Earlier in the month TAG had the opportunity to go hands-on with EA's Dead Space: Extraction. Now that the Necromorph-induced jitters have worn off and our hands have steadied we asked Executive Producer Steve Papoutsis some clarifying questions about the game. (And before you even ask, no: in Space, no one can hear Miis scream.)

Due out September 29th, Extraction seeks to bring this survival horror franchise to the Wii in the form of an on-rails shooter. Needless to say, with this genre playing to one of the Wii's greatest strengths there is a great deal of excitement surrounding this title, especially considering that from our own hands-on preview the graphics and artistic style seem to have made a smooth transition.

With E3 upon us, expect to see more news on this unique title soon, but in the mean time... Look out behind you! (Sorry -- I promise that was the last jump before the interview.)

This interview was a joint effort between Patrick Cassin and Jeff Bailey.

SP: Extraction is a prequel to Dead Space; the story kicks off at the moment when the red marker is extracted from the colony Aegis VII.  The protagonists in the story find themselves in the middle of the initial Necromorph outbreak on the colony and look for sanctuary on the giant planet cracker class mining ship the USG Ishimura.

The game is being developed exclusively for the Nintendo Wii.  In Extraction you are playing from a first person perspective and using the unique controls of the Nintendo Wii to dismember and defeat the Necromorphs.  The feel of the game is very frenetic but still very natural, for instance you point your Wii remote at the screen to aim and press the B button to fire, alternate fire is as simple as rotating your Wii remote.  We have made it a priority to make the controls feel natural in the game and are avoiding abstract gestures that do not have a real world analog.

It sounds like one of the big differences between Dead Space and Extraction is the addition of co-op play.  In what functional ways will the single and cooperative modes differ? For example, how will the aforementioned cooperative puzzles play out in a single player session?

SP: Co-op has been a big focus in Extraction.  We wanted to make sure players could enjoy the game with a friend without sacrificing the story and experience.  Puzzles will require coordination by both players.  As an example imagine a puzzle where you have the pressure of enemies bearing down on you, one player can work on the first part while the other dispatches the advancing Necromorphs.  Once the first portion of the puzzle is completed player two will work on the next segment.  We are working hard to make sure both players feel equally involved in all of the special interactions in the game.  We wanted to avoid having player two feel like they were along for the ride.

Another important element to our Co-op was making sure the second player could join in at any time without forcing player one to jump out to a menu and create a special save file for their game.  It is always a bit of a bummer when you are deep into a game and have to start from the beginning when a friend wants to team up with you.   We wanted to make sure people could easily play together and enjoy the story from any point in the game.

Some of the most innovative features of Dead Space were the zero-gravity and vacuum environments, and the maneuvers and controls that were used in those areas.  With Extraction, will we be seeing either of these environments return?  Will there be any other original areas with their own special rules?

SP: Extraction will feature Zero-G and Airless sections.  We will be talking about these and demonstrating them closer to launch.

With all the weapons from Dead Space returning (plus a few new ones), will the ammunition and inventory storage system be roughly the same, with shops, money, workbenches and power nodes used to build and modify weapons? Can you save things like stasis and med-packs for later use?

SP: Extraction is taking a slightly different approach to inventory and upgrade management.  In Extraction players will be able to carry as much ammunition as they can find.  Upgrades will happen on the fly when upgrade nodes are collected.  This approach has allowed us to keep the action and pacing moving along at a good clip but still provides players with options as it relates to their weapons.  As in the original Dead Space players will be limited to only carrying 4 weapons at a time, this will present players with the option of what weapon they find is best for their given situation.

Speaking of weapons, you've revealed that there are three new weapons in Extraction, and you've named two of them - the rivet gun, and the arc welder.  Has enough time passed since those tidbits were given to the gaming community that you feel comfortable revealing more details about the third new weapon?

SP: Right now we are going to keep the last weapon a secret.  The Rivet Gun is the default weapon for the player and will have unlimited ammo, in addition to being used to rivet things into place.  The Arc Welder’s primary fire mode sends out a charge of electricity that can arc between multiple targets when they are in close proximity to one another.  The Secondary Fire on the Arc Welder sends out a large electrical ball the deals devastating damage based on the proximity of its targets.

You've said that the blue-line navigation interface will exist in Extraction as a way to choose between multiple paths as you advance through the story.  With multiple paths confirmed, is it possible that Extraction will include multiple endings?

SP: Extraction does use a modified version of the Locator found in Dead Space.  This will allow users to branch off the main path in the game to let them explore around their environment.   We are not planning on having multiple endings in Extraction.

When the idea for this game was first conceived, was it the guided first-person experience that naturally suggested the Wii as a platform? Given that the Wii is still the only current generation console with a significant light-gun library, did the Wii provoke the game or did the game suggest the Wii?

