We were on the E3 floor this year checking out Ignition Entertainment and Zombie Studios’ Blacklight: Tango Down, and managed to spend some time talking to the game’s lead level designer, Michael Schorr, who was gracious enough to take a moment out of his time time to answer some of our questions.
Michael O’Connor: The most obvious question first. Why did you choose to go with a digital download only game, as opposed to releasing Blacklight: Tango Down as a full priced retailed product?
Michael Schorr: I think we really found that that was a market that seemed very viable, and we wanted to explore it. As a studio and a publisher, we all agreed that that was a place that this game needed to be.
O’Connor: It’s definitely a great idea to release this kind of game through digital media, since the people who want to play this kind of experience will be the ones specifically with the access to do so.
The visual style of the game, the graphics, the way it looks. Was there any particular inspiration?
Schorr: Definitely. For some levels, we went with a certain Blade Runner vibe; this seedy underbelly with all this over-build on top. All this technology that’s kind of run-over. We’re trying to keep an over-arching them with that, but beyond that, this is set in a fictional European city. We wanted the architecture to be a facsimile of that.
O’Connor: Is there any particular story connecting the game’s multi-player together?
Schorr: Well the basic story is that you’re a member of the “Blacklight” team, which is a team that’s been sent into the area The Order, and the leader of The Order is this general, this crazy general that has sort of gone rogue. And this sets the basis for the setting of the game. That’s why you’re in this environment.
O’Connor: Are there any offline or single player elements at all in Blacklight: Tango Down?
Schorr: Kind of. We have four co-op missions, that can be played by yourself. It will be you against the A.I., with some objectives, similar in some ways to the Modern Warfare 2 Spec-Ops missions
O’Connor: Do you have any release date?
Schorr: This summer.
O’Connor: Can you be more specific?
Schorr: No, sorry. I wish I could.
O’Connor: If this takes off, are you looking to expand the game into future titles?
Schorr: It’s hard to say. As far as future plans go, we may not be expending this title as far as DLC goes, but I think if Blacklight does well, I would love to explore this world more, this type of idea. I think we’ve only touched the surface.
O’Connor: What about weapon selection? What kind of variety are we looking at? I’ve heard claims of millions of combinations.
Schorr: Well, your base weapons are the usual – the pistol, the shotgun, the assault rifle, the sub-machine gun, the sniper rifle, and the heavy machine gun. From there, you can customize those as much as you want. So as you play, you’ll rank up, unlock different scopes, cosmetic tags, different barrels, etc, etc. It all tends to add up as you level up.
O’Connor: I noticed a few of these tags are branded.
Schorr: We’ve partnered with a few people. Companies like ATI, AlienWare, and so on.
Michael: It’s looking like a great game. I’ll definitely be picking it up.
Schorr: I’m glad to hear that. I love seeing all these people come here and play our games.
O’Connor: Thanks for your time.
Schorr: Cheers.
