Dark Energy’s Rob Hewson, answers 20 Questions on Hydrophobia

Rob Hewson, Senior Creative Designer at Dark Energy Digital for the upcoming downloadable title Hydrophobia, was so kind as to answer questions from RealTalkgaming’s Joseph Bryant and FozzyBoudaz.

Now Hydrophobia,a survival-action game that will be released in episodes, will be available for download exclusive on Xbox 360, with a probable later release for PS3 as well as for the PC. Rob sheds light on the development of the game, the engine utilized, as well as the story behind Hydrophobia. Rob also reveals that he is apparently a pagan deity of some sort. A deity that has worshippers and accepts sacrifices, it would seem.

RTG:  What is the premise behind the game? What is it about, and where does it take place?

R.H. : The game is set in the mid 21st century when the world has become massively over populated (in line with actual UN projections) creating conflict, famine and poverty on a massive scale. It takes place onboard the Queen of the World – the largest ship ever built more like a city at sea in fact, which is home to the wealthy elite who live in exile from the world’s problems and the Five Founding Fathers who set it up in order to pursue their research according to their own rules.

In this climate two schools of political thought have emerged; one following the theories of Thomas Malthus, who wrote in 1798 that population, will always expand beyond the capacity of resource to sustain it. The other, which is embraced by the Queen of the World and it’s Five Founding Fathers, is a belief that human endeavor – technological and scientific progress, can ultimately find the solution to the catastrophic problems mankind faces.

You play as Kate Wilson, a systems engineer onboard the Queen of the World who is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time when Neo-Malthusian terrorists attack

RTG: Are you the toughest hand-to-hand fighter on the development team? If not; who is?

R.H.: We have several black belts here, and I am not one of them. I believe Ming (Lead Programmer) has the most martial arts accolades to his name. I am definitely the best drinker though; if you measure drinking ability by how little a person needs to consume to get drunk. I’m also the best punner and the most frequent clawer.

RTG:  Are you happy with the finished product? Was there any aspect of the game that you liked that DID NOT make it into the final product?

R.H.: Finishing is always the hardest part, they might have to send in the SAS to tear us away from our desks and pry the game from our hands. However we are mighty, mighty proud of what we have achieved with the game, we’ve succeeded in what we set out to do and created a game unlike anything else out there that’s for sure

RTG:  Do you think that having sex with a vampire could be considered necrophilia?

R.H.: Undead is not that same as dead IMO.

RTG: What other kinds of projects have you worked on before?

R.H.: Personally I’ve been working on Hydrophobia since I started in the industry almost 5 years ago, as well as a few side projects along the way. Collectively we’ve got team members who have worked on all sorts of titles, from Splinter Cell and Rainbow 6 to Burnout Paradise and Killzone 2.

RTG: What is more important on a sandwich; the meat or the bread?

R.H.: The bread, clearly. The meat can be replaced with all sorts of things; chips, cucumber, fish fingers, peanut butter…

RTG: Who are the Malthusians?

R.H.: The Neo Malthusians are extremists who regard Thomas Malthus as a prophet and perceive any attempt to increase the world’s resources as fuel to the population flood. The Queen of the World is abhorrent to them as a society, but more importantly one of the Five Founding Fathers, a company called NanoCell, is conducting research to purify water at the molecular level using nanotechnology and make the desserts of the world bloom. They want to destroy this research and send a message to the world, but there ultimate goal is to commit genocide on a global scale and reduce the world’s population to ½ billion worthy souls following the teachings of Malthus.

RTG: If a zombie apocalypse were to occur where would you go and who would you take with you?

R.H.: I’d take Pete Gomer, co-writer on Hydrophobia, because he knows pretty much everything there is to know about zombie apocalypse and I’d let him make the calls.

RTG: What influenced you guys to create a game so heavily focused upon water?

R.H.: The R&D team headed up by Huw Lloyd developed HydroEngine and showed it to the rest of us. From a design perspective is was very liberating; we were given true fluid dynamics, something no other developer in the world can do and told to make a kick ass game using it. It doesn’t get much better than that.

RTG: Do you offer sacrifice to any pagan deities?

A: We are pagan deities, people make sacrifices to us!

RTG: What was your inspiration for the story?

R.H.: We set ourselves a clear remit; to create a tangible near future scenario. Most fiction set in the future goes on a flight of fancy and uses it as a opportunity to create all kinds of fantastical technology and scenarios. We decided instead to focus on contemporary trends and draw them into the future. For example the UN is projecting over 9 billion people on planet earth by the middle of the century and not enough resources to go around. Malthusian politics are already beginning to arise as a result, and we know that nanotechnology is the next revolution in science and one of its ambitions is to purify water. There are all sorts of plans for floating cities out there already; all it needs is enough money and enough incentive for someone to actually build one.

RTG: Do you have a fear of water?

R.H.: I don’t run for the hills every time someone turns on the tap, but if I’ve in the middle of the ocean with goggles on and I look beneath the waves at the empty darkness stretching to infinity in all directions beneath my feet I find it pretty freaky. That asside, I think anyone would have a profound fear of water if they were trapped on a sinking ship with it crashing in all around them.

RTG: What are you playing these days?

R.H.: I’ve just completed Braid and I’m about to complete Portal for the second time, other than that I’ve been having fun in Battlefield 1943 recently and just as soon as I get round to it I think I’ll pick up Heavy Rain.

RTG: Do you think that having sex with a werewolf could be construed as bestiality?

R.H.: You see, when you asked about vampires earlier I was imagining some gorgeously nasty young lady so seductive that you wouldn’t mind sacrificing yourself for one moment of pure ecstasy… but I draw the line at anything with more hair than me.

RTG: Are there any upcoming projects you can tell us about?

R.H.: Yes, loads! Off the top of my head there are several construction projects underway for the London Olympics, I’m pretty sure the next Star Trek movie is being worked on at the moment, and I have it on good authority that they are opening a new pub just around the corner.

RTG: If you could transform into an animal, what animal would you turn into to?

R.H.: A chimp. There’s nothing quite like swinging around naked in trees while throwing your shit at others… I’d imagine.

RTG: What would be your ideal game to work on?

R.H.: That’s a tricky question. Would you like to work on your favourite games, or would working on them spoil the experience for you? I have to say that working on original IP is awesome, I’m not sure if I’d find it too restrictive working on something established!

RTG: What Street Fighter character do you most relate to?

R.H.: I was always crap at Street Fighter, my fingers just don’t move fast enough! I just learnt how to sit back and do the 100 hand slap, so I guess I’ll go with E Honda

RTG: What kind of engine did you guys use for the water physics?

R.H.: It’s called HydroEngine, and it was developed in house by Huw Lloyd (R&D Director) and his team. It is the world’s first true fluid dynamics engine for games so we’re really proud of it, it’s a true first for gaming.

RTG: Do you cover your webcams in order to prevent the government from monitoring you?

R.H.:We used InfiniteWorlds to create a virtual version of the studio, complete with all of us going about our day to day activity and fed it into our webcams. That way if the government is spying on us they will come to the conclusion that we are working a game called Virtual Politician.

So there you have it, ladies and gentleman. A little bit of info of this upcoming title as well as revelations regarding various topics such as sandwiches, necrophilia, and a little bit about the combat prowess of the development team. We would like to thank Rob for enduring these terrible inquiries and we also encourage you bustas to check out Hydrophobia on Xbox Live, and a post-release on PSN, as well as the PC!

The Q&A session were carried out by Joseph Bryant, XLive Tag “Swiftglasseater” and Fozzy Boudaz, Xlive Tag “xfbgamerx”.