Interview: Ludon Lee of D2C Games By Park Cooper  Before I went to the con, I was contacted by D2C's PR people to set up the interview-- professional, in a way that was different from my average con interview... Once I got there and the time came, I met with Ludon Lee, of D2C Games. They've teamed up with RAW Studios and Steve Niles to deliver downloadable comics, DVD-movie-watching style. I sat at the Raw Studios booth, waiting… looking around, I saw that something was coming soon called "The Tripper," which is the brainchild of David Arquette, that guy who was in the Scream series of movies… Then they showed me what they had. Even if it was a work in progress, I was interested by the idea that it would be "interactive"… So I started watching it. Directed by Thomas Jane, of The Punisher movie, it was on a big television screen and was footage from the Raw Studios comic Bad Planet… it looked like there was some NASA footage… something lands in a city… a bunch of alien crab things come out… The camera scrolled around the panel... with increasing 'direction'… Soldiers shot at the aliens... SFX were bother audible and popped up as words. The giant crab-bug things headed downtown... There was a nice recoil effect on some machine gun action, the 'camera' shuddering back and forth. I started noticing that the 'camera' would shake when explosions happened, too… The National Guard fought… Directorial intent was increasingly evident.  The action was stopped and I saw that it was like a DVD, with 'scenes', and also had special features, like an introduction from the creator and director, an interview with same, creator bio information, and a section where they sort of do creator commentary, which is basically where, sure, they discuss a 'scene', but also, they show you a particular panel or page and then show you the stages of the art—pencils, then inks, then colors, then letters and things like that… you control them and can look at them repeatedly. There was also to be a link to help one order the print version of the comic, and a sketchbook section.  They were also working with Steve Niles on some games, to be announced later this year. Mr. Lee stressed to me that all this was to be targeted at the mass market, not just to comic book fans. They were carefully selecting the online retailers from whom these will be downloaded, not just comic book or fan sites, but sites that sell a wide variety of things. Steve Niles will be directing two comics, and Thomas Jane will direct two comics. They have gotten the concept of doing digital comics approved by Sony for their PSP. The details of the distribution haven't been worked out just yet. It'll be soon, though, because they're shipping this fall. Mr. Lee also spoke of different versions of the experience, such as a director's cut. He was eager to express his intent that a viewer be offered the creative vision of the creators and the directors. D2C has been happy to work with RAW and Steve, they "believe in their creativity." Reception at the con on Thursday was "very positive," Mr. Lee said. He emphasized that this merely represents a transference of mediums, as natural as the move from VHS to DVD but less threatening to the retailers... more like paintings and photographs—photos didn't replace the art of painting in the art world. Indeed, he felt that this new enterprise would be bringing new customers to the industry. Comics are no longer available in as many places as when Mr. Lee was a child, and so this concept of downloadable comics offers global access. Indeed, the European market has been very interested, they told me; as has Asia, as they have a whole different mobile-related tech culture.  I noted that the four available titles so far were rather mature in content, and asked if there were any plans for more all-ages material, since they were marketing to the mass market. The reply was that yes, this was just where they are starting. They want to reach out to women, to younger audiences (given time), to everyone, and they have already used and implemented feedback from focus groups and so forth. One thing I noticed was that they hadn't added voice-overs to the actual dialogue—the word balloons simply appear on the screen. Mr. Lee confirmed that no, they won't add voice-overs for the actual dialogue, so as not to ruin however the reader imagines the voices to sound in their imaginations, which I thought was a noble sentiment. It went along with D2C's conviction that this process was for the purposes of enhancing, not changing the experience. Mr. Lee told me one story about bringing in the creators (for Bad Planet, I believe) and they watched the comic on a 55 inch high-definition television… one background character was wearing a cap with the Rolling Stones' Kali-like mouth-and-tongue logo. "Did you get permission for using that," the writer was asked. He didn't even know it had been there all along, demonstrating how much more observable detail jumps out at the viewer as a result of this process. Using "Hydrant" technology, involving digital rights and management, when downloaded, the download self-registers based on one's operating system. If your hard drive crashes, you can re-download for free. Maybe about 3 times... they're still working on what the best number of times will be. If you burn a copy for a friend, the copy ends up being the demo version. However, they are working on different sales models for repeat customers, and perhaps a discount, as well. Part of the point is that they're using game-existing tech for the comics... which helps make it cost-effective. Digitally fine-tuning the directorial choices is easy, more than with movies or even anime. The cost? About the same, issue for digital issue, as the print comics themselves. I asked about the iPhone... they couldn't say. Mysterious!  http://www.d2cgames.com/ http://www.d2cgames.com/d2comics/index.htm Messages from Park and Barb: http://www.panel2panel.com/gsg-archives.html http://www.wickermanstudios.com http://www.halfdeadcomic.com http://www.comicspace.com/wickermanstudios And you can now get Septagon Studios stuff online too, like this thing: SCORN SCORN is now available for pre-order in a number of ways: --Scorn 1 and 2 can be ordered directly from the Septagon Studios Web site --e-mailing store@septagonstudios.com, especially if one is a retailer, because there are special benefits --Scorn is also available through Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Scorn-1-Obsessed-Kevin-Moyers/dp/097396670X http://www.amazon.com/Scorn-2-Rage-Kevin-Moyers/dp/0973966718 |
