花生酱与果冻，炸鱼和薯条，Hall与Oates（游戏邦注：美国70和80年代知名组合），有些搭配看起来就是天作之合，那么游戏与电影也会成为一种相得益彰的组合吗？最近Backflip Studios宣布推出一款90年代著名电影《鬼玩人3：魔界英豪》的授权游戏《Army of Darkness: Defense》，该工作室CEO及创始人Julian Farrior在最近的媒体采访中介绍了这个项目的由来，以下是游戏邦编译的访谈内容：

army_of_darkness

Backflip Studios过去一向以推出《扔纸团》、《Strike Knight》和《Graffiti Ball》等出色的原创游戏而闻名于世，你们这次为何决定制作基于《魔界英豪》的授权游戏？

米高梅公司当时带了一些非常有趣的电影作品找上门来，希望我们可以将其开发成手机娱乐内容。我们工作室都非常喜欢布鲁斯·坎贝尔（Bruce Campbell）主演的经典影片，而米高梅通常只挑选拔尖的独立开发商将其电影制作成很棒的游戏内容，他们之前有些授权游戏已经获得了成功。我们总体上还是专注于推出自己的原创内容，但也很珍惜这次为自己喜爱的电影开发游戏的机会。另外，我们觉得这部电影中的高潮情节是主角Ash保卫Arthur堡垒的那一幕，并认为它是开发城堡防御战游戏的理想题材。最后制作的效果很不错，我们对自己的成品也很满意。

这部电影上映至今已将近20年了，但这个电影系列的粉丝还是和以前一样对其忠贞不渝，所以他们应该会很高兴可以通过你们的手机游戏，参与Ash的中世纪之战。你们在开发《鬼玩人》这种经久不衰的经典电影授权游戏时有何感受？

我认为电影主角Ash的扮演者布鲁斯·坎贝尔深受硬核电影和游戏粉丝的欢迎，因为他很有幽默感，同时又善于表达主角内心的情感。他的台词总是令人忍俊不禁并且难以忘怀。除此之外，这部电影拥有许多出彩的人物角色和稀奇古怪的情节。我在电影院里第一次观看这部电影的时候是在18年前，但今天通过DVD再看这部电影的时候，居然还是觉得它的吸引力不减当年。

在最近几年，这一行业出现了大量横向卷轴的防御类游戏比如《Trenches》和《Paladog》。《Army of Darkness: Defense》与其他这类游戏有何不同？

我们致力于向手机平台推出最棒的城堡防御游戏，无论它是不是一款授权游戏。这款游戏将有趣的角色控制设置与传统城堡防御游戏元素相结合，让玩家自主决定该使用哪些有利条件，何时防御自己的城堡。在《Army of Darkness: Defense》游戏中，玩家可以通过触摸屏幕的左右侧，控制Ash和摄像视角。你可以通过在任何一个关卡中获得的金币，升级主角的健康值，攻击力以及一些强大的咒语。除此之外，你还可以使用射手、弹弩或者陷阱等升级自己的城堡。最重要的是，你在游戏中可以开启包括农民、剑士、长枪兵、射手、骑兵、装甲护卫队等所有的部队。这款游戏最为与众不同的地方在于，我们绑定了一个出众的电影品牌。我们采用了原影片中150句以上的台词，以及其中的骷髅大军、Sheila、陷阱怪物、mini Ash、Evil Ash等所有的反派角色。我们通过良好的设计以及品牌合作的优势，创造了一种引人入胜的游戏体验。

据我们所知，这款游戏特别展现了电影中Ash与Evil Ash及其僵尸大军最后一战的场景，这款游戏的内容主要侧重于电影的这一幕吗，还是说它还采纳了影片中的其他情节？

我们特别展示这一幕是因为，我们认为它可以创造最佳的手机游戏体验，以便我们以一种连贯的方式引进所有正反派角色，并保证游戏的趣味性。我们目前已投入制作一个重要的墓地场景和Pit迷你游戏，并将在不久的将来添加到游戏中，丰富这款游戏的玩法。这款游戏含有50个waves以及可无限开启的waves。

《Army of Darkness: Defense》并非该电影系列在App Store的唯一授权游戏，Trigger Apps也正在开发该系列第一部影片的游戏，你们对这种竞争有何看法？

我认为基于《鬼玩人》这种出众影片的授权游戏越多越好，毕竟布鲁斯·坎贝尔一直深受大众喜爱。在我看来，我们两家工作室的取材角度会有很大区别，所以会创造截然不同的游戏体验。我祝他们好运，也期待早点体验他们开发的游戏。

贵工作室是否还有开发其他授权内容？《Paper Toss：Social》何时可与玩家见面？

我们目前没有开发其他授权产品，下一个项目是将于夏季末推出的《Ragdol Blaster 3》。另外，我们在今后两个月内还将推出三款新的免费游戏，《Paper Toss：Social》很可能在今年秋季面世。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Backflip Studios’ Julian Farrior talks Army of Darkness: Defense   iPhoneiPad

Peanut butter and jelly, fish and chips, Hall and Oates – some pairings just make perfect sense. So when Backflip Studios announced that they’d be making a castle defense game based on the penultimate scene from Army of Darkness, in which the hero defends a fortress against an evil army of the undead, we knew they’d struck on an idea that was pure movie licensing gold.

