Alan Wake uses an episodic structure. How does it differ to Alone In The Dark’s, for example?
They used a TV series approach as well. The basic idea of Alan Wake is to kind of model it after a season of a TV series, or mini-series, so that the game is kind of a DVD box season of a TV series. From the beginning that’s been the idea of how to structure and space out the story, so the game itself is divided into episodes and we did go as far as having short ‘previously on Alan Wake’ clips at the beginning of each episode to remind [the player] of the relevant story points. It’s a very nice way to structure the story as a game is a longer entity than a movie. With the Max Payne games we always used a movie story as our inspiration and since a game is a lot longer, the pacing works very well when you divide it into episodes and model the pacing after that so you have an interesting cliffhanger at the end of each episode.

How important is audio in comparison to the game’s visual effects and storytelling elements?
It’s very, very important, especially in creating a thriller. The soundscape and audio in general is vital to create the right kind of atmosphere so it’s something that we are talking about a lot and a lot of effort will still go into polishing all that out during the final stages of development.

Is Alan Wake going to ship on one disc for Xbox 360?
I’m not the most technical person but that is my understanding.

Did you ever consider releasing the title episodically or in chapters as downloadable content?
It’s becoming more and more popular that idea, and the way Alan Wake has been structured would suit something like that very well. For the first game it has never been considered but in the future we are open to the idea, but let’s see where everything develops. That being said, with Alan Wake, we are structuring a larger story than just the first game so we already have plans in place for how the story will go on.

So Alan Wake is being planned as a franchise and you already have plans for the second box set?
Yeah, definitely, from the get go the idea was to create something deeper than just one game.



Multiplayer and co-operative gameplay are very popular. If you don’t include those options, does that put extra pressure on you to deliver something special?
Yeah of course, and we are actively thinking about replayability value [and] adding exploration content assets into the game. On the other hand we feel very strongly that it is a character-driven and story-driven experience, [and] it would not make sense to just throw in some kind of multiplayer mode on top of that. We want to make sure that everything we do has a high quality bar and it’s very important for us that every part of the game experience fits together and makes sense, so multiplayer has never been in our plans, but we are definitely looking at the ways of making sure that the player gets plenty of material to experience.

Does being singleplayer only mean it’s likely to be a relatively long game?
Alan Wake will be comparable to other popular action titles out there when it comes to length. After the first game is out we are looking at the possibility of giving the player something extra but those plans are still in the air, so let’s see.

What was Remedy’s reaction to Rockstar’s announcement of Max Payne 3?
We have naturally always know that at some point along the line Max Payne 3 would be coming and we’ve been waiting for it to be announced and to get some information. It’s nice it’s finally coming out. It’s definitely Rockstar’s vision and there’s not that much yet that I’ve seen of it. It’s very interesting to follow and of course we’re eagerly awaiting a chance to get our hands on it and play it so we can see what kind of a version of Max Payne they have made.

What did you think of the Max Payne movie?
That too was an interesting experience. I think that they got some things surprisingly close to the game, visually there were lots of similarities. Other than that it’s a different thing from a game and as said, a lot shorter entity, so naturally they have to drop a lot and make choices and decisions.



What did you think of the motion control announcements from Microsoft and Sony at E3, and is Remedy interested in developing motion control-based titles?
I did get a chance to see the Natal demo. It’s very interesting and making a game for that, there are of course different ways you could go. Simple conversion from the old controls would probably be relatively easy but from a game designer standpoint you can’t help but to start thinking about very different things you could do. It’s a new thing and E3 was the first time we saw anything about it so it’s still something that we have not actively been able to think about or really process, but it’s exciting and we’ll see in the future.

What are the chances of Remedy developing for PS3 or Wii in the future?
It is my understanding that Remedy's engine in itself is flexible in that regard. Again, I need to underline that I’m not the most technical person, but of course for the future let’s see. For now we are very much focused on and very excited about Alan Wake, about the first game and about Alan Wake as a franchise in general. But naturally we are looking at new things as well all the time.