The story of The Saboteur – How the game was done and how the Pandemic studio changed

The expression “swan song” means the last or most significant work of a certain artist, the highest manifestation of his talent. In general, a swan is a non -promised bird, but ". The last sighs of the deadly wounded swan break out in his form of songs ”(and. E. Bromre, animal life, t. VI, St. Petersburg. 1894, p. 650-651).

Swan song is called, for example, the role of Joker, actor Hita Ledger, the novel "The Great Gatsby" by the writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald, the game The Saboteur of the Pandemic studio studio. The creative path of the hit of Ledger cut off death. Fitzgerald signed because he was worried about Daisy’s wife and drank a lot. Pandemic did not make new games because it grinded it. [Swan Song]

How did the saboteur do

The idea of ​​the game came to the executive director of Pandemic Studio, Andrew Goldman, when he read the book about the rider William Grover-Williams. A brave and decisive person, Grover played for the Bugatti team, won the first Grand Prix of Monaco, worked for British intelligence and organized resistance in occupied France. The executive producer of the game Tom French recalls that the story of Crover greatly fascinated Goldman.

Later on the PlayStation blog, Goldman wrote that the developers wanted the main character of The Saboteur to be a memorable character, and not another faceless soldier, as in other games. The developers were inspired by the heroes of the film screens: Indiana Jones, John McClein and Steve McQueen, because they are damn cool men! It was important for the authors to make the hero’s story very personal so that he would beat the Germans not for political reasons, but because he should.

As a result, the prototype of Grover became Irishman Sean Devlin, who does not save Paris from the Nazis, but takes revenge for the death of his best friend Julse Colonel Kurt Decer. The latter also participated in the race and shot the Wheel of Devlin when he was almost at the finish. To teach deer, Sean and Juls stole his car and threw it off the cliff, but they were seized by the Germans. Deer thought that Sean and Jules were spies, killed Julse and interrogated Sean about their mission. Sean escaped, returned home to Lorraine, and then left for Paris, where he was found by the head of the French resistance Luke. Sean agreed to work on resistance, only to find a deer and take revenge on him. No policy – only revenge. "More Indiana Jones, less" save ordinary Ryan ".

After the developers decided on the hero, they chose which region of France will become the scene of the game. According to the art director of the game Chris Hunt, they did not immediately decide with Paris-the authors thought over several regions of the country, but realized that they should not be sprayed. Instead of a couple of large cities, Pandemic enriched the map of Paris with a coastal commune by the North-West and the German border city of Saarbruken in the north-east. The authors planted a fragrant rural area.

It was difficult to make virtual Paris for two reasons.

The first reason – the developers did not rely on other games with Paris, because before The Saboteur there were no games with whole Paris. In the first Deus Ex there was a Dukeler castle, in Hitman: Blood Money there was an opera theater, in the quest Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Temples Paris was a two -dimensional.

The second reason – the Paris plan differs from the net marking of American cities, and hay flows through it, and there are many intersections in it. Chris Hunt noted that the authors came up with several “innovative solutions” to make Paris a very naturalistic. They really did it.

The authors admit that Paris in The Saboteur is not a copy of the real city, but a fantasy on the topic of Paris, “a beautiful and noisy city with incredible buildings and architecture”, a city of lights and love.

Pandemic carefully transferred the main attractions of the French capital to the game: Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Triumphal Arch, Notre Dame de Pari, Hotel-de-Vil Hotel. You can climb them like any building in the game – Sean climbs not as famously as the Assassins, but he is strong, and he can’t occupy his dexterity.

Especially the developers were inspired by churches, cemeteries and catacombs of Paris. In an interview with Engadget, Tom French said that he had been walking one of the cemeteries for a long time and imagined what shootings could be there.

