KUDO SPEAKS...

I had the pleasure of meeting Kudo Tsunoda this year during E3 at 3DO's booth while I was checking out the hot upcoming title, Army Men Air Attack. I can honestly say that I have never met a developer so excited about a product - and why wouldn't he be? Army Men Air Attack is a radical new title in the Army Men series and I can't wait till it's release. But don't take my word for it. Read for yourself what Kudo has to say about Air Attack and his work at 3DO.

PSi:

Hi Kudo. First of all, tell us a little about your background in the industry, about your position at 3DO, and especially your involvement with the 'Air Attack' project.

KT:

I came to 3DO almost two years ago from a small independent developer in LA. My time here at 3DO has been extremely rewarding. I have had the pleasure of working with two incredibly talented teams that really have a passion for making the best games in the business.

My title here is Senior Director, which means I am responsible for knowing all the best websites to surf, taking the lead on "evaluating" competitive product, and generally making people's lives a living hell by interfering with their day to day jobs. At the end of the project, I take credit for everyone else's hard work if the project does well. If the project fails, I am responsible for assigning blame to people on the team. Along the way, I do try and make some small contributions to improving the product.

On Army Men Air Attack, I have worked on the design, helped organize things, and mostly tried to do all the tasks that we did not already have somebody else hired to do. A lot of my job involves making sure that other people can do their jobs without any problems, obstacles, or annoyances.

What other 3DO projects have you been involved with?

KT:

In my time here, the teams I work with have shipped Uprising X for PlayStation and Gulf War Operation Desert Hammer for PC.

PSi:

Obviously, the Army Men series is a huge success. What was the inspiration behind 'Air Attack'?

KT:

One of the things that I think is different about Army Men from any of the other games out there is that the core element of the franchise is not the type of gameplay, but the fantasy world that it takes place in. This allows the franchise to expand to several different genres of gameplay without losing the base elements that are the fun of Army Men games.

Whether you are flying a helicopter and battling fire breathing ants like in Air Attack, or running across a kitchen counter as Sarge melting Tan soldiers like in Sarge's Heroes, the feeling of being a toy traversing these fabulous environments never loses its appeal.

The inspiration behind 'Air Attack' was to broaden this fantastic Army Men concept into a new genre of gameplay. In the Army Men universe, there are "Their World" missions which are more military oriented and in a normal scale and "Our World" missions where the emphasis is on the toys and the huge scale of the worlds. We really wanted Air Attack to focus almost entirely on the more toy like scale elements of "Our World". We are really playing up the little plastic toy elements of the helicopter and the enemy units.

For instance, instead of having the helicopters shoot missiles, they shoot bottle rockets. Instead of having Sam Sites and AA guns shooting at you, there are Roman Candles trying to blast you out of the sky. The possibilities in this type of universe are endless.

PSi:

I had the opportunity to get a good look at the game during E3, and it has some very interesting features in it, such as full interactivity with the objects that make up the environment, and the ability to use these objects to change the course of events in a battle...Tell us a little bit more about what makes Air Attack different from the other Army Men titles in the series.

KT:

One of the great things that Air Attack has that differentiates it from the other games in the Army Men line is the ability for the player to use the helicopter winch mechanic to pick up and interact with any of the objects in the environment. Everything in the world is something you can play with. Everything in the world is something you can use to your advantage.

All of our missions are based on this core game mechanic. For instance, in one mission, a Tan sabateur is placing Cherry Bombs next to nearby Green supply buildings. Your job is to pick them up and extinguish them before they explode by dropping them in plastic cups filled with fruit punch. In another mission, you are trying to take over a Tan base but it is heavily fortified with enemy Bottle Rockets. You can use your helicopter to pick up a giant donut and drop it off by the Tan base. This causes fire breathing ants to come out of anthills and swarm towards the donut. Along the way, they help you take out the Tan army.

The core fun element of the Army Men line is the fantasy worlds the player is immersed in. Army Men Air Attack allows you to not only experience these worlds, but to interact with them as well.

