Mxthe: Interview on Underhell blog - goosejelly

mrtaterz: I have a few questions for you Mxthe, I hope you answer them with your full honesty.
mrtaterz: What's your inspiration for Underhell?
Mxthe: lots of stuff
Mxthe: books movies and games
mrtaterz: Does Stephen King or F.E.A.R. come into play for your inspiration?
Mxthe: Indeed, although FEAR was a coincidence
mrtaterz: How about Stephen King's work?
Mxthe: Great inspiration for sure
mrtaterz: Name one of your favorite books or movies by him.
Mxthe: Rose Red was pretty important during the house creation process
mrtaterz: Sounds like you're a vivid fan of Stephen. He works on a lot of the best concepts for paranormal activities, his book, 'It", could anyone ever see a concept in Underhell for a supernatural being like It/Pennywise?
Mxthe: What many fail to understand is that what has been released so far is only the Prologue
Mxthe: It is the equivalent of the trainstation level in half life 2
Mxthe: And I am amazed that people add me to thank me for "my" work
Mxthe: On such a small piece of the game
mrtaterz: Indeed.
Mxthe: As for the inspirations or other, I can comment the ones that were used for the Prologue
Mxthe: but I will try to avoid revealing anything that might give clues as to what happens in further chapters
mrtaterz: No one likes to ruin a story, Mxthe. :P
Mxthe: Exactly, but a lot have added me asking for it
Mxthe: Not implying that you are
Mxthe: your questions are pertinent
mrtaterz: I am just a game critic with an open-mind.
Mxthe: I can see that
mrtaterz: So far your game has a very deep and driven story, could you say exactly how much time in an average day it would take for you to come up with a new plot or twist in a story?
Mxthe: Sorry to answer your question by another question, but how can you tell how deep the story is with only the prologue being released ? xD
mrtaterz: :P
Mxthe: As for other stories, they keep popping up in my head, and I try to simply them and merge them as secondary quests/characters to make the Underhell world bigger
mrtaterz: So it's like a big FPS with the RPG element of sidestories?
Mxthe: That was the intention
Mxthe: The prologue was always marketed as "an action packed prologue to a survival horror"
Mxthe: People just can't read
Mxthe: Some will be disapointed by chapter 1
Mxthe: Some will love it even more
Mxthe: Just like everything I guess
Mxthe: lovers gonna love, haters gonna hate
mrtaterz: Would the side-stories be relevant to the girl in Jake's house? Could these side-stories connect to some sort of plot you are working on?
mrtaterz: May I just say, also, that when that mysterious girl popped out of the bathtub in the bathroom, I nearly shit my pants. Wonderful fear-factor you are putting into the game.
Mxthe: The entire story of the game was the first thing I finished
Mxthe: It is not a single doc, it is a messy folder of hundreds of text files
Mxthe: around 600 pages
Mxthe: describing characters locations and events
Mxthe: backstories, organizations
mrtaterz: Could you write it into a book if you tried?
Mxthe: Would be difficult
Mxthe: But possible
mrtaterz: With your superb storytelling I would have to disagree.
Mxthe: And about the fear factor, it is no different from many other games, the only thing original here is the random factor
mrtaterz: The ASS system?
Mxthe: I am actually working on a serie of Developper Commentary video explaining all that
Mxthe: the ASS system was thought by Hen and is very specific
Mxthe: I had never heard of it when I was working on Underhell
Mxthe: Hen and WCS came on board for beta testing and polishing
Mxthe: everything was already done
Mxthe: But they brought fresh perspective, voice actors and cool rebalance ideas
Mxthe: Wouldn't have finished that fast without them
mrtaterz: Nightmare House 2, I read my e-mail from D. Romero in Underhell, is that an Easter Egg or could that actually mean something?
Mxthe: It is an easter egg
Mxthe: We like to imply crossovers, it won't be the only one
Mxthe: Actually it is not the only one already...
Mxthe: I love em, Hen loves them
Mxthe: it's just us having fun with ourselves...
Mxthe: That sounded wrong on purpose
mrtaterz: I don't think I remember hearing you being involved in the NH2 project. Did you do anything specific to contribute to the success of it?
Mxthe: No I did not
Mxthe: I met Hen after release
Mxthe: I approached him showing him the 2007 trailer of underhell
Mxthe: That used the same model he did
Mxthe: and that looked a lot like NH2's ambience
Mxthe: he loved it and helped me revive the project
Mxthe: Underhell was paused at the time
Mxthe: He was great motivation
mrtaterz: I bet, without him and the community, do you think you wouldn't have even been able release at least the prologue to the community?
Mxthe: Maybe, but it wouldn't be as "stable" and it wouldn't have been released that early
Mxthe: Making a game is not like making a movie
mrtaterz: The people behind Call of Duty would have to disagree, all you need are a few explosions to make a "good" game, vice-versa to a movie, right?
mrtaterz: Sarcasm.
Mxthe: Transformers 3 oscar worthy ey
mrtaterz: Heh.
mrtaterz: I am glad to be talking to you, keep working on Underhell for the community and I.
Mxthe: I'm working on it for myself
Mxthe: Giving it to the community is a bonus
mrtaterz: That sounds like something I would say.
mrtaterz: I will leave you to it, Mx. Stay strong.
Mxthe: Easy to look strong
Mxthe: Not easy to be
mrtaterz: Well, I will see you later.
Mxthe: Farewell