Ferrago: Apparently, the technology powering the game is quite impressive – what creative freedom has this allowed?

Raphael: It is true that is has allowed us to do some really cool things in terms of creativity, so for example our scripting language is so accessible that the guys who make the games are not the programmers, but actually the game designers themselves. For example, all the AI was done by the game design department, would you believe that the programmers were not that involved in how we handled advanced behaviours such as fleeing, calling friends or casting the right spell during magic fights, etc...

This really helped us when we had new ambitious ideas that initially seemed impossible to integrate into the game. Instead of simply saying 'we can't do that', our programmers would try to see if they could integrate it into their code. Overall we were very successful with this because in house engines are more flexible than middleware. This benefit can also be quite distracting for a creative team because you could go on endlessly looking at new ideas. We had to be careful to ensure we could implement our ideas whilst still being able to meet the planned release date.

Ferrago: The atmosphere of the game could be described as ‘brooding’, from where have you taken your influences?

Raphael: I often asked the audio guys (Christophe Carrier and Kemal Amarasingham) to listen to the in the old 'Evil Dead', I'll always remember those freaky out-of-tune violins, creating a devilish ambient. In fact Kemal plays violin very well, and he actually recorded some of the violin sounds himself for Arx.

Ferrago: What characters will be met throughout the game, tell us a bit about the locations, too.

Julien: Along your journey you will meet numerous creatures as diverse as brutal trolls, a mystical snake-women and saurian creatures hidden deep in icy places. Your quest will take you to subterranean majestic cities and dark caverns. You will experience horror visiting the crypt with howling noises in the distance. Deadly creatures will try to grab you from their grave as the shadow of some great demons from other dimensions will come to haunt you. Or maybe will you prefer our pleasant underground lake or one of the 7th other dwarf mine levels... Welcome to the world of Arx ;)

Ferrago: Can you give us a little information on the back-story, how will the story be interwoven with the progression of the game?

Julien: The story starts a little bit linear so as not to confuse the player and to establish the background story. But then having played some tutorial quests, the storyline unfolds in an epic multi-ending plot. You always have several ways to complete each quest and each way to do it can result in the story progressing differently. The NPC’s evolve along the story, they are always doing something, saying something to themseves, talking to someone. You think the story is strictly driven but it is not. Try to get away from the road the NPC put you on and you will discover one of the many alternative ways to play the game.

The aim of your quest is first to get your memory back. Then you will find yourself in the middle of a quest to save the world from destruction while kingdom internal affairs will catch you in a storming plot of vengeance, crime and betrayal.

Ferrago: Finally, what is your ambition for Arx Fatalis as a game?

Raphael: It would be great to see Arx Fatalis taking on the Ultima7 and Ultima Underworld legacy. I think that these 'old style' scripted RPGs are fantastic and much deeper and more interactive than most of the new generation.

Ferrago: Thank you very much for your time, and best of luck for the launch come November the 8th.

By Luke Guttridge