American McGee discusses his upcoming game, Bad Day L.A.
By Michael Lafferty

“Instead of trying to cater to everyone we've picked a particular target: young at heart, self-aware, anti-establishment types who are able to laugh at the world, society and themselves.”

Imagine a day when everything that could go wrong in the world does. Now imagine that you are homeless and in Los Angeles when it happens. Of course, being homeless means you have no ties to material possessions, so why not just leave? Easier said than done, it seems, especially when you are talking about the upcoming videogame title from American McGee.

American McGee Presents: Bad Day L.A. is a pending title for the PC and Xbox, and features a hero caught in that exact situation. His world – Los Angeles – has been subjected to every kind of disaster one could think of, and his efforts to leave the city are at the core of the game. Zombies, terrorists, earthquakes are just some of the challenges presented to former Hollywood agent, Anthony Williams, who gave up a life of luxury and became homeless by choice.

With stylized graphics and searing humor that pokes fun at the current atmosphere of fear gripping the nations, as well as taking a few pot shots at popular culture, this is a title that shows a great deal of promise.

GameZone had the opportunity to interview American McGee about his upcoming title, and – naturally – leapt at the chance.

Question: Bad Day L.A. is perhaps a little more sarcastic - in terms of humor - than it is sinister (such as in Alice, where the humor was very dark). You seem to be poking fun at pop culture as well as current atmospheres prevalent in society.  What spawned the notion to create a game that goes in that direction?

American: “The idea began with a billboard that I once saw in Los Angeles on Sunset Blvd. It asked, ‘Biochemical attack… are you prepared?!"’ The question of being prepared caused an epiphany moment. My mind raced around the topics of fear and preparedness. From there the concept for Bad Day LA began to grow. I knew that I wanted to create a game that really explored fear in its most extreme forms … and the really ridiculous notion that anyone can never truly be prepared for everything.

“The aforementioned billboard featured a politically correct ‘rainbow of people,’ all glaring accusingly at the city. Being such a perfect mix of races they were clearly prepared for an attack by Jesse Jackson, but little else. As for their ability to deal with a ‘biochemical attack,’ where were their gas masks, protective hoods, and biohazard suits?! Can you picture the family able to look at that billboard and give the thumbs up? Their baby wrapped in a plastic cocoon, mom and dad sporting matching gas masks, and the family dog stored inside a biohazard carrying-unit? Ridiculous.”

Q: The lead character in this game is an ex-Hollywood agent who became homeless by choice. With the homeless situation that the world faces, why did you feel you needed to create a homeless hero?

American: “Think about it, homeless people are the closest thing the modern city has to an urban survivalist. They know how to traverse their territory on foot, find shelter, keep warm, and ward off attack. They ‘dress for success’ on the streets, are prepared to deal with exposure, and aren't burdened by all the vulnerable crutches of modern survival like cell phones, GPS units, and gas dependant SUVs. If anything the game presents them as the modern super-hero able to cope with disaster where others would falter or fall.

“It is also important to touch on the concept of being homeless ‘by choice.’ This is a major facet of our main character's personality. He's surrendered his ‘normal’ life for that of an urban monk. Giving up on possessions and surrendering to an alternate existence actually grants him the sort of detachment that he needs to survive. I've actually met quite a few homeless people who followed this route and I was quite impressed by their decision. Honestly, how many people do you know that would give up on modern society for an ideal? That's a really brave thing.”

Q: So, we have a scenario in which everything that could go wrong in a 12-hour period does. The lead character is trying to leave the city, but is confronted with various obstacles which prevent him from doing so. How many levels will this game have? Is it a single-player experience?

American: “There are 10 levels in the game, two of which are ‘on-rail’ driving levels. The game is presented as a single-player only experience. It is a very narrative-driven game with a heavy emphasis on ‘chaos management’ action and mission solving. The story is presented in a linear fashion and told through a combination of pre-rendered cutscenes, which we use for the major disasters, and in-game cinematics, which are used for missions and smaller narrative elements. Overall you are presented with a story that spans well over 100 pages of written script, the same size as a script for a feature film."

Q: You have, judging from the screenshots, taken the game back to a 2D-flat perspective that is sort of South Park in some regards. What made you choose that graphical style. Was it to reduce the severity of the situation, or did you have other ideas in mind that you felt this graphical style conveyed better?

American: “Being a comedy game that deals with serious disasters it was important that we do as much as possible to reduce the level of realism. This game is not intended to gross out people or make them feel like they are experiencing first-hand the real horrors of actual disasters. The point is to use humor to highlight the ridiculousness of everyday worry about events that we have no control over. Humor is the core of the game, and as with shows like South Park, the humor is driven by real-world issues that are often too sensitive to talk about in their raw form. The 2D style also does a great job of presenting the surreal nature of Los Angeles.”

Q: There was probably quite a lot of a available ‘targets’ to poke fun at - what were the criteria for the people and situations you embraced in this game?

American: “Mostly they were just pulled from current headlines. We did not go out of our way to target any particular subject; the overall target is fear. There are so many sensitive issues in the US these days it is almost impossible to have an ‘outside’ opinion about something without being labeled as some sort of dissenter or anti-American. The whole ‘you're with us or against us’ mentality has invaded every issue on every level from religion to race and personal freedom. So the targets are aplenty.”

