWorld's performance recently suggests that one target you shouldn't bother aiming for is the hardcore action gamer. Is that a fair assessment, or do you attribute that kind of content's lack of traction to something else?

Dean Scott: It's not fair for me to comment on MadWorld. It's not my game, and I don't know all the facts about how it was marketed, etc. I think it's as much of a challenge selling Wii games as it is to create them.

Even if you (wrongly) assume all Wii gamers are non-gamery casual types, that's still no reason for a violent videogame not to appeal to them. The adults in that group don't just watch fitness DVDs... they watch The Dark Knight, they watch action movies. Maybe we just need to reach that tipping point on Wii where people accept there's more to it than sports games and the content is good enough to engage them.

Our opportunity is the lack of gamer-focused, quality titles on the platform. We're hoping if we create a compelling experience, it'll find an audience. We might be wrong. Maybe it is impossible. S***, I'm worried now.

Eurogamer: Graphics in console games typically improve over time, but there's also less sign of that on the Wii than on other consoles. Why's that, do you think?

Dark Legend uses FPS-style aiming controls.

Dean Scott: There are some great-looking Wii games out there. Most of them are first-party though, admittedly. Good art takes time and resource, and that all costs money. We made it a priority, because a distinctive visual character is part of the Overlord experience. When the first game debuted on Xbox 360, the vivid colours of the sunflowers was in massive contrast to the gritty, grey realism that seemed to dominate 360 at the time.

We worked with great people in Climax to realise that same distinctive character, because that was an important part of our offering. For other Wii games, perhaps visuals are deemed less important? Some of the games my kids play on Wii look like brightly coloured vomit, but it doesn't seem to bother them. I'd love to name names.

Eurogamer: Do you think other devs will see what you're doing to coax more out of the Wii, punch themselves in the heads and suddenly we'll have an upsurge in Wii graphics quality? Or is this the sort of thing that only really works in specific cases?

Dean Scott: There was nothing in Overlord that made it especially easy! We wanted to have a fluid main character, a supporting cast of 20-odd minions all running around destroying things and an expansive and epic-feeling fantasy world to explore. There's no hidden Super Minion FX chip that gives you 50 per cent more performance for having minions in your game - we worked hard to get what we have.

A problem shared is a problem halved. Depending on the number of people sharing it. Basically if it's two.

We were fortunate to work with an excellent team at Climax who didn't need to be pushed and just killed themselves to make it look brilliant. Is it going to usher in a bold new dawn of Wii graphics? I doubt it. From a selfish point of view, we don't want it to. We want our game to stand out.

Eurogamer: I'll stop asking difficult questions about the Wii now. Let's have a light-hearted one: tell us something exciting you've done in Dark Legend this week. Preferably something you haven't told the other gentlemen of the press about (they're scum).

Dean Scott: The production phase of the game is now over. But what we have done is receive confirmation from Nintendo of Europe that the game is all approved. So yeah, the big news this week is that we're allowed to release it. That's the most exciting thing for us. Sorry it's not something about tits!

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