The Armchair Empire - Interviews: Jim Veevaert, Rare Q&A

Rare is responsible for many, many hours of time spent indoors for millions of gamers everywhere. Rare's hits include Donkey Kong 64 (N64), Perfect Dark (N64), Banjo-Kazooie (N64), and the now classic, GoldenEye (N64). Obviously it's a tradition they'd like to continue with the upcoming Kameo (XB) and Grabbed by the Ghoulies (XB). We hit Jim Veevaert, executive producer for Rare at Microsoft, with 10 questions. Get the lowdown on Kameo's switch from GameCube and its "girly" veneer, living up to high expectations, movie licenses, and the possibility of a Conker's Bad Fur Day sequel. And keep your eyes peeled for at least one allusion that could refer to something big coming down the pipe. Thanks for your time, Jim!

Related Links:

Review: Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64)

Review: Starfox Adventures (GC)

Review: Donkey Kong 64 (N64)

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Jim Veevaert, Rare Q&A

Without further ado, we'll begin with the introductions: who are you, what is your role at Rare, how long have you been there, what is your background in gaming, and what kind of personality do you have?

[Jim Veevaert] I'm the executive producer for Rare at Microsoft. I've been with Microsoft for two years and prior to assuming the Rare position, I was responsible for establishing key development relationships on behalf of the company for games such as Counter-Strike for the Xbox and a few unannounced projects. I held the same role at Sierra for 4 years where I spent most of my time managing Valve and the Half-Life franchise. I started with Interplay in the early 90's and worked on games such as Descent, and the early Blizzard titles. I would say I'm a type A with no chance of escape, and I think that's what it takes to continue in this business. There's a consistent demand to raise the bar with game content and equally as much pressure on the financial end as well.

Some parallels can be drawn between Grabbed by the Ghoulies and the old LucasArts classic, "Zombies Ate My Nieghbours". Was this one of Grabbed's sources of inspiration? (What other sources of inspiration can be cited?)

I haven't heard that connection made before, but it's interesting. Ghoulies was a concept developed during the later stages of Banjo-Tooie and the team was mostly inspired by the classic Scooby-Doo cartoons.

An aspect so associated with UK culture is trips to the pub. Do any of these trips result in good game ideas? (And I'm not talking about drinking game ideas.)

Rare spends a great deal of time developing and polishing games. I don't think anyone has the time to make it to the pub as it were. I suppose that culture primarily applies to London game development although I wouldn't know.

Kameo switched development from GameCube to Xbox. How difficult was the transition?

I don't think it was difficult at all. In fact the Xbox hardware enabled the Kameo team to better realize their ambitions. MS sent over dev kits in Sep ‘02, and I believe Rare had a version working on the Xbox in just 4 weeks. It was incredible in terms of how fast the team became acclimated to the Xbox architecture. Also, I wouldn't say it's a translation. Much of the game has been developed since Sep ‘02. The most recent milestone that I reviewed was incredible. It was amazing to look back even to as recent as E3 to see the differences from where the game once was. The team has been very aggressive in refining the game mechanics and you'll see what I mean hopefully soon.

How will Kameo advance its genre? Or will it hone already established conventions?

I think the best thing about this game is that it's a Rare game. And with that comes incredible polish, creativity and innovation. Rare doesn't look to advance genre as much as they aspire to really innovate in gameplay and the overall balance of a game. Whether or not Kameo advances a genre will be up to the critics and the players themselves. And because it's a Rare game, it doesn't neatly fit into one genre. In some respects it's an RPG, in others aspects it's very action based with stunning achievements in art.

Some say that Kameo is too "girly". How would you address this assessment?

Play the most recent build and I would be surprised to hear any comments along those lines. The game is centered around the very diverse combat driven by the various monsters one collects throughout the game. It's a constant balance of determining which monster possesses the strongest attack in a given situation. At times you would need to move in a stealth like fashion and at other points it's about sheer blasting power. Like I said when everyone sees the latest evolution of the game, I think people will realize that what they saw was very early in development.

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There haven't been too many games from Rare that haven't produced signature characters. Does Kameo have the right stuff to become another Rare signature character?

I think it has the right stuff to be a Rare signature game. Kameo as a character is very cool, but the game is very much about the different monsters and the immersive combat. This isn't a typical Rare character based game. Players should have a

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great time learning new skills for each of the monsters and the team is confident that this will drive the player to continue on. The skills will be necessary in the intense combat situations and it's a key aspect in the game's design. It's true that Kameo is the central character of the game, but most of game itself will be spent in very challenging battles.

Are there sequel plans for Conker's Bad Fur Day? Only "Yes" or "No" will be accepted as answers, thank-you.

Yes or No. ;)

Rare has a reputation for producing quality games, from Donkey Kong Country to Starfox Adventures and GoldenEye and points in-between. With such a background, is there any feeling of dread when starting a new project - that it won't live up to high expectations?

That's actually the best part of the process. It's at that point that the opportunities are extensive in that a team can begin to visualize a game or a gameplay mechanic unlike anything done before. I think it's the best time for designers to let themselves go and experiment. Watching a team develop a plan and a form a consensus for a game's vision is one of the experiences that really excite me about this business. And as far as expectations are concerned, the team at Rare relentlessly polishes a game until it achieves their standard. The biggest challenge in starting a new game is mostly about narrowing down the many ideas and projects that have been sitting on the back shelf waiting to go into development.

GoldenEye was such a huge hit that it's always made me wonder why Rare hasn't done a movie license since. Why hasn't Rare picked-up movie licenses over the years?

If the right license came along it would definitely be something worth considering or at least discussing. However, the company has been very successful in developing original IP [intellectual property]. If you look at a typical movie license deal there are a lot of issues that go along with it that can be very prohibitive in creating a great game such as creative control and of course backend royalty points. Why push a team to help build someone else's IP? It seems interesting to note that the interest level in the Bond franchise overall increased in popularity and in its financial success after Goldeneye the game was released. Maybe it's the other way around in that Hollywood should be approaching Rare looking for content, and that just might be the case.

And the Question that was asked but not answered:

What was the big deal surrounding Rare’s move from Nintendo to Microsoft? Why all the secrecy when many in the industry knew what was going on?

(September 14, 2003)


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