RuneNews.com's twisted got the chance recently to interview Human Head's Biz Guy, Timothy Gerritsen, asking him a few questions about (what else?) Rune.

twisted: Rune obviously got a lot of people's attention at E3. What were some of the common comments you got from people who talked to you about your game?

Timothy Gerritsen (Biz Head at HH): We were really happy, obviously, with the reaction we got at E3. It's hard for us when making the game, and seeing it day in and day out, to gauge who the public will react to it. With Rune, we knew we were on to something before the show, but we weren't sure how the gaming press would react. When we had people lined up outside our door waiting up to an hour to see the demo, it was the greatest compliment we could have received. The most common comments were
    a) great combat system and
    b) you guys have done an incredible amount of work since last E3.


twised: What do you think is the most innovative feature that stands out and sets itself apart from the others?

Tim: It's hard to say, as we are proud of a lot of what is in this game, but for me, I think it is the incredibly detailed animations we've created using our skeletal system. The convergence of tech and art in this case played out much better than we could have possibly imagined.


twisted: The player plays the role of a Viking and the game is based on actual mythology from the Viking culture. How can the player spot the mythology's gods, etc? Ex: The player sees a huge shrine of the thunder god, Thor.

Tim: We would rather leave that for players to discover for themselves when they play the game. We all agreed early on that we wanted to leave this aspect of the game for players to discover for themselves. We don't want to give it all away in the previews.


twisted: Why did the human head team choose to do a FPS about a Viking? Sure it is creative, but what was the thinking behind it?

Tim: Actually, it's a 3PS, and even then, its not really an S. :) It's more like a Third Person Melee Combat Game, which is technically a 3PMC, but that's a hard mouthful. Ted Halsted came up with the idea of doing a game about a big Viking character wielding an axe. He was facsinated, as many of us here are, with Viking legends and their heroic myths. We all agreed that this was an area of history, and a deep body of legends that has previously been overlooked. The group worked on the idea and decided that if we were going to do a game about using swords and axes, then it only made sense to give you a third person perspective. After that, it pretty much all folded into place. The camera system was finished early on, and the ease of it made it quickly evident that we were on to something.

From a story perspective, it was a matter of picking the elements we wanted to concentrate on for this game. The Viking mythologies are so deep and vast, and vary from region to region, that it would be impossible to present all of it in one game format- especially one that is an action game. We decided to concentrate on the aspects of Viking mythology that we felt were most exciting to us and which made sense within the story we wanted to tell. We also added our own spin on some of these legends, so as to make the game unique to our version.


twisted: How would you describe to a friend the atmosphere created by the game's soundtrack?

Tim: It's very moody and atmospheric. The music is there to establish and then reinforce the epic feel we are going for with the game. Mike Larson, our sound director, is doing a fantastic job. Lately we've been getting pressure to present a more modern musical spin on the game from our publisher, but we feel that would needlessly date the game, and we've stuck to our guns. The music of the game absolutely fits the setting, and we feel that a huge guitar riff would just cheapen the game and not make any logical sense. Besides, if you want to play the game with a huge guitar riff in the background, you can put in your own music CD. We chose music that we felt was right for a game dealing with legends over a thousand years old.


twisted: Please describe the scenery and environment Ragnar will encounter throughout the game.

Tim: Ragnar will traverse from a Viking village in fjord, through deep underground caverns, underwater lakes and pools, and into areas of Viking Legend, such as Muspelheim, one of the two lands of the dead (a sort of Viking hell) and into the lands of goblins. Later he makes his way through the mountain tops, through peaks and into the fortress city of Thorstadt. Then he travels down into the Dwarvenlands and into....well you'll just have to play that part for yourselves.