Interviews

Martin Ganteföhr of House of Tales: THE MOMENT OF SILENCE
Conducted by Bob Freese

Martin, on behalf of the JA staff and readers, thanks so much for spending some time with us.

Hi Bob, and JA+ readers. It’s my pleasure. :)

I’ve played the available demo download and am very impressed. This looks like a blockbuster adventure game to me. Please, could you give us some info on House of Tales, how and when you started, your staff, and the games you’ve produced?

House of Tales is owned and operated by my partner Tobias Schachte and me. We’ve been working together for nine years now, starting with educational games and consumer applications for the German market. In 1998/1999 we founded the House of Tales label and began with the development of the (in)famous adventure game Mystery of the Druids, our first step into the wondrous world of international game development. After the completion of MOTD, we released several adventure games for mobile phones and came up with The Moment of Silence, our largest and most ambitious development project so far. Right now we’ve a new, very challenging and exciting full-price title in development and no it’s not a sequel to Moment of Silence (MOS).

Mystery of the Druids received a lot of criticism from the American mainstream press. Did you attribute the negativism more to North American sensibilities or did you take the criticism to heart?

The Mystery of the Druids was a game that was flawed in many areas, and much of the criticism it received was justified. I must admit, however, that I was a little surprised by the obsessive nature of some of the negative reactions. We knew we could do better, but MOTD was a debut game, no more or no less. We never expected it to be a candidate for UNESCO’s world cultural heritage -- which apparently somewhat conflicted with the community’s opinion that no adventure game had a right to exist unless it “saved the genre”. When we had recovered from the terrible hangover all the negativity had given us, we sat down with the mission to create a better game. Although there is always room for improvement, I think we have succeeded.

Do you believe that there is a noticeable difference between what European and North American gamers expect from their adventure games?

No. There are cultural differences, of course, but at their core, adventure games get their appeal from being story-driven puzzle game. The appeal of a good story and challenging gameplay is universal.

Boy, do I ever agree with that! Could you tell us about The Moment of Silence’s genesis – how was it fostered along and did you plan completion and publishing from the very beginning? How long did it take to “go gold”?

Well, of course we had always planned MOS to be a commercial game; a decision, btw, that was heavily influenced by my landlord, the tax office and the situation inside my refrigerator. The initial concept was created a while after the release of MOTD. Things really began to take shape with an early prototype that was developed in 2002. As with many game development projects, MOS got stuck several times because of lack of funding and scheduling problems, but we always strongly believed in the game’s vision, and the perseverance finally paid off. All in all, I’d say that we worked more than two years on MOS, not counting budget securing, pitching, and several nervous breakdowns.

Whew! If your demo is any indication, I’d say your perseverance will rewarded “big time” in North America! What influenced your decision to choose Dreamcatcher as your North American publisher for The Moment of Silence?

Actually, the North America decision was made rather late, because we were very busy with the European releases and had to be careful not to work on too many things at the same time. Dreamcatcher is an excellent adventure game publisher with a strong market position and outstanding distribution power in North America. It was kind of a natural thing to work together.

How about the storyline – could you please give us an insight into the game world and characters?

I don’t want to spoil too much for those who haven’t played the game. Only this: MOS is a game set in New York in the year 2044. Our hero, Peter Wright, a man whose world is torn apart by a family tragedy, witnesses the arrest of his neighbor, and sets out on a dangerous journey. A journey that dramatically changes his look at both the world and his personal fate.

How about the technical aspects of the game and technology employed? Also, does it employ linear or non-linear play?

Yes, to a degree, the game features non-linearity. Although I found that hardly anybody notices it (Shame on you). The crux of non-linear elements is that people don’t realize them unless they replay the game and non-linearity is an occasional element, but clearly not the basic design principle of MOS.

What style of puzzles do you employ and what is their overall difficulty level?

We have the entire variety of puzzles in MOS, from machine-based to inventory puzzles. I think the game isn’t all that difficult. Actually, I believe it’s rather easy in parts, because most puzzles are interwoven within the story in a way that makes the solutions pretty obvious in their context. I’ve heard some complaints about one particular puzzle being a lot more difficult than all others but then again, that’s the end puzzle, the BOSS puzzle, if you will. You didn’t expect that to be all that easy, did you? :)

Nope! As long as there’s a save game before the “mother of all puzzles”, that’s very cool. How large is The Moment of Silence? Interactive characters, NPCs, destinations. I’ve heard it compared to The Longest Journey with regard to scope and quality (a giant compliment!). Do you agree?

There are 35 characters to talk to, and 75 scenes to visit. MOS lets you visit many of them multiple times in very different stages of the story – the middle part of the game is pretty complex. The comparison between MOS and The Longest Journey is of course very flattering, but the point of MOS isn’t to be like another game. I hope, and believe, that MOS has enough personality to be considered a unique creation.

I sure hope so – I hope we’re comparing future games to yours! What do think it will take for The Moment of Silence to be a success in North America, especially in a marketplace already overcrowded with triple A titles like Half Life 2, and World of Warcraft,…. etc?

I think what’s special about MOS is that it has a political perspective and offers a thriller concept that merges fiction and reality. This somewhat differs from the common consensus of what video game entertainment should or should not deal with. The approach may not please everyone, but I think mature subject matter and a political look at present or future realities isn’t something that is reserved for America’s Army and Full Spectrum Warrior. We cannot compete with multi-million dollar projects that can buy whatever technology and talent they need – but we can come up with meaningful content, and I hope that’s what MOS does.

We at Just Adventure are anxious for the North American release of The Moment of Silence. Very best wishes to you all and thanks for taking the time to chat with us.

Thanks to you, and thanks to the community out there for making our work possible. I hope you have a fun time with MOS. :)

Note to our readers: A video interview with the developer and game demo may be found here: http://www.momentofsilence.com