Bloodlines Q&A on PlanetVampire

<a href="http://www.planetvampire.com/">Planet Vampire</a> have had the great fortune of having <b>b mitsoda</b> (also known as Brian Mitsoda), one of the Writer/Designers for <a href="http://www.vampirebloodlines.com">Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines</a> in their forums answering questions for the games first year anniversary. A lot was asked and there's some pretty good questions like "the Troika Team: Where are they now", as well as some fun details about the game, like this:
<br><blockquote><b>Nagloper asked: My fave part of the game is the Ocean House hotel - part, I'd basically like to know anything interesting about the making of that level like for example whose idea the level was, did the level turn out the way you thought it would?</b>
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<br>Ocean House – The way I approached that level was by studying up on techniques used in fun houses and hi-tech amusement park rides (like the Back to the Future ride at Universal), and also renting a lot of classic ghost story movies (off the top of my head, “The Changelingâ€￾, “The Hauntingâ€￾, “The Shiningâ€￾ and a couple other “Theâ€￾ movies). Lots of visual/sound tricks to get the player to go exactly where I wanted them to be. I laid it out for build up and suspense with an explosive finale using a quiet, loud, quiet technique, and with the lofty goal of doing a level without any enemies – a lot of people thought I was insane, and maybe that’s true, but I stuck to my guns. So much of the fear in that game was audio-induced and atmospheric – less is more, let the player’s mind do my work for me.
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<br>As many people as have enjoyed it, I’m actually disappointed that only about a third of the original design was implemented. I would love to do a “director’s cutâ€￾ of the Ocean House so to speak in a future game. Something that makes players read a disclaimer before they enter it, something along the lines of: “Warning, by entering this level, you waive all rights to seek dry cleaning compensation from the developers.â€￾ That said, I was thrilled to see Gamespy had awarded it PC Level of the Year.</blockquote>
<br>There's a lot of good stuff so be sure to check it out. The thread <a href="http://www.forumplanet.com/planetvampire/topic.asp?fid=9642&tid=1773542&p=1">starts here</a> but the answers begin <a href="http://www.forumplanet.com/planetvampire/topic.asp?fid=9642&tid=1773542&p=4">here on page 4</a>.
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<br>Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com">RPGCodex</a>