TF: The Game Activision Interview

GameDaily had a brief Q&A with TF executive producer Daniel Suarez about the upcoming Transformers: The Game. From the article:

More Than Meets the Eye - Activision Talks Transformers

With the Transformers game due out in about one month we decided to chat with executive producer Daniel Suarez to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the game is shaping up. Activision worked extensively with the filmmakers to capture the essence of the movie. Not only will Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox reprise their roles, but the game will also feature the original voices for Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Activision has brought two of the central stars, Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, from the upcoming Transformers movie to their video game. Daniel Suarez, executive producer at Activision for Transformers: The Game, took some time to talk about the convergence between the two mediums and how this new game is a great example of Hollywood and game companies working in tandem to expand the film experience to the interactive realm.

GameDaily BIZ: Can you talk about what bringing the actors on board from the film adds to the video game?
Daniel Suarez: First and foremost, it adds legitimacy and authenticity and in the case where you have such a dynamic and well know voice as Optimus Prime voiced by Peter Cullen, not having him as part of the game would have been a travesty. The same goes for the human characters in the film.

BIZ: When did you do the voice-work with the actors and how big a role will they have in the game?
DS: We started the bulk of our recording in late January and continued through the end of March. We had two groups of characters to record – Human and Transformers. The Transformers has the largest number of characters in the game and also the biggest volume of dialog (over 5,000 lines). When some of the characters from the film were locked in we were able secure the talent for the game and get them into the studio. Notable cast members we recorded include Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, Frank Welker reprising his role as Megatron from the original TV series, Keith David as Barricade and Mark Ryan as Iron Hide.

For the human characters we were fortunate to get original cast members from the film including Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox. Shia is a huge gamer and we actually had the luck of meeting him on the set during one of our visits to see the shooting of the film. It was there that we were introduced and his passion for videogames really made it clear that he needed to be a part of this project.

BIZ: Will there be likenesses of any other main actors from the movie in the game?
DS: Yes, Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox are both in the game and both play their human counterparts from the film, Sam Witwicky and Mikaela Baines. We were really fortunate to be able to cast both actors in the game and what was a bonus is that both Shia and Mega are huge game players. When we originally met Shia we brought him out to Activision and had him play a very early version of the game to give him an idea of what his involvement would require and the direction we were taking with the game.

BIZ: Can you talk about how the developer worked with the filmmakers? I heard there was actually a set-up on the set for this game to be made?
DS: Activision worked very closely with producers Ian Bryce and Mark Vahradian to ensure that we were kept up to date on all elements of the film production. Activision was granted permission to work directly with ILM to translate the actual film models into in-game models for the next generation systems (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) and ensure the level of detail moviegoers were seeing onscreen would translate to their home gaming system.

BIZ: How much involvement was there from Michael Bay or the producers from the movie?
DS: Transformers: The Game was developed in conjunction with Hasbro, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount and Bay Films. There was a lot of coordination required to ensure that all parties were seeing everything and that information was being funneled properly between each group.

BIZ: Can you talk about the attitude that Hollywood now has with games and how that's evolved?
DS: Having worked on multiple movie based games in my career at both Vivendi Games and Disney Interactive, I have first hand experience on how the perception has changed – and definitely for the better. Video games are no longer considered another licensed consumer product like a coffee cup or beach towel like they were about 10 years ago. Film makers, studio executives and nearly everyone involved in the production, marketing and promotion of a film are now gamers or have kids who are gamers. This makes the process of developing a working relationship with the film makers and the studio a lot easier as they have a greater understanding of your end goal and have built up sensibilities about the video game medium that allows them to contribute thoughts and ideas to better integrate the intellectual property into the game.

Additionally, technology has helped bridge the gap. In years past, movie assets would have simply been beyond the processing power of any game system, but in today's next generation of game systems – we can take film CG models and adjust the resolution and level of detail to translate to the capabilities of the game consoles, making the transition from film asset to game asset that much more seamless and the visual connection that much more realistic to the game player.

BIZ: How will the game expand the actions from the film? Will there be any new vehicles or characters that couldn't make it into the movie?
DS: Transformers: The Game expands the movie universe in a couple of different and unique ways. First and most, Transformers is an intellectual property with a long history in TV, toys and comic books and it was important for us to integrate elements of that into the game to capitalize on that built-in heritage. That being said, we have several unlockable characters across our portfolio of Transformers game that give players the chance to play with characters from Generation 1 (original series of Transformers) that are not in the film.

BIZ: What role does the player assume in the game?
DS: Transformers: The Game, lets players choose between Autobots and Decepticons and ultimately play out the game based on their favorite faction. Crucial to the Transformers story is the classic battle of good versus evil and in Transformers we wanted to give players the choice to play the entire game as the Autobots or to choose the Decepticons' side and play the entire game unlike the movie story. The fan base has such strong affinity with both the good and evil characters that players will experience the best of both worlds, choosing to save human life and property as the Autobots or destroy it as the Decepticons.

BIZ: Thanks for your time.