I was bringing up monitors on other strategy games being like 'this is how it works, see?' and realised about mid-way through this speech how stupid I was being explaining to this guy. I demoed it to him and he said 'why's John Wick waiting while everyone else shoots him before he does something?'. "I remember showing it to Jason Constantine who's the big head honcho of John Wick, the executive producer - basically the guy who controls the franchise. "The initial prototype was turn-based, pretty much one-character X-COM", Bithell said. They were telling me how John makes decisions, and then we went 'OK how do we make that into a game that explores that', and that to me seemed way more interesting than doing a shooter." Parabellum thinking.Īfter Bithell was approached by Andac (who knew Bithell enjoyed John Wick, having watched the film with him a month before), the next stage was to build a prototype - but the strategy genre didn't instantly fit with the films, and certain adjustments had to be made. Then came the process of making that, pitching that, working with them, and then getting all of the filmmakers from the movies involved. "So for me, I wanted to give players that sense of a strategic thinking, that high-level choreography. I'm running around shooting a gun, you can put neon around me, you can give me a suit, dress it up as John Wick - but it's not going to feel like John Wick. They obviously got a lot of pitches for third person shooter games, but the reason I didn't pitch that was because I'm clumsy and stupid in third person shooters. "But they brought in Ben to produce it, and specifically wanted a game that wasn't the obvious solution to the problem. "Lionsgate and Good Shepherd were chatting about doing games, and John Wick immediately jumped out as something you could make a game about," Bithell explained. I found myself really engaging with the decision-making process, and gradually speeding up to the point I could dominate a room (in style) without batting an eyelid.īut how did John Wick Hex end up as a strategy game in the first place, and how did the team behind it make it work? As I discovered from speaking to designer Mike Bithell (of Thomas Was Alone and Volume), the decision to select an unexpected genre seemed to be mutual from both publisher and designer. How on earth would that fluid, choreographed, almost-balletic fighting style be represented in the game?Īll this scepticism meant that when I tried John Wick Hex at E3, I was in for a big surprise. Although the trailer displayed a clear vision and original approach, I wondered how the John Wick films - notoriously fast and improvisational in style - could be translated into a slower-paced strategy game without losing. I'll be honest: when John Wick Hex was first unveiled back in May, I had my doubts.
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