Updating Shooter Genre With a Disarming Style

First-person shooters are relatively common these days. But it’s rare to find one as silly and stylish as Fox Interactive’s “No One Lives Forever,” a spy spoof that’s more Austin Powers than James Bond. Craig Hubbard, a designer at development studio Monolith Productions, described why he prefers his games shaken, not stirred.

Question: Why do people love female heroines?

Answer: Because male heroines just aren’t that cool. Making the hero a woman presented a variety of intriguing dramatic possibilities without any of the compromises. She could be every bit as wry, cunning and capable as a male hero, but because of her gender, she’d have to deal not only with the villains’ nefarious designs but also with the prejudices and constant second-guessing of her own agency. It gives you something to prove and a sense of accomplishment when you do earn someone’s respect.

Q: What makes the 1960s so popular as a topic?

A: The 1960s is one of the few decades in the last century that was still cool when it was over. It took more than 10 years for the 1970s to become cool, and no matter what anyone tells you, the 1980s will never be cool.

Q: Does the design team have a penchant for James Bond flicks?

A: Not especially. The early films are great, but the franchise stagnated a long time ago. We drew a lot of inspiration from films like “Our Man Flint,” “Danger: Diabolik,” “Charade,” “Modesty Blaise,” “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” and shows ranging from “The Avengers” to “Get Smart” to “Mission: Impossible.” Other influences include World War II commando movies, various spy novels and lots of historical references, encompassing everything from books and documentaries on the spy trade to fashion catalogs and interior-design books.

Q: How do you infuse a game with “groovy” attitude?

A: You put together a groovy team, do a ton of research and encourage everybody to push his or her ideas over the top. You can’t just slap lime green on everything and say, “There, that’s groovy.” Simply put, you have to immerse yourself in the subject matter to the point where you can pop “Modesty Blaise” in the VCR, watch Monica Vitti inexplicably rolling around in cash and laughing, equally inexplicably, on her rotating Space-Age bed and think, “That’s soooo cool,” instead of “Where’s the remote?”

Q: What sort of humor do gamers demand from a title like this?

A: In general, I don’t think gamers expect humor from action-adventure games. Honestly, we didn’t deliberately set out to make a funny game--for the most part, the humor is a byproduct of the subject matter. The same goes for the storytelling. If you give the bad guys an atomic bomb, you’re chickening out. In “Our Man Flint,” for example, the bad guys can control the weather. “The Ambushers” has to do with a U.S.-made flying saucer that can only be piloted by women because the electromagnetic radiation is lethal to men.

Other comic possibilities suggested themselves during the course of the project. At one point, Monolith was having trouble filling a couple of positions on one of our other teams, which got me thinking how hard it would be for a criminal organization to recruit employees, particularly during the 1960s spy craze with all the various evil organizations you find in the TV shows and movies competing for a limited pool of villains. As a result, throughout the game, you overhear bad guys complaining about work conditions, job benefits, poor management and unrealistic schedules. It’s the water-cooler talk of the criminal industry.

Q: How do you add something new and special to a relatively tired genre?

A: If you ask me, and I notice that you did, there’s no such thing as a tired genre. It’s all about execution. Originality is more a product of investment than invention. You have to pour yourself into your work until it becomes something that only you could have produced. It’s not the story you tell but how you tell it that brings it to life and makes it fresh.

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Scott Steinberg is a freelance writer specializing in video games.