SP: Good question.  When we first started thinking about Extraction we wanted to deliver a unique game that would still deliver on the amazing visuals and atmosphere found in Dead Space.  Taking the guided first person approach has allowed us to deliver what we feel are very strong visuals and atmosphere while still retaining the core mechanics from the original game. 

It's been mentioned in interviews that Extraction started its life during the development of Dead Space. Did the whole Dead Space team take the time to learn the ins and outs of writing a game for the Wii, or was it more a process of transferring images and art assets, then taking a Wii development team and immersing them in the Dead Space universe?

SP: Extraction did start during the original Dead Space but we had a lot of work left to do on Dead Space at the time.  I split time between working on Dead Space and thinking about Extraction with a very small group of people.  We had the benefit of already understanding the look of the universe, its enemies, and core mechanics.  So the time spent on Extraction was focused around figuring out the best way to replicate the most important of Dead Space on the Nintendo Wii.  We are working on the game with development assistance from Eurocom and we spent a time getting them up to speed on our universe and assets while completing the original Dead Space.

The Wii's groundbreaking achievement was to open up gaming to a much larger and wider audience - to create gamers where gamers had not existed before.  Many of those new gamers are either younger players or are not attracted to the more violent titles that are on 360 or PS3.  How much did this concern the developers - were there fears (or hopes) that players would be using line cutters to dismember Miis?

SP: *Laughs* Dismembering Mii’s did come up a few times during our design brainstorms - funny you should mention that.  :)

As you state, the Wii has done a great job of getting more people interested in gaming however there are still a number of hard core gamers who own all three of the current consoles.  We wanted to make sure that Extraction was appealing to the Hard Core crowd as well as new gamers.  Right now the controls are very accessible, once people have the Wii Remote in their hand they understand the controls quickly but the game also offers a significant challenge for veteran gamers.

Every developer is looking for that secret sweet spot where all types of gamers will enjoy their game, we are hoping what we have will appeal to all types of gamers.  In the end though we are making sure we make a game that remains true to the Dead Space franchise and are not sacrificing any of the core elements in order to bringing in new fans.  Dead Space was great and we hope what we have in Extraction will be thought of in the same light.

The heads-up interface for Dead Space was flawlessly executed, allowing access to all the information the player needed while keeping them wrapped up in the game. How are the virtual images, text logs and health meter incorporated in Extraction? Has shifting from third-person to first-person kept the heads-up interface intact?

SP: The HUD in Dead Space was very unique and a potential challenge in Extraction given our First Person perspective.  Our approach has been to try and keep as much of the critical information attached to the players Reticule.  Currently you can see how much stasis and ammunition you have by simply looking at the Reticule.  When taking damage we use a screen treatment that lets the player they are being hurt.  We also have what we are calling a mini-rig that can be toggled on and off by pressing a button on the Wii Remote.  There will also be an option to always display the mini rig should a player wish to have this information displayed at all times.

As far as text and video logs those make a return in Extraction with very similar presentations.

With multiple characters playable during the same game, will each character have equal access not only to the weapons, but to special abilities like stasis and telekinesis?  Or would each character have their own set of skills and unique interface, each one fit to a specific type of problem or situation?

SP: The various characters in the game will all have stasis and TK.  The differentiator will be their default weapon load outs.  Our current thoughts are that each character has their own signature weapon.

The pacing in Dead Space was carefully crafted, with intense action scenes interspersed with scenes of quiet tension and eerie silence.  Has this sense of respite in the game's action flow transferred successfully to Extraction, or do you view the direction of a guided first-person experience as fundamentally one of intense action?

SP: Pacing was a critical part of the atmosphere and mood in Dead Space and we are taking the same approach in Extraction.  While Extraction will lean towards more action, it will still retain quiet mood setting moments.  In order to create the proper setting it is important that we alternate between high action sequences and what we call pacing sections.  If the action is always at a high it becomes difficult to scare the player, something we hope to do often in Extraction.

Will Dead Space Extraction support Motion Plus? And have you developed the game with any other peripherals in mind? I'm looking forward to another game where I can break out my Balance Board.

SP: Motion Plus is a very interesting peripheral that we investigated.  In the end the type of gameplay that is found in Extraction would not benefit from the peripheral.  Players will be able to play the game with the Zapper.

What are the future plans for the Dead Space world?  Can the fans look forward to an Extraction comic book story or (even more awesome) another movie like Downfall?

SP: The Dead Space universe and fiction is very deep.  At this time I cannot comment on what is in store.

Would you like to say anything at all about the idea of Dead Space 2?  Does Extraction have threads that could be picked up in either Dead Space 2 or even Extraction 2?

SP: As I touched on in the last question there is a lot of depth to the Dead Space fiction.  The idea of future games is something that I personally am very excited about but I cannot comment beyond that.  Thanks for the great interview.

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