Studio tour: Propaganda Games and Turok

I spent a good chunk of the day at Vancouver’s Propaganda Games today, steeped in the Turok experience.

The day started with a presentation by game director Joel Manners. He talked about how everyone on the team was excited to be working on a game in which players got to interact with dinosaurs.

What he really meant was get hunted by dinosaurs.

His group of employees did a great job of reimagining Turok, and updating it not just technically, but also in terms of story and character.

Playing Turok

Turok is a visceral, sci-fi themed first person shooter set some 250 years from now. You are Joseph Turok, a former black ops commando who has been enlisted to help take down his old mentor, a rogue military specialist. You crash land on a planet that is infested with dinosaurs, and have to not only survive, but find a way home.

All the while you are hunted by the denizens of the world. And yes, Virginia, there are T-Rexes in this game.

Manners said that how you approach the game is up to you. You can be stealthy, or blast your way through, or even turn your enemies - dinosaurs and soldiers - against each other. “You’ve got firepower, environment, and multiple enemies,” said Manners, “and how you use them is up to you.”

Guns and knives

Game designer Ryan Greenhow talked about how Manners’ philosophy was that the player needed to “experience the game through the gun.” What that meant, said Greenhow, was that “you have to have a cool gun in your hands, and when you pull the trigger you have to have a cool reaction, and then you have to see the result of that.”

The trick, though, was figuring out how to get that “through the gun” experience for the knife. In most first-person shooter games, explained Greenhow, the knife is “the lamest weapon.” But along with the bow, the knife is one of Turok’s key weapon specialties. To keep the intensity, then, the Propaganda crew came up with “crazy knife moves” that you can execute to make fighting with a knife more visceral.

What’s missing

Manners also talked about how the team pulled vehicles from the game after spending a great deal of time working on them. While it was fun to recreate the Jeep scene from Jurassic Park, explained Manners, vehicles just didn’t fit in the Turok experience. “You’ve got to be able to smell that thing’s breath,” he said, “and you can’t get that when you’re mechanized.”

Inspired by dinosaurs

Manners said that there were two films that were particular inspirations for the new Turok video game. The first was Aliens, with its gritty reality and sci-fi background, but horror take.

The second was 28 Days Later. “The zombies in that film embodied what we wanted in our raptors,” said Manners. “Unending killing machines that are fast as hell.”

Manners said that the Turok team didn’t want Jurassic Park raptors that hunt in packs and can open doors. They wanted their raptors to be brutal and ruthless. All the better to create carnage.

What’s next

Turok is now available for PS3 and Xbox 360, and will be available for PC later this spring. While Manners admitted that it was developed with sequels in mind, he was careful not to suggest that a sequel has been confirmed for development.

It’s a fun game to play, with lots of twitch action and some shocking surprises for good measure. Nothing like having a dinosaur attack you without warning to get the blood boiling.

Don’t forget that the developers of Turok are going to be at the Granville and Robson Future Shop in Vancouver tomorrow night, to say hi, answer questions, offer game play tips, and even sign your copy of the game. For those not in Vancouver, you can participate in the online chat with these same developers. Full details are over here.