Nathan - Special Effects Programmer
Vince - CEO
Mike Jaret - Marketing Rapist
1. We've got a nice proverb in Russia - "a country must
know its heroes".
Postal is very well remembered even now, but 'Running With Scissors"
is still a largely enigmatical company. Tell our readers a bit about
RWS and yourself. How RWS became a creator of the most cynical game
ever produced?
Vince: We see ourselves as a band of maniacs who love life,
women, music, women, games, women, money, women... uh!
Nathan:Yeah, well, we've got an American saying "Curiosity
killed the cat". And yet, I seem to recall a Buddhist saying
to the effect of "Interest in entertainers shows depth of character".
Because of this, I'll let you know that not a day goes by that we
aren't slaving away on our games for YOU--the player! Plus, several
of us do A LOT of designer drugs. I think Steve (Wik) is big into
GHB right now. I'm into POLO with a touch of Red Bull. I mean, how
else do you expect we think of the things we do?
2. It's been nearly five years since Postal was released. What
changes did your company undergo during this time? What have you
been doing all these years?
Nathan: Trimming the fat and eating red meat.
Vince: Doin our best to stay out of rehab.
3. When did you come to an idea of making the sequel? Despite
being a stylish and mind-twisting game, Postal's sales reached only
200000 copies around the world, which is very low compared to today's
blockbusters. Are you not afraid that, being surrounded by politically
correct titles, Postal 2 may turn into a complete failure?
Nathan: Contrast is necessary for life. If you woke up tomorrow
and every girl on the street was Anna Kournikova that would be horrible,
right? Hmmmm.. probably not a good example. But the point is, with
all those crappy, politically correct games, the public is thirsting
for something FUN and devious. We've always wanted to do Postal
2, and now the technology of today let's us exact even more juice
for your pleasure!
Vince: All we want is to have fun and make people laugh
and cry, have fun and die. If I could get to meet a beautiful vodka
slugging babe from your country then POSTAL 2 will be a success
for me personally.
4. Ripcord Games was one of the few companies risky enough to
publish the sequel. Alas, it is now extinct. Are you going to publish
Postal 2 on your own or try to find some other company who's got
the guts to do it?
Vince: Running With Scissors was prepared last time to go
it alone and if we have to for POSTAL 2 then we will, nothing can
stop us. We've already had several publishers contact us and we'll
see what kinda deal makes sense.
5. By the way, how about releasing your game in Russia? We've
got a very developed "budget editions" market. But, for
God's sake, don't let anyone here to translate your game into Russian!
You won't believe what our localization studios did with GTA2 and
Max Payne. Yikes!
Nathan: For this question I'd like to enlist the help of
our resident marketing skinhead...
Mike Jaret a.k.a. FOO man JEW: BUDGET EDITION....WHAT IN THE
BLUE HELL!!! NO BUDGET EDITION....IT WILL BE RUSKY RELEASED....AND WERE
GONNA HAVE THE 1980 RUSSIAN RED ARMY HOCKEY TEAM DO THE MALE VOICE
OVERS!! NOTHING LIKE A BUNCH OF WHINY RUSSIANS WHO LOST TO THE STINKY
AMERICANS IN THE OLYMPICS 22 YEARS AGO!!! AS FAR AS THE WOMEN...WELL
WE HAVE ASTELENYA DVORAK DOING THE WOMEN VOICE OVERS!! SHE IS 6'10"
AND HAS MULBERRY BUSHES GROWING OUT OF HER ARMPITS. BESIDES THE
PIT HAIR, HEIGHT, GUT, DEEP VOICE, STANKY WIG, AND RIPPED STOCKINGS
UNDER A MELTED LEATHER SKIRT.....SHES A HOTTY!!
6. Postal made a lot of commotion mostly because of its blood,
gore and violence. But, at the same time, any normal (not bent on
"ban-the-bad-games-save-our-children" routine) person
could enjoy your good sense of dark humor and irony. What do you
think about current trends in modern society concerning violent
games? Are they the same as 5 years ago or have changed in other
direction?
Nathan: I think Carl Sagan believed that if we removed all
the violence from society, we'd have to start making up for it in
our sports and leisure to appease basic human nature. The Sega Genesis
game "Gain Ground" proved Mr. Sagan's point by taking
place in a future where there was no more violence and society had
to fight through "war simulations". Before we get to this
stage RWS would like to help humanity by simulating violence on
the "computer".
7. Current state of technology allows developers to use bloody
decapitation and dismemberment as a skeleton key to all design problems.
Is Postal 2 going to be violent and cynical? Aren't you afraid that
your game will be tormented for its contents? We have seen misfortunes
that followed Soldier of Fortune, Half-Life, entire Carmageddon
series and it seems the pressure on M-rated games becomes significantly
stronger with each passing year. What do you feel about mature-oriented
games which have blood/gore/nudity removed in order to get a TEEN
rating (an excellent example is Medal of Honor: Allied Assault)?
Vince: We do what we want...if POSTAL 2 becomes a commercial
success that's great and I'll be happy and pay my rent, but we're
not changing our game for nobody!
Nathan: Half-life experienced misfortunes? When our game
has the MISFORTUNE of outselling Half-Life and Medal of Honor then
we'll discuss the rating. Regardless, our game will have plenty
of blood and laughter! The game was going to be filled with blood
but the Postal Dude has trouble swimming.