The game has a mission in the Pere-Lashez cemetery, where the Germans dug up a mysterious box-British intelligence offers a show to get a box in exchange for information about a decree, and the hero agrees. When Sean opens the box, his face illuminates with gold – this is a reference to the ark of the covenant from the film “Indiana Jones: In search of the lost ark”, the tablets of the covenant with ten commandments are stored inside the ark. In the film, the Germans were looking for an ark so that Hitler won the world. “Occultism is part of Nazi mythology,” French noted.

Paris of the thirties was Las Vegas Europe, so the key place in the game is Kabarea Bel de Nui. Cabaret is a conditional headquarters of resistance, a neutral territory where Luke plans operations against the Germans, and they drink at neighboring tables. Bel de Nui is a cafe “at Rick” from the film “Casablanca”, where the Nazis, refugees, and thieves, and all-all-all-all. And as in the film by Michael Curtis, the Germans in Bel de Nui think that they have everything under control, although in fact a resistance ring is closed around them. While the cabaret works while the dancers are dancing, and the bartenders are poured, there is life, and there is hope.

They also chose a cabaret to the headquarters, because there are no brothels in other games about the Second World War and because Paris is a city not only of platonic, but also carnal love. Sean can hide from the Germans in brothels, and the dancers from Bel de Nui can be undressed with a supplement of Midnight Show for five dollars. The addon not only exposes the breasts of the dancers, but also adds a basement in the cabar, where you can throw knives and watch strip show.

In order to better convey the mood of the city, to charm it in the German shackles, the developers painted Paris in black and white, as in the film "City of Sins". “Life sucked,” Goldman notes. All because Paris is so alive and bright that it does not seem occupied, even if the Germans are at every step.

In black and white areas, residents are sad and go slowly and with apprehension, and when paints return to the areas, they become more fun and cheerful, merchants open their benches.

The authors diluted the black and white https://casinofunbet.co.uk/bonus/ gamut The Saboteur shades of yellow and red to make the game more voluminous and deeper. Neutral black and cold white are felt distant, and red, yellow and orange – close. The color directs the player, the player is oriented by color. ". You can say: "So, I’m going there – I know where it is on the map!"Or" I remember that I was here because I looked in the same direction ". You feel a scale that would not have been only with black and white ”.

Finally, Pandemic made the game black and white because the films of the Second World War were black and white. The authors did not want another game about the war-they wanted an action movie based on war, and the black and white gamma made a movie more.

Paints return to the city when Sean arranges large sabotages – Parisians are inspired by these little victories and go out into the streets. Paints are hope, it is pre -war calm and prosperity. Therefore, when Deer kills Julse, the picture becomes black and white: the war begins for Sean’s death. Therefore, Bel de Nui is the last stronghold, there is bright, and all the same as before the war. In the liberated areas, people take weapons and fight for Sean: help the hero in shootouts, organize patrols.

The game has more than 1300 sabotage facilities: sniper towers, anti -aircraft guns, tanks, ss generals, spotlights, radars – but paints return to the city when Sean destroys large objects by the nature of German bases or factories. Small objects are an analogue of towers and collection things from other sandboxes, but, unlike the latter, it is interesting and useful to interact with them.

Sabotage can be secretive: Sean knows how to change into the shape of the Nazis. But if an ordinary soldier is not suspected of something wrong, then the Germans know the officers by person, so it is not easy to free Paris unnoticed. On the other hand, there is no need to hide the show: he will shoot hundreds of the Nazis in his leather jacket with a brave bag of a mechanic. And when the siren is conquered, Zeppelins and tanks will send him behind him! Fortunately, there is where to hide in the city – attic, ceremonial, brothels. Their own among strangers, saboteurs know a lot about hide and seek.

For sabotages, Sean receives local currency – smuggling. The developers chose it instead of money, because the money in the war was not needed. Smuggling includes medicines, clothes, ammunition and products.

You can buy cars or weapons in the black market on smuggling. “Moreover,” said Tom French in an interview with Engadget, “weapons are not only German, but also American and British”.

