An interview with Striking Distance Studios Chief Development Officer Steve Papoutsis
Delivering genuine horror moments requires the collaboration of a variety of departments, from engineering to sound design. Steve Papoutsis, the chief development officer at Striking Distance Studios, highlights that it’s always a team effort. Keep reading for Steve’s stories about the studio’s the localization efforts for The Callisto Protocol, his upcoming keynote in Korea, and a hint of the future DLC plan for this new survival horror game.
※ KRAFTON Blog will continue to present the interviews with the five leaders of Striking Distance Studios through the launch of The Callisto Protocol on December 2nd.
Hello! Nice to meet you. Would you introduce yourself to our readers?
I’m Steve Papoutsis, the chief development officer (CDO) at Striking Distance Studios. My role and responsibility is focused on ensuring that the overall development of our game is run smoothly, making sure that we keep in mind the best player experience possible and helping guide and drive the team to deliver a high-quality experience that our players will love.
What was your goal and vision you wanted to realize when you kicked this project off in the first place?
When we started Striking Distance Studios, one of the things that was really appealing to me was working with CEO Glen Schofield and building out a team of veteran developers that we’ve worked with in the past.
And then another thing that was really exciting about this opportunity was getting to work with our colleagues at KRAFTON who seemed like people that were really interested in supporting developers and supporting creativity.
Once we started making the game and building the studio and the team, we got to introduce new people to the team that we hadn’t met. So that was also very exciting to have them be part of the creative process.
As you’re working with great talents in this industry, sometimes you face lots of different ideas in a variety of matters. When that happens, how do you handle it as the CDO of this studio?
One of the things that’s challenging when we’re working on games is when we run into disagreements internally. We need a lot of different people in order to make a game. It’s not just one person. It’s a team effort. While it can be hard, I like to have a curious mindset where I try to understand people’s point of view, even when we might seem to disagree. It’s challenging to always think that way because certainly there’re things that I feel very passionately about. But in order to foster a creative spirit, you need to always be open to ideas and you have to always be listening and willing to change.
I’d like to ask you about your partnership with Glen Schofield and Chris Stone. I heard that the three of you have been working together for more than two decades now.
Again, one of the things that’s really interesting about this studio is that many of the people here have experience working together for many years at different studios. So, our chief creative officer Chris Stone and the chief executive officer of our studio Glen Schofield are two people that I’ve had the pleasure of working with probably over the course of 20 years. I think it probably was in the late 90s when the three of us worked together for the first time. We had different roles at the time. And it was great to realize that they’re highly creative people. They’re fun. They’re friendly. They’re interested in creating cool stuff. And so that always appealed to me.
And then as we continue to meet up on various projects, our connection with each other grew stronger. The more you get to know somebody and get to work with them, the more comfortable you get and the more you can challenge and question each other. And I think that’s a very important aspect to creativity. You should be able to speak your mind without being afraid of somebody thinking that your idea is dumb. You should be open to the creative process and open to the essence of collaboration and always be trying to push to be better. And I think working with Chris and Glen, it’s been exactly like that.
What was the biggest obstacle that you’ve faced during the development and how did you overcome?
The development of The Callisto Protocol has been really interesting. First, we started a new studio. We brought together all new people. And we created an all new world for this game. All of these by themselves is extremely challenging.
But on top of that, we didn’t anticipate a big thing that has changed the entire world. Covid brought a significant change to the way we live. And we just had to adapt. We had to quickly figure out how we could work in a remote environment. But I feel we did a good job of being able to get our people equipped both at this studio and at their home, and being able to continue developing the game. That would not have been possible, had it not been for the support of KRAFTON, and the hard work of all the talented people within Striking Distance Studios. So, that was something I’ve never experienced in all the years of making video games, nothing of that magnitude. I’m very proud to say we were able to continue and be able to make this game right now.
I saw you emceeing the town hall meeting event where everyone working here at Striking Distance Studios gathered together. Do you hold such events often to improve communication and interaction between people?
The stand-up that you’re talking about that is essentially a meeting that I asked the entire studio to do on a regular basis. So, I kind of run that meeting. I do enjoy speaking to the team and presenting and I feel like it’s a great way for me to get to connect with the team. I hope people like that like I do.
But, I also feel as the CDO it’s important for me to keep us aligned around what we need to do. Of course, it’s a kind of event where we have fun. But, at the end of the day I think we need to keep the team focused on what’s important for us each day. And that’s a role that I enjoy, being able to help guide the team towards those things.
Now let’s move on to the Horror Engineering. I heard you were one of the people who came up with this approach alongside Glen Schofield. So, as the CDO, how did you actually apply this in the production of The Callisto Protocol?
