Serious Sam 3 interview with Alen Ladavac

The Serious Sam series has become a classic and must buy for a huge number of gamers, and the new one promises to be even more amazing. With the release of the next game in the franchise now only 3 weeks away, Steam Addicts’ own Walter McDaniel has grabbed Croteam Co-Founder Alen Ladavac for an exclusive chat.

Tell us a little about Devolver and Croteam’s relationship, you seem more connected than most companies with this setup.

The core team at Devolver Digital actually signed the original Serious Sam games back in 2001 when they founded the publisher Gathering of Developers. Essentially, Croteam and the team at Devolver have been working together for over a decade.

It’s been a fantastic relationship and it makes for a very creative partnership when it comes to promoting the games and getting into the hands of the long-time fans.

Will you be adding DLC with Serious Sam 3? Will it be purely cosmetic?

There are definitely plans for DLC but we are not prepared to announce exactly what the content will be at this point. Rest assured any DLC for Serious Sam 3: BFE will be more than purely cosmetic changes! We’d love to hear some DLC ideas over at facebook.com/SeriousSamFan from longtime Serious Sam fans!

You have previously given away free character DLC on Steam in the summer promotion, will you be continuing this tradition?

There are some plans for free character DLC during some fun events but we can’t quite announce that yet. Should be lots of fun and we always love giving back to the fans that have supported us over the years.

When you started out with Serious Sam 1, did you expect all of this success?

The Serious Sam franchise has definitely become bigger than we thought it could be when we first put together the demo for our Serious Engine. Of course, we are incredibly happy and love developing new Serious Sam titles for the thousands of fans around the world.

Are there any new enemies that behave in a very different way from earlier games?

In addition to the fantastically redesigned classic enemies like the Gnaar and Kamikazes there are a some new baddies for Sam to deal with in Serious Sam 3: BFE.

The Scrapjack will take down anything between them and Sam with rockets and strike with a melee attack if Sam gets too close. Then we have some new spider enemies that can attack from any direction including from the ceiling of corridors.

Oh, and the Sandwhale is Croteam’s answer to invisible boundaries you might see in other games. If a player tries to venture out into the wilderness of some of the surrounding dunes they’ll have to deal with the ultimate desert guardian!

If there is one thing, and one thing only, that you want fans to know about 3, what is it?

Serious Sam 3: BFE was designed with fans in mind and we think the game will deliver everything you’d expect from the next evolution of the Serious Sam. We’re really excited to get it out in the hands of our supporters and to those that might have not played a Serious Sam game at all!

What do you think sets Serious Sam 3 apart from say, Modern Warfare?

Serious Sam games have always been designed around frantic action, hordes of bizarre enemies, and arcade-style FPS gameplay. Serious Sam 3: BFE continues in that spirit with a few modern upgrades and tweaks to expand upon what Serious Sam fans have come to expect.

What can you tell us about how Serious Sam 3 fits into the storyline as a whole?

Serious Sam 3: BFE serves as a prequel to Serious Sam: The First Encounter during Mental’s invasion of Earth in near-future Egypt. Players will follow Sam as he traverses through temples, museums, decimated outposts and alien structures to find and activate the Time-Lock to travel to the events of Serious Sam: The First Encounter.

How did you feel about the release of Serious Sam Double D? Anything you want to mention about it?

Serious Sam Double D is fantastic and we couldn’t be happier with the job Mommy’s Best Games did in translating Serious Sam’s trademark features into a 2D shooter. Our team is a huge fan of the gunstacking feature and all the neat secrets that are tucked away in the game.

It’s a great balance of classic Serious Sam and some outstanding new features we could never have used in a traditional FPS. If you haven’t checked it out, for $8 it’s a real treat for Serious Sam and shooter fans!

We all know that you bring a classic appeal and gameplay to FPS games. Do you think that this will always have a market?

Absolutely, we believe that gamers will always want a fast-paced, arcade-style shooter and think that there is a whole different appeal to the more common slower paced, military-inspired shooter.

The re-release of the original games via Serious Sam HD on PC and XBLA were very well received by the press and gamers and was very encouraging to know that there is still a large market for classic shooters.

Walter would like to thank Alen and the people at Devolver Digital and Croteam for giving us some attention right before the release of their latest game. Don’t miss the release of Serious Sam 3: BFE due on Steam October 18th!