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Interview: Simon Viklund, Creative Director of PayDay: The Heist

Posted Nov 9, 2011 at 7:00PM EST by Harrison E

Listed in: Interviews Tags: overkill software, payday the heist on psn, payday the heist on steam, payday: the heist, simon viklund interview, valve

Article Index
1. Interview: Simon Viklund, Creative Director of PayDay: The Heist
2. Influences of PayDay
3. What's In the Future for PayDay

Page 1 of 3

I often rarely get truly excited about a game. Between every press release or regular release of a game, is a half-smiling video game fan, waiting for that really interesting game to come along. Luckily for me and Overkill Studios, November was gonna be a big month and I didn't care for dragons or dudes in military garb. I was more looking forward to guys in masks, with guns, duffel bags and with a plan on the mind.

When I got the chance to talk to creative director and audio designer, Simon Viklund, about PayDay The Heist I was really excited. I recently played the demo on PSN and had a ball. There are a lot of things, from the design of the bank, to the look of the "bulldozers" that must have been decided quite early on. So what were your creative intentions behind PayDay? What was the first creative decision you decided as a team?

Answer: First we decided that we wanted to do a co-op action FPS inspired by Heat and other robbery/heist movies, and then we decided to just do whatever we wanted and fully trust our instincts no matter what: For example, we weren't going to avoid design elements made popular by other games in fear of being accused of plagiarism. Our philosophy was the very unpretentious "why reinvent the wheel"? We also decided that we would follow through with this project even if some other game developer released a similar game before us. Luckily, to our knowledge, we became the first with a robbery themed co-op FPS.

2. The game has been compared to the game, Left 4 Dead and the film, Heat, were they influences? How did you want to set yourself apart?

Answer: Left 4 Dead was definitely a huge influence on Payday in terms of the co-op element and the dynamic AI, and we're not afraid to admit it - we love that game. Also, Payday really isn't any more similar to L4D than one modern military shooter is similar to another. For the different scenarios we took a lot of inspiration from not only Heat but also Die Hard, The Italian Job and Mission: Impossible III, as well as other blockbuster movies.

3. What were your favourite games growing up and what are you playing at the moment?

Answer: Oh I have many favorites games... I started out on the NES in the 80's, loving "Super Mario Bros. 2", "Blaster Master" and "Mega Man". Then I got a PC and loved "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis", "UFO: Enemy Unknown" and "System Shock". Right now I'm not playing much because I don't have the time what with the Payday launch and everything, but I'm looking forward the checking out the allegedly awesome sound design in BF3.

4. What is your relationship with Sony and Steam like? How hard was the process?

Answer: Sony Online Entertainment is our publisher and they've been very good to us. We wanted to be exclusive to one console and Sony showed great interest and trust in us. Being exclusive to one console is good from a production standpoint because you get a little more love from 1st party and you only have to bother with one certification process. We also felt that it was the PlayStation gamers' time to get a good co-op game, since L4D never came to the PS3. Valve is a distributor rather than a publisher, but our relationship with them has nonetheless been great. Releasing and patching on PC can be so "quick and dirty", which is a double edged sword but for the most part quite liberating, and Valve have been very supportive.

5. What is your history in the games industry? What was your big break?

Answer: All of the core members of OVERKILL Software were previously part of GRiN for a few years or more. Bo and Ulf founded GRiN in the late 90's, and I helped them out by providing music already when Ulf's bedroom was the company HQ. GRiN made "Ballistics" and "Bandits: Phoenix Rising" for PC back in 2001 and 2003 respectively, then the break came when we got to do the PC version of UBIsoft's "Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter" in 2005 and then the sequel the year after.

6. How critical was music and sound in the game? Any key sound cues you just absolutely love in the game?

Answer: Sound is always very important, but it is often neglected because everybody focuses so much on the visuals. When a game is being promoted the first thing you get to see is screenshots, and so on... But still, sound is criticail even if gamers and reviewers don't always realize. In Payday, we worked a lot with the audio - both sound effects, voice and music. For example, the voices of the robbers as well as the music become more intense during police assaults, and that mirrors and amplifies what you feel as a gamer - it works really nice. My favorite sound in the game is probably the firing and cocking sound of the Reinbeck shotgun!

7.What would you like to do in the future? Who would you love to work in the future?

Answer: We're hoping that Payday is popular enough so that it makes sense to continue building on it with DLC - and eventually a sequel. We think the concept of the game is brilliant and now we have a wealth of ideas both from the community's and ourselves, so it can only get better from here!

8. Have you thought about letting people mod PayDay? What is your ultimate goal with the game?

Answer: The 3D engine and its tools that we use are not as well documented and user friendly as you'd expect. The "Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter" community did some modding work on that game so it's definitely possible, but not currently something we're working on at make happen.

9. What platform would you like to work on next? Do you think Digital Distribution is the way to go?

Answer: Whether the possible sequel to Payday comes to PlayStation and/or Xbox is still to be decided, but it's definitely coming to PC. To us, digital distribution is definitely the future - it reduces pirating and to consumers it's also a lot more accessible and convenient. I mean, you can decide you want a game and then 20 minutes later you have it installed and you're alread playing it - and for a lower price than retail! A new generation of consumers is growing up and having a physical copy of a product isn't as important to them. Look at the music business, for example - how many are buying CDs now compared to MP3s? I'm old school and I still buy CDs every now and then, but even I am changing.

10. How do you feel about the games industry?

Answer: Like Hollywood, it's increasingly difficult to find innovation - mainly because innovation isn't rewarded by the consumers. People want more of the same old established franchises and that's because you get so many remakes and sequels, both in Hollywood and in the gaming industry. Consumers who want more innovation should show their support of innovative products by buying them and spreading the word about them! And I think Payday is a title that deserves that kind of support - we're pretty ballsy, going up against massive FPS competition with a new brand developed by a 30 man crew!

/Simon Viklund - Audio Director and Creative Director at OVERKILL Software

SV: First we decided that we wanted to do a co-op action FPS inspired by Heat and other robbery/heist movies, and then we decided to just do whatever we wanted and fully trust our instincts no matter what: For example, we weren't going to avoid design elements made popular by other games in fear of being accused of plagiarism. Our philosophy was the very unpretentious "why reinvent the wheel"? We also decided that we would follow through with this project even if some other game developer released a similar game before us. Luckily, to our knowledge, we became the first with a robbery themed co-op FPS.

overkilllogo

QJ: I always feel like I stumble as an interviewer and forget to ask inviting questions so people know who I'm talking to and their history. How long have you been in the industy and what was your big break?

SV: All of the core members of OVERKILL Software were previously part of GRiN for a few years or more. Bo and Ulf founded GRiN in the late 90's, and I helped them out by providing music already when Ulf's bedroom was the company HQ. GRiN made "Ballistics" and "Bandits: Phoenix Rising" for PC back in 2001 and 2003 respectively, then the break came when we got to do the PC version of UBIsoft's "Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter" in 2005 and then the sequel the year after.

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