LM: How did you balance the demands of the general gaming public and the rabid fan base for everything Goren.

CB: Experienced adventure gamers definitely want a really tough, sophisticated game that is challenging. We are also trying to appeal to fans of the show, who may not be that familiar with playing games. We knew there would be a range of skill level. One way we tried to address that is to have three levels of difficulty. You can change this at any time, by going into the options screen and even go back and forth between skill levels during the game. This allows players to play the game at the level they feel comfortable with. For example, during interviews, if you are at the advanced level, you have to be a lot more strategic in choosing the mode of questioning, because you are going to get set up a lot earlier if you make the wrong choices. If you choose the easy or novice setting, the game gives you a lot more slack. This is for people who just don't want to think that hard. Maybe they feel like they will enjoy it more if they don't have to spend so much time figuring these people out. There are more hints available in the easy mode, things like that. Goren will go into "knowledge" mode. He'll think 'maybe I should do this or that'. You'll get a hint about what you need to do next to advance or to unlock something. We all thought that having difficulty options addresses that issue.

LM: Aside from the clueing structure you just mentioned, are there any other differences between the levels of difficulty?

CB: Basically the real difference is whether or not you get hints and also how forgiving the game is of your choice of questioning mode. But it also affects things like lab tests, as getting results may take a little longer in the expert mode vs. the novice mode, and some aspects of certain puzzles vary depending on the level of difficulty.

EC: The clueing was the most difficult part to figure out and make for this game. The hardest part about getting the evidence is writing how he figures out certain things. There are only so many ways to come up with unique clues that only he can figure out. For example in the first part of the game, he finds the murder took place along the east River. So it's how the clues are set up to move him along the trail.

LM: Do you have any references or backstory that only fans will get?

EC: We tried to use inside stuff from the show, like the ways Goren will refer to something or little mannerisms. When you are trying to decide your next move in the game and Goren is just standing around, he has the same little quirks that he does on the show. All those little "tics" he is known for. That is something I guarantee the fans will immediately pick up on. We tried to keep things specific to the show in there. There are a few references that will help you, that involve how the case will unfold, so if you know the show, you will have a slight leg up. There are a couple of times where you hear a name or you'll get an idea of what is happening earlier than those who are unfamiliar with Goren and the show. But even if you've never watched the show, you can still figure it all out.

CB: Right. There's a little bit of backstory, which fans are going to know. They are going to pick up on that quicker.

EC: I wanted to do that, because I think that if you are invested in a show or a movie, the writer ought to give people some kind of reward for that knowledge as a game player. So I wanted to drop some of those clues for fans in there and I thought it would be a lot of fun trying to spot the show references. And there's always the moment for those people playing the game, especially people who are a bit obsessive-compulsive, when they will pat themselves on the back and say "Oh! Only I know that!"

LM: You have Detective Bobby Goren and Captain James Deakins, voiced by Vincent D'Onofrio and Jamie Sheridan. But is it true that you left out Goren's partner, Alexandra Eames? If so, why?

CB: Clearly the show is all about Goren. And we also needed a superior, someone to bounce ideas off of. But we didn't want it to be one of those third-person games where there is another character merely following you along. So we decided to make this more like "the Goren game". We focused on his character, rather than the other ones in the show, because it didn't feel like it was necessary.

EC: The real premise for Goren is that he is supposed to be like a modern day Sherlock Holmes. As for the focus of the game, this is Goren's show. Also, the only way it would have really worked is if we used both characters, so you had a choice of whether you would be Eames or Goren.

CB: That also means the script would have doubled. We didn't want to go down that road! It was a mess enough as it was.

LM: What can you tell us about some of the other characters we will meet in the game?

CB: There are close to 60 speaking characters. It may be 55, I can't recall the exact number. They run the gamut of suspicious people who have motivations to have been involved in these crimes. One was having an affair, then there was the boss and the daughter. You have a list of plausible suspects, which includes all sorts of characters. People with different sets of motives for wanting to "do-in" each victim.

