Tron Evolution: Interview with Game Developer Darren Hedges

What follows are some excerpts from the interview. Follow the link for the full piece.

Gamers Nexus: Tron is unique market opportunity. Do you plan to captivate all three corners of the gaming market? Those being the older, more cult-like followers of Tron, hardcore gamers, and of course the younger audience.

Darren Hedges: Tron is kind of a holy grail in and of itself; it's got such a cult following. It's been a labor of love to make sure we hit not only the fan's expectations, but also the hardcore gamers - people that would really want to get in deep and play this game, but also try and capture the new fans of Tron. We have a feature called persistent character progression for that reason.

GN: Tell me about this feature.

DH: We have 'disc stations' littered around the world, allowing you to seamlessly transition from singleplayer to multiplayer, and then back where you left off. Anything earned in multiplayer is brought back to singleplayer, and vice versa.

GN: Is there any fear about running into the very stereotypical glitches found in movie-based games due to a shortened development cycle?

DH: We're trying to have a very agile-based process. We're building and concepting each of the features of our game and getting them to the shippable standard, so we can ensure everything we put out is as clean as it possibly can be. I can't name any game off the top of my head that doesn't come with some bugs when the game ships; but I know you're going to see Tron being a much cleaner franchise-based video game.

GN: Do you see games becoming more mainstream in Disney's future, rather than just market add-ons to movies?

DH: [Tron] definitely is more of a mainstream game. It was built to make sure we didn't fall into the same trap that most movie games fall into. When you look at what we're going to release in the coming years, you'll see quite a few games that don't follow the plotline exactly. Tron takes that one step further: the film makers have their story, and we are telling a different story. We want to tell something that compliments and doesn't just regurgitate.

GN: What order do you recommend: movie or game first?

DH: Honestly, you should play the game first. You see a lot of characters that actually start off in Evolution, and you see how they progressed in the world when you see Legacy.