Go trick or treating with project lead, Tasha Harris, and president of Double Fine Studios, Tim Schafer.
eu.playstation.com dons its Halloween mask for a chat with Costume Quest's project lead, Tasha Harris and Double Fine Studios' president, Tim Schafer, to find out everything you need to know about their brand new game available to download from PlayStation Store today.
Can you tell us about the story of Costume Quest?
TH: Costume Quest is based around a pair of twins, and you play as one of them. The character you don't choose at the beginning of the game ends up getting kidnapped by monsters who are invading your suburban neighbourhood, trying to raid every house of all its candy. Your quest throughout the game is to go trick or treating and battle these monsters in order to get your sibling back.
Where did the inspiration for a Halloween themed game come from?
TH: I originally thought of it when I was a kid, actually. I always loved Halloween growing up and I was always drawing stuff. So I remember drawing these little kids trick or treating, thinking that it would make a really cool game. I was just hoping that nobody else would make a Halloween game before I was able to.
Did you both work on the story together?
TS: Tasha and her team came up with the basic story and wrote some of the dialogue. I came in after that to write a bunch of dialogue on top of that, do some edits and add some story elements.
TH: Tim did a funny pass!
TS: It was really funny already but it was great for me to just show up and write because usually I have to worry about calling the plumber to make sure the toilet is working in the office, and do the writing. It was cool to just show up and do the fun part.
Why follow up a disc based game like Brtal Legend with a downloadable title for PlayStation Network?
TS: We had just made Brtal Legend, which took four years to make and millions and millions of dollars. We had been meaning to make games in a shorter amount of time because I have a lot of creative people at the company and a lot of ideas that I want to get out there. Making one game every four years is just too long.
When I started in the industry my first game, Monkey Island, took less than a year to make and I really wanted to get back to that; to getting more games done. That meant making shorter games for less money, which is also a great way to do more creative stuff.
Can you tell us about some of the quests that players will embark on over the course of the game?
TH: One thing I wanted to avoid was that a lot of role-playing games (RPGs) require a lot of grinding, so there are a lot of diverse quests for everyone. Even in the first mission you get to race, build a costume, find pie ingredients and then there are some combat based quests too. A lot of them are about using your costumes in different ways. You'll have to solve quests or get through certain areas by figuring out what costume to wear.
Was it challenging trying to keep the quests fresh throughout the game?
TH: That was definitely one of the most challenging things for me because I'm pretty new to game design. I think that since I have been playing games for a long time - especially RPGs - I have an idea of what's fun.
What kind of costumes will players get the chance to don over the course of the game?
TH: There's a robot, a knight, the Statue of Liberty, a unicorn costume (my personal favourite!), a space warrior and a pumpkin.
TS: The pumpkin is kind of scary! When that thing comes to life it freaks people out. It's probably the scariest thing in the game.
Download Costume Quest today from PlayStation Store for a good scare.
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