[Music]
Michael and Andrew welcome to the
informa show guys yeah so lead designer
Andrew that's right director Michael yep
way of work yeah how long have you been
a director on the project so I've been
on the project just over a year now okay
working on week before then there was
this a tough one to keep secret for a
really long time oh yeah yes yes just
what I mean
making ping Bob's playing space games
and dinosaurs that three old from the
fingers to gaming really really like
when I first saw this game revealed it
was that moment of I'm also a Dragon
Ball fan but not as much as I am at
Jurassic Park fan and reminds me of like
you know fighters the Dragon Ball
fighters was announced like finally the
perfect team to develop this exact type
of game finally get those two to kiss
get the peanut butter and jelly together
man I feel like frontier and a Jurassic
Park sim is just perfect I mean what is
the process like internally is it just
secret negotiations and there's one
meeting where it's announced everybody
and they say yeah I think we can do this
those it was a very long and involved
process of to obviously work with
Universal about the sort of thing they
wanted to see after demonstrating our
Sphinx and also thinking about how would
we approach a game like that yeah so
there's quite a long build-up to it
before we actually get started on actual
production are you guys just pros at
Sims at this point so there's no fear or
with this license was it a new level of
like crap how are we gonna do this
were there definitely new things to
consider with this license I mean I
think it's you know it is a management
at sim game but there's new elements to
consider with the drastic franchise so
you know traditionally with Mandarin
games it's all about you build them and
build and you go bigger and bigger and
you earn more money
this game has that too but it's also got
well what the films have which is that
things go wrong you know things have to
go wrong otherwise it's not Jurassic
world so it's gotta be tough I mean in
no other game well maybe there's some
trolls and stuff but no one plays
Uncharted and just has Nathan Drake
repeatedly jump off a cliff you don't
try and park like that's what you want
and so I designed a game where it's like
we know this is what players want to
happen but it's also punishing that
seems impossible but it's also how you
bounce back from that right yes that's
the heroism terrorism in the movies is
dealing with the calamities and trying
to try to overcome the problems you know
just make some more cash yeah
yeah I mean what's the most applicable
game from the past it's built on the
planet coaster engine right so and kind
of improved version of this okay well we
have a engine that we use for all of our
projects okay but I think we've had a
number of titles over the years that
really have played into us being able to
make this game the way that it is I mean
you make my first started a company won
almost 15 years ago we were doing doing
dogs life
so we're animating the dog through all
kinds of landscapes and then and ever
since then we've done various animal
games that connects more than zoo tycoon
we've done numerous sort of theme park
games you know through World War III and
it's all come together at the right time
where we've got the engine for we've got
the institutional knowledge we got the
experience and we've got one hand
advertising license solutions I'm still
a little bit confused about just the
business behind this like I talked to a
representative from Universal earlier
yeah trying to figure out like okay
they're licensing your stuff out to
great developers but are you guys self
funding it self publishing it key talk
about that we're publishing the game
ourselves we we basically working with
Universal to release the game but as we
plant coach through an elite dangerous
we're self-publishing it okay but
they're footing the bill is that how it
works yeah which is nice I guess so
playing the game a little bit I was a
little I enjoyed it and I was just
trying to wrap my mind around like how
structured is this thing gonna be how
much freedom are you allowing players
like it is is I guess strange to have
like a sam and then have like mission
objectives in the lower-right is that
throughout the entire game can you talk
about that balance of player freedom
yeah absolutely so so that's another one
of the challenges with this particular
management game is that we wanted it to
have narrative elements we wanted to
have a progression structure to make it
kind of more substantial and also more
accommodating practical broader audience
but at heart
you can still play it as if it's sandbox
you know each Island you can restart and
try it numerous times however you want
so there's ignore missions oh yeah yeah
you can you miss out on a lot of content
but I mean you'll you can certainly
progress through the game and
however you want to play it if you want
to bump out you know 100 Street food -
is on the first island you can do and
you might make the next island you have
to generate the cash and the best way of
doing that really well one of the best
ways of doing that is by engaging with
the missions that unlock items you can't
get any other way okay so you unlock new
islands with just with cash it's just
