|
Page 1 of 3
I almost always feel like I should make a disclaimer or apology about the Postal series. It's a violent series. It's a dirty series. It's a politically incorrect series. But you know what it's a fun satirical series. While that's not an excuse, people have gotten away with a lot more and a lot worse in the games industry than the guys at Running With Scissors have done.
I sat down and had a very fun and informal chat with their level designer, Tim Wambolt. The exchange we had was charismatic, informative and I can't wait to talk to these guys again, especially if their game gets banned (again) in Australia. I cannot thank Tim enough for this interview, but first and foremost is a good introduction, so Tim, what have you worked on in the past?
I worked on Eternal Damnation, a total conversion mod for POSTAL 2 as well as a few other mods with my awesome friends at Resurrection Studios!
2: How long have you and RWS been working on Postal 3?
We made the mistake of announcing it way too soon before we even started working on it, that's why it seems like it's taking so long but in reality it's only taken about the same about of time as any other big next-gen title.
3: When did you guys decide on the December release date?
Our development team Akella is finishing up the game now and they say that it should be ready for a Christmas release, they've been secretly working really hard on the game and have plenty of big surprises to make up for the wait!
4: How does one do a level design on an open-world game?
Since we're using the Source engine the levels are limited in size so the key is to connect many levels together for maximum open-endedness! Similar to the way Half-Life 2 did it!
5: Will Postal 3 have the same fairly laidback missions as Postal 2? (i.e. average chores turning into scatological mayhem)
Yep! We're using the classic formula of doing things the player can relate to, and then when everything veers off into insanity they have complete freedom to have fun and go crazy!
6: Are you aware of the controversy that happened with the previous game in Australia and in Sweden? Are you worried about the release of the next game?
We hope everybody who plays it will just play for fun and not take anything seriously. It's just a comedy. It's supposed to be stupid and silly. We designed it just to make everyone laugh and have fun, exploring and doing stupid, silly things!
Reply
Forward
Reply
HTF to Tim
show details Nov 4
I shan't bother Vince again. I bet he's incredibly stressed out. Thank you so much for replying.
6: So you worked on the mod and they hired you from that?
I remember hearing about Postal 3 and seeing some footage of a badger or evil creature being used as a weapon and I laughed incredibly hard.
7: Was that an early engine or was that you guys just prepping for the game?
I remember Postal 2 not being that linear, but being a hell of a lot fun and I love the HL2 comparison. I can definitely imagine. 8: When did Akella start working on the game?
I feel like Postal 2 may be one of the only games that starts off with a realistic day plan and then just gets more ridiculous. 9: Who is writing the script for the game?
10: Do you guys hope people will mod the new game, like they did with Postal 2?
Despite not being a fan of Uwe Boll, I enjoyed Postal so much and found it one of the only good video game movies, did you enjoy the flick?
6: So you worked on the mod and they hired you from that?
Yes I also had to submit a resume and interview with the company, and show them examples of my work. I graduated from The Art Center and earned my degree in computer graphics and animation.
I remember hearing about Postal 3 and seeing some footage of a badger or evil creature being used as a weapon and I laughed incredibly hard. 7: Was that an early engine or was that you guys just prepping for the game?
Ah yes, the badger chainsaw! The most insane weapon ever! No that was the same engine, (the Source engine) the badger did however look more like a wolverine at the time but Akella has tweaked it since then and it now looks like an actual badger! Wait until you see it in action!
I remember Postal 2 not being that linear, but being a hell of a lot fun and I love the HL2 comparison. I can definitely imagine. 8: When did Akella start working on the game?
We went back and forth over the design with them for quite some time after announcing the game. The actual game development itself took about 3 to 4 years to finish.
I feel like Postal 2 may be one of the only games that starts off with a realistic day plan and then just gets more ridiculous. 9: Who is writing the script for the game?
Yes, if you thought POSTAL 2 was insane wait until you see what our lead writer Steve Wik has in store for the new story line! Think South Park on crack!
10: Do you guys hope people will mod the new game, like they did with Postal 2?
Modding has been THE main thing that has kept POSTAL alive over the years! Our POSTAL modders are so talented that I wouldn't be surprised if some of the mods turn out even better than the actual game! It will be worth the purchase for that alone! Big shoutouts to all our brilliant modders: Toploader, Kamek, Wolve, SkillMaster, SystemShock, Silent-Scope, Dopamine, DisgruntledGirl, MentalMan, The Oagh, PostalGuy89, BAZOOKA, Biohazardous Snark, Tomshinguard, BAMF, Alex Dark, GeNoCyDe, Scott Drysdale, BrAiNLeSsWaNkR, and many, many more! You guys are the real POSTAL team! Thank you for all the fun over the years!
Despite not being a fan of Uwe Boll, I enjoyed Postal so much and found it one of the only good video game movies, did you enjoy the flick?
Yeah! WTF? I had no hopes for the movie but surprisingly it had a lot of funny, offensive moments: "We all hate Jews!" LOL Uwe Boll should just stick to comedy!
I think the Postal movies is probably the best thing Boll has ever done. I actually did a gorky internet review of the film back in my teen YouTube days. It was terrible. Anyway, thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly.
So I'll just be brief with the questions coz you answered so much already.
