Sanqua Experience #17

[elmuerte]

Issue 17 of the online magazie Sanqua Experience has been released. Just in case you didn't know, Sanqua Experience is a free French online magazine about computer games, but not like your average computer game review magazine. So far they featured a couple of articles about Fred and his work.

This issue features Fred twice. It contains an interview with Fred taken in December 2005. And it has a feature about the recent knighing of the three game developers.
As far as I can tell, my French isn't that good, the interview is about Fred's company Ludoïd. But also about the next-gen consoles and the future of games (I think).

So visit their site and download your copy.

Updated: Link put in some effort to translate the interview to English, you can view just the interview here.

[master-ekianjo]

Hi, this is Ekianjo from Sanqua. Let me give you more details about what the interview is about. Since we happened to meet Fred in december 2004, we asked him what has happened during the year 2005. He reveals that he intends to start a new studio, as his work on Ludoid, as a consultant, made him want to create games on his own once more. However, he intends to start small. Maybe with small scale projects - he mentions that he really likes the Nintendo DS as a format. And that it's very hard to compete on mainstream consoles like the Xbox360 and PS3 unless you have a number of ressources available. For his new projects he has had good feedbacks so far, and previous developpers he worked with seemed interested to join him. He is looking forward to seeing the Revolution : for him it will change the way we interact with games and probably open up the market to a new audience. He also gives his opinions about the Game Connection Event in Lyon, about the professionalisation of video game making, and how he sees the hiring process. I would like to translate the whole interview, however I lack time. If there are a few people on this forum who would like to give me a hand, we can make it happen. Let me know.

[Lightwing]

I suppose starting small is a good idea.

We might not see LBA3 for a while, but it will be nice to have it made with a good amount of resources vs. a low budget.

[cgenesis]

hey, could someone translate this, becuase not everyone knows french .. but everyone wants to know what it says in thre

[elmuerte]

seconded

[Link]

what does "seconded" means ?
i can translate it. it's a bit long, so maybe you'll have to wait a little but i'll do it if nobody else has done it.

[cgenesis]

grosso

[Link]

Iv'e translated half of it. I'll just need some help from anyone to check my english cuz i'm not sure about some things.

[master-ekianjo]

Originally Posted by Link

Iv'e translated half of it. I'll just need some help from anyone to check my english cuz i'm not sure about some things.

I'd be glad to check it for you. Contact me via PM.

[master-ekianjo]

The translation is done ! You can now enjoy reading it at the following link :

http://www.sanqualis.com/issues/pdf/...-interview.pdf

NOTE : clicking directly on the link will open the document in your browser thanks to the acrobat plugin. However, we recommend you you right-click on it and use the option "save link as..." to get the PDF file separately. Then open it in the normal Acrobat Reader application, and use "CTRL+L" keys to display it full screen. It will be more comfortable this way.

Many thanks to LinkMBN for the help on the translation.

Let me know if you have any comments.

[Lightwing]

I really liked reading the interview.

Next time when we (fans) have an interview with him, we should ask in french, because he seems to answer in large quantities this way.

I'm also curious about this "Indigo Prophecy" business and why Frederick seems to critisize it so much. I'm personally neutral towards Indigo as I only played the demo, but I wonder what his opinion is.

[ChaosFish]

Thanks for the article, I'll read it all later. I read some parts of it and it seems interesting.

master-ekianjo, will it be ok to mirror the translated article on the MBN (with a link to your site and all)? (feel free to say no, and I'm not the one to ask anyway)

[master-ekianjo]

Originally Posted by Lightwing

I really liked reading the interview.
I'm also curious about this "Indigo Prophecy" business and why Frederick seems to critisize it so much. I'm personally neutral towards Indigo as I only played the demo, but I wonder what his opinion is.

The only thing he criticized about Indigo Prophecy was the cinematics - For him there was too much of it in it, and he said "it's not because you ask people to press a few buttons in the middle that it's not a cinematic sequence anymore" in the debate with David Cage. (in Sanqua Experience 14 - we'll have to get this one translated as well one day...).

