Ninja Theory Speaks Out On New Title

Heavenly Sword

Many PlayStation 3 owners were probably disappointed to learn that Ninja Theory wouldn't be making a sequel to Heavenly Sword, but they'll likely be interested in their exciting new project...even if it is multiplatform, like most new titles in the works these days.

Chief designer and co-founder of Ninja Theory, Tameen Antoniadas, spoke a bit about what to expect from their new game at the Develop conference this week, and first and foremost, he now says the team has a "much bigger appreciation of gameplay and story." We adored the storyline in HS and the gameplay was solid as well, but more could've been done, and Ninja Theory accepts that. Here's some of Antoniadas' comments on the subject, and they're most encouraging:

"When developing a story, the way we're doing it now with our next project, we're starting much earlier with the writing. We've got a writer on board and we're spending a lot of time on the shop floor, in the studio with the designers, including the level designers, working out the narrative flow, the locations. I think it's absolutely essential. Last time round we didn't really involve our designers in the process so the story became a nuisance to what they were trying to do which was create gameplay. Now we've involved them all together there's a much bigger appreciation of the gameplay and story."

He went on to talk about the importance of the "visual" aspect of games, simply because this venue is "such a visual medium." However, the team is prepared to break through some of the conventions surrounding this topic, and Ninja Theory wants to push the envelope with their latest next-gen effort. As for the game itself, we still have no details on it, but we point you towards a small description that sits on the developer's official website. Perhaps this will satisfy you for now:

"Right now we're working on an exciting new concept that has got everyone we talk to buzzing. We can't say a lot except that it's going to be great to work on and should be even better to play! It'll take all the things we loved about Heavenly Sword and make them bigger and better than ever before."

7/31/2008 Ben Dutka

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