Interviews

THE HOBBIT
Interview with Adam Kahn & Stephanie Kavoulakos

Conducted by Ugur Sener

JA: What is the gameplay in The Hobbit going to be like? Will it be more of an adventure game or will there be strong RPG elements?

Adam: The Hobbit is an action/adventure game that also includes some light RPG elements. You play as Bilbo as he's unwittingly thrust into an epic adventure. It's third-person, and you have a variety of different objectives, but most of them revolve around getting the dwarves out of some sort of trouble! The game follows the main plot points of the book The Hobbit, so all your favorite characters and players are there.

JA: The game is coming out on PC, PS2, GameCube, Xbox and GBA, are there any differences between the versions on different platforms?

Adam: There are no differences in the game on PC vs. console, other than various technical things - the content is the same. The GBA game is completely different, of course.

JA: Who is the target audience? (The book was written clearly for a younger audience than LOTR, but it was still enjoyable for adults.)

Stephanie: We have purposefully aimed for a younger audience with The Hobbit. J. R. R. Tolkien's wrote this book for his children, and the game is designed to follow suit, in its appeal to children. However, we think that Tolkien fans of all ages will appreciate the richness and beauty of the environments and the variety of game play based upon this timeless story. We didn't want to make it too difficult, but we feel that it's still challenging enough to keep older gamers playing to the end.

JA: Can you tell us a little bit more about gameplay? What are some of the things Bilbo can do?

Stephanie: The Hobbit is an action-adventure game, with various styles and levels of combat, exploration, puzzle-solving and platforming. That said, Bilbo will have all the tools he needs to get ahead in such an environment -- he can climb things, jump on things, slide down things, ride in things, put things together, break things, find things, sneak around things, and beat up on things. And that's not all… but you'll have to play the game to find out more.

JA: Is there more of an emphasis on puzzles or fighting?

Stephanie: We wanted the game to be fast paced, so it is more action-oriented than puzzle- oriented. After Bilbo acquires the ring, there is always the option of becoming invisible, which allows the player to tackle action elements in two distinct ways. So, the player who enjoys killing all the monsters in a level can play the game their way, while the player who would rather explore than fight everything has the option of avoiding combat, through the use of the ring, and finding the more subtle path through the level.

JA: Is the battle in the book part of the game?

Stephanie: And yes, the Battle of Five Armies is represented in the game, with a little more participation by Bilbo than was detailed in the book-but it wouldn't be much fun if he didn't get to participate, would it?

JA: What are some the things you did to stay true to the story?

Stephanie: We tried to follow the story very closely. Areas that were major to the book but didn't seem to promote fun, action-packed game play we presented in stylized page-turns, or cinematics. Some of the other, more beloved segments such as Bilbo's Riddle-game with Gollum, we played up by turning them into fully-rendered movie cinematics. In all instances we worked closely with Tolkien consultants to ensure we were representing the book in an appropriate and compelling way.

JA: What are some of the things you changed to make the story more applicable to a video game? New characters? Enemies?

Stephanie: We inevitably changed the story slightly in areas to have Bilbo get separated from the Dwarves more frequently than he does in the book, so that he would need to fight/explore/puzzle-solve his way back to the group. This added a lot of action and game play that otherwise would be absent. Bilbo meets and befriends a Wood-elf and a Lake-town man, helping them in bad situations, and these characters assist him in later chapters. Inevitable also created a number of new enemies to supplement the Tolkien palette of Goblins, Spiders and Wargs.

JA: Are there any mini-games?

Stephanie: There are side-quests and activities that the player can explore with Bilbo, but in the true sense of the word, there aren't any "mini-games". The closest thing we have to a mini-game in The Hobbit is actually the lock picking mechanism, which is a timing puzzle in which you have to select the correct parts at the right time in order to open locked chests.

JA: Thanks again for giving us information about The Hobbit and we’ll look forward to the November release.