On the forsaken remains that were once the proud planet called Astara, the villagers of Rockhaven lead difficult but peaceful lives, until the day the Shadowraith, Dark Yabu, and his minions sweep down from the sky. With terrible ferocity and ruthless efficiency they descend upon the townsfolk, enslaving them to work deep in the caves that surround their village.

The Dark Yabu kills Vargas, the grandfather of the young Vexx, who manages to slip quietly aboard the enemy’s windship. There, locked deep within Yabu’s sanctum, lie the last pair of Astani war talons. The talons leap from their chest onto Vexx’s outstretched hands, bonding to his arms and giving him special powers.

Vexx embarks upon a heroic quest to confront Dark Yabu high atop the Landspire, save his people, and avenge the death of his grandfather.

Features:

• Platform gaming has grown up! Rescuing a princess and butt bouncing away your enemies has been replaced by avenging murder and a set of razor sharp war talons;
• 9 extraordinary worlds span tree canopy villages, mysterious caves, desert temples, underwater cities, frozen citadels, and more;
• Over 70 objectives covering over 30 solid hours of gameplay;
• Central hub system allows players to travel between worlds at their leisure;
• Free climbing mode allows players to climb uneven surfaces and dangle beneath overhangs;
• Day and night cycles with real-time lighting. Darkness changes the landscape and characters: enemies become more aggressive and the environments become more hostile;
• Ultra-responsive player control that reacts instantly to player inputs: gamers can cancel a move midway through and fire off extensive combo attacks;
• Hidden sundials allowing players to change the time of day;
• Advanced environment mapping produce reflections, glows, and highlights on Vexx’s metal gloves and knee guards;
• Highly flexible cinematic camera system;
• Epic soundtrack and stunning 3D surround sound effects.

GCM:	Please start us off by introducing yourself and telling us about your involvement with the development of Vexx.
Tom:	Thomas Coles, Lead Designer on Vexx

GCM:	Tell us a bit about Vexx and his story.
Tom:	In no uncertain terms, Vexx is your quintessential rebel hero. When his world is overthrown, his people imprisoned and his family murdered, Vexx has one thing on his mind…Revenge! Armed with his war talons and his cocky, fearless determination, Vexx will stop at nothing to overthrow the evil Dark Yabu and bring peace back to his planet Astara.

GCM:

It seems that the Platformer genre has become uncommonly difficult to break into. What do you feel will set Vexx apart from the pack and earn it a place in the genre's upper echelon?

Tom:

The focus on the play mechanics, and the athletic feel of the character. Everything we’ve done with the character is oriented towards pure twitch and rapid reflex…very old school. Many of the game’s internals are unique in the genre and haven’t been seen in any game before (like our interactive texture maps). Vexx as a character is considerably faster to play than our competitors, and as such, requires a higher degree of skill than many of them. We really think that people are going to find other characters very slow and cumbersome after playing Vexx.

GCM:

What sort of levels and environments will Vexx feature?

Tom:

The game was streamlined because our levels were SO expansive that even our evaluation teams were overwhelmed. We’ve cut back and now have 9 very large outdoor environments, each of which branches into many internal spaces, which may surprise the player. With the large outdoor spaces, we’ve tried hard to differentiate them with known visual themes to allow the player to know immediately where they are in any given level at a glance. The environments are still sprawling, with some extending over half a kilometer across.

GCM:	How are Vexx's levels laid out in terms of progression and completion?
Tom:	Vexx has a completely unique hub system in that it physically connects to the outdoor spaces in the world. It may baffle players at first, that when they open a riftgate from the hub system, that it forms an actual doorway they can walk through into the world. This rift hub allows access to each of the 9 worlds.

GCM:

As for objectives, what types of goals will be given to the player? Will they mainly be platform-based?