1. Okay, so what happened with the game being released on consoles. I remember hearing that it might be out in 2012?. Are you guys hoping to release it on PSN or XBLA or an official release?
We are such a small company that we can't afford to hire a team to program the game for consoles at this time unfortunately. We would very much love to though! If there are any talented Dev teams out there reading this with any interest to help us bring POSTAL 3 to consoles please contact us and maybe we can negotiate something!
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
2. Are you testing the waters with the Steam release before the console ports? I think its the first Postal game for console. Have you got specific devs working on it?
Akella is the only team working on the game currently. Aside from bringing POSTAL 3 to console we would also love to find another team capable of remaking POSTAL 1 with better graphics and new weapons to help us bring it to Steam and XBOX Live Arcade!
3. I feel like Postal 3 and Duke Nukem Forever are two really old-school violent games that have been in development forever. Did you play DNF? What'd you think?
I did play the DNF demo, it was pretty funny! Those guys have a good sense of humor, I respect that! I'm proud that they actually finished the game like they promised! And I'm a big fan of trashy, violent dark humor! My favorite Duke Nukem game was the N64 port!
4. With your mention of Steve Wik before, has he worked on previous Postal games or anything else? What is the craziest thing he's written for you guys?
Steve Wik is the creator of POSTAL! He IS POSTAL! Everything he writes is completely insane (in a good way!) To read more of his outrageousness go to www.runningwithscissors.com and subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with all the insane articles that Steve writes for us!
5. Are there any new characters/celebrities or insane scenarios you just absolutely loved in Postal 2? Do they make a comeback in 3?
The Dude is back, Uncle Dave is back, Champ is back, the Taliban is back and most importantly, Krotchy is back! POSTAL 3 will also introduce new characters and celebrities such as Jennifer Walcott who you might recognize from Playboy, Randy Jones who you might recognize from The Village People and Ron Jeremy who you might recognize from hardcore pornography.
6 and finally, What are you hoping most of all about Postal 3? I know you guys definitely have a fanbase and that you guys will do swimmingly, but are your highest hopes for the game.
We hope all of our fans love the game and we hope to also gain some new fans! And hopefully the game will do well enough for us to continue making funny video games and funny movies for you guys!
I honestly cannot wait for Postal 3 to come out. I really hope I can play the game in December or even before then, which would be weird in a time-travel way.
Thank you again, Tim and give my regards to the guys at RWS,
HE
Thank you for the interview! And thank you everybody for your patience towards our small team! While you wait for December, if any of you fans of the POSTAL movie, the POSTAL video games, (or anybody else who may be curious) would like to see how completely insane we at Running With Scissors really are, go to www.youtube.com/timwambolt and hit the SUBSCRIBE button to watch the most outrageous POSTAL sketch comedy videos on the internet! Made by yours truly as well as the rest of the POSTAL team here at Running With Scissors! A word of warning though, the videos are very violent and vulgar! We ARE the POSTAL team after all! Our fans should know what to expect! Enjoy! I'll see you all in the comments section on youtube
TW: I worked on Eternal Damnation, a total conversion mod for POSTAL 2 as well as a few other mods with my awesome friends at Resurrection Studios.
QJ: A lot of the modding community seems to be getting into games. It's a great show of skill and pretty much everything else when it comes to gaming, but that mod was back in 2006, how long have you and RWS been working on Postal 3?
TW: We made the mistake of announcing it way too soon before we even started working on it, that's why it seems like it's taking so long but in reality it's only taken about the same about of time as any other big next-gen title.
QJ: I think the earliest reports I heard about it was back in 2009. When did you guys decide on the December release date?
TW: Our development team Akella, is finishing up the game now and they say that it should be ready for a Christmas release, they've been secretly working really hard on the game and have plenty of big surprises to make up for the wait.
QJ: So for those who played Postal 2, it was a fairly laidback way to play the game, which I loved, and I feel like you're the guy to ask for this. How does one do a level design on an open-world game?
TW: Since we're using the Source engine the levels are limited in size so the key is to connect many levels together for maximum open-endedness! Similar to the way Half-Life 2 did it!
QJ: As I mentioned before about Postal 2's style, Will Postal 3 have the same fairly laidback missions as Postal 2? (i.e. average chores turning into scatological mayhem)
TW: Yep! We're using the classic formula of doing things the player can relate to, and then when everything veers off into insanity they have complete freedom to have fun and go crazy!
QJ: Now this is always a sticky mess when your game is banned overseas but were you aware of the controversy that happened with the previous game in Australia and in Sweden? Are you worried about the release of the next game?
TW: We hope everybody who plays it will just play for fun and not take anything seriously. It's just a comedy. It's supposed to be stupid and silly. We designed it just to make everyone laugh and have fun, exploring and doing stupid, silly things.
QJ: You mentioned briefly that you worked on the mod Eternal Damnation. Did Running With Scissors hire you based on your work with that?
TW: Yes, but I also had to submit a resume and interview with the company, and show them examples of my work. I graduated from The Art Center and earned my degree in computer graphics and animation.
|
Comments
I hope it does come out on one of those systems, this computer cant even play the sims without lag, and its a desktop, if anyone knows any information about the ps3 or 360 version please let me know.
Reply