FAQ

Alan Wake is set to be released Spring 2010.

Alan Wake is currently confirmed for release exclusively on the Xbox 360.

Remedy recently commented about the PC version saying (14/07/09):

"It is accurate that we are currently working exclusively on the Xbox360 version of Alan Wake. PC plans are currently open, and therefore its safe to say that at least a simultaneous launch with the Xbox version will not happen at this late stage. Remedy has a deep heritage in PC gaming and would love to see a PC version available to its PC followers, ultimately however this decision lies with our publisher."

The Pc version 'might' come in the future but since the pc port was cancelled in February 2010 (apparently Remedy is too small a studio concentrate on both the Xbox 360 and Pc development for the game) as there is an exclusivity window and they will see what happens after that window closes.

Sam Lake has also said (Google translation): "The code for a PC version of Alan Wake is still always on our hard drives. It would be unreasonable, this work - and believe us, since much work goes in there - just throw it away."

"1. We never announced platforms except for "next generation of consoles". Yeah, the plural is in there, so I do understand where the sentiment comes from, so I do apologise for any disappointments.

2. Microsoft did not force Remedy to take the publishing deal

PS3 development was a big unknown to an independent 3rd party developer in mid 2005 when this decision was made. While it's a great device and has lots of good games nowadays, it's still quoted by many respected developers as being more expensive and slower to develop for than Xbox360.

We have absolutely nothing against PS3, far from it, and in fact we are still a registered Sony PS3 developer. It was a big decision for us to go with a console first party publisher with Alan Wake, but looking at it in hindsight I still think it was the right one for the game and for the company. We get a better game for you to enjoy and have less technological risks while making it." - Markus Maki

Well quality is whats taking so long. Well of course something like this takes its time, we're still even if we've hired more people, a relatively small team when compared to other studios making similar games. And when you're doing the game you put the quality standards pretty high and you want to make a good game, of course there is also large ambitions from the whole team in every area and that always takes time.. before the game is done. - Sam Lake

Microsoft Game Studios are publishing the game.

Alan Wake is a bestselling horror writer. Early on in his career, his fiance Alice, was his muse. When he'd first met her, he had started to see strange dreams which he used as material for his first book, which went on to be a big success. It was a dream come true. The game starts with Wake travelling with his wife Alice to the idyllic, small American town of Bright Falls. This vacation has been motivated by Wake's ongoing writer's block in an attempt to regain his creative flow. However, after Alice subsequently vanishes, Wake is hurled into a real-life version of his own dark vision, with the pages of his unfinished supernatural thriller come true before his very eyes.

Players will control Wake as he desperately tries to recover the lost pages of his manuscript to find out what is happening. Scenes in the manuscript, written by Alan, have a disturbing habit of coming true and therefore each page that is recovered will reveal more about the dark presence that has been unleashed in Bright Falls. The pages are an integral part of building the great thriller story but also an important component for the player to unravel the mystery.

"The graphic novel screens, we feel, were a Max Payne specific thing. With Alan Wake we want to integrate the story more tightly to the gameplay. There will be cinematic in-game cutscenes, but more importantly there will be scripted events, and we want to have the important NPCs around in the game as much as possible while the player is in control. Voice-over narration was a very useful tool that we used in Max Payne, and it's something we are considering for Alan Wake as well, but done in the style that's quite different from Max Payne." - Sam Lake

Alan will narrate his thoughts throughout the game as a means of character and story development. "Narration was one of the story telling tools that we used in Max Payne and with Wake, it's such a fantastic tool because he's a writer who's writing out the story itself. It works out really well." - Petri Järvilehto

You take control of Alan using a third person perspective. You can change the viewing angle from the player character appearing on the right of the screen (default) to the left half of the screen by clicking the RIGHT analogue stick on your Xbox 360 controller,

The player can explore buildings and talk with Non Player Characters (NPC's), but the game is not open-world.

The story of Alan Wake is made up like a continuing season of a TV series, consisting episodes where the story unfolds as the player completes missions. Some of the episodes end up in a classic cliffhanger, while others are calmer, concentrating on character development and Alan's past. Although you can play the game in one-episode portions, that isn't Remedy's ultimate goal. "We want to give the game an irresistible 'one more episode' atmosphere" lead designer Petri Järvilehto says.

"Alan Wake is more tightly character-driven and story-oriented. Meaning that the player's goals and missions are closely focused around Alan Wake and his story. Also, the setting, the tone and the game being an action thriller all set it clearly apart from the GTA games." - Sam Lake

"Intense cinematic action is something that we love to do, and Alan Wake features tense combat gameplay as well, but all things considered the game has a lot more emphasis on adventure and exploration that what Max Payne did." - Petri Järvilehto

"Driving is an integral part of the game" - Petri Järvilehto

Yes.