Another in the black market is sold in a fictitious weapon of local terror detachments-the most powerful submachine gun and shotgun in the game. The authors came up with these guns because they were wondering what other technologies could create the Nazis if they had more time. Therefore, the Germans in the game use combat airships that Germany did not use during the Second World War (only during the first!) – this is just a fantasy of Pandemic. At first, the authors planned that Sean could also control Zeppelins, but it turned out to be boring because they were very slow. “We discussed the flights on the airships and even tried them, and I will tell you that there are nothing more boring in the games more than slow transport. In addition, Sean is a racer, he likes fast cars. ".

The developers made The Saboteur with special care, because they wanted to justify their name after Merceenaries 2 and Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Greg Borrud Production Director (Greg Borrud) said in an interview with Gamespot that the games did not work out the way we wanted, because these were the first games of the new generation of consoles – Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But the authors gained experience and realized that it was better to transfer the release than to release a game with errors.

First, The Saboteur was scheduled for 2008, but the game was released in December 2009 – these years became the last in the history of Pandemic studio.

How EA bought Pandemic and intervened in the development of the game

The closer The Saboteur was to release, the worse the Pandemic affairs became.

While the Pandemic office in La worked on The Saboteur, the Australian branch of the studio made a game based on the "Dark Knight" Christopher Nolan. First, the game was developed for PlayStation 2, because the department in LA has not yet completed the Odin engine for The Saboteur. And when the prototype was transferred to new iron, it did not work: FPS fell, the models did not move. The release of the game was postponed from July to December 2008, when the film was released on Blue-Ray.

Elevation Partners, which at that time owned Pandemic and BioWare, understood that the game on Batman would not work, and sold both EA studios. The latter believed in Pandemic, but did not talk about the game so that the fans of the film would not crush the developers. As a result, Gary Leonard Oldman spoke about the game in an interview with G4. EA increased the staff of the Australian office to 100 people, but the problem was not in people: the developers lacked time. Instead of making a game, the authors were engaged in a engine and corrected technical mistakes. Instead of making The Saboteur, the developers were distracted by Batman.

In October 2008, EA canceled the Dark Knight, and in February 2009 closed the Australian office of Pandemic. There was no chance. The development of the game cost EA $ 100 million. Some developers moved to LA to engage in The Saboteur, and some went to other studios.

In order not to lose money on The Saboteur, EA took up the game densely, but only Pandemic interfered, Morgan Jaffit in Gamehugs’s game designer told about this. Jaffit offered the place of the creative director of DLC to the first part and The Saboteur 2, which they began to do before the release of the original game.

Jaffit sensed something wrong with Pandemic LA for a week of work. “It is important for me that people who make decisions about the details understand these details. But EA crushed Pandemic, no one made any decisions, – Jaffit shares. – Some conversations ended with the words: "I must convey this to the creative director". And then the creative director handed it to the general director, and that production, and so on ".

According to Jaffit, the developers were interfered with marketers and other “dangerous idiots” EA, who were not related to development. His task was to not allow them to interfere in the project – Jaffit was an “umbrella from shit”. “People who do not know the details will try to give a damn about your project, and you need to make sure that this shit will not get into the team. This is the only way to achieve a result, ”Jaffit explained.

How and why EA closed Pandemic

EA inflicted the next blow in November 2009: the company announced that 1,500 publishers will fire-200 Pandemic Los Angeles Office, including the President of the Studio, Josh Josh Reznick, and the Executive Director Andrew Goldman and Vice-President Gings Bord (Greg Borrud).

After the dismissal at Pandemic, there were 30-40 employees-EA invited them to join their EA La studio. The developers who remained out of work were supported by the creative director of Borderlands Mike Neumann: he invited everyone to Gearbox.

EA Executive Director John Riccitiello told Kotaku that the developers were fired not just like that: EA conducted reform to reduce production costs.

According to Richitello, the Pandemic office in La went to a penny. Hiring developers in California two to three times more than in other regions where EA works: in Montreal, Great Britain or China. And the offices of Pandemic and Ea LA are ten miles from each other and are filled with two -thirds, because part of the work is done on outsource. EA do not need two half -empty offices near each other, because one is enough.