LM: Past games in this series always used first-person perspective. You went with the third-person perspective in this game. Why is that?

CB: One thing is that because we decided this game was all about Goren, since he is central to the whole show, we thought that by making it a third-person game, it gave players the full experience and ability to really connect with his character. As opposed to you playing as Detective Goren and never seeing him. If you never saw yourself, I think you would be a little disappointed. Part of what makes that show is his mannerisms. He is not only just an interesting character, there are all those quirky things he does. His manners and the way that he speaks are so unconventional. We wanted to give the player the opportunity to connect with that as much as possible.

EC: When we started this process, Craig told me about a game called Syberia. I played it so I could see what he was talking about and the approach for a third-person adventure game. It was a very beautiful game, but I was disappointed in the interactions not being as rich as the scenery. To me the story didn't start until the end, where you get on the train. It seemed really empty having gone through everything. But it was a good game to use as a sort of base model. I definitely tried to make our story a lot richer. I realized that at every turn we were making it more complicated than it had to be, but I think in the end, we never cut corners with our story. It is long and involved. I think we could have sold the story as a show.

LM: This game has a mature rating. Is it due to the subject matter or realistic depictions of crimes?

CB: Well, yeah. Even though our previous Law & Orders dealt with murder and death, there are four of them in this game. And there are naturally adult themes in the motives, like revenge, adultery.

EC: Also in the psychological profiling, you are going into the heads of criminals. That's always a pretty dark place.

CB: Yes, I think that darkness is reflected also in the graphics, as well. There are a lot of typical places like an abandoned subway tunnel, the cemetery and things like that.



LM: What else can you tell us about some of the environments we will encounter in the game?

CB: It is very representative of the show. There are some nice residential places, some not so nice. There's an art shop, offices. We also have a variety of places where you would normally find people, like a beauty salon, banks, a mortuary — we have all sorts of locales that run the gamut. There are a couple of places that are slightly off your map, but it is definitely all in the northeast.

LM: Let's talk more about the psychological profiling. It seems very unique to me. Not just that there are questions and answers, but you actually get to profile people?

EC: This is much harder than just questioning alone. This is for players who want to think their way through a problem. It's one of the reasons people watch the show. I think Legacy has outdone themselves. It's the next evolution in this kind of game.

CB: The criminal profiler is integral, because building this kind of profile is implicitly what the show's all about. This is what Goren does. He's figuring out what is this killer's motivation. Why did they do this and how do I find them and what are their hot buttons and all that. We wanted to make that an actual part of the game mechanics, so that's why we came up with this device. It's kind of like a laptop on Goren's desk. You submit evidence that you find, whether it’s from the crime scene or wherever. The criminal profiler will let you know whether the evidence you submitted has something to say about what kind of person committed the crime. This is where we worked with the forensic psychiatrist. She would read Elizabeth's story and work backwards. She would say, "Let's see… what kind of person would commit this crime and what kinds of things would you find at the crime scene and elsewhere, that would demonstrate the characteristics of this type of person?" It was give and take.

EC: I also wanted to create this kind of claustrophobic feeling in the interview process. When I was writing the scenes for Goren, I wanted to create a psychological intimacy between Goren and the person he is questioning and the player.

LM: Are you saying that when you wrote these scenes, you wanted the player to identify with the person questioned or to feel the impact Goren was having on his subject?

EC: I wanted the intimacy to go both ways. I wanted to create a sense of urgency. If he doesn't get this answer, someone might die. I think one of the scary things about video games is that you create this whole world and you kind of live in that world for a while. For example, when you are in the subway tunnels, the fact that it made me nervous fascinates me.

LM: This is very ambitious. To strive to bring a level of tension to an adventure game, without resorting to action or a timed moment.

CB: You are always dealing with constraints about what we can do within the game mechanics we have set up vs. what we would like to see happen in the story. We have to ask ourselves, what kind of puzzles can we insert here that make interesting sense within the story? It is truly a constant juggling act. Where it starts and where the game ends up are of course two very different places. The game naturally evolves along the lines of what people think of and people's ideas of what would make a good game.