2023-05-08 22:53:44
Announced almost a year ago, Warhammer 40 000: Boltgun is a retro-FPS whose presentation caught our eye. Visceral gameplay, graphics mixing large pixels and modern visual effects, very dynamic movements: delicious ingredients to concoct a good recipe for us, in the vein of the excellent Traitor et Cultic. During my travels on Elon Musk’s billboardin search of the ultimate information to finally get a Albert-London PrizeI came across the tweet of Yann Francois, Creative Producer chez Focus Entertainmentwhich publishes the game. You may know him as Ianoo, member of the team ZQSD.fra podcast built on the ashes of the paper magazine Joystickin early 2013. He also wrote Half-Life – The Liberated FPSpublished by Third Editions. As much intrigued by the role that a Creative Producer that by choosing a retro-FPS for a Games Workshop license, I wanted to discover a little more by going back to the source. We were able to discuss all this by videoconference, of which here is the transcript.
NF: To begin with, can you tell us about your background? How did you come to Focus?
YF: Initially, my goal was to be a film critic and also to work in research, in the academic field. I studied film in college, and I started writing about it for Chronic’Art, a site and magazine on cultural news, now defunct. Being also passionate about video games, I had the opportunity to write an article on Bioshock 2, and one thing led to another, I wrote less and less about cinema, and more and more about video games. In 2012, I joined the team of Joystickwhich I read as a teenager, but not for long, because the group M.E.R.7, owning the magazine, is placed in receivership. Following this, with the other members of the former team, the blog ZQSD.fr is created, which will quickly be transformed into a podcast. I then did some freelancing for JV the magVideoGamer magazine, as well as Three colours for some years. In 2017, I fully joined JV le mag as an employee, until May 2022, where I joined From Gamekult. But as for Joystick, it didn’t last, because a month later, we learned the acquisition of the site by Reworld Mediawhich augured the worst for our independence. I had already been in contact with the editor Focus Entertainment before, without this materializing, but at this precise moment, a position of Creative Producer was breaking free. You could say that I had quite a stroke of luck. I started in September 2022.
NF: Can you tell us what you do, as a Creative Producer ?
YF: This is a question that everyone asks me! I don’t have a very precise definition, and it’s something that Focus has implemented little by little. I work for the marketing department, within the editorial team. This includes other Creative Producer, who are also former video game journalists. What is sought in this position is the expertise that we have been able to develop in our former profession: to be aware of what the game is. to do, by trying it during its progress, by testing its new builds, and also have this knowledge of the market as a player. What’s popular, what’s not, who is this genre for, who would be the competitors, and so on. I make the link both with the development studio, but also with the production team and QA (note, Quality Assurance), and I follow the progress of the project to make a detailed report to marketing. That’s the “producer” part.
NF: And for the “creative” part?
YF: There, it’s more about writing: helping to write press releases, establishing creative guidelines (identifying and formulating the pillars of communication, elements specific to the game that will have to be highlighted in the trailers, etc.), but also, for example, writing video scripts (voice-over texts, title cards…), all in synergy with the different teams. I sometimes take gameplay captures, which can be shared with the media (like IGN, for example). I also participate, directly or indirectly, in the process of acquiring new games. And we are expected to give an opinion, feedback on them, whether on their creative part or on their technique. Finally, it is also my role to present the game to the press and external partners, such as Microsoft or Sony, at trade fairs, during events…
NF: How about we talk a bit Warhammer 40 000: Boltgun ? How Focus manages to publish a retro-FPS with a Games Workshop license, developed by a studio (Auroch Digital) who has never made a retro game, nor an FPS?
YF: Auroch Digital is a very eclectic British studio: it has developed a strategy game set on Mars, a brewery simulation, and many others. But he also made an adaptation of a Games Workshop board game, Chainsaw Warrior, in 2013. It went well and the reception was pretty good. It is probably necessary to go back to this moment to establish the link with Games Workshop. It was a desire of the studio to make a fast-FPS in this universe, because its members grew up with this Doom-like culture, and they are lovers of Warhammer 40,000 board games. When they proposed this concept to Games Workshop, they were immediately won over. On our side, Focus is also a long-time partner of Games Workshop, which is used to publishing games from the license, and many employees are also fans.
The idea that seduced Focus and Games Workshop is the fresh look, contrary to what the appearance might suggest, of the proposal from Auroch Studio, which has a resolutely modern approach. They don’t just rely on big pixel nostalgia and sprites 2D. It doesn’t play like a DOOM or a Wolfenstein of yesteryear at all, they rely on all the tools of modernity. That’s why during the announcement (in June 2022), with a trailer, in part live, in which we discover the floppy disk, we illustrated this fantasy: “And if Warhammer 40K had had its shooter in the 90s? “. We bring this fantasy up to date.
NF: The modern aspect is felt in the IGN video, with very dynamic movements, including a dash, and the journalist assumes that there will be mechanics that are reminiscent of DOOM Eternal, with weapons more suited to some enemies. Is this the case?
YF: That’s really it. There’s a hugely established and very iconic Warhammer 40K codex, bestiary and armory, and it’s not for nothing that the game is called Boltgun. And what fascinated Auroch Digital is to apply the logic of fast-FPS to this universe with this very tactical side of permanent adaptability, to choose which weapon will be the most appropriate against such type of enemy, whether whether it is rather armored or rather light. They try to create this immense alchemy both of pleasure of play, of flow, of being in the permanent feeling, and this side of reflection, of not being there only to tap on pixels. There is really this somewhat “dual” side, facing mobs that have their own behavior. This whole world of the board game, which is extremely codified, finds meaning, a new life in a real-time action game regime. Where we really want to stand out is both on the ultra satisfying side of the action, but also on the fact of convincing people who are not necessarily familiar with the license, that it is soluble in mainstream logic. The desire is to open up this universe which is incredibly dense and rich, to apply it to gameplays which are perhaps adapted to more mainstream profiles, and also younger ones.
NF: A small technical question, why Auroch Digital chose the Unreal Engine, rather than Gzdoom as SelacoFor example ?
YF: Of course, this is a game that could suggest that, ultimately, to reproduce old-fashioned animations and sprites, why bother using an engine like Unreal Engine, which is capable of simulating photorealistic open-worlds? Yes, but in detail, with for example the effects of light, colorimetry, it is an engine which, I think, greatly facilitates things. If the studio felt comfortable with this engine, it is also because it could give the maximum compared to its original vision.
NF: I think we’ve pretty much covered it all, would you like to add something?
YF: From a purely personal point of view, Boltgun is the first game I worked on when I arrived, so it’s kind of my heart project. It’s a development that happened in an admirable and serene way, with people really listening, who know how to maintain their vision until the end, while respecting that of Games Workshop. From my point of view on a day-to-day basis, it has been great, because as it was my onboarding (note, period of welcoming and integrating a new employee), Boltgun allowed me to make my place at Focus in a much more serene way. I can’t wait for it to come out, because it’s a game that I really like, and that I would have loved reviewer If I had been a journalist at that time!
Thanks again to Yann François for agreeing to exchange with NoFrag!
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is slated for May 23. If you feel like it, you can even pre-order it on Steam for just under 20 €, and even two euros less at our partner Gamesplanet with coupon code BOLTGUN.
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