The work to make a horror game is truly a cross-functional effort. There’s not just one department that works on that. It requires engineering, art, animation, character, rigging, sound design, lighting. It literally touches the entire studio. In order to deliver horror moments, you really need to ensure that people are aligned around what you’re trying to accomplish. So, a lot of the effort behind creating this idea of Horror Engineering. It comes down to a clarity of vision and communication. And then of course aligning people around what you’re trying to achieve. Those are the kind of cornerstones of being able to execute against the concept of Horror Engineering.
With The Callisto Protocol is scheduled to be launched around the globe on December 2nd, the game is known to be supporting not just the translation of text but also localized voice cover for multiple languages including Korea. Could you elaborate on the localization efforts?
Yes. We wanted to make sure that we had a high-quality cast for all those languages that we’ll have a unique voice such as Korean. And so we got a bunch of audition tapes and I actually became a part of the group that listen to those recordings and select our best voice actors. We also went to territory experts. We talked to people at KRAFTON to make sure that the selections we did make sense so that the acting matched up to what we were doing in the game and sounded very high quality.
I believe the experience would get much more immersive when you can hear something in your own language. Of course, it means a lot of work to have all the recordings and get all the text localized. But I really hopeful people all around the world get better experiences.
Could you tell us a bit about future downloadable content (DLC) plan for The Callisto protocol?
Sure. For our upcoming DLC, we plan to support a variety of new game modes. Things like a hardcore mode where you’ll have limited ability, making it much more challenging. We also have big plans for a new story chapter. That’s going to follow our main protagonist Jacob Lee through a little bit more of an adventure. And then we have a variety of skins and stuff that are part of the DLC.
I know it could be a bit tricky to answer, but what are your favorite parts of The Callisto Protocol?
I’ve been playing the game a lot and there are so many different parts of the game that I really enjoy. If I was to pick out a specific chapter of the game, I really like the habitat chapter, as well as the tunnels chapter. Those are probably my two favorite levels in the game.
But to me, the star of the show is our combat and the overall compulsion loop in gameplay. Being able to use the GRP gun, melee combat, ranged combat, and all the upgrades. That second to second feel of our game is really unique within the horror action, horror space. I’m really excited about how players will react to that because I feel like it really gives opportunities for unique playstyles and lots of player choice.
What kind of games do you personally love to play in your free time?
Wow, I do love pretty much all games. If I have to name a title that I recently enjoyed playing, it’s the Spider-Man game. I also love shooters, RPGs, and MMOs, too. I could play anything at any point. One of the games that I tend to play a lot over the last few years in my free time is sim racing. I like cars a lot. I really love them. And during the pandemic sim racing became even more popular. So I got more involved in it (Laughs).
You’re going to deliver a keynote at the Global Game Conference (G-CON) 2022, which is a sideline event of the upcoming G-STAR game show in Korea. What do you anticipate from this experience?
I’m pretty excited about going to Korea for G-STAR and G-CON. One of the things I remember many years ago before I’d ever visited Korea, was about Korea’s passion and enthusiasm for video games. For instance, seeing how big StarCraft was in Korea at that time from here in America, my mind was blown by how much love and appreciation Korea had for this game. I was thinking like, “That’s crazy. We don’t have that here. They must all be crazy gamers.” I’ve always had a fascination with how much Korea loves video games. Now that I’m going to visit Korea for a chance to talk to people outside of KRAFTON, I mean the regular gamers there, I’m so excited about meeting them and get a glimpse of what they like and what they don’t like at the game show. I just hope I do a good job representing both Striking Distance Studios and KRAFTON with my presentation.
So what are you going to talk about in your keynote? Could you give us a little bit of a hint about it?
Sure. One of the things that I found over the years of making video games is there’s so many incredibly talented people who work in games. And you can be an artist, you can be an engineer, you can be an audio person, or you can be an animator. What’s special here is when you become a game developer you should be able to understand what all of those things mean when they come together because that’s the end experience. That’s the game. You could be an expert in one area. But, if you don’t think about the overall package the game itself, you aren’t really a game developer. You might just be a specialist.
I want to work with game developers who understand the importance of frame rate, great art, great sound, great engineering, and how those things come together. It’s the intersection of art, design, and technology, how they come together. That’s what makes making video games so special. That’s the premise of what I’m going to talk about in my keynote. I hope people like that.
Lastly, what would you say to the horror game fans around the world?
Yeah. I just like to tell everybody that we really hope they enjoy The Callisto Protocol. It would be our greatest pleasure to hear that they enjoyed the game. Thank you!
The Callisto Protocol will be launched globally on Dec. 2!
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