Alliance developer answers questions

On August 5 the gaming world was stunned to learn that JoWooD Productions was cancelling the long-awaited video game Stargate SG-1: The Alliance, citing poor quality from the game’s developer (story). The game might continue with a new developer, they said.

Perception PTY Ltd. fired back a week later, stating that it — and not JoWooD — was the official MGM licensee, and the game would continue development (story). It only needed a new publisher.

Following Perception’s announcement that it is continuing development on the game and pursuing legal action against its former publisher, CEO Ben Lenzo shared his thoughts on the situation with GateWorld.

Tell us about the early days — how you (and Perception) won the license to “Stargate” video games and got started.

We originally approached MGM several years ago now, but ended up closing a deal with them towards the end of ’03. Atlantis was only just a twinkle in the eye, as they say. We showed them the previous titles we had worked on and a prototype of a (then) current game. They could see we were passionate about Stargate and had the skills and experience to develop a great game.

The company was founded in 1995 and began doing outsourcing work for games in about 1997.

When did JoWooD come into the picture? Was it your decision to begin a professional relationship with them as a publisher?

We signed a deal with JoWooD in December of ’03. We had originally spoken about Perception taking an equity investment in them. For a number of reasons, that fell over but we ended up signing Stargate with them. We approached a number of publishers for Stargate but thought, at the time, that JoWooD would be able to provide the game with the focus we felt it deserved.

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What were the terms of that contract regarding each company’s responsibilities during the game’s development?

In many respects it was a standard publishing deal, except that it just so happened it was the developer who had the license rights, not the publisher. There were some other differences, too.

Did the contract provide for a transfer or sharing of MGM’s license to play in the Stargate universe? As you know, JoWooD is claiming that they alone now have the rights to this title.

As you know we’ve issued a press release on this issue.

What has been the extent of MGM’s involvement over the last year and a half? Have they done any mediating between Perception and JoWooD during the last few tumultuous months?

MGM have been completely involved with us in developing the game. We have had complete access to the set, producers / writers, Peter DeLuise (legend, by the way) who was our story editor and also did the voice direction on the game, the actors, the audio. Pretty much everything.

Tell us a little about the current status of Stargate SG-1: The Alliance. How does the game look and feel?

The game is progressing very well. The feedback from the fans has been incredible. It’s at the stage where we are really tuning, tweaking, and optimizing elements of the game. There are still a few extra features we’re getting in there, but it’s shaping up very nicely.

Do you think the game will meet fan expectations? What, specifically, do you think those expectations are?

Absolutely, I think it’s going to meet fan expectations. We’ve developed a huge game here, used all the actors from the show for the voiceovers and had the face of the cast of SG-1 scanned, created a brand new enemy (which a little birdie has told me will get a mention in an upcoming episode …), and a storyline that really taps into the mythos of Stargate.

If you go to the game fan forums you see literally hundreds of ideas of “it’d be cool if …” for which we obviously can’t incorporate all of them, but all-in-all fans are going to love it. But to be honest, most of us here are Stargate nuts anyway, so we’ve also done what we think would be cool.

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From what the fans are telling us, they don’t want a Stargate game that is all about guns blazing because that’s not true to Stargate. In the show, SG-1 doesn’t actually use their weapons that much in each episode — and sometimes not at all. While there is more focus on combat elements in the game due to the type of genre we’re developing, if you go in guns blazing, you’re not going to get far.

You need to take advantage of the unique skill sets that the members of SG-1 have, depending on the situation. You can order your fellow team mates around as individuals or as a group. This gives you a much greater strategy element that can be used in the game than if it were just a “simple” run-and-gun.

Do you have any plans in the works for a Stargate title for XBox 360 or Playstation 3?

We have plans in place to work on a number of Stargate games and already have developed some initial work on one in particular. Obviously we discuss with MGM what their views are on what types of game and genres to look at.

For legal reasons, Perception could not answer more pointed questions on JoWooD’s actions and claims against the developer, as well as specifics on the game’s eventual release.

GateWorld also attempted to contact JoWooD for their take on these and other questions, but has not received a reply.

Whichever party prevails in the courts will have one final hurtle beyond just completing the game: a rapidly closing release window. With the next generation of gaming consoles set to debut in November (in the form of the XBox 360), The Alliance could find itself quickly resigned to the bargain bin if it is not released this year.