Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Interview with the narrative director Taylor Kurosaki

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Tomorrow, November 4, will come out Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The game will transfer us to the future – during the days of space battles, starships and travels to distant planets. Studio Infinity Ward He assures that the players are waiting for an exciting and deep story, and there is no doubt about this: the director Gai Richie is responsible for setting up videos in the new game, the famous actors, and for the script, the narrative director Taylor Kurosaki, who had previously worked in Naughty Dog.

We talked with Taylor and learned from him about choosing a setting, the main characters, the future of the series and much more.

About love for Call of Duty

– Hello, Taylor. Let's immediately put the dots over I. Previously you worked at the Naughty Dog. What made you switch to Call of Duty?

Taylor Kurosaki: For many years I was a fan of Call of Duty as a player. This series showed me a number of almost the most memorable gaming moments in all my game experience. One of these points is when in Call of Duty 2 , In the Second World War, you are taught to throw grenades, but due to a lack of ammunition instead of real grenades you have to use potatoes. The Crew Expendable mission was also remembered with landing from a dry load from Modern Warfare. At that moment, I even stopped the game, because before that I did not see anything like this from the point of view of the scale and quality of performance. This series really opened a new era in the gaming industry.

And I am proud to become part of Infinity Ward. I believe that I can make a significant contribution to the development of the series, and is very glad of this possibility. On the one hand, I try to maintain the advantages of past games, and on the other, add something new.

► The game begins on Earth with an attack by the organization of the colonies defense front.

– Maybe you will hint what we should wait?

Taylor Kurosaki: Certainly! One of the reasons why we chose a new setting for Infinite Warfare is the opportunity to create interesting scenarios that will bring the player to large -scale and memorable moments. For example, in one mission proposed by our designers (we immediately liked this idea), the heroes need to land on an asteroid to resume the connection with the mining complex. The complex supplies raw materials necessary to restore the fleet. But the asteroid disappeared from the radar and got off the orbit.

Upon arrival, it turns out that chaos is happening in the complex. The task is complicated by the fact that the asteroid rotates very quickly to the sun, so the temperature on the surface is hellish. On the illuminated side of the heroes awaits death, so you constantly have to look for protection not only from enemy bullets, but also from sunlight. An interesting situation is created, and it seems to me that players will really like it.

About history and setting

– The action of the Games of the Call of Duty series unfolded at a variety of times, in the past, in the future … But in this part, events first occur in space. What does a similar setting mean to you? Whether he set strict framework in development or, conversely, gave free rein to the fantasy?

Taylor Kurosaki: We started not with the setting. For us as developers, content always follows the functionality. We wanted to “shake” the game process in an interesting way, giving players the same emotions that they expect from the games of the series.

And then fights in zero gravity came to the rescue. The trick is that they are felt as an organic part of Call of Duty. And the point is not a cool weapon or gameplay, but Winner Casino that the player can think according to the usual scheme familiar from the past games: first you evaluate the battlefield, then determine where the enemy has settled, look for a reliable shelter and ways of approaching it, and Then go on the attack.

In Infinite Warfare, you can, using a special device, cling to objects and push off from them, which will quickly move from shelter to shelter in zero gravity, go to the enemy and make complex tactical maneuvers. Having come up with this, we realized that we need a corresponding setting.

In addition, in space you can create many situations that check the heroes for strength. We always look for interesting circumstances that would take players on a break. In other games, there are a zombie epidemic. You understand what I mean? We are talking about the very stresses and experiences that reveal the true essence of the characters. In Infinite Warfare, not only enemies confront you (by the way, it is not enough for them to just kill you: they want to kill your detachment, your comrades in arms, loved ones, family, destroy your homeland). The space itself is against you, he is constantly trying to finish you. There is nothing to breathe. If you have a crack in a helmet, if something is wrong with equipment, you immediately find yourself in the balance from death. Lack of gravity, lack of air – all these are great opportunities for creating tense situations.

► In the new game, heroes have to fly more than once on a space fighter.

– In fact, you put the player in the position of a person who is fighting against an entire world?

