Interview: 'Quantum of Solace' Game Co-Design Director Adam Gascoine

As the release date of Activision’s Quantum of Solace approaches, Joystiq recently sat down for an interview with the game’s co-design director, Adam Gascoine.

One of the specifics regarding this upcoming James Bond is that it’s worldwide release dates more or less correspond with those for the film of the same name. As it is the first 007 game to be released alongside the film, concerns about having to rush the design naturally crept up–thankfully, Gascoine reveals this wasn’t an issue here.

‘We were worried about being rushed when we started the project,’ he said, ‘but thankfully we have a very solid relationship with the movie team. We were one of the first to see the script for the movie, plus we’ve been able to visit the sets and watch some filming several times now. All this made it a lot easier. We’ve been developing really since Casino Royale, about two and a half years in total, so we’ve had plenty of time to develop the game.’

‘We went and visited the sets was so that we could take reference photos so that our environments can look as identical to the film as possible.’ – Adam Gascoine

As mentioned previously, the Casino Royale scenes will act as flashbacks in the game. ‘The game is called Quantum of Solace, so we wanted you to get straight into the new stuff from the first level. There are also some levels that show scenes that are not from either films, but are part of their stories.’

Gascoine also revealed that the game will support an achievement system that will be the same for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms. ‘These aren’t just simple progression achievements for completing each level,’ he explained, ‘we’ve also got a lot of specific challenge achievements in there as well.’

Another hallmark the Quantum of Solace game has going for it are the contributions from the stars of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.

As first reported on CommanderBond.net earlier this month, stars from the films, including Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, and Gemma Arterton from Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale‘s Eva Green and Mads Mikkelsen have lended their voices and likenesses to the game.

‘At first there were some who were a bit cautious, but by the end everyone was really into it,’ said Gascoine. ‘I think there’s a lot more respect for video games nowadays. Those that had never done it before, like Judi Dench, got very excited about seeing themselves in the game.’

‘The release date in all territories corresponds to the film release. We felt it was very important that people can go to see the film and immediately come out of the cinema to buy the game.’ – Adam Gascoine

He continued: ‘Daniel Craig was actually the most reluctant. He’s a big gamer himself and didn’t want to be in a poorly made licensed game, so we sat him down and let him play an early build. He loved it and came back to us to say “Okay, I’ll do it.” Since then he’s been a very important part of making the game what it is. We try to get him to give us feedback as much as possible, but he is obviously a very busy man. We’ll send script drafts to him to check over, so he’s been been involved with that aspect too.’

Lastly, Gascoine discussed what the general do’s and do not’s were when it came to Bond. Specifically, he referred to a ‘Bond Bible’ which lays out all the details and traits of 007. And while Craig’s film debut in Casino Royale may have been a somewhat darker interpretation of Bond than moviegoers had seen in the past, this new Bond game will remain a ‘T’een-rated affair.

‘We want as genuine a Bond experience as possible. Also, we’re a “T”een game. We didn’t want the game to be supremely violent or dark, so we were limited in that respect, too.’

Stay tuned to the CommanderBond.net main page for the most complete and up-to-date coverage of Activision’s Quantum of Solace.

Quantum of Solace will be released on 31 October in the UK and 4 November in the US on the following formats: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS and Windows PC.