Alien Breed 3 interview with John Dennis

Alien Breed 3: Descent is the final explosive chapter in the Alien Breed series, and is a science fiction arcade-shooter with an epic story, swarms of highly intelligent alien enemies, high-impact weapons and stunning environments, developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3. Descend into hell and once again take control of the hero, Conrad, the ship’s Chief Engineer, in his last stand against the savage alien horde. While the doomed vessel, the Leopold, and the alien space craft plunge deeper into the planet’s atmosphere, with an icy ocean promising a watery grave, you have just hours to defy a grisly death and survive the alien onslaught for the final time. As you struggle deeper into the sinking alien ship, through the freezing waters flooding every corridor, the horrifying truth surrounding the existence of the Breed is finally uncovered… In addition to the thrilling conclusion to the single-player campaign and the relentless and competitive “Survivor” modes, the game offers action-packed, two-player online co-operative battle modes.

Staff member, Clint Ritchie, caught up with John Dennis, Head of Design at Team 17 Software, to talk about Alien Breed 3.

Horror News Network: Is it true that this is our last journey with Conrad against the alien menace?

John Dennis: Well, without wanting to spoil the ending for anyone, the story ends on kind of an unresolved note, so although things look pretty bleak, it's not necessarily all over for Conrad. Who knows if we'll see him again? I hope so...

Horror News Network: The new weaponry is amazing, how did you come up with these new explosive death machines?

John Dennis: Thanks! I'm very glad that you've enjoyed them. I think some of the weapons would probably feature in any game like this (the assault rifle and shotgun-like shot cannon for example), but some of the more exotic weapons come from playing the game and trying to think what would make a really useful weapon. The electro-link gun came out of this thinking: it's a weapon that hits the first alien the jumps an electric spark to any other alien in range. It will jump from that alien to another and another affecting potentially all aliens in range. Obviously this weapon's very useful when you're faced with a crowd of aliens, while others (such as the rocket launcher) are more suited to combat with one large alien. We tried to design weapons that are suitable for different strategic situations, giving the player a choice: effective players choose the right weapon for the job at hand.

Horror News Network: The new alien swarms and bosses are insane. How were these thought of?

John Dennis: In a similar way to the weapons really... we tried to think of aliens that would present the player with different types of challenge. So we have aliens that rush the player and do huge damage if they collide, aliens that hang back and spit acid at the player, aliens that heal other aliens and ones that block the player's shots. When the player encounters the different alien types in combination it becomes a challenge to prioritise which alien to kill first. As for the bosses, they're all fairly standard in the sense of ‘learn it's pattern of attacks and find the weakness’ approach, but we tried to devise bosses that would require the player to use all of the skills of the game: avoiding attacks, accurate shooting and using the right weapon for the right situation.

Horror News Network: The environments are beautifully done; do you think this separates you from your competition?

John Dennis: Credit has to go to the artists for how good the game looks. We've got some really very talented artists at Team17 and I think they excelled themselves in creating the environments you play in... the dying reactor of the Leopold and the rusting science laboratories of the alien hulk provide just beautiful back-drops to the tense action. We used Epic's Unreal Engine 3 to power the game, and that's paid off in the dynamic shadows, dramatic lighting effects and explosive special effects. Whether players think that separates us from the competition or not.... well, I certainly hope so. 

Horror News Network The Trilogy has always had a comic book introduction feel to it; could there be an Alien Breed comic series for us to look forward to?

John Dennis: We're not working on anything at the moment, but we did release a small comic strip that showed a little episode from earlier in Conrad's life: how his wife died and why he distrusts droids. Part of the problem in presenting the game as a comic is that we had to edit so much detail out. In an action game the players generally aren't too interested in story exposition, but I would say if you want a deeper insight into the characters, collect and read all the data logs that can be found scattered around the ship... they contain journal entries, psychological profiles and information that fill in a lot of detail.

Horror News Network: What does the future hold for Alien Breed?

John Dennis: We're very busy with several large projects at the moment, so we've not got anything "Alien Breed" in development just now, but who knows? Never say never!

Horror News Network: Could Conrad really be dead? Does he have a future in any other games?

John Dennis: I'm not sure whether Conrad's dead or not: he might just be sleeping... he has had the mother of all bad days at the office after all. I very much like the idea that he's still there alive on that alien-infested ship sinking into a frozen ocean on an alien planet. How would he get off it? And if he did, what would he do stuck on the ice of some far-flung planet? I think that's a great starting point for a sequel. He'd have to do something pretty amazing to get out of that!

Horror News Network: Since the game never takes place anywhere but the same ship, and same problems apply, is this really a sequel or a continuum?

John Dennis: It's a bit of both really. Each game can be played on its own. Each has its own selection of weapons, missions, environments, enemy and boss types. For the later episodes we added a "previously on Alien Breed" sequence at the start of the game so that the story made sense. If I'm honest, I think the third instalment is my favourite. I think it's got the best missions and set-pieces, and personally, I love the way it ends.

Horror News Network: Where can our readers find out more about Alien Breed?

John Dennis: Shortly after the game was released, we wrote a few blogs about the game. Your readers might like to check them out should they wish to learn more or pick up some expert strategy tips:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/10/04/10-things-you-dont-know-about-alien-breed-impact-for-ps3/

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/12/03/alien-breed-2-assault-hits-psn-on-tuesday-with-short-controlled-bursts/

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/02/18/alien-breed-3-descent-what-you-need-to-know/

Horror News Network: In closing, what would you like to say about Alien Breed?

John Dennis: I'd say it's a game we're all very proud of. If it's tense, top-down shooting gameplay you're after with a sprinkling of dramatic boss battles and a generous helping of huge, grimly beautiful but daunting environments to explore, then I'd say it's a game you'll very much enjoy. Throw in two-player co-op multiplayer, online leader-boards on all platforms and a single-player experience that lasts something in the region of 5 hours, and I think it's hard to argue the game doesn't deliver on that score.

Horror News Network: Thank you for your time, John! Best of luck on Alien Breed. Comment on this interview here.