Tom:

The game is definitely old school in its approach to challenges. We’ve found that most of the newer generation games spend a great deal of time covering up the fact that they’re really challenging you with the same tasks they always have, just with a new shiny coating. We’ve spent most of our time trying to invent new internals and tasks for the player (although we’ve been pretty shameless about using internals we felt have worked really well in the past too). One of our objectives for example involves manipulating a giant cube whose inside is derived from classic Escher paintings. This works really well in that we use our portal system to actually open the side of the cube, allowing the player to walk smoothly into these surreal environments.

GCM:

How large a roll does the Night and Day cycle play in Vexx? Could you please give us a few examples of how the sundial will be used?

Tom:

Sundials control the time of day, the time of day controls the opening up of certain challenges (particularly sundial portals), as well as the state of the enemies. Every enemy in the game has both an easy (daytime) and more difficult (nighttime) version. Needless to say, the player has to be careful about even the most mundane of tasks at nighttime, when even the most basic of the games enemies become significantly more challenging.

GCM:

Please give us a taste of the variety of enemies the player will be up against.

Tom:

Every enemy has been designed to be completely unique. Some enemies block while others evade. Some enemies can only be hurt when put into a certain mode, and some enemies, like the blastbugs, can cooperate against the player, arcing lightning between each other. The most interesting aspects of the enemies aren’t even so much their unique abilities, as it is how they work when placed together (Imagine trying to attack a flying Flymbee who dodges you while you’re bound by a hobbletrod and being blown away by a Gustachud, and you can just imagine the hilarity that would ensue.)

GCM:

What kind of moves will Vexx be capable of?

Tom:

Vexx has over 200 unique animations, and a large number of attacks. The attacks range from specific hits to button mashing, so they should offer something for everyone. The player can attack into the air with both dashing and still uppercuts, flare kicks, and a leaping tornado attack. On the ground he can leap up and blast downward, use multiple frenzied slashes on an individual enemy, combo into charge moves and roundhouses, etc. The moves are designed to flow together so that the player can attack one enemy and cancel himself into the air when attacked by another. All in all, fighting in Vexx is much more frenzied and over the top than in other games, but at the same time, requires some strategic thinking on the players part to be really good at it.

GCM:

How is control being handled, especially in terms of camera control?

Tom:

We try to keep the camera as passive as possible. One of the things you learn early on is that cameras that don’t try to stay still do unpleasant things to players stomachs. Our camera has a few nice touches the player probably won’t even notice because they’re very transparent, including shifting subtly to show attacking enemies earlier, leading the player as he moves around, and suppressing their vertical component while jumping. All of this is smoothed out by some pretty sophisticated spline smoothing and collision detection thankfully, so you hopefully won’t even notice the camera at all.

GCM:

Please tell us a bit about the technology going into Vexx's graphics, sound, and gameplay engine.

Tom:

All three console versions will offer the same array of fantastic special effects including weather, distortions, particles, swooshes, and inverse kinematics. The players head tracks on important objects to provide the player with clues as to what’s important. Rumble events are used to aid the player as well, with the heart objectives beating more strongly as the player approaches them. The shader technology in our proprietary engines give us the ability to manipulate multiple render passes including detail maps, lightmaps, specularity, environment mapping, incandescence mapping, and a variety of neat masking tricks. Our lighting tools were written to simulate real life, and give Vexx a strangely real look. Our portal technology allows the player to actually jump inside of texture maps (this has to be seen), and our day night cycles affect the world around you, pulling in the nighttime darkness and changing the lighting all around you.

GCM:	With Vexx coming to all current consoles, do you see one version as delivering the optimal Vexx experience?
Tom:	We originally were expecting significant differences with the three versions, but in the end, we’ve managed to pull tricks on all three that give very similar experiences on all of them. Naturally, each of the consoles have their individual strengths, which we’ve tried to play to, but we’re happy with the outcome of all 3 products.

GCM:	Thanks for your time. Any final impressions that you'd like to leave us with?
Tom:	Thank you and we hope you enjoy the game.

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