GamersInfo.net: Can you please tell us a bit about yourself, how you joined the gaming industry and what is it about Adventure games in particular that you enjoy working on?

Mathieu Lariviиre: I joined the gaming industry a while back (I don’t like to say how many years because it reminds me that I’m old) because the film industry’s crazy schedule was getting annoying. Man, was I naпve.

Adventure games (most of them) are story driven and I love to write so everything works out. Also, adventure games have lots of filmmaking elements to them (especially at Microids) in its production process which made my transition to the gaming industry easier.

GamersInfo.net: The basic storyline of Still Life appears to be about two converging serial murders, 75-years apart yet worked on by the same family. The McPherson family appeared in a previous adventure game, Post Mortem. Would you characterize this game as a sequel? Or simply inspired by Post Mortem? Or is it completely unrelated except for the familial connection?

Mathieu Lariviиre: It’s a spin-off so it’s only inspired. Post Mortem was in the genre of a film noir with a supernatural twist and Still Life is more in the realm of a murder mystery with a “realistic” approach. The only element recycled from Post Mortem is Gus.

GamersInfo.net: One of the two protagonists, Victoria McPherson, has an unusually broad background in profiling criminals. Will this skill be used in problem solving?

Mathieu Lariviиre: In the first few design drafts, profiling was going to be an integral part of game play where you would accumulate clues to profile the killer. It was dropped very quickly. It would have taken too much time and effort to create a solid profiling feature. Also, I believe that this feature would have been only interesting for a few hardcore murder mystery fans. So we decided to let go of the profiling and just let it be known has one of Victoria’s many skills. Sort of like what they did with the Mulder character in the X-Files. They didn’t make it an issue that he was a great profiler just mentioned it once in a while. It’s the same for Victoria.

GamersInfo.net: The recent Chicago murders are described as "a serial murderer with a penchant for art". The 75-year old Prague murders were investigated by a retired Private Investigator who had become an artist but no mention of whether the previous murders involved art. Can it be inferred from these clues that art will be an important part of the puzzle solving process?

Mathieu Lariviиre: I won’t go into details on this one because I don’t want to spoil anything for players but yes art has definitely played a part in puzzle design.

GamersInfo.net: Adventure games have a reputation for containing "obtuse" puzzles, making them difficult and slow to play. However, with the popularity of crime/drama television there will be some expectation that clues will not be obvious but at least logical. Would this be accurate in characterizing the type of puzzle we can expect? Or will the nature of the crimes and their relationship to each other bring out more lateral-thinking puzzles?

Mathieu Lariviиre: One of the most difficult tasks for the design team was to come up with puzzles that were integrated into the story. I believe we have achieved this. Actually what you can expect is visual aids, voiced comments and others elements to help guide you so it doesn’t take hours to figure out a puzzle. The philosophy behind the creation of all the puzzles in Still Life was to let the story flow through it and not interrupt it. All the elements you need to solve a puzzle are close. To tell the story was more important to us then to rack the brains of our players. Be careful, I’m not saying it’s a breeze either. All puzzles were carefully tested in focus groups and we are very satisfied with the results.

GamersInfo.net: Inventory systems are becoming more common in adventure games and have been broadening their attractiveness to a larger audience. You intend on having a fully scaled 3-D inventory system allowing the player to view an item from all sides. Can you explain your thinking behind this and some of what we can expect to see from this unique approach?

Mathieu Lariviиre: This interface is seen in a lot of games now and we just thought it is the industries standard to offer players a 3D inventory system for our players. It’s just more immersive. It’s like you’re holding the object bringing you closer to the investigation. Also, it allows for more gameplay in terms of clue feedback to the player. Observing objects can reveal some clues to help you solve certain puzzles or even be a puzzle.

GamersInfo.net: The conversation system has been described as having a "professional vs. personal" reaction to questions, etc. Can you explain in further detail how this will work? And if a character chooses one response over another, do they lock themselves out of a train of conversation?

Mathieu Lariviиre: Dialogue is one of the most important elements to convey a story to players in an adventure game. So we didn’t want to annoy anyone with hidden plots or hidden information which would require players to listen to every single world of all conversations in the game. Not in Still Life. The left click of your mouse is the professional type conversations. After a couple or so of left clicks, there will be a button that will appear at the bottom right of your screen. This button, if activated, will enable you to quit the conversation when you desire to. When it appears it simply means that the player has enough information to continue and he or she is not obligated to listen to the rest of the story. The only thing that the player will miss is character depth. Also at the bottom left of the screen is a mouse icon which tells the player which path is available to him. The player has no idea what the conversation will be like in classic adventure games where you read the question before clicking on it. There are two choices right and left click. So the player has no idea what Victoria or Gus will say, just like in the movies you can only guess or just listen. This system also allowed for NPCs to ask questions rather then always being the main character. So it’s not just a one way conversation. I hope players will enjoy it.

GamersInfo.net: Will the game be linear? Will it have multiple endings? How replayable will an adventure gamer find it?

Mathieu Lariviиre: I like to say that the game is linear and the story isn’t linear. The game follows a straight path and there will be no choices or consequences. However that doesn’t mean Still Life has no surprises. Still Life is as “replayable” as “rewatching” a movie. It really depends on the player. If he believes he’s missed something or skipped to many conversations or whatever the reason… it’s really up to him. In all, Still Life has no replay value per say. It’s one story. I think players will be very satisfied playing once.

GamersInfo.net: Your artwork for Prague is spectacular. What resources did you use to build your environments?

Mathieu Lariviиre: For a while, we were online tourists. Downloading all the pictures we could find on the internet. We don’t have Disney-like budget to send people to Prague to take pictures and choose the perfect location for our little game. The Prague in Still Life is purely fiction and was greatly inspired by real architecture and style. It’s our own little red light district.

GamersInfo.net: Regarding environments, can we expect them to flow and be interactive? Will the wind move trees and snow? Or will the player be moving in a more or less static world?

Mathieu Lariviиre: There is nothing still in Still Life (I’m pretty clever huh?). We added lots of ambiance in our 2D pre-rendered scenes. The water of the Vltava, clouds, snow, fog, Christmas lights and more were animated to breathe life into the game. Also there will be NPCs that will populate the world including New York size rats. Of course these NPCs have no interaction. They are simply there to animate the background. Also, as you’re walking in the streets of Prague take a look in the windows.

GamersInfo.net: Do you find the murders personally frightening?

Mathieu Lariviиre: Murders don’t frighten me, they horrify me which is totally different unless of course I’m the victim of an assault; then I’ll be frightened because I’ll definitely have something to worry about. After reading the files I’ve read and the pictures I’ve seen I pretty much became numb sort of like the pathologist who’s able to eat his sandwich beside a dead body. After the research it became factual and not emotional but it still horrifies me.

GamersInfo.net: Agatha Christie or Poirot? Who is the better detective and why?

Mathieu Lariviиre: I’ll keep this simple because I can probably write twenty pages or so to answer this properly. In a nut shell, I believe that Poirot is the better detective simply because he’s the detective and Agatha is the writer. Agatha is creating the context surrounding her character. She isn’t solving the crime, Poirot is solving it. I’m fully aware that Agatha is the creator but that doesn’t mean superior as I’m not superior to Victoria even if I created her. She’s the cop trying to catch my killer which to me makes her the better cop. To solve a crime you call a cop or detective and not a writer.