The chief vice-president and general manager of the EA Erl (Nick Earl) group promised that, despite the abbreviations, Pandemic would live and that new games is to be. “These are difficult changes, but we must act decisively, pull yourself together and work more efficiently. So our studios in Los Angeles will continue to make excellent games, ”Earl noted.

But EA did not keep promises and did not make new Pandemic franchises – only updated Star Wars: Battlefront.

Merceenaries 3, which was done before the studio closed, did not come out – only a two -minute video on YouTube remained from it. In it, the main character carries a Russian journalist in Cuba, who collects evidence that a certain organization Blackfire uses fighting drones. Meanwhile, at a meeting of investors, John Riccitiello said that Mercenaries 3 would come out and that if it depended on him, at least Mercenaries 10 would come out. At the same time, EA did not abandon the Mercs3 domain – the last time he was updated in February 2021.

Mercs Inc, which was announced two weeks after the game was leaked to YouTube, also did not come out. The press release is not rich in details, but it says that Mercs Inc is the first Pandemic game, which the studio will make under the wing EA. In the video of the game on YouTube, they showed either a cooperative or a multiplayer: there mercenaries ride cars and cut under the song Tick Tick Boom The Hives.

The main reason why Pandemic was closed is the middle class games.

Today’s EA releases big games like Battlefield and FIFA and independent like Unravel or A Way Out – but EA does not release the mid -budget games that Pandemic made.

In addition, in the early 2010s, EA has aimed at mobile and social games with microtransactions, which “are about to capture the market. And next year more than half of the income of the entire gaming industry will earn. ". Kotaku was told by John Richitello.

“Previously, everything was tied on computers, and then on the consoles – now everything is different. This is no longer a business of packaged goods, ”Richitello explained.

Former Pandemic President Josh Reznick confirmed the words of Richitello in an interview with Gamasutra in 2011 – Pandemic was so carried away by his open worlds that she did not notice how the industry and its economy changed. Games in the open world take a lot of time, are expensive and complex from a technical point of view. To realize all ideas, the developers did not have enough resources. And to notice that there are not enough resources, there was not enough attention of the leadership.

Nevertheless, Reznik does not agree with the closure of the studio. According to him, very talented people worked in Pandemic, but EA neglected their abilities. The designer is proud of the studio games and with warmth in the heart recalls how he worked in Pandemic. Read his interview on Gamasutra and you will understand everything.

What is the Saboteur, the last and main game Pandemic

When The Saboteur came out, everyone understood that Pandemic ended it in very difficult conditions. This does not mean that the game loved the game in absentia and that players or critics lowered their eyes to some disadvantages of The Saboteur. Just everything understood everything. It is important to pay attention to this because many played The Saboteur years after the release, did not know about EA reforms and found the game as fascinating and cool as it was in December 2009.

Players and journalists noted that The Saboteur is stylish, that it has fun to fight the Germans and expand the bases and zeppelins coolly, that Sean Devlin is also a cool man, like Indiana Jones or Steve McQueen).

But the game does not work well in stealth, m-e-d-l-n-n-n-th parkour and uninteresting hand-to-hand. The developers took these mechanics from other games in which these mechanics worked well, but did not fit them in The Saboteur – it doesn’t matter whether they did not have time or did not come up with how.

The main thing is that The Saboteur cannot be confused with any other game. Before Pandemic, no one in games did such Paris, such a contrasting history of war. Everyone is accustomed to the fact that the Games about the war are the stories of unknown writers from the old library collection, and Pandemic dug up the unpublished Remarca novel. Some pages in the book are stained with blood and then, but I want to read it, because history is more important than a whole binding.

Pandemic did not break out of the black and white tyranny EA, but lit it with a bright beautiful explosion The Saboteur. The mass grave remembers everyone who fought for freedom, and time will show more than once that folk love is more expensive than money.