very saying if you unlock new ions with
what we call the island rating and
that's that's the kind of universal kind
of marker of your success of your parks
if you've got great dinosaurs and you've
got a great safe facility then you can
progress and you don't necessarily have
to have done the mission but are you
guys interested in a more sandbox a
completely freeform approach for some
players and so something that's been
popular on previous games yeah so it's
something that we're looking into but
we're just talking about the career part
of the game you know plays well many
things using surprised you're talking to
people after playing the game so be very
pleased with the response of people
coming out and you've got a whole range
of people from those that are following
the structure to gameplay and other
story missions tell us just going well
his 60 live goat feeders and just
letting then blowing free yeah I've been
pleasantly surprised in how many people
want dinosaurs to get out and chase
ghosts because I was worried that like
the dinosaurs would get out and people
will ruin people's parks and stuff oh
they kind of they love it the point
regista stroyed my entire fence and was
basically trying to corral the dinosaurs
to get out there and start eating folks
I'm sure you're gonna see a lot of that
stuff on Twitch and whatnot yeah
speaking about like what players want
it's funny looking at planet coaster and
through the Steam Workshop so many
people added so many Jurassic Park
elements to that game are you guys open
to modding for this game so morning
isn't something we're supporting on
Jurassic world evolution ever well I'm
there I've learned never to say never so
at the moment it's not part of the
feature set but it's something we looked
into because people are quite keen on
that kind of thing but it requires a
whole extra level of sort of
infrastructure and support but yeah
we're focusing our efforts on making
this the best dinosaur game are you and
then we'll see where we go from there
interesting are you feeling confident
you will have the assets in the game
that people will want to play around
with I'm sure there always be something
that people want to play but they'll
certainly be for the gameplay that's in
the game there's everything that you
need to support that and he's got those
quite a variety to it what about the
old-school fans okay we'll be happy
playing the game in terms of the assets
well I mean when we were working with
Universal they were quite keen that it
was of course the franchise okay
obviously it's a drastic world game so
the primary elements are Jurassic world
based but there's some bits and pieces
that I can't tell you too much right now
I'm afraid but you're aiming to make
fans that dr. Ian Malcolm is cool okay
he is the core character in the game
yeah and he spans you know the full
history so yes yeah I think I don't know
if there's quite 1 oz but there's
definitely buzz in the room and the
first gameplay demo when you guys went
to the helicopter there the first time I
don't think people were expecting that
level of or just even that viewpoint can
you talk about building out that tact
for for making that happen well I mean
our engines pretty versatile um you know
we've made very dangerous a galaxy smash
yeah sort of like combat and trading an
explosion game and then always say this
planet coaster which is created and sort
of major what sort of what was amazing
and on this one we wanted to make sure
that you could have those little hero
moments and it's nice to see the
different perspectives as well so when
you're in the Jeep you know you see the
Brachiosaurus or towering above you yeah
and it just brings us all a level of
immediacy to the game but it also means
you can jump in and just take part and
that's one of the key elements and the
film's is that sort of you know it's all
going wrong but they do something about
it so yeah for sure I mean here and
there people have been talking about
just at this event about different ways
that they've been playing do you guys
have favorite little things that you can
do in the game that maybe you wouldn't
expect
I mean I don't know this is just best
ways to F around or just little details
or where's Eli guys like to build your
parks that you'd recommend for your
players to keep an open mind on well one
that I tend to do I don't it's just a
bit the obsessive side of me I like to
just build one
creation lap which is where you your
dices come out of and then as soon as
the Chancellor comes out that I wanted
somewhere else I'll tranquilize them and
transport him so that I save on creation
labs which is I don't know just me being
like obsessive and somebody I suppose
but that's kind of my thing but you know
then you often forget about the dancers
coming out and they kind of run right in
the indie enclosure
I don't know I think that's the way
items play yes I think there's a bit of
a silly thing going on the office at the
moment we're using the terrain for
terraforming to build ramps so you don't
have to go through the gates you just
jump over so you take the Jeep and fly
over the gate that is land and I love
that you guys included the horn in there
as well it's such a small detail but
like you know this the first thing
players look I've didn't in edgy but I
want to honk at my business especially
