Tag Archives: playstation

A couple of days ago we published the first part of an interview made by the guys at Drinkingcoffeecola. Our champion, Rochard‘s Lead Level Designer Samuli V., was challenged with some unusually tricky questions.

Let’s see how that story continues…

Sony’s ads on PSN have described Rochard as an “anti-hero”. Personally, I don’t see how the term fits. He’s an unlikely hero perhaps, but not an anti-hero. How do you feel about this ad campaign?

We decided to play a bit with the words when making this ad. John Rochard is not your usual hero, he is your ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation. His daily work around anti-gravity machines oppose his down-to-earth character. Just like his appearance might oppose many people’s perception of the mighty hero that sets out to face the gravest threats in order to protect the people he cares for.

In the gaming world of space marines and elite warriors, John represents very much the polar opposite by remaining a regular, chubby dude. He’s the antithesis to pop culture’s portrayal of heroism, hence his anti-hero title.

John Rochard seems to be a person of Southern US origin. How did your team come to choose this characterization, and how did you (since you’re based in Finland) characterize him in your own country? Is he still Southern to Finnish gamers?

Finland is such a northern country (no, there are no polar bears walking around) that we wanted to contradict that with something that is very far from us, but still similar in a sense. Only a few decades ago Finland was heavily dependent on agriculture just as the southern US states, and we wanted to pay homage to that.

Read it ’till the end from this link.

We really love it when people ask us about our choices on Rochard, because as you can imagine we really enjoy talking about them, even when the questions are brutally honest.

Today, we are proud to point you to one of most challenging interviews we have given until now. The one answering is Samuli V., our Lead Level Designer and all around epic guy.

Here a sneak peek.

So Samuli, Rochard is Recoil’s first title… What can you tell us about the team that put it together? Who are the people of Recoil Games? 

Recoil Games is led by Samuli Syvähuoko, who in the past has been involved in creation of such companies as Remedy Entertainment, Futuremark and Fathammer. The Rochard project was directed by Kalle Kaivola, our producer who previously worked in press and TV, and Creative Director Burt Kane of Futuremark fame. Most of the remaining team members have backgrounds in many leading Finnish game development studios, including Remedy, Bugbear, Farmind, Housemarque and Frozenbyte.

Most of the guards have a very effeminate voice, and talk about getting pedicures and such. What’s behind this, or where did these characterizations come from? 

These guys are very passionate about their personal well being and care highly for their appearance, but have taken a bit of an over-the-top turn for the effeminate at that. It’s a bit of a jab at the artificially caring environment instated in over-managed work environments. Another take on not creating the standard burly videogame characters, but trying to reach for something very different instead. Obviously they are a comic relief, and should be treated as such.

For the whole piece, just head to Drinkingcoffeecola. We don’t doubt you’ll enjoy it.

Hello Fans, Hello World, Hello Space!!

So here it is, the release date of Rochard was announced today at GamesCom. It was a long wait, but we are happy that it is now – finally – official. Our whole team is super excited (and relieved)! The big dates when our PS3 console exclusive will be available are:

(U.S.) September 27th for download on PSN for $9,99
(Europe) September 28th for download on PSN for €9,99
(UK) September 28th for download on PSN for £7.99

Check out also the links to the official Playstation (US) blogpost and SOE’s press release.

If you really like us, tell the big news also to your friends and share our kick ass trailers.

We have also a great developer interview coming up…So brush your mustaches and get ready for some gravity-shattering action!