We recently sat down with Backflip Studios CEO and founder Julian Farrior to talk all things Army of Darkness, from his love of the movie to what we can expect from Backflip’s upcoming game. Here’s what he had to say;

Backflip Studios have made a name for themselves over the last few years by creating great original content like Paper Toss, Strike Knight and Graffiti Ball. How did you end up working on a licensed title like Army of Darkness?

MGM approached us with a library of very interesting IP that they wanted to target toward mobile. As a studio, we had a particular interest in this Bruce Campbell cult classic as it was a Backflip favorite. MGM was extremely creative in making this deal happen, and took an interesting approach where they aimed their IP only toward top notch independent developers that they felt could make compelling games and who had shown some previous success. We generally focus on making games that are our own original IP but we felt this was rare opportunity to create a game around a movie we truly loved. In addition, we felt the pivotal scene in the movie where Ash, the protagonist, defends Arthur’s fortress from the Deadites (living dead), screamed to be made into a castle defense game. It was a blast and we are very pleased with the final product.

It’s been nearly 20 years since the release of the film, yet fans of the series are just as devoted as ever, no doubt excited to be able to put Ash’s medieval battle in their pockets thanks to your game. What is it that you feel makes the Evil Dead franchise such an enduring cult classic?

I think Bruce Campbell, Ash, has a lot of appeal to the hardcore movie fans and gamers alike, given that his humor and delivery seem to embody the spirit of nerd captured in a leading man’s body. His dialogue is simply some of the most memorable and hilarious in existence. In addition, the movie is rich with great characters and a whimsical plot. Lastly, it doesn’t hurt that one of the greatest directors of our time, Sam Raimi, was involved in the film. I thought that some of the shots were absolutely brilliant 18 years ago, when I first took a disgruntled date to see it in the theater, and I feel the same way today watching it on DVD.

We’ve seen a lot of great side-scrolling defense games pop up over the last year, from Trenches to Paladog. What is it that sets Army of Darkness: Defense apart from the rest?

We set out to make the best castle defense game possible on a mobile device, whether you knew the IP or not. It combines the fun of directly controlling a character, Ash, with the balanced economy of a traditional castle defense, deciding which assets to deploy and when, in order to defend your castle (or in this case the Necronomicon). In Army of Darkness: Defense you control Ash, and subsequently the camera, by touching the left or right side of your screen. You can upgrade his health, damage, iron fist, chainsaw, boomstick or one of many powerful spells with gold you pick up within any of the 50 waves. In addition, you can upgrade your castle with archers, catapults, stronger book defenses or the pit. Lastly, and most importantly, you can deploy any number of troops that you unlock throughout the game including peasants, swordsmen, spearmen, archers, horsemen, armed guards, horsemen, Arthur, Henry and many more. What really sets this game apart is how we integrated the outstanding IP. We used over 150 lines of the now legendary dialogue from the movie, all of the enemies including the myriads of skeleton warriors, flying driads, mini Ashes, Sheila, pit monsters, Evil Ash and all of the heros not-the-least of which is Ash. The marriage of a well designed game with stellar IP allowed us to create a very compelling experience.

From what we’ve seen, the game appears to depict the film’s final battle in which Ash leads the charge against Evil Ash and his army of Deadites. Will the game focus entirely on this part of the film, or will we be treated to other moments from the franchise?

We targeted this very specific scene within the movie because we thought it would make for the best mobile gaming experience. It allows us to introduce all of the good and evil characters in a consistent and coherent way, and above all keeps the game fun. We are already working on a significant Graveyard scene and Pit mini-game that will be added in the not-so-distant future and will further extend gameplay. The game ships with 50 waves and an unlockable endless wave upon completion of the game.

Army of Darkness: Defense may not be alone for long on the App Store. Trigger Apps is working on a game based on the first film in the series, Evil Dead. Do you have any words for the competition?

I think the more of this extraordinary IP in the market the better. You can never have too many Bruce Campbell lines. I think the scenes from the respective movies are very different and will make for completely different gaming experiences. I wish those guys the best of luck and very much look forward to playing their game.

Does Backflip Studios have any other licensed content in the works? And when are we going to see Paper Toss: Social?

We do not currently have any other licensed content in the works. Our next big project Ragdoll Blaster 3 that will launch late this summer. In addition, we have a solid lineup of three new free games coming out in the next two months. Paper Toss: Social will likely launch early fall.（source:gamezebo）