"We believe that our approach with Alan Wake will provide the players with a new take with the combat style and gameplay. We're not revealing any details yet though." - Sam Lake

"The combat is not purely about gunplay. The use of light plays an important role in the combat, and different light sources provide new gameplay angles there." - Petri Järvilehto

The fight scenes in the game emphasize on quality and uniqueness, not quantity. "Even the risk of having to get involved in a fight has to feel suspenseful" says Petri Järvilehto. "One of our biggest challenges has been to try and turn a fighting encounter that lasts only for a couple of seconds into something that feels thrilling even after a minute."

During combat, the game occasionally drops into a cinematic slow-mo shot when something interesting is done, such as dodging an attack or defeating an enemy.

It seems from this quote that early in development Alan wake was meant to be free roaming: "We'll open more of the game world as the game progresses. The area is so large, that we want the players to become familiar with a smaller subset of the world, before we introduce new locations and new areas." - Sam Lake

However, the game is structured in levels, or episodes, each being somewhat linear. The levels themselves are large, but the game is not 'sandbox' in structure.

Again, early in development the idea was to have a free-roaming world: "The basic idea with the free-roaming world is that we give the player goals, and then the player can go about achieving those goals in the way he chooses." - Sam Lake

But due to the somewhat linear nature of the levels, the player generally has only one option to completing tasks an episode. The free-roaming nature of the game was dropped in favor of a tighter control over the storytelling.

Light will weaken or hurt Wake's enemies, and creatively taking advantage of any and all light sources within Alan Wake's grim world ought to be one of the interesting aspects of play.

It's not that simple however, as Alan is hypersensitive to light since he was born. "The events fall under one big shadow from the beginning: the dilemma of what is real and what is merely a nightmarish figment of Alan Wake's imagination" says Lake.

"A setting sun doesn't bode well for Alan Wake" says writer Lake. "During nightfall the player has to either equip himself properly or look for shelter."

No. Utilising multiple cores, the game will seamlessly generate vast areas of the game world for the graphics card to render.

Bright Falls is located in Washington, USA.

"The TV-series Twin Peaks is one of our sources of inspiration. The location in the game is similar, an idyllic small town in the state of Washington with something threatening waiting under the surface. The TV show also had an excellent nightmarish atmosphere. The works of the author Stephen King is another source of inspiration. He has used the idea of a writer whose life turns to a nightmare in several of his stories." - Sam Lake

Yes. Alan Wake is going to be part of a series. Each game is part of a "season" of a TV-series style template.

There will also be multiple endings for Alan Wake, setting the story up for future episodes.

A standalone spin-off on Xbox Live Arcade called 'Alan Wake's American Nightmare'.

36 square miles (10 x 10 kilometres).

Alan Wake will fit on a single Dual Layer DVD.

Currently around 2 kilometres (1.2 - 1.3 miles).

Complete modeling of atmospheric scattering, fully volumetric shadows that are projected through the entire world, full weather modeling, day/night time cycles, ambient occlusion (both SSAO and pre-calculated), normal mapping, high dynamic rendering, bloom, depth of field and loads of different pixel-shader effects.

It's an in-house engine developed by Remedy, known as the Alan Wake Engine and incorporates the Havok physics component. The game is being designed with five threads: rendering, audio, streaming, physics and terrain tessellation. One core processor can be dedicated to physical calculations.

Remedy Entertainment has over 40 staff members, though parts of the game are also outsourced.

The game's production costs have exceeded 7 million dollars. Remedy was financing the production itself for a couple of years until Microsoft Game Studios came in with its vast resources. The game's final budget is a business secret.

Remedy has four main design goals with Alan Wake:

1) Alan Wake is a psychological action thriller. 2) Alan Wake introduces lighting as a new field in game mechanics. 3) Alan Wake has a cinematic story that takes place in a vast, open-ended environment. 4) Alan Wake is a game that has to earn 90+ scores.

"First three of the goals have never been attempted anywhere in the form that we're aiming at" according to Alan Wake's producer Lasse Seppänen. "The final item, quality, is still the most important. Nothing else matters unless we can put together an excellent game."

Petri Alanko

Remedy's art team has developed them in-house.

No, Taken are possesed by darkness, darkness eliminates all trace of human personality. Even if their dark shield is burnt off, they still won't be friendly.