PSi:

What do you consider to be the most outstanding aspect of the game?

KT:

Wow. There are so many outstanding aspects to Army Men Air Attack that it is hard to choose which one is the most outstanding. :) I guess if I had to choose one it would be the seamless way in which we have been able to mix a real simplistic basic helicopter gameplay mechanic with the depth of gameplay provided by all the different objects in the world that you can play with.

The game is extremely easy to just pick up and play. You will be having fun in this game in the first two or three minutes you play. The helicopter is extremely intuitive to control. But we wanted to focus the game more on using things in the world to help achieve mission obectives as opposed to focusing on the player being a super distructive military helicopter.

For instance, besides fighting the Tan army, in each world the player will battle environmental enemies such as ants, bees, hermit crabs, ladybugs, dragonflies, and dung beetles. Each of these enemies will attack any unit, Green or Tan, that it encounters. Each environmental enemy can be lured to different parts of the map by moving certain objects in the world. Say the Green Army is under heavy attack by a large hive of bees. The player can use their helicopter to pick up nearby flowers, and plant them over by the Tan base causing the bees to alter their flight path. Everything in the world is something you can play with. Everything in the world is something you can use to your advantage.

PSi:

It looks like your team had a lot of fun with this game.

KT:

While Army Men Air Attack is extrordinarily fun to play, it has been just as much fun to develop. The Army Men world really allows for a lot of creative R&D. There has been more than one late night that our building security has busted us lining up Army Men out in the parking lot and blasting them with different types of fireworks.

We had a huge ant hill in the office for awhile. It was great to be able to come to work in the morning, pick up a plastic Army Men character, dip it in honey, and then drop it in ant hill. The ants would go nuts. Of course, this research was instrumental in developing our "authentic ant behaviors". At least that is what I said on the expense report.

PSi:

What aspect of the game is your personal favorite?

KT:

Seeing the little toy helicopter carrying around actual real world objects and using them to help you achieve mission objectives. It is really cool to be able to pick up a soda can off of a picnic blanket and drop it on your Tan enemies. It is extremely gratifying. I also really love our two player modes. You are able to play any of the one player missions in two player cooperative mode or you can play head to head in Capture the Flag.

PSi:

Which is your favorite level?

KT:

The way we are working the mission structure, the mission objectives in the "Our World" environments is to capture toys and take them with you into "Their World". This means that even in the more normal scale military missions, there will be a giant toy on your side helping you to eliminate the Tan army. So in this one mission, you capture a Teddy Bear and take it into the next "Their World" mission with you. Seeing this giant Teddy Bear walking around shooting lasers out of its eyes, taking out Tan units, makes me laugh hard.

PSi:

What was the most challenging aspect of Air Attack's development?

KT:

Since this game appeals to such a wide variety of people, making a game that was simple enough for a younger person to play, but deep enough for the more advanced gamer to play is extremely difficult. The play controls are simple enough for anyone to enjoy. Figuring out everything you can do with all the objects in the world adds a depth of gameplay that even the most advanced gamer will find fun.

It is great in the 2 Player Cooperative mode to see kids and their parents able to play the game together and both have a great time. On one side of the screen the kids can play the simple 'fly around and shoot stuff' mechanic while on the other, the parents can play the more advanced 'use things in the world to achieve mission objectives' gameplay. The kids do not have to play a game that is too complex for them and the parents do not have to play a game way too simple to be fun. After seeing this happening at my brother's house with him and his little kid, I knew Army Men Air Attack was going to be a game that appealed to the widest of audiences. This game will be a big hit.

PSi:

Should we expect a sequel to 'Air Attack'?

KT:

I certainly hope so. You can't believe how much fun this game has been to work on.

PSi:

What would you project as its release date?

KT:

Errrrrr....I have no idea on that one.

PSi:

Is there anything you would like to see differently if there was to be a sequel?

KT:

Wackier and crazier powerups.

PSi:

What else can we look for in the future for Kudo Tsunoda and 3DO?

KT:

Lots and lots of great games.