The Asylum Grounds
"I paid close attention to the man standing before me. This Tony Charlton has just announced that he will be our tour guide throughout the Asylum. This game show 'Fright of Your Life'...I've seen episodes of that show, wishing that I could be one of the hired hands that was on board to dish out the scares. The idea sounded so fun. I went ahead and applied, and now I'm here, along with several others, touring this massive manor of the macabre for the first time. The place is called Wolfborough; an asylum for the mentally deranged. Long deserted, I admit that Wolfborough was creepy looking, even just from standing here at the front gates. I can see why WKYZ chose this place for the live show. I've heard stories about Wolfborough Asylum, but never paid much attention. I'm regretting that now.
Our esteemed tour guide, Mr. Charlton, seemed like a nice enough fellow, but he appeared to be keeping something from us. The way he addressed us didn't help either -- a rather shady grin, and an evil twinkle in his eye...."
GWX: Where did the idea for Asylum come from? Does the team recall any pieces of music or film that have influenced Asylum in any way? Or just a product of your own wicked minds?
Tony Charlton: There are many influences behind Asylum but I would say the main influence is old horror films like The Thing, Halloween and George Romero's Dead Trilogy. It also helps to have a twisted imagination ;-)
GWX: Do you believe that the videogame medium can instill fear as much as films or books?
Tony Charlton: Yeah, although the genre has become stale over the past couple of years I think there is a resurgence of quality horror titles. I think we have the right mix of shocks, atmosphere and paranoia to cater for the most discerning of Horror fans.
GWX: Any standout horror titles that the Asylum team is particularly fond of? Did these games influence you at all?
Tony Charlton: Yeah, who can forget their first encounter with Resident Evil, its one of my all time favourite games. We've all played The Resi's and the Silent Hill's but we want to take the Survival Horror Genre to the next step.
GWX: To be blunt: Atmosphere is key. What types of visual and audio effects are you using in order to maximize the horror in Asylum?
Tony Charlton: Every console specific visual and sound capability will be fully utilised to bring the in game characters and creatures to life...or death. ;)
GWX: The reality-TV angle has yet to be done in a horror game. The craze is huge in America at the moment (the game kind of reminds us of MTV's Fear); is the British TV scene similar enough to inspire this game's premise?
Tony Charlton: We have Reality shows in the UK but I wouldn't say there's anything there that's inspired us. We have seen a couple of episodes of Fear, spooky stuff.
The East Wing
"Getting over my initial nervousness wasn't easy, but speaking to Mr.Charlton helped. I'm sure there is plenty that he knows and isn't telling, but there is plenty of time for him to reveal more.
Without a doubt, this nut house is the creepiest place I've ever been. Dark and foreboding, the halls smell of heavy moisture and fungus. Chunks of the wall are broken, laying on the floor below, and every now and then, I spot a trickle of dried, red liquid spattered upon the wall or floor. Blood I'm sure, but I don't care to imagine how it got there...."
GWX: We've got to give you props; Asylum is already looking incredible, even at this early stage. Is this kind of eye-candy difficult to get out of the PS2?
Tony Charlton: Cheers. No, we have a team of very talented programmers and artists that overcome any problems that arise.
GWX: Looking at some of the artwork, we noticed a fairly distinct Middle-Age influence. Is this the only time period or mythology that helped shape Asylum's visual design?
Tony Charlton: We have researched all aspects of torture and institutionalisation throughout the ages and then applied it to a Victorian design.
The West Wing
"How the show's producers think we will be able navigate our way through here, I don't know. This place is huge! We've been walking for what seemed like hours, and I recognize not one object or area. Even worse, I keep hearing things. I can't make out what the sounds are -- they are too far away. But I still hear them, and they don't sound natural. Episodes of Fright of Your Life that I've seen did indeed contain some authentic material among the staged effects, but it's a lot different when your standing right here, inside it. What's more, we're hired actors here for the asylum tour; there aren't any cameras rolling. My goosebumps have goosebumps. What I'm hearing -- whatever it is -- has got to be real."
GWX: Will Asylum use a more psychological horror a la' Silent Hill to engage the gamer, or a shock-based style of horror? Perhaps both?
Tony Charlton: We will have a mixture of the two. The trick is to keep an air of tension throughout the game, creating a false sense of security then hitting the player with an evil surprise. We don't want to cheapen the proceedings by having a shock around every corner. There is no harm in making the player THINK there's something nasty lurking there though. ;)
GWX: Since Asylum consists of four contestants as a part of the game show, have you considered a multi-player co-op through the game? Or would you rather focus on the single-player adventure?