Q: Humor can be a very subjective thing. When you create a game, how do you judge whether something is funny and will translate to the gaming public, or is niche humor?

American:  “I've been exposing people to the comedy material in the script since the early days of pre-production. Like a film, the story for this game has been developed with a group of creative producers so that the final result is something that has been adjusted by many perspectives and opinions. The content is still likely to meet disapproval, but then almost any creative endeavor carries that risk. You can't please all the people all the time. Instead of trying to cater to everyone we've picked a particular target: young at heart, self-aware, anti-establishment types who are able to laugh at the world, society and themselves. If you take yourself or the world too seriously then this game will probably only piss you off.”

Q: You've shown what the worst possible day is a city can experience - what would be the worst ingredients you feel would create a bad day for you?

American: “For me personally? To be honest, having a truly bad day is a very tough thing for me. For some time now I've been employing a philosophy rooted in the concept of ‘it is what it is.’ This means accepting things for what they are and not resisting reality, not denying the way things are. Pretty simple in theory, difficult in practice, but very rewarding when executed correctly. Some elements of this philosophy are present in Bad Day LA's main character. He has a very ‘what me worry’ attitude that helps him to remain flexible while more rigid personalities shatter.”

Q: Your name has struck a certain chord in the gaming society and when attached to a release, players expect certain things from that title. Do you find there is a burden to being American McGee, or do you simply go out to create games that interest you and let the chips fall where they may?

American: “There is an absolute burden associated with it. At times I want nothing more than to release myself from the legacy and create from a place of anonymity. The major issue with that idea is that it ignores the reality of launching original game titles in today's market. The truth is that exposure and consumer awareness are the most critical ingredients in securing success for a game, especially an original game. I've seen too many great game ideas get lost in the noise because audiences were not aware of their existence. Putting the name on the box helps, but does not completely solve the problem.

“With the name comes a lot of baggage though. It seems that many gamers flat refuse to accept the idea of name credit in association with interactive media. The reason for this isn't clear to me. In all other industries, creative and otherwise, name branding is not only common, it is a given. Obviously entertainment is rife with name branding, from films to music, to books, TV shows, plays, and more. Outside of that you find branding on things like food products, kitchen and household goods, sporting goods, clothing, vehicles, salad dressing, and just about everything else in your home. For most people, it would be impossible to find a room in their home that did not contain several name branded products. Just last night I noticed that I own some plastic bowls from Ikea that have ‘designed by Irene Something’ stamped right on them. On a bowl! I wonder if on some ‘bowl forum’ there are bowl users complaining about her name being on the bowl or about the fact that she started as a lowly placemat designer and has no right designing an entire set of bowls. Ha.

“As for what people expect when they see my name, I'm trying to build a reputation for consistently presenting different and original ideas. I do my best to make good games, but can't always guarantee that everything I put my hands on is going to be a success or even all that great. I don't claim to have all the answers about how to make the perfect game. In fact, when it comes to these topics, I tend to feel pretty damn clueless… I think that at this early point in game development history, it is wiser to be humble and say, ‘I don't know.’ We're all still experimenting, defining the basic mechanics of the art, and creating new genres as we go. Hopefully ‘my audience’ will see that I'm just like them, someone enamored of games and their power to immerse in a uniquely powerful way.”

Q: We've seen the screenshots, and heard about the plotlines for this game - tell us a bit about the soundtrack. Does the same humor flow over into that aspect of the game?

American: “Sound and music have always been some of my favorite aspects of good entertainment. I'm one of those people who purchases and listens to good film and game soundtracks. I keep a library of sound effects on hand to play around with, and love sound and music technology. To that end, Bad Day LA contains one interesting ‘feature’ when it comes to music. We're presenting it in a natural way, as a part of the environment of the city. As you move through the levels you pass various speakers, cars, houses, boom boxes, etc. These crank out music from various genres, relevant to the nearby scenery and/or action. The result is a very interesting dynamic soundscape that feels very cinematic and organic. There are over 100 unique music files making up this soundscape!

“The music content itself often humorously highlights the action in a scene. So when you're dealing with lots of Hispanics you'll hear Mariachi music. When some cos-players are turned into real-life super heroes by a freak meteor, you hear funny techno-funk music.”

Q: What do you consider to be the biggest challenge of creating a game such as this?

American: “There are always so many challenges when creating any game title. It is an 18+ month ordeal that involves overcoming design, technical, creative, and personal problems, often of epic proportions. In addition to those usual hurdles Bad Day LA has given us some unique challenges ranging from the art style to the humor content and core gameplay. The art style looks simple, but rendering it correctly and in a compelling way was really a bitch. Making the game funny and ‘offensive’ in the right ways was a tough balancing act. And the core gameplay only started to emerge in the past few months, meaning that for the first part of our production we were working semi-blind towards a goal that no one was really sure about.

“These days all of the major hurdles and worries are behind us. Our art team has finished all asset production. The game mechanic core is solid and addictive. We're just focusing on bringing all the finished elements together now. From what I can tell at this point the final product is promising to be highly entertaining. Now our biggest challenge is going to be generating awareness and capturing an audience.”

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