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The Operator
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Bureau 81 Bastien Giafferi về việc trở thành 'người đứng sau ghế' trong The Operator
Chúng tôi đã tìm hiểu thêm về trò chơi giải đố bí ẩn sắp tới bằng cách nói chuyện trực tiếp với nhà phát triển (chủ yếu) duy nhất của nó.
Phiên âm âm thanh
"Hello everyone and welcome back to Gamereactor.
Today we have a really exciting interview for you today because I'm here with Bastien from Bureau 81."
"Now Bastien is an interesting fellow because I know you don't like to say it but in many ways you are the solo developer of this game, The Operator.
I know you don't like to say it because obviously you've brought in additional help recently but the majority of this game has been developed by you, Bastien."
"So for the people who aren't aware of what The Operator is, give us a little, the elevator pitch, tell us a little bit about it.
Okay, so hi everyone.
So basically The Operator is, so when I talk about the game I say it's a mix between X-Files, the TV series, and Her Story, the game."
"We're mostly like we're playing an operator.
It's basically the FDI, kind of like a fictional FBI.
So we're the hotline basically and we're going to help agents with their cases.
And exactly, that's it."
"You mentioned, we've just come out of a presentation where you've shown us a lot of the game and took us through a little bit of it, only a portion of it, but a small portion of it.
And you mentioned during that presentation that there are a few games and a few different things that you were inspired by when making The Operator."
"You mentioned Return of the Obra Dinn, you mentioned X-Files.
What led you to actually wanting to make this game?
What came about when you went, you know what?
I've got this great idea for this sort of FBI simulator almost."
"I'm going to make this. Tell me about that process.
Yeah, so basically it's kind of a dream project.
I always wanted to make a game like that.
So basically to understand that a bit, I was working at DigiXart before that."
"So I worked on Eleven Eleven Memories Retold, I worked on Road 96 for instance.
And when I left for Road 96, actually I had this idea for The Operator a long time ago.
But I wanted to have enough experience to really put this on my own because the original plan was two years of development alone without any help."
"Just being able to, you know, do everything on my own.
And then the project grows and of course I needed to get some help for the voice acting, for, you know, the cinematics, stuff like that.
But the idea, I had it while I was looking X-Files basically, once again."
"And there was a moment in the series where they find a sample and they give it to the lab technician and he analyzes the sample.
And when he gives his report, you know, he's like, this is impossible.
I've never seen such a material. I mean, it cannot come from Earth."
"Where did you find it?
And I thought that it would be very interesting to play this guy actually.
That, you know, you do your analysis and then you discover something.
And I felt like it would be interesting to play this character actually."
"And instead of having, you know, the agent that does the investigation like you have in most games.
And so this was basically the starting point for the game.
It is interesting.
You've gone with the route of the protagonist being the guy that sits in the chair and not the agent out in the field, which is quite an interesting idea."
"But as you know, those people, the people sitting in the chair, they need to have tools at their disposal to do these things.
And you've created in the operator a fully functioning OS.
I guess it's an OS within an OS, right?
So tell me a little bit about that."
"What was the sort of process of developing that?
So basically what's interesting about the guys in the chair is that they have, they know more than the agent actually because, you know, you are working on several cases at once."
"You have an overview that the agents don't have.
And for the tools, basically my constraint was, again, at the beginning, I meant to create the whole game alone.
So there are some things I simply cannot do."
"I cannot do 3D, for instance.
I'm not good at it.
But I know a bit of UI.
And so I had this idea of, okay, what if the only thing you see in the game is the computer?
And you will only see the computer through Evan Tanner's eyes, basically the character."
"And so I wanted to be kind of realistic, but at the same time that serves the story and the gameplay.
So for instance, we have a database, a human database, where you can enter any name and you will have a profile there."
"You will have a picture.
You will have an age.
Is it married?
Does he have any crime?
You know, all this information."
"And I wanted to be super consistent.
Like I think it was in Tumbleweed Park, you know, the point and click game, where whenever you have a phone number in the game, wherever you find it, you can call it and there is something."
"And I really wanted to have that, for instance, with the names.
Whenever a name is mentioned in the game, you can find it in the database.
And of course, we have other kinds of database, like a car database.
You can put license plate and it will give you information about the car."
"We can do some chemical analysis.
