To: Digi Forge
From: Celestial Games
We understand completely and wish to underscore the fact that while our game will not be Takk exclusive, we have nothing but the highest respect for it and its makers, and hope that some day perhaps we will have an opportunity to work together.
To: Karui Kiba Corporation
From: Celestial Games
We agree that Karui Kiba Corporation would be the perfect partner for the Gladius project, and so are delighted to announce that bidding has ended and Gladius will be a Light Complex exclusive game for the sum of 10,000 to be divided equally among two business quarters.
Andrew Starr is the head of the upstart gamming company “Celestial Games,” the developer of one of the most anticipated games of the year, Gladius, scheduled to be released in November 2009. We caught up with Andrew in his Charlotte office, to talk about Gladius, his gamming philosophy, and the future of Celestial Games.
You have announced a tie-in anime for Gladius, which will begin airing in Japan on September 4th. Does this signal that your company intends to focus on Japan as its primary market?
Andrew Starr: Without a doubt, Japan is a significant market for us, just as it is for every other gaming company. When we first released our intro video, we got a fair amount of positive buzz, which caused us to brainstorm creative ways we could take advantage of the positive buzz we had already generated and even increase it if possible. One of these ideas was to create an anime tie-in to act as a prequel to the game, to fill in some of the back-story. We didn’t think much would come from our ideas, but then the Japanese animation company ‘Madhouse’ contacted us and said they were interested. We did a little research and came away impressed with Madhouse’s body of work, so, after a couple of teleconferences where we pitched ideas to each other, we agreed to go ahead with the idea.
Different companies have approached the idea of a tie-in in different ways, some do a rehash of the game’s plot, others have only the characters in similarity. How will the anime and game tie-in with each other for Gladius?
Starr: Early on in the brainstorming process, we decided that we wanted to use the anime as a tool to help flesh out Gladius as a character. The best way to do this, we decided, was to have the anime act as a prequel to the game. The anime will take place a year before the events of the game. Gladius, obviously enough will be in both, as well as Father Luck and Brother John, who appear as minor characters in the game but are more significant in the anime. A very important character who only appears in the anime is Lily. Her power is that any living thing she touches immediately dies. Unfortunately for her, she is too young to control the power, so she has been unable to touch any human without them dying in the ten years she has had her power. She is also the first partner Gladius has ever had, which shapes his own feelings and actions in the game, which represents only the second time he has had partners.
Earlier, you mentioned the release of the intro video. What’s your reasoning behind releasing a cut-scene first, instead of an actual game-play video, to promote your game?
Starr: Many gaming companies come up with the game idea first, then write a story around that idea. Here, our philosophy is to write a story, and then think of how to make a game out of the story. Our goal as game designers is to make a game with such a great story that a better word to describe it would be ‘interactive movie’ not ‘game.’ We want to use the story to connect players with the game. Our highest praise would be if a gamer got mad, not because an enemy hit him and his character died, but because an enemy hit him and Gladius died.
With all the hype your game is getting, do you ever worry that no matter how good the game is, the players will be disappointed because they were expecting better?
Starr: No, and here’s why: many companies hype their product by using descriptive words, such as ‘ground-breaking,’ ‘stunning graphics,’ or ‘immersive plot.’ Our philosophy in advertising is completely different. We don’t tell you that our game’s graphics are ‘stunning,’ we show you actual game clips and let you decide for yourself. We’re not worried about ‘over-hyping’ the game, because we feel we aren’t hyping it at all. We’re just showing you what we have so far and letting the consumer make their own opinion about the game.
With the recent downturn in the gaming industry, are you worried that you won’t have the funds to complete Gladius by your announced release date?
Starr: Obviously when the game market turns south, everyone in the gamming industry worries a little. But it is our belief that the only remedy to turning around the game market is producing high quality games that people want to buy. Fortunately, we found a partner in the Karui Kiba Corporation that has the same philosophy. With their help, we feel we can easily make our announced release date.
Besides meeting your announced released date, how else do you see your partnership with Karui Kiba Corporation affecting your product?
Starr: We’re very excited to be partnering with Karui Kiba Corporation in this project. Between the natural excitement our previews have generated, combined with our tie-in anime, Japan seems to be a strong potential market for Gladius. We feel that a partnership with Karui Kiba, who has such a great brand name in Japan only enhances our prospects in the Japanese market. In addition to the marketing benefits, you’ll see a much better product. Even though we feel as if our company is one of the best when it comes to concepts, we’re a small company just starting out, so we do not always have the resources to translate our vision for Gladius into reality. With our partnership with Karui Kiba Corporation however, we don’t have to be worried so much about things like cost and technological limitations, and instead can concentrate on making Gladius the best game possible. And of course, by concentrating on only one platform, there’s less grunt work for us to do for converting the game to different platforms, meaning we can spend less time doing boring coding and more time perfecting our finished product.
You have announced that pre-orders for Gladius are available starting September 5, but only for what you call the “Gold Edition.” What is benefit for the consumer to pre-order, and what is the difference between the “Gold Edition” and what will be sold at stores?
Starr: Well there are three main benefits to preordering, convenience, you're guaranteed a copy and don’t have to stand in line waiting to buy it; you get it early, between twenty-four and six hours earlier depending on local mail carriers; and you get the special Gold Edition. The Gold Edition comes with a Gladius poster, Gladius figurine, the official Gladius strategy guide, and of course, the game. All in all, even though it will be more expensive than the “plain” game, I have a feeling with all the hype that the game is generating, many people will buy it, if only to guarantee themselves an early copy!
When you step into your office, you can’t help but notice all the concept sketches everywhere. Are all of these concept sketches for Gladius or do you have another project you are working on?
Starr: Those are actually all my work. For me personally, sketching helps ease some of the tension that can build up through the job. Some of the sketches I think are so good I send them down to the art department so they can get a look, other sketches aren’t that good, but provoke an idea for the future, still others I have no clue what to do with now, but may prove to be perfect for some game we develop down the road. For right now, we are focused solely on getting the best Gladius into the hands of consumers in November. However, at the same time, we realize that no matter how much hype it receives, the world won’t end with the release of Gladius and so are in the exploratory stage regarding our plans post-Gladius. Right now, all I can say with certainty about our post-Gladius plans is that we are going to try our best to have another quality game in the hands of consumers in time for the holiday season of 2010.