8. Will Postal 2 keep the "dynamic insanity" feel
of the original? What is more importantly, will the sequel give
players as much freedom as possible?
Nathan: More freedom than you, Gordon Freeman, or John Wayne
ever had.
9. I can't help but ask this question: will our good friend,
the brave U.S. Mail employee, accompany us in this new madness?
Nathan: He's too busy defending American citizens lives,
throwing himself on Anthrax-filled, letter bombs.
Vince: This has been a common misperception - the Postal
Dude is hi sown man, he doesn't work for the US Postal Service.
10. A storyline may seem rudimental to many Postal fans. How
are you going to cope up with this problem? And is there a need
for a storyline in Postal 2 at all?
Nathan: Crack open "War and Peace" to page 623.
Read for about 17 and half pages. That should cover the story.
11. What changes in gameplay are to be expected? Does tactical
action remain to be your favorite genre?
Nathan: The original Postal was bursting with strategy.
We're working hard to ensure Postal 2 has all the strategic potential,
plus even more interactivity with NPC's and interactivity amongst
NPC's.
12. Postal would be an adventure without weapons. Any changes/additions
to the arsenal?
Nathan: Postal would be an adventure if there was talking
to elves! Postal was action. Pure and simple. Postal 2 will have
many new and absurdly cool weapons in the arsenal.
13. Weapons are a very important part of gameplay mix, but what
about other technical gadgets and devices? Our vote goes to vehicles!
And... we were pleased to find out that GTA3 developers decided
to use prostitutes as "medikits". Will we see surprises
of this kind in Postal 2?
Nathan: Vehicles have been covered in other games. We've
got a team of scientists working hard in the lab to research new
and exciting ways to kill people! They're also researching a cooked
turkey on a platter that can instantly cure severe head trauma.
14. In Postal, you managed to combine amazing 2D artwork with
three-dimensional characters and sophisticated visual effects. Nowadays
full-3D is The King and you are a proud Unreal Warfare engine licensee.
How are you going to utilize this cutting-edge technology? Will
Postal 2 be a first-person or third-person (maybe even isometric)
perspective game, will there be motion captured animations, particle
effects (Unreal 2's flamethrowers are an eye-feast!), high poly
count models screaming "dismember/behead me"? By the way,
your press-release at www.gopostal.com is extremely original, we
especially liked Mark Rein's words. Did he really say that? What
do guys at Epic feel about RWS using their baby for Postal 2?
Nathan: Unreal 2 offers us amazing graphical muscle. The
particle system is fantastic and we are putting it to full use.
We hear your continental neighbor Westka Interactive had to hire
actual waste-management engineers to handle all the water run-off
in their rain levels built in the Unreal 2 engine. We haven't had
this problem since our game is set in a town modeled after Bisbee,
Arizona, USA.
15. Postal's maps were nice and atmospheric, but somewhat small.
Will the sequel keep this tradition or you're going to make them
bigger, longer and... uncut?
Nathan: The game will feature a huge but uncircumcised town
allowing you to freely motion through the foggily, atmospheric streets.
Vince: Wow! I like that. Do Russian girls prefer guys cut
or uncut?
16. Postal featured several highly impressive scenes, such as
mass parades dancing to the rhythm of Molotov cocktail bottles.
I do hope that Postal 2 will on par with the original game in this
matter. For example, how about a march of morality fighters or U.S.
Mail employees or Australian and Brazilian government officials
getting warmed up in liquid fire?
Nathan: I'm not saying yet that we have a parade level in
the POSTAL 2, but if we did it would be so fun we could successfully
sell it as a separate game.
17. Postal's sound effects and voiceovers still amaze us, you
could write a book on how one should make players cry in awe! Tell
us, did you really torture actors (at least their helluva believable
screams make us think so)?
Nathan: We got our main man Christian Salyer on the audio
scene again. Hopefully he can make the same knock-down, word to
ya mama, tight, tite, fat, phat sounds as we had in the original.
Vince: Christian is like God of Audio, and he's a nice guy,
but he's married so no Russian pussy for him.
18. Explosions, gunshots, screams, wails and howls sound especially
great on latest sound cards such as Creative Live 5.1 and Audigy.
Are there any plans of adding EAX2 (or EAX Advanced HD, which is
even better) support?
Nathan: It will feature all the audio support Epic delivers
with the Unreal 2 engine.
19. Multiplayer support. Cooperative mode was good and nice
in Postal, but deathmatch is twice as funnier, don't you think?
What modes of multiplayer are going to be implemented?
Nathan: POSTAL 2 will be multi-player super fun fight time
right out of game box. Add-on pack adds mega tasty delight!
Vince: MP is like gangbanging, you always gotta watch who's
coming up behind you.
20. What games are favorite among RWS staff? Bloody, dark and
violent... white and fluffy... or something else? What sources of
inspiration did you use when working on Postal?
Nathan: Going to the super market each week gives us new
inspiration for making Postal games.
Vince: Getting telephone numbers from strippers.
21. Well, I guess that's all for now... and, of course, it would
be great to know at least expected release date for Postal 2. You
do know it, don't you? Please, give us a glint of hope...
Nathan: We're not screwing around on this for 5 years like
other developers. The game will be finished by September-October
2002.
Vince: Yeah, no game interrupts here!
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