Tony Charlton: We have talked about the possibility of co-op play, but we made the decision to concentrate on the single player game. We felt that to make a truly horrific experience we wanted the player to feel alone. There will be some NPCs along the way but on the whole the player will have to fend for himself.
GWX: As they walk the asylum halls, the contestants receive their tasks via radio microphones. Any chance of you utilizing voice commands with the PS2 and Xbox headsets?
Tony Charlton: That one's up to the publisher.
GWX: Any online features on the planning board?
Tony Charlton: Again, that's something we've talked about but at the moment we are concentrating on the single player.
The Isolation Chamber
"Alright, I've seen all I need to see. I haven't even made up my mind if I'm going to go through with this, but I already know I won't be hanging around some of these areas. I've seen things and heard things....I'm truly frightened at this point. I thought this would be a cakewalk, but I can't shake the feeling that something is waiting around the next corner. What's more, I could have sworn that someone whispered my name.
I look out one of the dirty, broken windows, and all I see is corn. From this perspective, there is nothing more terrifying. The stalks sway in the wind, and the night sounds that accompany the dark outside grows deathly silent. A lone scarecrow stands tall a couple of hundred feet into the field. It's limbs sway in the gentle breeze of the night. It seems peaceful out there in the corn. And yet, I have no desire to draw any closer to the field than I am right now. Strange..."
GWX: Though Asylum will be multi-platform, we noticed that much of the preview material was of the PS2 version of the game. Is Asylum being built to PS2 specs? Will that version of the game be released before the others, or at the same time?
Tony Charlton: Asylum will include all console specific effects, it will in no way be a straight port from one platform to the next.
GWX: Is utilizing the PS2's capabilities as difficult as some developers openly stated?
Tony Charlton: We find that each console has its own idiosyncrasies, using Renderware for the PS2 irons out a lot of these.
GWX: Will the Xbox and Gamecube versions of the game contain anything extra that the PS2 version won't?
Tony Charlton: As I've already stated each console version of the game will have its own specific effects. The Xbox for instance will feature Bump Mapping, specular and will run at a higher resolution.
GWX: Do you enjoy working with one platform over another?
Tony Charlton: We find each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, obviously we like to work with a machine that helps us realise our vision (the Xbox is shaping up to be this machine).
Closing the Gates
"Leaving the asylum is a relief, but at the same time, I find myself still fascinated to learn more. Tony has revealed very little about the asylum's history, though the documentaries I've seen include such practices as witchcraft and moral corruption. I'm not so sure about being inside this place alone. Some of the others have already signed on, but most have the same glazed-over expression. I can see fear in their eyes, and I even smell it in the air. The swaying trees and corn make it feel like Halloween out here. The breeze is stronger now.
Tony still makes me quite uncomfortable as the tour comes to a close. He almost seems proud of keeping something to himself. He knows something the rest of us don't. I'm just here to work, so I can only imagine the emotional stress the actual contestants will be put through. The tour itself was only a few hours, and yet, when this show airs live, I'll have to be here all night. If I do come back here, I will stay close to a few other employees. Surely, nothing can happen if we stick close together."
GWX: As of now, what do you notice when you look at the horror genre of videogames in general? Do you feel that horror games can be done better than what we are currently seeing? Too tame? Too similar?
Tony Charlton: To a certain extent I think the genre was becoming stale, certain titles became nothing more than ammo management. As I said earlier there does seem to be a resurgence of quality Horror titles, titles such as Eternal Darkness, The Thing (a title I would have loved to work on) seem to be taking survival horror to the next level.
GWX: When can gamers expect Asylum to be on shelves?
Tony Charlton: Thanksgiving 2003 would be my best guess.
GWX: Anything you'd like to say to Gaming World X readers?
Tony Charlton: Thanks for your support and interest in Asylum, this game is going to scare the s**t out of you.
GWX: Any chance of that Misfits song ending up in the finished product? It fits perfectly.
Tony Charlton: I'd love to include Misfits tracks in Asylum (I'm a huge fan) but that decision is up to the Publisher.
Asylum looks to be a title that could revolutionize the survival horror genre, and the commitment to quality that Tony and his team have made will surely bring something fresh and unique to the table. On behalf of the entire GWX staff and our readers, we would like to thank Tony Charlton for his time, patience, and help on bringing this feature together so smoothly, and for giving us the opportunity to bring exciting information on Asylum to the readers.
