"We're focusing on what is fun"

Brian Allgeier, Creative Director at Insomniac Games, the developer behind PS3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man as well as Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, talks Ratchet and the power of PS3.

How did you come up with the idea for Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction?
At the start of the project, we brainstormed on what we've always wanted to do in a Ratchet & Clank game and listed the things we've never explored before. We liked the idea of telling a story about Ratchet's past and having him on a quest to learn more about himself. We also discussed the idea of Clank finding his spiritual side – a story that we thought would be really interesting for a robot. Out of those ideas grew the concept of a villain from Ratchet's past that has a grudge and wants him dead. From there we further developed the villain, his minions, and how Ratchet and Clank's stories would intertwine.

The Ratchet and Clank series has been hugely successful – what makes Tools of Destruction different to the others?
The most obvious difference that people will notice is the vibrantly detailed worlds and expressive characters. The visuals have a much greater level of sophistication than past games. As a result, I think players will feel more immersed in the worlds and be amazed at the beauty and detail they have to offer. In terms of gameplay, we came up with a new kind of weapon called Combat Devices. These are similar to weapons except they are very powerful and have limited ammo capacity. In the past, we would often regulate our weapons to balance the game and keep it challenging. Since Combat Devices are harder to find and have limited ammo, they can be much more powerful and satisfying to use. An example is the Groovitron, which stuns nearby enemies and makes them dance, or the Transmorpher, which turns large groups of enemies into penguins. And of course, if you want to see dancing penguins, you can always throw out both!

The Ratchet series has always been famous for the amount, and variety, of weapons on offer – do you have any new machines or devices to create mayhem!?
One weapon that causes a lot of mayhem is the Tornado Launcher. The player can fire out a howling whirlwind that sucks up enemies and nearby debris. It's fun to watch characters frantically move their arms and legs as they get whipped around with chunks of crates, bolts, and whatever else is lying around. The player can also control the tornado with the SIXAXIS controller. This allows you to fire out a tornado and control it while controlling Ratchet at the same time. That is something we could not have done before on the PS2.

Is it true that the Groovitron turns your opponents into dancing divas? Whose idea was that?
We had come up with an idea called the Rave Ball back in 2001 during the development of the first Ratchet & Clank. I was into electronic music back then and thought it would be funny to have a weapon that made everyone dance. However, given our memory limitations (uh, games memory, that is!) and all the other stuff we wanted to put in the game, it was not feasible to make a weapon that made every enemy have a dance animation. At the beginning of Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, we realised that we could have a lot more animations in memory on the PS3 and that a dance weapon would work great with our expressive characters. It's hilarious to watch alien fish break-dance. While it has a lot of humour, it also has a strategic advantage in that it stuns the enemies for 10 seconds. The player can then use other weapons on the enemies to take them out.

Who's your favourite Tools of Destruction baddy and why?
My favourite would have to be the Kerchu Boss. It's a giant construction vehicle operated by smaller furry aliens called Kerchu. It looks like a big robotic monster with giant wrecking balls for hands. The player can fight it from two different vantage points. They can fight it on a magnetic walkway from up high where there's little room to run around or from down on the ground where the boss can do more attacks. Since there are advantages and disadvantages in fighting him from these two vantage points, the player must choose which strategy works best for them.

Ratchet & Clank games have always been known for their humour, how do you make the characters so amusing and game play so much fun?
We spend a lot of time thinking about what makes our characters interesting and something that players have never seen before. Our lead character artist, Greg Baldwin, came up with one of my favourite characters called the Drophyds - these are alien fish-like creatures that operate mechanical robots. The trooper version of these has a very unique look in that the character is essentially a fishbowl with a robotic suit. It's pretty funny since the fish has all these different behaviours independent of his body. Sometimes the fish head gets frightened and disappears into the neck of the suit spewing out bubbles or it will flop around on the ground after the his robotic suit gets destroyed.

Are there any tactics or hints you can give Ratchet fans for playing Tools of Destruction?
A key to winning the later battles is to save up on Combat Devices. The battles become really intense and if you have a Transmorpher or Groovitron on hand, it will help out when times get tough. It's also a good idea to practice with the Tornado Launcher. There is a bit of a learning curve in being able to control the tornado with the SIXAXIS while at the same time controlling Ratchet. Some players may want to fire it through a door then move Ratchet to the side where he's safe before starting to control the tornado. Once you learn to master the twister, it can be a very effective weapon when fighting large groups of enemies – especially in the open battlefields.

How does the SIXAXIS Wireless Controller fit into the game?
The SIXAXIS is used for some of Ratchet's weapons, gadgets, and combat devices – even Ratchet himself when he's free-falling through space. Moving the controller steers a whirlwind for the Tornado Launcher weapon, it moves a metal ball around a circuit board to hack locks, and it can also be used to fly a remote controlled Visi-copter that fires out rockets at unsuspecting enemies. We also have incorporated it into some of Clank's new abilities. Clank's Robo-wings can be piloted with the SIXAXIS controller allowing Ratchet and Clank to soar high above the ground. Also, Clank has a Geo-laser upgrade that can be guided with the SIXAXIS to cut through rock walls.

The in-game graphics look amazing and close to the cutscenes – did you work with any third parties to make them so good?
We do all of our cinematic work in house. That makes it easier for us to keep a visual consistency between the characters and worlds seen in the game and in the movies. By using the same models and more importantly having them animated by the same people, transitioning from movies to gameplay feels much more seamless.

What are the advantages of creating a game for PS3?
I feel like we've been finally able to realise our dream of creating a game that feels like a CG-animated movie. The graphical detail, lighting, physics, and special FX have the sophistication that you'd expect to see in a big budget Hollywood movie. The PS3 gives us a lot of power to work with. In game development, you always have to make compromises due to the limits of technology. With the PS3, we're making fewer sacrifices and get to spend more time focusing on what is fun.