Via gamasutra
The upcoming Mirror’s Edge is one of the most original-looking titles to come out of the new-style quality-driven Electronic Arts since the company’s creative realignment is announced. It was developed by its DICE studio in Sweden, which is best (and, at this juncture, almost exclusively) known for its Battlefield series of shooters.
What drove the creative philosophy of this game? The visuals and gameplay are a departure from the grittiness and combat-focused world of those games.
In this in-depth interview, producer Nick Channon spells out the inspiration for these decisions, outlining some of the methodology — as well as the thinking behind the approach the game ultimately ended up with.
So, the most obvious, interesting choice about this game is that it’s first person. There are a few free running- or parkour-inspired games out right now, but as far as I’m aware, this is the only one that’s first person; how did you guys end up with that?
NC: Well I think at DICE we’ve done a lot of first person work, and so that kind of inspired us to create [this] — we wanted to create something quite urban, and we wanted to create a game that was all about movement.
I think the other thing was, as well, that we really wanted to create a connection with you and the character, and the fact that you’re playing the game through the eyes of Faith; as soon as you get to third person, you would be watching Faith, whereas we want you to be connected to her.
The analogy we give is “being in an action movie, instead of playing it”, and I think that’s more rewarding. And I think, also, we wanted to create something very fresh, and it’s been a challenge, but we’re really pleased with where we are.