the smaller than suppose they can get
quite skittish around a man that's
awesome man what was the most
challenging aspect of designing the game
overall Andrew I mean the early days
what did you beat your head against the
desk on tricky one I think it's
basically and I think for me it was
trying to make sure that we had the
level of management at all the different
levels so you've got the metal
progression
you've got the detail looking after your
guests you caring for the dinosaurs it's
bringing all those elements sort of
together and balancing them out and yeah
we're working on that the balance is you
know it's still going on now sort of
refine the the bounce between you
building your park out and chaos
happening effectively yeah so that's
that that's a challenge but also that
that sort of contrast between sandbox
mode of play and more traditional
progression that's something that you'd
every see a lot in these types of games
and so you know trying to get that
balance right and accommodate all types
of players yeah
I was quite a li it wasn't so much a
challenge but it was quite exciting to
be able to add some more so story and
history Jurassic love you know so
working through the revisions you get to
unlock this narrative yeah a bit more
about what's happening in the director
universe so yeah I was sucking with the
writer a bit about this process as well
with John of just detailing those five
islands for the first time we've seen
two of them yeah right but beyond that
it's like it could be anything so I
don't forget new blows not part of the
archipelago the final deaths of five
Chevron and so on is one of them there's
four others that Nublar is not part of
it slightly took for it away okay well
let's get really nerdy here what about
like the geography of these islands are
you like mapping out Nublar so that it
has the areas and valleys from the films
and then sorna trying to do the same
we're not talking about a new brothel
we've got something special for that
which I can't talk about okay but we're
certainly looking at what the landscapes
are the honors were and then looking at
the bits that we want and they become
sort of the buildable areas so you know
it was interesting researching neck
because there's been a lot of work on
lying to sort of try and try and figure
out more precisely the sort of agra fees
of these different islands via snapshots
of maps that have been shown in the
films and things like that so we tried
to pick up on all of this and twitter
Universal about it as well of course and
meets profanation our islands are kind
of playable areas are sections of the
islands so they're not the entire island
but we've kind of taken it taken a
little area of the islands so with Sorna
the section you can play in is that an
area that we've seen in two or three so
we can
interesting and how much can you vary
island island is it all like I don't
know it's all the same rough area of the
world they're gonna be like this island
is just pure lava yeah I mean well not
long but each one will have its own mood
and challenges so we wanted to be
challenged every difference and to feel
different when you progress so you're
different times a day the different
atmospheric you've got different weather
patterns there's different topography
there's different sort of texture
features he's a different time of day so
the rest of the islands there's no
day/night cycle it's set because what
we're using that deliberately as a mood
setting thing so one of the islands is
actually set at night with lots of
storms and has to be dangerous dinosaur
keys in also some of the dinosaurs you
get at that point I think you're like a
tourist like in a brochure like which
one do I go to drastic park that's set
only at night and it's dangerous on
stormy I bet it's not that particular
Island well there is one island if the
matter is actually the island of death
so yeah you're wearing names yes but in
theory like you want tourists to come to
all these islands so that's up to you
and how you're playing it okay so you
have got the three divisions and they
kind of determine your reputation with
them what types of buildings you place
yeah I determined the the makeups you if
you follow the science through then
you'll get a lot of scientists walking
around yeah and you generally always see
a few tourists because if there's a
dinosaur park going on somewhere
somebody's gonna go and visit right all
right
so I was thinking about you know playing
the game different scenarios from the
films that you can incorporate I know if
you guys have any deep cuts from films
that yours like oh this scenario can
happen like which is super quick ones
canikin kids visit the island we
basically were aiming for the kind of
team writing so we will have dinosaurs
killing people but not children okay so
rather than make the children and water
we thought it would just make sense -
sure can you shoot flares we use fair
use so flares are used during the
transport section so when you travel or
dynast no flares are set off to say
here's the stock location in here's the
that's how we kind of get losing can
tourists get eaten while going to the
bathroom Thank You gay it like Kenny
dinosaur rip a bathroom apart and eat
them there isn't a bathroom as such
because we have the buildings and yeah
