STEPHEN KICK TALKS BLADE RUNNER: ENHANCED EDITION

Interviewed by Culture Coast Talks editor Daniel John. Interview transcripts might have been edited for length and clarity.

‘Blade Runner’ was originally released, to much praise, in 1997 by the always missed Westwood Studios. And it has been one of those games that you never thought could or would be released again due to all of the various people, companies and multitude of licenses involved. I’m thinking you of course also must have been aware of this from the beginning. So what made you try to make this happen regardless of that?

After I had unraveled the rights to 'System Shock' I believed that I could do the same for any other game, and as 'Blade Runner' is my favorite movie, I decided to put my effort into making the game available again. It took almost a decade to get released, but it was worth it.

There’s been several attempts at it before, and just a few years back one of the original creators, Louis Castle, deemed a re-release “impossible” due to everything that’s been lost in time. But here we are! The impossible was made possible, somehow?

I think the “impossible” part was that the source code and the original assets had been lost, and for a true remaster to be developed those would be required. As we discovered the models used in the game had to be heavily compressed to fit on cd-rom and there was absolutely no way to restore those without completely remaking them. And as for the rights it came down to building relationships at EA and getting clearances on rights, tracking down the rights holders of the 'Blade Runner' franchise and eventually working with the new rights holders, Alcon Entertainment, after the long awaited sequel, 'Blade Runner 2049' was released. It took patience and determination, and eventually we were rewarded.

Were you able to use the same voice actors and soundtrack?

All of the voice over and the soundtrack are from the original game. But, due to some lingering rights issues we could not remaster the original soundtrack and our only available option would have been to remake it.

What can new players expect if playing this for the first time?

New players can expect an incredible noir, cyberpunk adventure in the world of 'Blade Runner' with a cast of characters, locations and puzzles to solve leading to multiple endings.

The game interestingly enough never set out to retell the film?

Back in the eighties and nineties there had been many attempts at creating video games based on licensed properties and for the most part they were all notoriously bad, it wasn’t until 'Blade Runner' was released that the potential had been realized, and I think a lot of that had to do with the original story being told by Westwood Studios. Thankfully they were given the freedom to explore the world and create new characters that enabled them to craft something truly compelling. This was also the first time in fifteen years that fans of 'Blade Runner' would get to experience something new and Westwood really ran with that opportunity.

What games influenced you early on to work with video games?

I think the first game that truly influenced me was 'Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II'. It was the first time I ever eagerly anticipated a sequel to a video game. And shortly after I started the game I received my first 3D Accelerator and the moment I enabled it in the display options my jaw hit the floor. At the time I was convinced graphics would never get better than that. I’m pretty sure that was the moment I knew I wanted to make video games.

You started out as a character artist?

Originally I went to school to become a game designer, but after taking a few 3D modeling classes I decided to focus on art and specifically on characters. I tailored my portfolio on a wide range of styles and shortly after graduation I landed my first job over at Sony Online Entertainment as a character artist.

How does one go from character design to bring back beloved game classics?

I had been working at Sony Online Entertainment for a number of years when I decided I needed to take an extended break from the industry. I quit my job and crossed the border into Mexico with my girlfriend, and for the next ten months we explored that country. We eventually traveled south through Central America and one stormy night while staying in a hostel in the middle of the Guatemalan jungle I decided to play 'System Shock 2'. But there was one problem, the game would not run. I visited gog.com but discovered it was unavailable. It also happened to be the most requested title on the site, so I decided to do some detective work. I discovered that the rights to 'System Shock' had been transferred to an insurance company in the midwest as collateral, when Looking Glass went bankrupt in the early 2000’s. I wrote an email inquiring about the availability of the license and received a response almost immediately requesting a proposal for what I had in mind. I then suggested that we re-release the originals as-is, they agreed and Nightdive Studios was born.

So the story that you were already doing a bit of "restoration work" on games you distributed online are not true?

Not really! After I signed the contract for the rights to distribute 'System Shock', I had to learn everything myself. It was all new territory and I did my best to navigate it as I went along.

Are Nightdive still without an office?

Nightdive is totally remote, everyone works from their own home and it’s been that way since 2012. We have employees in many countries ranging from Canada, Brazil, Sweden, New Zealand, England, and more!

What are things you want to avoid when bringing titles back?

We try to avoid adding things that weren’t already present, unless absolutely necessary. Fans of the game already love it for what it is and as soon as you start tampering with that formula you run the risk of spoiling it. Our changes and updates tend to be subtle with a few exceptions. 'Shadow Man' for example, received a ton of new restored content and we felt confident adding it in because we were guided by one of the original developers.

Often the rights for these games are not anywhere near being owned by the actual creators involved back in the day. What's the strangest place you’ve found rights at?

No, as said 'System Shock' was owned by an insurance company in the midwest, 'Starship Titanic' is owned by a book publisher and for a while 'Bad Mojo' was owned by a company that made emojis!

Did you get a chance to meet with any iconic people along the way?

Absolutely! I’ve met with Harlan Ellison, Warren Spector, Paul Neurath, Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert, Tim Willits, Kevin Cloud, and many others. It’s been an honor getting to meet and know these luminaries.

What would be a dream title for you to be able to put your hands on?

'No One Live Forever'. If there is one game that deserves a remaster it’s "Nolf"!

Can you see a distant future with all new ‘Blade Runner’ games in it?

I think if the re-release of 'Blade Runner' has told us one thing it’s that there is a strong appetite for more games in the series and I sincerely hope we see more in the future.