| Interview: Peter Papadopoulos - Remedy Community Manager (Alan Wake) |
| Interviews - Interviews |
| Written by Shane - Administrator |
| Monday, 08 March 2010 15:51 |
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Pete - There's actually a quite a back story in regards to this. It's a bit of a long story so I'll try and shorten it as much as I can but it goes back to when I was a regular in the Max Payne community. Through that community I met a good friend of mine Diego Jimenez, who went by the nickname of Aavenr. I actually owe my start in all of this to Diego who got me a position at the Gamespy run Max Payne fansite, Deep Six. That was the leading Max Payne news site at that time and it was there that I developed my love for community driven sites. From that point on I was starting up several sites related to Max Payne and my love continued with Alan Wake. It's also worth pointing out that the Max Payne community was a great booster for many peoples careers with several members now working at studios such as EA/Dice, Gearbox, Crytek and of course Remedy.
When Alan Wake was announced back at the start of May 2005 I immediately went out and created AlanWake.net, which was the first Alan Wake fansite. Since at that time Remedy didn't have any community they had contacted me and together we turned AlanWake.net into the official community forums. They eventually began being hosted at alanwake.com where they now reside. It was only August 2009 that I actually officially got the Community Manager role at Remedy but both me and Jonathan Hallier (Maddieman) previously helped out running the community site. Maddie more so than me, without him I'm sure the community would have fallen. ;) As for BrightFalls.net, I actually still run that site but we use that now as a overview of what's happening around the net. It's something I use every day and it comes in very handy if you want to find out what people are saying about the game and what new news is being posted. Shane - Just how much information do you get from the developers? Are you always told of any incoming news first, so are ready to respond on the forums when that news is available to the public? Pete - Well since I currently reside in Australia I deal with Remedy on a daily basis, most of the times through email but there have been times where video conferencing is required. That is one of the benefits of the Internet, it allows you to easily work from anywhere in the world. Remedy make sure to keep me informed every step of the way in most things but it also goes both ways. It's part of my role to keep them informed of things happening in the community. Shane - What have you found to be the most discussed aspect of the game on the forums? Probably the release date right?! Pete - Yeah, I'd say the release date. We've spent over 5 years battling it out and trying to debunk any release date rumors that surfaced, as during that time the official release date was always "When it's done". It wasn't until E3 2009 that the first announcement of a release date was made. Alan Wake has never been delayed. Shane - It must be quite hard work moderating such a popular forum, what are the highs and lows of doing so? Pete - Luckily we have some great people helping out on the forums; Morry, Kahr, Kitt and Maddieman. Though Maddieman has now "retired" but still provides much needed insight into any issues that arise. This gives me the time to expand the reach of the community and develop the official Remedy channels on Twitter (http://twitter.com/remedyalerts), Facebook (http://facebook.com/remedygames) and YouTube (http://youtube.com/remedygames). The high for me would have to be doing something I love and interacting and working in the gaming industry. Something I've dreamed about ever since I was a kid. As for the lows, when you have a great team working with you there really isn't any!
Shane - As you're obviously a fan, what are you most looking forward to from the game? Pete - Holding the final copy in my hands! I've been with the community from the very start, read pretty much every preview, interview and news about the game and so it's kind of surreal knowing that there's under 3 months to go till the release. Shane - What are your opinions on the way the game has progressed since its inception back in 2005? How do you feel about the added linearity and loss of the free roam aspect? Pete - I have complete faith in Remedy and that they know what's best for the game. The sandbox aspects didn't provide the suspense that Remedy wanted to achieve and since Remedy is known for their single player games, atmosphere is everything and the changes allow Remedy to build up tension and have greater control of what the player experiences and how they experience it throughout the game.
Shane - The atmosphere looks amazing, from what you've seen so far, just how scary do you find the game? Pete - I'm always impressed with what the team have done with the atmosphere in the game. The volumetric fog, light, amazing sound design and of course the absolutely incredible soundtrack Petri Alanko has composed for that game, really does bring together an incredibly eerie feeling. It's in the little details that we all come to expect from a Remedy developed game. Of course all this bundled with a in-depth storyline, written by Sam Lake and his team, and I know we're in for a treat. Shane - Come May when the game is released will you be playing it locked in a dark room with the phone off the hook like we will? Pete - Oh definitely. I'm literally counting down the days! Shane - Finally Pete, can you put in a good word for us with the Remedy boys to get them to send us a review copy before the public get it?! Pete - Haha. I'll see what I can do ;) ---------- I'd like to personally thank Pete for his valuable time and thorough answers, you are a gentleman, good look in the run up to release, I'm sure you'll be very busy! Don't forget you can keep up with all the latest Alan Wake news on the official news channels ran by Pete: |
Well done ADM.
Good interview, and a nice read on how Pete got to his position, a very heartwarming tale indeed! :)