We can do, we have an almost fully functioning terminal where you can enter, if you know a bit of Linux command, terminal commands, you can use it in game."
"This is, of course, not mandatory when you play the game, but the most hardcore players, they will be able to use it.
We are all those kind of tools that, you know, you discover as you progress.
Would you say that, say, somebody that's sort of experienced in Linux and coding and whatnot, you say they have a step up when playing the Operator, like being able to use and being familiar with terminal software, would you say that will enable you to more quickly get to grips with the game and to unpack the mysteries that you're offering?
To me, it was one of the pillars of the game is immersion."
"And if you are supposed to be on the computer, it would be weird not to have those, you know, the calculator app, you know, all this kind of stuff.
At the beginning, I wanted all the game to be playable only with the terminal."
"So if you want to, you know, open the files and everything, you can just work with the terminal.
It's not mandatory. It's not going to unlock too many things more for you.
It's really just there for the sake of immersion and completeness, basically."
"And the idea of the Operator, obviously, is to be this guy in the chair, help you feel agents when they need some assistance, identifying somebody, figuring out the next lead in their case, whatever it is.
What happens if we screw it up?
It depends."
"For instance, if, I don't know, if you have to defuse a bomb and you fail to defuse the bomb, well, the bomb explodes, you know.
So this is a huge consequence.
But if most of the time when you give the wrong answer, the agent would just say, I don't think it's this."
"And you will have the opportunity to give another answer.
The game is, I want the game to be accessible.
I mean, it's as much a narrative game as it is a puzzle game.
So I just want everyone to be able to discover the whole story and to finish the game."
"So it's not super punitive.
But of course, there are some moments where there is tension and where there are some risks.
And of course, what's interesting is, as the player, you don't know if it's important or not.
So I think that's interesting."
"And there are several cases that as you go through the game, you can look back on them.
How have you designed them so that they're all interconnected?
What sort of interconnected webs have you weaved in the operator?
So, of course, I cannot go too much in detail for that."
"I don't want to spoil the game.
But when I designed the game, I started from the plot twists and then I moved back to, OK, in this sequence, I have the player to understand this and to have a gut feeling about this.
And so I designed all the puzzles and all the sequences in the game around those ideas."
"OK, I know that in this sequence, I want the player to understand that this guy was killed by this guy.
And, you know, I worked my way like that.
So basically, I started from the plot twist and the whole story was created to support those plot twists.
And one of the things that I don't think we necessarily talked a whole lot about during the presentation earlier was HAL."
"Or H-A-L, however you pronounce it. Are we going with HAL or H-A-L?
It's HAL. It's in, you know, 2001, the Kubrick movie.
But HAL is a recurring theme, right?
So tell me a little bit about this. What sort of problems is HAL going to cause?
Let me think. I have to think a bit for this one because, of course, I don't want to spoil too much."
"In the demo, at the beginning of the game, of course, HAL is a hacker.
So it's the bad guy. But you quickly understand that HAL maybe know more than you.
And maybe it can be interesting to, you know, try to see if HAL doesn't have anything to say.
Interesting. But yeah."
"And, you know, obviously the game is all played on a computer, as we've talked about a minute ago.
It's this OS that you've designed. So it's all through a fictional computer.
But how have you designed the puzzle so that they, you know, as the game progresses, they continue to feel intuitive and they continue to feel fresh and unique?
What have you done to keep players on the edge of their seats?
Yeah. Basically, one of the most important things when I designed the puzzles was I never want to have twice the same resolution and the same puzzle, you know."
"It's OK. It's completely fine for me to have a tool that we'll use only once in game, you know.
I find it perfectly fine. But I really don't want to serve twice the same, you know, puzzle and ha-ha moment.
And it really has to be different every time.
So basically, I'd say, yeah, I'd say that this was one of the most important aspects when designing the puzzle."
"And you mentioned earlier when we were talking about the terminal and all the systems that opens up.
You mentioned that there are some things in the operator that aren't necessarily crucial to the progression of the game, but they're there to get people to explore and to check out some new areas.
So what secrets have you hidden? Have we got some things to look at to explore beyond the main story?
So, of course, there are. And just, I don't know if I can, but about the previous question, the tools I designed are basically created to serve a puzzle."
"So I didn't create a tool and then found a puzzle with them.
It's mostly I create the puzzles and then, OK, that would be cool, but I will need this tool.
