You're a game director, what does that role prescribe?
"The easiest comparison are movie directors. Someone who often works with writers, a story or an idea with the goal to bring the whole movie together such that something awesome can be creating. That's my role, but just for a videogame"
Does it feel like Forbidden west is your game?
"I did the initial presentation of the game to provide a general direction of the game. The team then went off to bring back new ideas and from that, we could create the coolest things"
"In the end you do it together, so it's not like I walk around with a whip and say: This is how you need to do it. That's not how we function"
Is there a message behind Forbidden west
"There are quite a few subliminal messages and themes in the game. For example, about the 'stupidity of mankind' whereby we always find a way to mess things up. Also, about to uprising of robots and the power of millionaires. "
"Although, it's not our goal to make a statement with the game, in the end, its still an entertainment product and we want for people to have fun"
It's noticeable that Playstation-games do have more 'mature'/'adult' themes
"I think it always has been this way, but stories can now be visualized and presented better. Therefore the stories reach the player better and it also appeals to them more"
"Our team also is growing older (agewise): Some of us may now have kids and that becomes a more relevant topic amongst each other. Or the experience of the lockdown and you write stories about the isolating feeling that comes with that. You're tapping a bit into your personal life and what follows from those experiences.
When Horizon Zero Dawn was released, there weren't many female (gaming)heroes. Has that changed in the meantime?
"When we worked on Killzone, we were frustrated that there was no image of our protagonist on the box arts of our games. Instead of that, we had an image of a villain, a scary Helghast-soldier. Moreover, the world of Killzone was very gritty"
"The concept for Horizon was to present a counterreaction of that, which stood perpendicular on the idea of Killzone. Instead of a tough soldier, we wanted a female character in a colourful world. At the same time, we also noticed that there weren't many strong, female characters, but that was actually a secondary (priority).
Many women in gaming are sexualised, but with Aloy that doesn't seem the case.
"We wanted Aloy to be a young robot hunter that is cool to play with and looks casual, without going into a sexualised direction. We didn't have the idea that it was needed. If you can present a good, cool character, then you're already there"
We are talking Dutch, but your team is quite international
"We have more than thirty nationalities in our team, so the common language is English. Our team does have quite a few Dutch members, so we have to watch ourselves so that we don't accidentally speak Dutch"
"The people who write the story of Horizon are Americans, but they're led by those who are Dutch. It does feel very dutch in here also if you look at how processes go and how we discuss amongst each other. " (I guess he just wants to say that the company culture is just very Dutch, which is often nonchalant and quite informal).
It's a common topic in the gaming industry that there's is a systematic crunch (culture)
"That doesn't happen at our studio often. We're very aware of the disadvantages of crunching, so we take that into account of our planning. Just to provide an example: during Christmas, we told ourselves that we wouldn't work and that we could celebrate a two-week vacation. The company was closed and you couldn't even go there to work."
"Some people like to continue working and don't necessarily want a Christmas break. That's of course possible, we're not going to stop that, but we do send a strong signal from the company (not to). "
"Forbidden west could've been released last year, but in turn, there was some possible crunch needed to achieve that. People have to relax and take a vacation to, for example, be with their family and friends. That played a role with the decision to bring the game out now"
