Chris "Pwyff" Tom sat down with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's art director to talk about working with Todd McFarlane, the unique challenges of the game, and the direction of the Amalur universe.

ZAM: That sounds... ambitious. Speaking of ambitious, how has it been working with Todd McFarlane overseeing it all? He hasn't done much in terms of previous video game production, and he said during our last studio visit that his biggest pet peeve was to hear, "We can't do this because the technology isn't there." For him, that's a sign that the technology needs to be invented or circumvented. How has it been working under that mindset?

Tim: It's been great. Todd is awesome. He is one of the most high energy people you will ever meet in your life. Todd will be the first person to tell you that he's not a hardcore gamer, and he'll acknowledge that he doesn't understand the nuts and bolts of things. One example I remember is that, at first, he would say "We should do brand new unique geometry for every post, pillar, and blade of grass... everything!" And then we'd respond with "We can't really do that." And Todd's eyes would just go red. And because we said no, he would demand that we do it just because of that. So we'd have to backtrack to see the ramifications of doing what he suggested. Imagine doing a two-hour movie with really high production values, and now imagine a 300-hour movie while still trying to achieve that same quality level. You'd eventually start to hit a point of diminishing returns.

But still, we'd go back and we'd consider the base question, and we'd see that the real request was saying "How do we get more variety?" So, for me, it was always about working around the rules. In this particular case, we looked heavily at shader levels, auto-rotating pieces, and showcasing different sides. Then we'd show Todd, and he'd be happy.

How it works on a day-to-day basis is that Todd isn't here every day. We round up and have a high level "where things are at" meeting every two weeks or so. We go over some of the key pieces that were created, etc. The day to day process happens here. Todd might show me some concept art, and I'd go through the process of bringing to the screen, seeing what details might get lost, or what would need to be changed in that transition.

ZAM: So I suppose you could say Todd's inexperience with the overall game design process is an asset in this particular scenario because he has no boundaries, so he pushes you to re-interpret some rules that might not have come under consideration in normal circumstances.

Tim: Exactly. It's great to have someone with an outside perspective, because they won't accept the conventions. Todd's whole career has been to do things that nobody else is doing. Now there are people following in his footsteps! So, for Todd, it's always about putting your angle on things. If you're going to do a fantasy creature, make it familiar enough so that you're not breaking it for people who love the genre, but also put your own twist on it that is genuinely your own. That stuff has been interesting, working with Todd.

ZAM: If Reckoning does build a huge following, do you foresee any problems with developing future sequels in terms of hitting a similar stylistic feeling? Are you planning to push to new artistic styles every time, or do you think you've found an iconic direction for this franchise?

Tim: The beautiful thing is that we have 10,000 years of history. We can slide up and down that history to wherever we want. The Copernicus MMORPG is set in a whole different time zone than ours, so they can do different things. It gives us that room to say, "If we like to do this, let's focus on this era," where if we want to do other things, we can choose a different era. Think about history in general. If you slide back and forth a few dozen years, the artistic influences fluctuate so much. We have 10,000 years of that!

ZAM: Have there been any other influences or assets that your team has turned to help with imagining this world?

Tim: This is a bigger question than it might seem on the surface! One of the things we do are these big brainstorming sessions, where we announce that we're going to work on a new part of the game, and we invite anyone who wants to come; designers, programmers, anyone. So we all gather in a big room and we present a high level idea, where we say, "This is a city, and it's a city based off of this." And then the ideas start kicking around. 

So we come up with this huge list of ideas, and we start winnowing it down thematically. In this case, we take what works, we put it together, and then we sit down with the concept artists to start developing this stuff. Then we come back together as a group, and we start refining it all. The really cool thing about being here [Big Huge Games] is that there is a lot of passion here. People are really invested in this game, and they all want to make this thing as good as it can be. Individually, you can walk around the different groups, and you'll hear people calling each other out on stuff outside of their expertise. We just don't cut those corners. Everyone is constantly refining each other's work. 

There's also a lot of individual, personal pride in this and, for me, that's the best part of working here. You've got Curt Schilling, and R.A. Salvatore, and Todd McFarlane, and Ken Rolston, and all these folks are coming in with so much energy. Some companies are used to doing all of this, where they just tell their employees that "This is product one of five." Here, however, it's the exact opposite. When we're coming up to a show and some new swag gets made, Curt will send out an email to both companies, yelling about the new swag being "the coolest thing ever!!!" Curt's so enthusiastic about making this stuff, that it's hard not to get excited about the potential of what we could be doing. There are a lot of sequels coming out right now, but it's great to be championing the new. This is our own.

ZAM: On that note, there are a lot of triple-A sequels being produced these days as studios try to aim for those 'safe' games with preexisting crowds. Adventuring out on a new IP is very dangerous, to many investors, and the Amalur universe is a massive concept. How has it felt, being one of the "new kids" at the party?

Tim: It's always a challenge but, to be honest, this is the best possible scenario. We're not bound by the history. Sometimes franchises will have six games released prior, and if you release a game that's too similar, everyone will complain that the game is a repeat, while if you go too far off the track, you've betrayed your audience! For us, however, we're at a sweet spot. It's cool to be in this position where the limitations are only the ones we've set on ourselves. We're just focused on creating the best possible game we can make. Hopefully we put something out there where people can point to it, and they can say "this has its own identity."

ZAM: That sounds fantastic and it's certainly making me eager to see what's going to come from the Amalur universe in the coming years! Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me, and I can't wait to get my Reckoning fix next year!

Tim: Thank you!

Christopher "Pwyff" Tom, Senior Staff Writer