Nina Kristensen talks to Lesbiangamers.com about Heavenly Sword and More!

Here we are with a special LesbianGamers.com interview with Nina Kristensen from Ninja Theory, the people behind the PS3 title Heavenly Sword. Please be aware there are Heavenly Sword spoilers in this interview. Are you happy with the reception that Heavenly Sword has received? Yeah, it has been superb! When you're developing a game you think you've got something good.. you're pretty sure.. but you just don't know until it's out there. And getting the kind of accolades we've been receiving is such a good feeling - the team is really proud. Did you originally set out to create a game that would appeal to female gamers as well, or just went with a good storyline that would appeal to everyone? We set out to tell a really good story. To give players an experience that we hoped would elicit real emotions as they go on the journey with Nariko. Without sounding like we’re sucking up, we absolutely LOVED the game and we were disappointed with the lack of advertising, at least in our local area. Was a large advertising budget made available to you for the game? Thanks so much! Sony put a pretty good marketing budget behind the game which included TV & cinema advertising in a lot of territories - we were pleased, sorry to hear that you didn't see much! Did you find it more difficult to get support within the industry because the game features two main female characters? It was interesting actually, some publishers initially questioned the choice since there hasn't been a really successful female lead since Lara. But we felt very strongly about it; the story was so much more powerful that way and it wasn't too hard to get buy in. The emotional journeys that both Nariko & Kai go on over the course of the game are intense and we felt that players would be able to connect with them more closely as women. You just don't want to see a grown man cry! Where did you get the inspiration for the characters in the game? We thought their quirkiness and outlandish personalities were some of the best in video game history. It all started with the story. Tameem Antoniades our Chief Creative Ninja came up with the original story then he worked with Rhianna Pratchet our writer to flesh it out. When Andy Serkis (aka Gollem from Lord of the Rings, Kong in King Kong) came on board as our Dramatic Director, he workshopped extensively with the actors to build up each character, their background, character arc and the relationships they have with each other. A huge amount of this work cycled back directly into the game itself. We read that the voice over actress for Nariko is Australian. Her voice acting is amazing, right up there with Lara Croft. Was the voice acting as integral to the game as good gameplay and graphics for you? She nailed it. Because of the way we captured the performance the whole package was important. Anna Torv who plays Nariko is indeed Australian and was cast in the role because she had everything - great physical performance, great voice, great facial expression. We sought actors who could truly perform and went through a normal casting process just as you would do for a film. We captured body, face & voice all at the same time on a sound stage with multiple actors - something that had never been done before. This is important because when they actors make eye contact, that eye contact is real. When they leap onto each other's arms, that physicality is real. So we are getting a true and real performance just as you would in any film or theatre production. In fact the setup we pioneered with Weta Digital for Heavenly Sword has since been used in the films Beowulf & Avatar. We were gutted to the point of tears at the end of the game (we know - sooo girly!). How could you kill off Nariko! She is one of the best female gaming characters ever! Heehee, if you shed a tear for Nariko you totally made my day! The beautiful thing about inventing a universe like that of Heavenly Sword is that you get to make up all the rules and happily, in the Heavenly Sword universe, just because you're dead, it doesn't mean your life is over ;) Will there be a sequel and please give us the exclusive that Nariko is coming back - we beg of you!! We haven't announced anything as yet but I can confirm that when we wrote the original story we did write it as a trilogy... We’re staying positive here…. Will Nariko be wearing more clothing in the next outing if she returns? There wasn’t much armour coverage there! Ah but Nariko is so swift & elegant, she doesn't need armour! What first sparked your interest in gaming and are you an avid gamer? Getting into games development for me can only be termed a "happy accident". I moved to London from Australia about ten years ago shortly after finishing university where I studied Industrial Design. I was having an awful lot of fun in London but it also transpires that London is really _really_ expensive when you’re travelling on the Aussie dollar! After a couple of months I urgently needed a job and the first interview I attended was at a games developer in Cambridge. I hadn’t considered games as a career – in Australia at that time there wasn’t much of an industry so it came as a surprise to me that the skills, particularly my knowledge of 3D art packages, that I’d learnt at university were applicable to an industry I didn’t really know existed. Even more surprising to me was that I could actually be paid to make art. I instantly fell in love with the industry and have never looked back! After you impressively saved Ninja Theory after Argonaut Games went into administration, did you feel you got more respect within the industry and do you feel you suffer any adverse effects in the industry because you’re a woman? I haven't really thought about it like that as such but I think those who know us, respect the fact that we're very ambitious and very driven. I've never had any problems in games because I'm female. I find games development to be very welcoming and inclusive and think it is because we have such a wonderfully diverse range of people who are all keenly focused on the same thing but coming at it from every possible angle. Obviously we have the wide range disciplines including programming, art, animation, audio, design, production etc etc but we also recruit from all over the world so the collective life experiences of the team make the environment very rich. Is there any chance of a similar game to Kung Fu Chaos heading to a next gen platform at some point? We think some of the next gen consoles take themselves too seriously and need to lighten up! Kung Fu Chaos would be awesome as an XBLA or PSN game! I think we're going to be seeing more and more interesting and diverse games coming along in the next few years as online & downloadables become increasingly mainstream. Final Question! When can we expect to see Nariko again ;o) Not that we miss her already or anything! Wish I could tell you but I'm afraid it's all under wraps for now :( So there you have it, there will be a Heavenly Sword 2, there's certainly no denial of that from Nina and she was very positive about Nariko's life not being over, further alluding to another game in the series. We'd like to thank Nina for her time, Heavenly Sword is a superb game, so if you have a PS3 and don't yet have it, go get it. Further Heavenly Sword Goodness: The Official Heavenly Sword Website can be found HERE. YouTube Picks: You may have seen this superb video on our front page Nariko - My Immortal Heavenly Sword Trailer

Comments

[Colvin]

Nice interview ladies.

Sounds like there's definitely at least another Heavenly Sword game in the works at present and possibly another one after that.

Great news for fans of the first one.

[Noreen]

I am loved this game so much, was very sad at close to see what happen. Very glad the hero Nariko and sister are coming again.

Thank you for wonderful site and wonderful news about this game.

[Christopher]

This was a lovely read...

I'm so happy Heavenly Sword 2 is in the works, and that Nariko may return :)