okay you can use your imagination take
down humans and it's worth bearing in
mind that even the herbivores can be
very dangerous
Oh every single dinosaur is a danger to
your guests who gets out so one of those
interesting things at Jurassic world
nice soon it'll be character in some way
in the ideas with fallen Kingdom is
video of like brands and associating
brands with dinosaurs and just the idea
of just corporations taking over
Jurassic Park
did you guys toy with that idea of
having Samsung as a building or is that
just a licensing we did I think there is
a lot of license in complications with
that yeah and obviously we're always
sort of interesting in opportunities but
the really the focus for us was just
making sure it's authentic to Jurassic
world or some of the similar missions
and some of the contracts kind of play
on the idea of kind of the
commodification of dinosaurs extent like
you might have a Mike sort of a loner
dinosaur out for example on one missions
over so yeah there's elements that touch
on some of the things like you said it
came in Jurassic world towards the end
we kind of dabble with those a little
sadly some external influence yeah so
storms can tear stuff apart can you have
like an edgy like figure in your Park
should not him specifically right but
that can be problematic and to the point
that they just become suicidal or just
like open up all the gates on the room
one of one of the consequences of going
down one particular working one
particular division more than others is
that although you'll gain benefits from
working with them and they'll give you
kind of loyalty bonuses and stuff
there's the risk of sabotage if you go
too far down one room so there's an
interesting sabotage events to occur in
the mid week cases basically he was
being underfunded right so the tech
division although we don't have a tech
division but the content is the same so
he gets charity and decides right good
there's gonna be a problem yeah yeah for
sure
okay dinosaur swallow a cellphone
all right well that's not true because
people can't have cell phones on them
mmm and so face all of the person makes
all of this open everybody won't be
ringing in their stomach like rats at
work three okay okay that's fine so how
much do you guys think this is like a
platform moving into the future do you
want to keep building on this for a long
time instead of quickly so I'm in at the
moment with this particular that we're
not talking beyond the initial release
and I think frontier is showing that
with our titles before we like it to
support things moving forwards yeah yeah
do you have any thoughts on
microtransactions and imagine some fans
are worried about a game I think
the dangerous is obviously a good
example of the model we've taken one
thing that doesn't appeal to us to this
game is the idea of big boxes that kind
of thing but certainly we'll see what
evolves in front but we always like to
make sure that there's value for money
and what people are adding is buying for
the game yeah well hey do you have
anything else to add have you had a
favorite moment this games development
you want to share a little moment when
we first revealed that we were doing it
oh of course that was awesome I no
matter how many times I hear that t-rex
roar I just sent shivers down my spine
so tough one to get right it's it's
fantastic our audience team I mean the
whole team and in the cross audio and
emotion tech design it's just so many
things coming together that it's just on
the audio front this is such a tiny
nerdy detail but when I was demolishing
trees in the game the sound of the trees
being demolished sounds like a t-rex
like walking through the woods it's just
a small detail but it's just aw do you
guys I guess I didn't hear it but you
may be she doesn't have electric fences
but do you have like the classic just
weird sound of icicle what a let it and
other weird small noises there's things
going on and you get the comms chatter
and there's a nice little touch where if
you're in the fall before you get a
local Spanish radio station that's
amazing how do you program that but the
order team work wonders it's not a live
register
it's embedded in the game yeah sorry
enter do you have a favorite moment from
the dense development well in terms of
playing the game like storm-chasing in
the 4.4 is pretty awesome when there's a
so later on in the game there's we have
tornadoes so they're all ripped through
your Park and because your range team
also involved repairing things as you
get things get demolished yeah kind of
one of the best tactics is actually when
you've spotted the tornado and you've
got time run out yeah sorry Drive after
it with the 4x4 and like try and fix
things on the way and it was just a
spectacular it's pretty cool yeah on a
fly helicopter near is quite what about
so in fallen Kingdom we see that I know
volcanoes going off on Sorna our
volcanoes gonna be an issue in this game
then so I think about for fallen Kingdom
there's yeah baby calm talk about
bullying Kingdom Oh crazy okay sure
alright sorry that's totally fine hey
guys thank you so much for your time
that seems great am I looking forward
thank you thank you appreciate it thank
you so much for watching this excerpt
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