Nick “Dak” LaLone: Marc Vézina, Could you introduce yourself to the Gaming Outpost?
Marc Vézina: Marc-Alexandre Vézina crash-landed on Earth in 1971. He narrowly avoided a boring but lucrative engineering career when friends suggested that he become a starving writer instead. Since then, his bizarre, secluded lifestyle has led him to explore the most perverse aspects of human civilization, including real work, failed relationships and gaming conventions. He hopes to redeem himself by one day writing a novel of some sort. He served for nearly 15 issues as the Ogre-in-Chief for Mecha Press, a Montréal-based magazine that catered to his depraved fetish for giant robots. Marc-Alex’s deranged ramblings have also been the basis for numerous gaming books including Jovian Chronicles, Europa Incident, parts of Macross II: Spaceships and Deckplans, and the mindwarping Heavy Gear. He currently serves as chief developer for Dream Pod 9’s Silhouette game engine and helps to edit the Heavy Gear line of products. Marc-Alex is still writing and is also very active on the Internet (some would say too much).
Dak: How did you get into gaming?
Vézina: Pretty much like anyone else, I guess. A friend was given the orange D&D boxed set, and he started GMing for us. Ahh, those simple days of dungeon crawling with no motivation, no sense, and lots of +3 swords and goblins… I was in early high school, then.
Dak: What is it that you do at Dream Pod Nine?
Vézina: My official title is “Director of R&D,” meaning I’m the one overseeing the development of the games and making sure no one slacks off. Unofficially, I also serve as the Webmaster, do some marketing, provide support for our games, and generally do entirely too much work. 
Dak: How did you break into the gaming industry?
Vézina: By a rather roundabout way. We (what was then IANUS Publications) started by publishing anime-related magazines (Mecha Press, Protoculture Addicts). Gaming stuff was included, and it took more and more of our attention, until we started publishing games of our own (starting with licensed CP2020 supplements). Then we split off the company and became DP9, and started publishing our own system.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Dak: Tribe 8 is a departure from Mech’s, Tanks, and starships, can you give a bit of background on this wonderful game?
Vézina: Tribe 8 is our take on the whole fantasy genre. Being Dream Pod 9, we just couldn’t go for the simple “sword and sorcery” motif, no… we had to create a really weird word combining tribal tradition, dream magic and a post-apocalyptic setting. Plainly put, the world as we know it will end sometime in the near future. Creatures from beyond the River of Dream will invade our world and attempt to enslave us. As a result of their intrusion, the veil between realities is weakened and dream magic can now be used here. Fatimas, avatars of the Goddess and incarnations of the human spirit, rise up to defend Mankind against the creatures. But now it appears that the saviors may be as bad as the beasts… The player characters are banished from the human tribes, caught between the invaders and the Fatimas and attempting to rebuild the world.
Dak: Where did this idea come from?
Vézina: A few years ago, we had just published Jovian Chronicles, and Heavy Gear was getting its first computer game. We were afraid of being pigeonholed as the “giant robot guys,” so we decided to do something drastically different. Fantasy was the obvious way to go. The rest sort of evolved from there, based on hero’s myths and tribal traditions. It was an interesting journey.
Dak: Heavy Gear is also interesting, as it is not only an RPG but a computer game as well. Did you get to work closely with the programmers and designers of the Virtual Version of Heavy Gear?
Vézina: Yes, a lot more than we expected. We provided feedback and the occasional designs, and of course we playtested a lot of the missions.
Dak: The Heavy Gear cartoon show is premiering early next year correct?
Vézina: Yep, January 2001 in syndication nation-wide!
Dak: Who approached you with the idea of a Television Show?
Vézina: Sony was looking for new show ideas for next year. They saw the books and the computer games, though the idea was neat. They did a little more digging and dropped a line to our licensing lawyer, and the deal was signed a few months later.
Dak: I have talked to a lot of gamers about Dream Pod Nine. The general feedback I get from them is the love of your system, the Silhouette engine. All Mathematical Equations aside, were there any influences in the system?
Vézina: Not really. We knew we wanted to use six-sided dice, because everyone has those at home. Put together, the staff has played probably every game out there. Beyond that, we went for a game mechanism that we could apply to as many situations as possible. We didn’t want to spend hours reinventing the wheel; especially not when there are so many cool background ideas to put on paper.
Dak: What inspires you?
Vézina: The idea of “less is more” is prevalent in our game design. Whenever possible, we try to use existing rules for new situations, and let the players work out a lot of things themselves. Our games are competing with Playstations and Nintendos, so they have to be quick, fast and fun.
Dak: What is the development team at Dream Pod Nine currently working on?
Vézina: Gear Krieg, an alternate reality World War II wargame. Think “Rocketeer meets Saving Private Ryan” and you’re pretty close. The rulebook is coming out at the end of June 2000. If it’s popular, we may do a roleplaying game as well. Time will tell…
Dak: Can you give a bit more info on “Gear Krieg”?
Vézina: It’s an alternate history take on World War II, where the technology curve is a little more steep than in our own reality. Basically, all the cool pulp tech, such as jetpacks, rocket fighters and walking tanks, get developed during the course of the war, sometimes massively changing events and famous battles (the bad guys will still loose at the end, though ^_^).
For the moment, GK is being released as a tabletop wargame. If there is enough interest, however, we will do a roleplaying game out of it as well (don’t forget, our Silhouette engine can handle both!).
Dak: Are there any completely new games on the horizon over at DP9?
Vézina: Yes, several in fact. I can’t give more details, though, but we are planning more lines for the future. Keep an eye on our Web page; that’s where we announce new stuff…
Dak: How much research do you guys put into your games?
Vézina: Lots, but never as much as I would like. But you know us writers; a project is done only when it is being forcefully pried from our bleeding fingers.
Dak: Do you have any advice for potential writers thinking of writing for the gaming industry?
Vézina: Yes. Get a real job first. Then write as a hobby. You’ll be much happier (and richer) that way.
Second advice: even though it’s the game industry, it’s still a business. Treat it as such if you want to be taken seriously by publishers.
Dak: What is your take on the rumors of a dying gaming industry?
Vézina: We hear them every year, and every time a new game type comes out (CCGs or others). Strangely enough, while a few companies disappear, there are always more to take their place.
I don’t think gaming, in its current form, will ever go away. Humans are social animals, they like the company of others. That’s something even the best online game cannot provide, and getting a whole LAN set up at home is not always possible. Gaming, however, will always remain a niche market — I’m not naïve enough to believe otherwise (see next question).
Dak: Will we ever see Gaming (paper and pencil gaming mind you) go to the mainstream?
Vézina: No, unfortunately. Gaming requires effort — preparing the adventure, getting a group together, investing time, and money. The great majority of the human population doesn’t want to work at having fun. They’d much rather passively absorb entertainment, like television or a movie. If they feel really wild, they’ll play Pictionary or other social games. That’s about how much effort they are ready to commit, sadly. (shrugs)
Dak: How do you feel about all of those independent Games?
Vézina: Some of them are extremely well-done. Always, they will be labors of love, and can be extremely detailed. I think they fill a niche that would not be commercially viable (just ask the average indie game designer how much time it took him to prepare the material). In many ways, it’s a sign of a healthy gaming community (community, not industry - the distinction is important).
Dak: Would you recommend Game creation to everyone?
Vézina: Only if you don’t mind being poor. ^_^
Dak: Final Thoughts?
Vézina: I’m hungry. When’s lunch again?
