How A Baseball Pitcher And Comics Writer Work On Kingdoms Of Amalur: ReckoningHow A Baseball Pitcher And Comics Writer Work On Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning

Author: by Staff

As part of a new Gamasutra feature interview, art director Tim Coman talks about how Todd McFarlane and Curt Schilling make their contributions to the content and culture at Big Huge Games. In 2009, Schilling's 38 Studios acquired the developer from THQ and transformed its in-development RPG into a single-player offshoot of its own in-development MMO, Copernicus, which has yet to be released. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will ship in early 2012 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. "Todd has a personal passion for animation, and so he'll come in and be like, 'Oh my God. You could make this like this... You have to go way over the top. You're halfway there.'" says Coman, of McFarlane's contribution. "He's one of those people that pushes for that really high-level quality." "He's fun to work with. I mean, the coolest part about working with Todd is he's just... I can't describe it. You have to meet the guy. He's just got a ton of energy that he brings to it," says Coman. "We're constantly talking back and forth about stuff. He's like a really, really great mentor." Coman also has praise for Schilling -- the former Boston Red Sox pitcher who started 38 Studios. "Curt is awesome. He's another person who, if you haven't had a chance to meet him, you should meet Curt. All these guys, they bring -- I don't know how to describe it -- like an excitement to the project." "These guys" include Oblivion lead designer Ken Rolston and bestselling fantasy author R.A. Salvatore. "It's like he's so excited about doing this stuff. It's like he reminds you that it's fun to make games. He's doing this because he loves it. He genuinely loves it." "He says, 'When I was doing the baseball stuff, the reason we were able to do this is because we cared about it every single day.' He brings that action to it, so everybody gets all fired up about making something great." The full interview, in which Coman describes not just the famous contributors to the project but goes in-depth on the art direction decisions that separate the game from its competition, is live now on Gamasutra.