What was once your life… is now your legend.

Enter a world of dragons, destiny and epic adventure to fulfill the dragon-rider legacy. The major motion picture from 20th Century Fox in theatres everywhere December 2006.

• Live the Adventure. Experience the authentic Eragon universe in the official movie game of the 20th Century Fox film
• Your foes will crumble under the weight of your thunderous magic attacks, powerful melee combos and ruinous finishing moves
• Fulfill your destiny as a Rider. With your dragon ally, experience breathless dragon flight and unleash devastating dragon summon attacks
• Unlikely allies will aid you. A second player can join at any time for true drop-in co-op play with special team attack bonuses

GCM: Thank you for your time! Please get us started by introducing yourself and telling us about the team behind Eragon.

TR: Oh, cool, shout out time! Seriously…my name is Tim Ramage, Producer, Vivendi Games. There are a total of five teams behind Eragon, the game. The Vivendi Games Production team; Stormfront Studios, the developer of the PS2/Xbox/PC/Xbox360 versions; and the three teams at Amaze Entertainment responsible for the PSP, DS & GBA versions of the game.

Plus, if you add in the teams from Vivendi Games QA, PR, Marketing and Sales, both domestically and internationally, there is a huge effort that goes on behind the scenes of a game like Eragon.

GCM: How closely does Eragon follow the story/events of the upcoming movie that the game is based on? Will playing the game “spoil” anything for potential movie audiences?

TR: We tried to maintain a consistency of vision between game and movie, while trying to make the game experience unique unto itself. So the game will have its own unique way of telling the Eragon Story that will follow the movie, but will offer the gamer a different experience while staying true to the license.

GCM: Will any of the film’s cast, music composer, etc. be lending their talents to the video game?

TR: Eragon the game will feature the likeness of all of the major characters from the movie, as well as the voices of Ed Speleers (Eragon), Sienna Guillory (Arya), Garrett Hedlund (Murtagh) and Robert Carlyle (Durza).

GCM: Eragon is being released on numerous formats. How does the game design/experience change between console and handheld?

TR: The goal with Eragon was to create different experiences between the various mediums in gaming. To that end, the console versions of the game (PS2/Xbox/PC/Xbox 360) follow the movie the closest. These were designed to bring the core of the fiction to the game space—Action/Adventure Hack & Slash with melee combat, ranged combat (bow) & magic combat. And of course, because Saphira the dragon is such an important figure, we wanted people to experience Saphira as a character in the game. She is an AI ally at times. She is a smart bomb at other times…meaning you can call her in for support at certain moments during the game. And, she is a playable character…there are levels in the game where the player will get to control Saphira in the air, with Eragon on her back. It’s the ultimate realization of the Dragon Rider legacy.

For the handhelds, we wanted to come up with three experiences that were unique from the console versions and from each other. Fortunately, Amaze Entertainment had the same idea and they put together three very different games for the PSP, DS and GBA.

The PSP is a dragon flight only game where you play story mode from Saphira’s perspective; then you unlock arenas in which you have a variety of multiplayer style games including death match and capture the flag. These can be played in single player against bots, or against up to four other players in ad hoc multiplayer mode.

The DS is an epic Action RPG that utilizes second screen to draw magic spells and fling them toward your enemies on the top screen, as well as communicate with Saphira by drawing symbols that match her thoughts.

The GBA is a traditional turn-based RPG, which features 9 characters to play with as well as locales and characters from the book that didn’t make it into the movie.

GCM: Any plans for a Wii or PS3 version of Eragon down the road?

TR: If the Eragon franchise takes off like we’re expecting it to, then anything can happen.

GCM: Fantasy-action games are pretty common these days. What is being done to make sure Eragon stands out among the competition?

TR: We designed solid, tried and true combat mechanics that appeal to casual gamers but offer a level of depth that rewards advanced gamers…especially those who enjoy playing hack & slash style games. I think the Stand Out feature for Eragon, though, is the dragon experience.

The player interacts with Saphira in ways that immerses him or her in the relationship between Eragon and Saphira in the movie and the book; and the fact that we get the player up in the air controlling Saphira and Eragon as one devastatingly powerful unit expands raises the bar for not only the fantasy-action genre, but the movie game genre as well.

GCM: What were some challenges in integrating the dragon into the gameplay while maintaining a balance of combat?

TR: The design team at Stormfront is a veteran and very talented group. They knew from the get-go that the key to integrating the dragon into game play while maintaining combat balance was in the level set-ups. And this is also where the fiction really helped. The action in the movie and the book provided the framework, and within that framework the designers played with enemy numbers, flow, weapons and level gating to make sure that the challenge was realistic enough to reward the player without cheapening any of the awesome power of Saphira.

GCM: Just how in-depth is the combat system, number of moves, combos, etc. and how do you keep the combat from devolving into a button-masher?

TR: I think the key to preventing a button masher lies in the AI. Again Stormfront’s experience was crucial to creating a combat system that rewards the novice player early on, but ramps up the difficulty so that by the second level, using the same combo repeatedly results in being countered and knocked on your ass. As Eragon grows in strength, the enemies become more sophisticated so that the entire arsenal of moves and combat magic are needed in order to complete the later levels.

GCM: Can you give some examples of what kind of Achievement points can be earned in Eragon on the 360? Any favorites?

TR: I would love to…but we’re keeping them secret. But, here’s a hint…collect all of the secret eggs…and you get a cool reward…and possibly an achievement (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

GCM: What can we expect as far as multiplayer modes on the console and handhelds?

TR: For the consoles, we have drop-in cooperative multiplayer mode where a second player can plug in at any time and take over the ally character.

The PSP version has four-player ad hoc multiplayer where you can play 11 different types of multiplayer games in any of the arenas you unlock during story mode.

GCM: If you had to pick one single element or feature of Eragon that will have the gaming community buzzing, what would that be and why?

TR: I have to admit, when I’m playing the Flight From Gilead level on the Xbox 360, breathing fire is simply amazing. The dynamic lighting in the dragon flight levels on the Xbox 360 bring out the true graphical power of that system...and the true beauty of this game.

GCM: Thank you again for your time! Do you have any last impressions or thoughts for our readers?

TR: Just the traditional plugs: Buy the game(s), on shelves November 14th. See the movie, in theaters December 15th. And read the book.

---