The Armchair Empire - Interviews: David Artuso (Masters of the Universe)

If you lived your pre-pubescent years in the '80s you probably spent a great deal of time watching He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. It's almost no surprise that there is a game in the works based on the new cartoon and David Artuso of TDK Mediactive gave us some of his time to give us the details on the project including the game's graphics engine, how combat will be handled and how much He-Man memorabilia is kicking around the offices of Savage. Thanks for your time, David!

Newsletter

Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly.

Enter E-Mail Address Below:

David Artuso (Masters of the Universe) Q&A Conducted by Omni

Tell us a bit about yourself: Your name, how you got into the gaming industry, your role in the development of Masters of the Universe, and if you prefer the new He-Man over the old He-Man?

My name is David Artuso. I’ve been a gamer since I was a kid. I worked in film and TV for about ten years, before shifting into the interactive industry eight years ago as a writer. From a writer I became a producer. I’ve been a publisher’s producer for over three years here at TDK Mediactive, and that is my roll on the Masters of the Universe game.

I know the old TV series holds a great deal of sentential attachment for folks. That said, the new TV series has taken what was good about the old series, added to it, and considerably upped the production values. The art and animation is very much improved.

In your own words, tell us a bit of what Masters of the Universe is all about.

In the TV shows, both old and new, Masters of the Universe is all about the eternal struggle between good and evil. The game focuses on this conflict as well. The game, having a greater length than a typical show, allows there to be a few more twists and turns in the plot. Also, by the very nature of the game having at least two endings – win and lose, the game can explore such intriguing questions as what would it be like if Skeletor did indeed obtain the Power of Grayskull.

Masters of the Universe is stylistically based on the new animated series, but will there be an option for “old schoolers” to play a classic mode?

The old and new TV shows are very much alike. The primary difference is that the new show has a much greater production value to it. The only way to have an option for the old show would be to drastically reduce the art and animation quality. This is something we’re not willing to do as we really want this game to have the best possible art and animation in it to help immerse the player in the mystical word of Eterina.

Will the cutscenes be handled in-game or separately using high-res CG?

The cutscenes are being handled in-game.

Was the graphics engine developed in-house or was an engine licensed?

The graphic engine was developed in-house.

Advertisement

Which characters will put in appearances? Will Orko be included? With such a large cast of possible characters, how do you choose who to include and who to drop?

We really wanted to focus this first game on He-Man, and make him as robust as possible for the player to fully experience wielding the Power of Grayskull. He-Man will be facing off against a number of his traditions enemies: Tri-Klops, Beastman, Pantor, and Skeletor. He

Advertisement

will also have to deal with their various minions: Doomskeers, Shadowbeast, Skeletor Warriors, and the like. We do introduce a new character that we’d really like the player to discover in-game so enough said here.

Is there a temptation to go “overboard” (i.e. exaggerate some features) with the female characters? Lately, it seems to be a selling point for many games.

No, we’ve kept things very inline with the new TV show. That said, we have opted to pursue a more realist art style rather than copy the TV show’s cartoon style of art.

Obviously, He-Man’s sword will be his mainstay weapon, but how will he use it? Does the combat lean toward button mashing or a method that requires more finesse and timing?

He-Man will certainly have his sword, but there are a great many combinations moves, as well as three weapon sets/configurations for the player to select from. You could try and play He-Man as a mere button masher, but you won’t get very far. You really need to be an intelligent player and use the best weapon set and combination moves for the situation.

Will you be able to take on multiple enemies at once? Will there be some kind of combat target lock-on, like Legend of Zelda?

There are certainly multiple enemies He-Man will be fighting at once, and there is a lock-on system as well. That said, although you might be locked on to one enemy, certain moves are designed to inflicted damage on multiple enemies.

Will the audio stick close to the cartoon source or are new sound effects being developed and new musical scores being written?

The audio will hold true the TV show.

Masters of the Universe is being developed for GameCube, Playstation 2 and Xbox. Do you find it difficult to develop for all three simultaneously? How do you play to the strengths of each console if the game has to be “friendly” on all of them?

Savage has a great development system that allows them to develop for all platforms simultaneously, and take advantage of each one’s strengths.

Has much of the work on Masters of the Universe been contracted out to other companies?

Savage is doing all the work in-house.

Savage Entertainment has produced some good games. Did those games teach you anything and have you used that knowledge in developing Masters of the Universe?

Each new game builds on the experience of the last. Savage has been developing games for five years now, and prior to that they were an internal development team for Activision. They bring a great deal of gaming experience and expertise to every project they tackle.

Does the team have a good working relationship? Do you guys get together outside work?

The team works well together with a lot of give and take of creative ideas. Many of the working relationships go back a good number of years, and certainly friendships extend beyond the worksite.

Is there much Masters of the Universe memorabilia around the offices of Savage?

Yes, the artists have brought in their He-Man toys from their youth, and you can see these well-worn keepsakes standing side by side the brand new line of figures.

(July 6, 2003)