You know, like the chemical analyzer, for instance, is a great example for that.
Like, OK, it will be interesting to find this, but then I would need something to analyze a sample."
"And then I created the app and the puzzle around it, basically.
And about your latest question, what was it already?
It was in regards to secrets. What kind of secrets do you have in store for people to find?
Yeah, so secrets are mostly some answers to some mysteries."
"If you play the whole game, you will understand most of the plot.
You will understand everything, like all the major mysteries and everything.
But for instance, if you want the motivation for some characters, you will have to dig deeper.
Not everything will be served as easily as just reading a text."
"Sometimes you will have to get to the bottom of things to really understand, OK, he's doing this because of that, or to get a bit more out of the mysteries and everything.
And there are some content that, like for instance, I hid some content in the demo that still haven't been found.
There is really a way to go super deep about this."
"And you mentioned earlier in the presentation that you're actively working on controller support for the game.
It won't be ready for launch, but it's coming.
Does that mean you've had a conversation, you've had a thought about maybe bringing the operator to consoles at some point down the line?
Honestly, it of course depends on if the game works or not."
"Because if the game works, we'll have some budget to do that because it costs money.
And even the people that are making the console, if you have a successful game, it's easier to come to them and say, hey, I would like to put my game on your platform.
And then they say, yes, OK."
"It's easier this way.
But yeah, the controller support, if I have the controller support, it's for the Steam Deck and it's also for consoles.
So I'd love to put the game on console.
But it will be a real adaptation."
"It won't be just a port where it's a virtual cursor or anything.
I would like to do a bit better than that.
You're going to be on a specialized device for operators that's controlled with a controller.
That would be cool."
"And you mentioned as well that The Operator is designed to be a single playthrough experience.
You go through the game, you solve the puzzles and that's it.
You get to the end of it and that's the end of the experience.
That's how it's meant to be played."
"But you've also mentioned earlier as well that you had other ideas that you potentially moved away from.
So do you have other ideas for the future of The Operator?
Potentially sequels, spin offs?
What do you have planned for the future of The Operator?
The Operator has an ending, of course."
"There is an end. It's what I wanted.
But if I want to do a sequel, I can.
That's all I can say.
And of course I will be able to use..."
"I had a lot of ideas for The Operator that I couldn't put in-game either because it was too complicated.
Or even the setting, the fact that the game takes place in 92.
We don't have cell phones, we don't have smartphones.
I had a lot of ideas like that, that if I do a sequel, I can use this, definitely."
"And I would love to do a sequel.
Stay tuned.
As a final question then, Bastien.
Obviously The Operator is nearly here.
It's coming out on PC on July 22nd."
"So it's very close to this point.
But when it does come out, when people can flock to the game and try it out for themselves, what's one part of The Operator that you're most excited for fans to experience for themselves?
Okay, that's super interesting."
"I think it's really the story.
Even now, every time someone plays the demo, I always check.
So I won't spoil, but basically near the end of the demo, there is a plot twist.
And I always go to this part to see the player's reaction."
"And I think what I'm the most excited about when the game releases is to have people react when they finally understand, oh, this is why this, and when they make connection.
And it's interesting because we had some press playing some part of the game already.
And I really like to speak to them afterward because one told me that even when he wrote his article, he was like, oh, he understood stuff afterward."
"He was like, okay, this moment, I understand now that I know the whole story.
I understand why this happened.
And it's those little connections, this is what I'm the most excited about.
And also, I can't wait for people to praise the music and the sound design because it really is a very important aspect of the game."
"And I'm not saying it because it's my game, because I didn't make the music, but really, I think the music is one of the best aspects of the game, clearly.
It's all about immersion, and we'll get to experience that for ourselves very, very soon.
So make sure to go check it out, The Operator, July 22nd on PC via Steam."
"And make sure to stay tuned for more from Bastien and Bureau81 because maybe we'll have more Operator stuff in the future.
Stay tuned for that. Bastien, you've been great.
Oh, carry on, Bastien."
"Yeah, and also, it should be available on GOG.
It's in the, you know, we're working on that.
It's there. Have a look around. You'll find it somewhere.
Exactly."
"But Bastien, you've been great. Thanks for speaking with us today.
And yeah, stay tuned for the next Game Rector interview.
Thank you."
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