Interviews
Who You Gonna Call? The Ghostbusters Are Back!
June 09, 2009
There’s always something strange in New York City, so it’s about time the Ghostbusters returned to clean up the trash. After all, the way Ghostbusters was originally pitched to Harold Ramis was as ghost janitors. After a long journey that included publishers Vivendi, Activision and now Atari, Ghostbusters: The Videogame is finally ready for release. Brendan Goss, producer of the game at developer Terminal Reality, talks about the new game, which serves as a virtual sequel to the first two films.
Can you talk about where the idea for this story came from and how it ties into the movies?
The game is set two years after Ghostbusters 2. The Ghostbusters are doing well, and are now contracted by the City of New York as the city’s official paranormal investigations and eliminations experts. They’ve just hired a replacement Prototype Equipment Technician, the hapless guy that field-tests experimental technology.
What’s going on from a supernatural perspective in New York?
A few evenings before the Museum of Natural History opens its new “World of Gozer” exhibit (NYC is currently is in the grip of Gozer-mania),an accident in the museum triggers an enormous necromantic shockwave throughout the city. This creates all sorts of mounting supernatural mayhem. Our Ghostbusters have to figure out the cause and stop it before it (wait for it) destroys the Big Apple, and possibly the world. Just another day at the office, None of the characters used in the game have been added in an arbitrary manner - they all play a part of the story.
How did the actors from the film get involved in the game?
The credit for getting the talent back together goes to John Melchior who was the executive producer on the project before the transition to Atari. Without him I don’t really know if it would have been possible. John went to Sony and met with Mark Caplan and between them they realized that if they could get the buyoff from the talent there was an opportunity to really do a special game the likes of which had not been seen before.
Who signed on for the game first? We’re betting it wasn’t Bill Murray.
The decision was made to approach Dan Aykroyd first and in the initial meeting he was very clear that passion was of paramount importance. Dan wanted to see that all the people involved in the property loved it and were not just fans of it…to him that is a big distinction. He also wanted to see that the tech and developer would be able to deliver an authentic Ghostbusters experience. This was enough interest to warrant a first playable and Dan Aykroyd was shown this as a work in progress. He was blown away by it and said that it was clear to him then that they had found a developer he was hoping for in Terminal Reality and the required tech in the Infernal Engine- you can imagine what that meant to us. With Sony’s and Dan Aykroyd’s blessing the prototype was shown Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson who were equally impressed. Dan and Harold were asked if they would contribute to writing the story and both responded that they would be thrilled to be involved.
How difficult was it to get Bill Murray to make the videogame plunge?
Bill Murray wanted confirmation that everyone else would be back for the project and have a significant role. When he heard that the band was back together and that Dan and Harold were writing it he committed to the project. We knew then that this was going to be a once in a lifetime game for all of us lucky enough to be involved on it.
What did these actors bring to the table?
The brought the table, so to speak. It is a rare opportunity when you get to work directly with the minds behind creating one of the most well known and loved comedy franchises of all time. From writing the script to naming the equipment, feedback on builds and lending their voices and likeness the talent has been an integral part of the project from day 1.
From a gameplay perspective, what were your goals with this game?
We love being given the opportunity–and responsibility–of advancing the Ghostbusters saga. As rabid both fans and gameplayers we’re most excited, really, for the coming of a new, authentic, and playable chapter of Ghostbusters. Having the original creators directly involved allows us to really capture the feel of the original!
Can you talk about the multiplayer gameplay and how bad crossing the streams is?
Crossing the streams is BAD - Total photonic reversal! Imagine every molecule in your console exploding at the speed of light.
What type of online options are there?
The games supports a fairly wide variety of competitive and co-op multiplayer modes so that, in addition to the single-player story campaign, players can get together with friends and go out on jobs together
Can you talk about some of the different types of ghosts players will be fighting?
Wait until your first Golem hunts you. I promise you will never look at a library the same way again!
Will there be bosses as large as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the game?
Nobody was off the table for this game provided they had a part in the story. You never know who you might see!
What has the extra development time with the change of publishers allowed you to add to this game?
The extra time has allowed us to circle back to a number of issues that we really wanted to improve, such as enhancing player experience through a number of the environments, making a few judicious cuts to improve flow, and reworking some of the cinematics.
At one point I believe there were different SKUs aimed at different platforms. Is that still the case or will this game be the same across the board?
There are actually effectively three games across the different SKUs. The PS3, Xbox 360, PC are all photo real and Teen rated, while the Wii and PS2 are more of a Pixar-style and E10+ rating. And finally there’s the Nintendo DS version, which harkens back to the original isometric game and is E-rated.
One Response to “Who You Gonna Call? The Ghostbusters Are Back!”
The graphics are really cool. Since I saw the movie I love the ghostbusters so I have to have this game.
By Bingo on Jun 10, 2009