Press > Exclusive Interviews > Mike Kennedy [Video Game Developer: Snake Plissken's Escape]




How did you end up being a comic book writer and video game producer etcetera?

I'd been into comics since a kid and my first real job in high school was working in a comic shop so comics and writing stories were always in my blood. I'd gone to conventions and made a few friends at Dark Horse in their early years [this was the late 80s] and those relationships lasted while I went through college. I never once thought of comics as a career and graduated college with a degree in computer graphics which were still pretty young. This was 1991 and things were still 8/16-bit sprites and floppy discs or cartridges. Pre-internet, pre-CD-ROM, pre-3D etcetera. So it was a great time to get into games and as a career path it took off like a rocket. I started as an artist and designer but started doing as much writing and directing as I could since story started playing a bigger and bigger part in games. Soon campaign and storyline direction became my focus on whatever games we were working on. Meanwhile, friends at Dark Horse offered a few writing gigs here and there. Ghost, Star Wars, Alien vs. Predator, Lone Wolf 2100 etcetera. It was never more than just fun stuff on the side but a cross-over between the two industries came up a lot. Bringing comic artist friends onto game projects to do concept art and storyboards for example. Tim Bradstreet, Chris Warner and Francisco Velasco brought some great stuff to the table on Plissken.

How did the Snake Plissken's Escape video game come about and how did you and Andre Emerson [Game Developer] get the assignment to be involved in it?

It was all Andre's doing. He'd been a huge fan of the character and films and we often talked about how cool it would be to do a Snake Plissken game while we were working on Dead to Rights and the [shelved] sequel [that was half finished and looking awesome before being farmed out and completely re-designed]. DTR [Dead to Rights] was a nice success for Namco at the time so they were open to his pitch and proposal. He did some expert networking and got a hold of [John] Carpenter and [Debra] Hill, explained the vision and they were on board. After whatever negotiations were necessary it was greenlit internally. At that point we started outlining the feature set, campaign structure and production plan right away. We started making concept art, storyboards, test animations etcetera built upon the DTR engine. Since we had added a lot of really cool features into the DTR2 build we leveraged a lot of those advances in the design. Andre was the guy with the drive and vision pushing it forward. There were I think three of us at the early stages hammering out design basics. Andre and I focused more on campaign structure and story stuff while he and the others focused on gameplay design.

Can you tell us more about the campaign design and approved storyline created for the game? Snake Plissken's past, present and future would be explored through new and original stories for instance.

It was gonna be awesome. It was set after [Escape From] L.A. after the Big Crash dropping the rest of the country [world, even] into nearly the same level of desolation as we'd seen in New York and L.A. We had a plot that would take him across the continent in yet another manipulated mission for a questionable authority but since we'd have such a larger canvas, longer running time and [in a sense] unlimited FX [Special Effects] budget we were able to get big with everything. We did explore his past and even had a flashback sequence to the Leningrad Ruse that suggests [inconclusively] how he lost the eye. Old friends and foes come into play, some from the novel, some from the unproduced animated feature screenplay and many original creations of our own. The contract with Namco was for three games so we were aiming for a trilogy with some big ramifications. I think it was the cornerstone of John, Debra and Kurt's hope to keep the character alive, fresh and big profile for years and years to come.

How involved were John Carpenter, Debra Hill and Kurt Russell in the project and what kind of requests and input did they have? Russell was suppose to provide with likeness, voice and motion capture for Snake Plissken for instance.

At the early stages they were very involved. Still one of the biggest thrills in my career was the day spent with the three of them at Debra's house in the Hills. We spent hours not only talking about who Snake was, what he represented, his drives and peeves and what he would and wouldn't do. They all were very passionate still for the character and world and excited by this chance to bring him back big. Kurt was all on board. In fact, that same afternoon we had his face and head cyberscanned by Gentle Giant so we could start working on a functioning 3D [Three-Dimensional] model of Snake. We had a rough temporary body model already made but it was key to have him recognizable as Snake from the neck up. He IS Snake! Unfortunately, that's the extent of his involvement since the project got shut down before the real participation would have begun.

