Dead Head Fred

Dead Head Fred made its debut at this year’s E3 event. The game is an action-adventure title for the PSP that will be released in early 2007. Dead Head Fred takes place in an alternate time-zone of gangsters, private-eyes and dangerous damsels in distress. The actual game is about a hard-boiled detective who wakes up after being resurrected from the dead, only to find that his head is missing, along with his memory. Players will then have to venture around the outlandish city of Hope Falls to resolve Fred's dilemma while battling ghouls, fiends, mutant gangsters and more. Fred can melee attack, put together string combos, and use projectiles. However, the game offers players the unique ability to switch heads on the fly, allowing for combos and outrageous attacks.

To get more insight into this ambitiously intriguing title, though, we had some questions answered by Eric Peterson, President of Vicious Cycle Software. Check it out below.

VG Core: How long has Dead Head Fred been in development?

Peterson: Dead Head Fred has been in development for about a year now. We started pre-production art and early design documents between August and October 2005.

VG Core: How did the idea come about to create a game of this kind?

Peterson: Well that is a bit of a long story so I will try to keep it brief Basically, Fred wasn’t Fred originally. I came up with the initial concept as a product for the GameCube and it was visually very Rayman-esque. I have always enjoyed and admired the Rayman series, and I like its design and the art style as well. The title was originally Geo, not Dead Head Fred.

Geo was a little character that had 4 different heads, all primitive shapes (a sphere, pyramid, cube and cylinder). These heads were his main tools throughout the game. Each head had different mechanics and all of his powers and abilities would be available by changing heads. The Geo concept was also heavily geared toward solid platforming.

We shopped the idea around and everyone seemed to really dig the gameplay mechanics of the concept, but most, if not all publishers were veering away from older systems and games that looked like they were for a younger audience.

So, we aged the concept up a bit. First we changed the platform and migrated the idea to the PSP. Then we altered the visuals and the back story. That was the first pass of what became Dead Head Fred.

Later in the process, we went through focus testers with our publisher, D3, and found that the PSP market and the consumers that buy that system along with the games for that system wanted a more mature looking title – something grittier and not so cartoony.

We made all of these changes and more and now have what Fred is today – a more mature, action-heavy title, a lot different than our original Geo concept.

VG Core: The game is very expansive in its play functions...is Dead Head Fred set to appeal to platformers, action gamers, or just the common casual gamer?

Peterson: It is set to appeal to action gamers and platformers alike. We definitely had the core gamer in mind when making Fred, giving players a rich world, a detailed story and a deep gameplay experience.

VG Core: What sort of engine is Dead Head Fred running on, and what are some of the engine's features?

Peterson: Dead Head Fred uses our proprietary engine, the Vicious Engine. Our engine is approved middleware for the PSP and therefore is licensed by other PSP developers. The engine also works on all current platforms with the exception of the DS and is being updated as we speak to support all of the next gen systems.

Some of the features include, background loading (which keeps down level load times and allows for larger streaming levels), competitive graphics (full frame buffer effects, more polygons per location, and so on), a physics system (water/buoyancy simulation and rigid body, for example) and an enhanced development pipeline within the editor so that developers can generate more gameplay easily utilizing our point and click development system.

VG Core: From what we saw at E3--and we were very impressed--a big focus was on the overall graphical quality. Can we expect even more detail than what we saw at E3?

Peterson: Yes!!! In fact, our latest levels are larger and more detailed than anything that we had at E3. The overall quality of Hope Falls (the city where Dead Head Fred takes place) is fantastic. We are very pleased with how much we are drawing graphically and I think that all PSP owners will be very satisfied with the end result.

VG Core: It appears as if ol' Fred has some combos up his sleeve now. How many different heads, and ultimately combos, can we expect to stick on our shoulders?

Peterson: Well, the head count is currently nine. One of those nine however is not really for attacking—it’s used more as a disguise so that Fred can communicate with NPC’s who are scared of Fred’s other heads. Another one of the nine is solely for exploration of smaller areas. Six heads are designed for straight up action/combos, exploration and platforming, upgrades, and so on. Regarding the combos, we have quite a few planned for each head that Fred can acquire – this should give players a lot of variety within the combat system.

VG Core: Boss Fights! Can we expect the final build to include boss fights? And can you give us a hint as to what some of those bosses will throw at us?

Peterson: Absolutely! There are quite a few boss fights planned and all are unique to each of the specific areas that you explore within Hope Falls. Of course, they are all integrated into the story and that is how they surface in the actual game.

At this time, we aren’t disclosing a lot of information regarding the bosses because we don’t want to give any major elements of the story away. However, one boss that I revealed at E3, was Juju Judy. Judy is a wild and exotic-looking voodoo priestess who has the ability to resurrect the dead and turn them into zombies under her control. She is a formidable enemy that the player has to wrangle with early in the game.

VG Core: Thanks Eric for answering our questions. On a final note, though, Dead Head Fred will presumably include some mini-games. What are some of the mini-games like, such as "Consensual Sax" or "The Feather Doom"?

Peterson: Well, let me address one of those mini-games which I am sure people want to know more about, that would be the Feather Dome.

The Feather Dome is a set of arenas that are scattered throughout Hope Falls. These locations are where the locals gather to wager money on the bloody brawls between mutant roosters. They are part of Pitt’s underground economic system.

Fred can attend, watch and bet on these matches as a spectator. But that’s not all! Fred can also collect eggs to hatch, keep and modify his own mutant roosters and then battle them in a storm of blood and feathers. The player actually controls the mutant roosters in this mode.

The ultimate goal is to move up in the ranks where Fred’s rooster will ultimately take on One Feather, the current reigning champion of the Feather Dome.

You can visit D3 Publishing for information regarding Dead Head Fred. Also, be sure to stay tuned in with VGCore.com for more updates and information for Dead Head Fred.

Article By: Gibthegamer