[elmuerte]

Wow.. great interview. I really enjoy reading interviews where game devs can really speak their mind (instead of going through a PR filter).

The first part of the interview is great. It increased my trust in Fred to come with a game I'm going to enjoy. I hear more and more game industry people complain about the 'pre-fab' games being pushed and being frustrated about not being able to create the games they really want. Only the big names are able the do it, or you have to go completely independed.
Given that Fred isn't one of the "big" names (big as in Will Wright, Peter Molyneux, ...). But reading interviews of other game devs (Warren Spector, Tom Hall), and now this one, give me the idea that the world is going to change and more "original" games are going to be created. Ofcourse the sequel factories of ubisoft and EA will remain running at full speed. I just hope more of the mod developers will also turn the page and start creating more original mods than just another FPS game with an MP5 and AK47.


@Lightwing: I think it's best to let everybody submit questions, filter them for importance and relevance translate them to French and send them to Fred so he can answer them in his time.

As for Indigo, the beginning of the game is nice (the demo is simply awesome). But further on the game becomes more like a sequence of movie scenes with insane button pressing. "GET READ!". It really disappointed me because the game started out great. But I'm getting a bit sidetracked here.

[master-ekianjo]

Originally Posted by El_Muerte

@Lightwing: I think it's best to let everybody submit questions, filter them for importance and relevance translate them to French and send them to Fred so he can answer them in his time.

As we meet up with Fred on regular basis, you can also send me a number of questions you would like him to answer - He usually can spare some time when we see him in exhibitions.

[master-ekianjo]

Originally Posted by ChaosFish

master-ekianjo, will it be ok to mirror the translated article on the MBN (with a link to your site and all)? (feel free to say no, and I'm not the one to ask anyway)

Yes, it's perfectly ok if :
- the document is kept as it is
- the source is specified with a link along with a short description of what Sanqua is about.

[Purple Sheep]

Originally Posted by Frédérick Raynal

There was a game a long time ago – I don't remember its name – a short time after Alone in the Dark, where we could create films, with a fixed background, and 3D characters.

3D Movie Maker! I had so much fun with it.

[Link]

I knew that one too - I loved it, I would like to find it again...
I will translate the Sanqua 14 article too if you want, though my poor english may not help that much...

[master-ekianjo]

Originally Posted by Link

I will translate the Sanqua 14 article too if you want, though my poor english may not help that much...

If you have time to spend on it, let's do it

[morshem]

Originally Posted by Purple Sheep

3D Movie Maker! I had so much fun with it.

OMG, I remember that thingie! I think my sister still has it
(we burned it from friends a few years ago)

[StreGGy]

Originally Posted by Purple Sheep

3D Movie Maker! I had so much fun with it.

FRIGGIN GOD. I remember it too! there was also a little avi file in one of the folder in the win 98 cd that showed 3DMM (lets ask obrasilo if he has it )! I can't believe fred's involved in that too.

[Link]

I re-read the article in sanqua 14, and well, hum it's a bit too long and I'm quite busy now, so I won't translate it in the next future if i make it.

[Purple Sheep]

Originally Posted by StreGGy

FRIGGIN GOD. I remember it too! there was also a little avi file in one of the folder in the win 98 cd that showed 3DMM (lets ask obrasilo if he has it )! I can't believe fred's involved in that too.

He's not; he just thought the idea had a lot of potential.

[StreGGy]

yeah, I realized it just after i wrote that.

[Vultures]

Originally Posted by Link

I re-read the article in sanqua 14, and well, hum it's a bit too long and I'm quite busy now, so I won't translate it in the next future if i make it.

I'm on holidays next week, I'll translate the more I can. I'm reading it right now and it's a really interesting article.
You make a great work Ekianjo with these articles, thank you for them !
I could finish to translate Sanqua Exp. 06 if some of you are insterested...