Taylor Kurosaki: Yes, exactly. The player’s detachment is part of a once huge, well -armed fleet. But after the attacks of the enemies, the fleet lost most of its power. In fact, two starships remained on the go: the flagship “Retribution”, on which the protagonist serves, and the destroyer “Tiger” serves. And these two ships must somehow turn the course of the war, stop the superior enemy forces. This is a very difficult task, we wanted to convey to the players the horror that heroes experience throughout the game.

– Under the name Modern Warfare came out as many as three projects. Infinite Warfare can be a trilogy? Or we have a completely completed story, and it will open and end in the framework of one game?

Taylor Kurosaki: We promote the story to the fullest, we do not leave anything on the sidelines on purpose to use it later. Each story should be whole on its own. Each story in the framework of the game should be pleasure. He should have the beginning, continuation and finale. Therefore, yes, this is a completely separate story within the framework of one project.

On the other hand, over three years of development, we have created a whole universe from scratch. And if you want to write a story that they will believe in, then by definition you have to form such a believable, complex and rich in detail the world, that it will not be difficult to find a few more plots for new games.

About military specialists

– While working on other projects from the Call of Duty series, developers turned to military experts for help. But now we are in space, in an uncertainly distant future. Have you talked with military specialists this time?

Taylor Kurosaki: Yes, they talked, and even more than before! For example, marine infantrymen taught our actors, stuntmen, designers and animators to move on the battlefield and handling weapons. They showed us that the military not just take the doors and burst into the houses, but methodically “cut off” the sections of the room, without ignoring the zone where the enemy could lurk. This allowed us to introduce new mechanics when a player can open the door using tactical tricks to get an advantage: the ability to throw a grenade into the passage or eliminate opponents one at a time.

We also consulted with watchman officers from warships. They told us how exactly in the Navy they control the ship, who is responsible for what, how the transfer of information occurs, in what order orders are given, and so on.

Brian Bloom (scriptwriter Infinite Warfare), a leading actor and I even spent the night on an aircraft carrier, who was right in the middle of the ocean. We had lunch with the sailors, thoroughly talked with the commander of the ship, the navigator, the commander of the aviation combat of the aircraft carrier, a number of other persons. And all just in order to ensure that our ship “Retribution” was felt in the game as if it is a real ship living its own life, a ship on which every person has its own business. It seems to me that those who served in the Navy will sincerely wonder how realistic we convey all the details.

You see, we send a player to a distant unknown cosmos, so it is especially important that there is a binding to reality, to something that you can rely on. Everything that surrounds the player – costumes, weapons, the ship itself – should be real. Only then will the player believe it. What is there, we even managed to talk with several admirals, and they shared with us their vision of the wars of the future.

We eventually used this information to simulate ships inside the game. For example, “Retribution” is a pure aircraft carrier, only for space, and not for the sea. Aircraft carriers are not drunk with guns, their main weapons are aviation. On the ship "Retribution" the same thing: all your main weapons are located on the hangar deck. In the fleet, ships operate jointly, within the coordinated system: aircraft carriers are always under the guise of other ships – for example, destroyers with large guns. This is how fights are in reality … And this is how they happen and we have. All this is to show the player a convincing reality that, as we hope, will be able to captivate.

► on the space aircraft carrier, preparation for the battle is in full swing.

About the reaction of the players

The first trailer for Infinite Warfare received, say, mixed reviews. Even now, he has more diesella than likes. However, at a certain moment, the dynamics have changed, and now thousands of players around the world are looking forward to the game. And what was your reaction to such a cold meeting?

Taylor Kurosaki: You asked me why I went to work at Infinity Ward. Because I, like millions of players around the world, adore the games of this studio.

It seems to me that when something is so large as Call of Duty, fans are so acutely worried about the game that they want to influence the course of development. And they can do it! Call of Duty no longer belongs to one Infinity Ward, it belongs to us all. She is more than us all! And what we saw is a reaction of people who do not care. They are so worried about the game that they do not want someone, roughly speaking,.

From the first day we knew that we were creating something special. We were very lucky with the community of players: they really worry about the fate of the series. We knew about this and from the very beginning decided that we would save and increase everything that Call of Duty does one of the most successful series. And the reaction from the players only reminded us of responsibility.

Since the first trailer appeared, we have released many other materials on the game, and people began to perceive the project differently. And this is wonderful.