Q&A – Saw II

What were the team’s largest challenges in creating Saw II? Did you learn anything from the initial title’s production?
We wanted to keep what worked well and replace what didn’t work as well as we had hoped.  The biggest changes were to combat.  We made combat more responsive and more visceral.  Some enemies must be taken out with logic by using the environment and the tools Jigsaw has given you.
Fans and critics felt we nailed the creepy environments from Jigsaw’s twisted imagination, so we expanded on those, added new locations and rolled in the new LIghtmass Technology in the latest version of the Unreal 3 engine.
Next up, we wanted all new mini games, the ones in SAW 1 were well received, but we wanted to be sure and have new ones for the sequel.  I also wanted them to be more dynamic, have higher graphical quality and increase in difficulty without simply making the puzzle grids bigger, and have some that were more reflex based and not all logic based.  I am happy to announce that we succeed in all these aims.
Finally, we wanted to add more replayability.  So we have 2 different endings that can only be seen by playing the game through twice, as well as collectible tapes, case files, puzzle pieces which give additional insight (and trophies and achievements).  Finally we have a Billy Puppet hidden in each level.  But to get at these Billy Puppets the player must solve some very hard, but easy to process puzzles  We want each of the puzzles to be not unlike a riddle, where you are stumped, but when you figure it out you get that “AHA!” feeling that you are so smart.  Naturally Jigsaw provides some hints.

How do you come up with such gruesome horror ideas? Is it difficult to keep them fresh?
That is the most fun part of working on these games and one that every member of the team gets to participate in.  When we get stuck, we have our concept artist sketch out some very quick sketches of poses, and then take the poses that are most striking and add some machinery behind them.  A good trap must have a striking silhouette and be disturbing just to look at.  With just an outline, you must be able to understand that a person is in great peril.  Next up, we have to have a mini game for the player to solve to free that person, as well as motivation and the appropriate “ironic” twist on the trap from Jigsaw.
Finally we write the Jigsaw script to set it all up, and then our cinematic team, lead by David Kimber, have a reveal of the trap.  One that mimics that SAW spinning camera, off color, rapid cut look and feel, usually 3 stages of fail so the player can make a few mistakes.  A trap fail where the victim dies a horrible death, and a trap success where the player frees the victim and they explain their link to the player character and Jigsaw.

How does Saw II: The Game’s stroy fit in alongside the movie series’ canon? Did you collaborate with the movie studio, to a large degree?

Lots of research and cooperation goes into the SAW game stories.  We watch and watch again, all the SAW movies.  We spent a lot of time with James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the writer/actor and director from the first SAW movies.  We had them up in Seattle and we spent time with them down in LA and we covered what makes SAW  in great detail.   Lionsgate and Twisted pictures go over our stories as well and you can see the results of the collaboration in references made in the movies and the games to each other.  We are very fortunate in that we are allowed to take on the SAW universe and not have to follow the plot of a single movie.  That allows us to emphasize the best parts of the universe for a game and leave the parts that are best suited for  a more linear, non interactive medium.

Will there be more variety in the title’s settings, this time around?

As the SAW movies explain, John Kramer (AKA Jigsaw) owns a great deal of property.  In SAW 2 the game, we take advantage of this fact, our growing skill with the Unreal 3 engine and we expand on the settings in the game.  We have 3 very distinct environments this time around, warehouses/factories, hotel/downtown and sewer/subway.