How far was the video game developed before it was cancelled and how close does the playable pre-production demo that was created represent the final version of the game?

At some point for reasons I'm not totally clear on, Namco decided to shift gears suddenly and dial back on internal development leaning more on third party dev [development]. That decision led to the shutdown of Dead to Rights 2: Hell to Pay [which itself was looking awesome. Well over half-done. Bits of it showed up in the farmed-out sequel and PSP [PlayStation Portable] spin-off but that's a whole other story]. The team was split up between a few other projects that needed support with about 10 of us assigned to get Plissken off the ground. We built two mini-levels, a bunch of new Snake-specific character models, animations and features [including climbing, hanging etcetera. All of that Splinter Cell stuff that was just starting to heat up]. Those two mini-levels were fully playable albeit without any scripted story events. Just sandbox shooting galleries proving the earliest unique features. We had the whole campaign outlined with concept art for many of the key locations and characters defined. You can see a lot of that in the presentation videos we prepared for Namco brass.

Is it true that the video game was cancelled due to the death of Debra Hill?

No, not at all. It was cancelled well before her passing. While her health had been a concern even during our visit she was the most vocally participating of the three up to that point. I can't say for sure but I think it was cancelled as part of Namco's internal refocus away from original US [United States] development back to importing and localizing Japanese developed titles. I believe it was a financial belt-tightening on the company's part. Not anything specific against any particular title or team just a necessary downsizing [that ultimately led to their acquisition by Bandai].

How was it working with John Carpenter, Debra Hill and Kurt Russell as well as Namco?

The three primaries were great and I was truly looking forward to working with them a lot more. They had some really interesting ideas about how to mix some AI [Artificial Intelligence] into the character so that he kept his "independent" personality. For example, if the player tried screwing around out of character, the character himself would take over and get back in line. We were talking about ways to keep Snake from ever "losing" or looking like a chump even through the tropes of "death" and respawning. It would have been pretty groundbreaking stuff that I still haven't seen today. Working with Namco on the other hand. Let's just say things would have been different if they were as excited by the prospect as the team was. I just think the handful of decision-makers involved didn't understand the value and potential of the property.

Were you disappointed that the video game was canned and what did you look forward to the most about working on this video game?

Incredibly disappointed but after they cancelled DTR2 I honestly wasn't surprised. There had been writing on the walls during that whole period but we on the team chose to ignore it and focus on building what we all believed was going to be an incredibly cool and high-profile AAA title. I was super-excited about getting to spend time in the voiceover booth and mocap [motion capture] stage with Kurt. That would have been such a thrill.

What's your favorite memory or memories of working on the project?

Definitely that afternoon with John, Kurt and Debra. They were all so cool and inviting and down to earth. They admittedly didn't know much about what was possible or acceptable in video games at that time [outside of a shared love of GTA [Grand Theft Auto] but they were into doing something narratively new and groundbreaking. They wanted to keep the character mysterious and independent somehow separate from the player controlling him but without denying the player the thrill of being Snake. It was a great day. They signed my copy of the novelization! And I shouldn't mention it [since I wasn't supposed to be doing it] but I recorded our brainstorming session. That's a folder of MP3s I'll treasure for years. [And no, I don't think I can ever share them at the risk of pissing them off.]

What are you currently doing and what else do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

After 20 years in games I hopped the fence from video games to comics entirely. I've been publishing artbooks, comics and graphic novels. First as a publisher for a company called Archaia then as my own publishing company Magnetic Press after Archaia got bought out by BOOM! Studios. Magnetic merged with another publishing company, Lion Forge last October so I'm currently directing the Magnetic line for them bringing in some really cool and unique comics and graphic novels from some amazing talent from around the world. Some pretty exciting stuff! [You can check it out at: http://www.magnetic-press.com]

[Interview Date: 2017/Email]