Interview - Jeff Agala (Creative Director Shank 2)

Creative Director and Shank co-creator Jeff Agala talks to Clickonline about their action-packed downloadable sequel, Shank 2. We chat new additions, the loss of local co-op and some good old ultraviolence. He might even drop a hint on the release date!

CLICK: What’s your role specifically on the game?
JA: I’m the creative director. Me and Jamie [Cheng] created Shank as a property. I do all the art, so everything down to designing all the characters. And I ‘creatively direct’ the game [laughs] – so all the animations, the story, the music and all that.

CLICK: What is your day to day job like?
JA: Basically, I’m going through the game and playing it. Giving notes on what each section should look like and how it should be composed and stuff like that. I’ve done all the pre production, with the character designs and everything, so now it’s just notes on gameplay.

CLICK: So what’s new in Shank 2?
JA: So after Shank 1 came out there were a lot of things that we really wanted to add and Shank was a property that we really wanted to elaborate on. So we got all the reviews and the notes basically from all our users and we wanted to make a game for the fans. The number one note was that people wanted online co-op. There were a lot of other things too - I wanted more weapons and I wanted to improve our art style as well to get closer to the comic book rather than the cartoon look. To just make it look cooler and more hardcore.




CLICK: That online co-op has become Survival Mode now, was there anything else fans were clamouring for?
JA: There was… we definitely were responding to the responsiveness of the controls. There were some issues with the shooting and the angles of the shooting so now we have 360 degree shooting on all of the weapons. They even worked in some crazy technology than can bend the actual 2D sprites to various new angles. There were also people who said that our game was very repetitive, so we’ve focussed on making the levels a bit more varied, including more tactical ways of fighting.

CLICK: What’s the story this time around?
JA: We catch up right after Shank 1 finishes and he’s returning back to his home town and it’s under attack. So basically he’s forced to take action again.

CLICK: That’s it!?
JA: Yea!

CLICK: Will you have more story sequences this time? There was a criticism that Shank was a little light on story.
JA: It’s about the same amount of story. With the first one it was kind of hard. We’re learning here as well and storytelling in games is a funny thing because a lot of people don’t want to see a lot of cinematics, you know. So we’re trying to find a balance, we’re basically putting enough story in there to keep you interested. And it is a very delicate balance.

CLICK: Instead of a story based local co-op mode like Shank 1, this time you’ve got a horde-like Survival mode – why the change?
JA: We wanted to do something a little different. I don’t think it would have been enough to just reuse the old co-op. I think the Survival mode is a totally different way of playing the game – with all the same game mechanics but it feels more chaotic, more over the top.

CLICK: It’s certainly very hard!
JA: It is. It’s very challenging.

CLICK: Is that balanced yet?
JA: Oh no, we’re still working on that. Its funny we had a show in Vegas and since then we’ve tweaked it so much that it’s totally different now. A whole new HUD and UI. We really wanted to listen to what everyone had to say.

CLICK: How much development time have you got left?
JA: A few months. We’re due out early Feb… or early 2012!

CLICK: Is that an early February release date slip?!
JA: Maybe! I don’t know. Like we don’t actually have a set date, that’s up for EA to work out.

CLICK: And again you’ll be a downloadable title on XBLA and PSN?
JA: Yes.

CLICK: And you’re happy in that space? Would you be interested in going full retail.
JA: Yea, we’re totally happy in that space. It really comes down to giving a good offering to the public. There’s no point selling this game for $60, it’s not a $60 game. We’re happy to be DLC sized.

CLICK: The game is extremely violent and I’m told that you’re responsible for those kills. Was it fun coming up with different ways for Shank to dismember his foes?
JA: [laughs] It started off being really, really fun and then… focussing on stuff like that, that kind of subject matter, it takes its toll. At the same time we want to execute well, we want to give fans what they want. But yea we’re having a lot of fun with it, we act everything out with the animators and it turns awkward pretty quickly.

CLICK: The first game was heavily stylised, did you ever consider making it more realistic this time?
JA: No we want it to be very stylised, I think that’s a key part of the appeal of Shank – people like it because you don’t have to feel bad about doing these crazy things. And it’s the only reason we can get away with this kind of violence!

CLICK: It’s the counters that are most vicious – do you have a favourite one?
JA: Um… yea my favourite counter is against the shovel guy where you grab it and you do like almost a superman spear into his chest. That’s pretty cool.



CLICK: In terms of new additions to gameplay, it seems like you’ve spent a lot of time on the counters – was that something you wanted to implement in the first Shank?
JA: That came through development this time around. It’s a true testament to just doing it again; you get all these brand new ideas. The team had that and it ended up being a really great feature, almost a game changing feature.

CLICK: Did you ever consider including puzzle elements – or is your combat almost like a puzzle?
JA: It is, it is. We’re using that for our new tactical gameplay.

CLICK: Finally, are you planning a demo for Shank 2?
JA: Yes – it will probably come out the same time as the game.

Shank 2 is coming to PSN and XBLA in early 2012 – if we had to guess, we’d say February!