American McGee: The GamesRadar Interview (Part 1)
Bad Day LA's master of disaster talks about laughing in the face of fear, crushing the City of Angels and... tentacle porn
GR: What has been the most difficult thing about the production of Bad Day LA and how has that differed from your past games?
AM: Without a doubt the most difficult thing was creating the humor for the game. It's hard enough to write good comedy, but trying to write good comedy into a video game was a real challenge. For example, exactly how long should a smeared-on dog-poo power-up item last to be both funny and playable? How long should a person run around on fire before it goes from being hilarious to inhumane? These were the sorts of tough questions we had to deal with each and every day.
GR: Will there be any notable voice talent in Bad Day LA?
AM: Our VO talent is certainly worthy of attention and notice. Are any of them famous in the traditional sense? No. But that doesn't mean they wouldn't like to be.
GR: What inspired the unique artistic style?
AM: Early on I knew we needed to offset the violent events in the game with an art style that would help us to communicate the humorous nature of the game. I didn't want to make a photo-real game, because I knew that would turn into one big bloody-gut fest. Eventually, I found an art team in Los Angeles called Kozyndan (www.kozyndan.com) whose style fit Los Angeles, our disaster theme and the comedic style of the game perfectly.
GR: You're clearly into the comic style. Are there any online or graphic novel titles that you're particularly a fan of?
AM: I mostly look at Japanese tentacle porn.
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