SPYRO 2:  GATEWAY TO GLIMMER
- Q&A

Interview with Ted Price, President of Insomniac Games and Michael John, Producer, Cerny Games

Q.	What’s new in Spyro 2:  Gateway to Glimmer?

A.	There are many, many things that are new in Spyro 2 - well over 100 new characters, new moves for Spyro, new technology like water effects, an even more refined engine, the addition of powerups, better character AI, new worlds to explore and a new story.  Most importantly though is the addition of a new gameplay structure where players have many more diverse challenges and puzzles to take on.  Each level has several unique challenges - some are straightforward, some will take a lot of thought and experimentation to accomplish.

Here's a more in-depth description of how our level goals and structure differ between Spyro and Spyro 2:  Gateway to Glimmer (written by Michael John):

“Spyro is primarily a game of collection; the player gathers treasure, dragons and eggs from each level in the world, all of which contain at least dragons and treasure.”

“Spyro 2 by contrast is a game of completion.  Each level has several unique, discrete tasks, each of which has a clear reward.  These tasks are divided between primary and secondary.  The primary task in a level is the most involved, though not necessarily the most difficult and is the key to 'completing' that level.  The secondary tasks give a collectible reward (a rune) which is not directly tied to completion of the level but is essential to the full completion of the game.”

“This structure is the most obvious departure from Spyro to Spyro 2 and is a very important point as it provides the player with a much broader and deeper feel to the game.”

We believe that Spyro 2 is a much bigger game than Spyro in terms of the geography and the number of things for player to do and will provide many more hours of gameplay than Spyro1 did.

Q.	Now that Spyro’s a year older has he grown up at all?

A.	Spyro has grown up a bit.  He is now a little more confident in his abilities as a dragon and his attitude shows it.

Q.	Has he learned any new tricks since the days of Gnasty’s tyranny?  Has his flame got any bigger?

A.	Being slightly older, Spyro has the capacity to learn some new moves.  During the game, if Spyro talks to the right characters (and has enough money) he'll be able to learn how to swim, climb walls and how to use a new jumping attack where he can leap up and then smash enemies with a diving headbutt.  Spyro can also now pick up and spit projectiles as well as performing a "hover" at the end of his glide.  Furthermore, during the game, Spyro can activate powerups which will give him a host of other abilities (eight at the moment) - superfly, supercharge, superbounce, supershot, supershield,  superflame, superfreeze and superbomb.

Q.	Have you created a completely new storyline for Spyro’s new adventure?  What is it based on?

A.	The story continues from where Spyro left off: Spyro after defeating Gnasty Gnorc comes home to the Artisan's World as a hero.  All of the dragons agree that Spyro deserves a big vacation and open the portal to Dragon Shores where Spyro and Sparx will be able to live it up on the beach.  As Spyro is stepping through the portal though, something goes wrong and Spyro finds himself far from Dragon Shores in a new universe called Avalar.  As Spyro explores Avalar in his efforts to get back to the Dragon Worlds, he finds out that Avalar's inhabitants are being thrown out of their castles and homes by a mischevious and nasty wizard named Ripto. Ripto and his two monstrous pets are wreaking all sorts of havoc in Avalar's worlds and if Spyro ever wants to get to Dragon Shores, he will have to help Avalar's denizens in their fight against Ripto.  There is much more to the story in terms of what really went wrong with the Dragon Shores portal, why Ripto is in Avalar, etc., but we're not telling... yet.

Q.	Does the action take place in the Dragon Lands or are there new worlds for Spyro to explore?

A.	There is an entire new universe for Spyro to explore. All of the action takes place in brand new worlds with brand new characters.

Q.	What new features are there in the gameplay?

A.	(Written by Michael John) “We wanted to show a real progression in Spyro’s abilities for example, we added a 'hover' move to the glide, which is an absolute godsend, improved the flexibility of the charge, added swimming and climbing, stuff like that.  But what we really focused on in going from Spyro1 to Spyro 2 was in taking Spyro as a platform in terms of character, control and environment, and using that to create literally dozens of new types of gameplay.

We added this new gameplay into the Spyro framework as what we call 'secondary' gameplay challenges, and every level has two of them, in addition to the 'primary' gameplay which is basically the improved Spyro1 gameplay most people would expect from a sequel.  The secondary challenges are total departures from Spyro1 and are incredibly diverse... ranging from puzzle-type gameplay that involves a bit of thinking to fast-and-furious mayhem challenges.  Many of these challenges are additionally enabled by a brand new powerup system that gives Spyro about eight new moves and abilities.

Each of the secondary challenges is completely unique too, which has been crazy to create, but some of them are just amazing additions to the game. For example in the third level there's a hockey game, complete with ice, goalies and a hockey player that body-checks Spyro. Or in another level you fly (that's right, you can now use the free-flight in regular levels!) through a narrow tunnel trying to knock giant spiders off of their webs.

Of course, we still have lots of tough enemies, treasure to gather and new speed rounds that are even more exciting and challenging than those in Spyro.”

Q.	Can Spyro meet new characters to help him on his new adventure?

A.	Throughout Spyro 2, there are many characters who offer Spyro advice, teach him new abilities and open up new areas for Spyro to explore.  In fact, every level contains characters that Spyro can talk to and in most cases, they will give Spyro special items to help him find his way to Dragon Shores IF Spyro helps those characters out in some way.

Q.	What has been the most difficult aspect of developing Spyro 2?

A.	On Spyro 2, we have an extremely creative and active team, all of whom have contributed to the game design.  The toughest part has been having to narrow down the number of great ideas that we use because unfortunately we have to eventually finish the game.

Q.	Have you used Stewart Copeland for the soundtrack again or gone for a completely new take for the music?

A.	We are asking Stewart to write the music again because it worked so well for Spyro.  This time because the worlds are so new and unique, you can expect some great new tunes.

Q.	Any other famous names for the characters’ voices?

A.	Let's see... Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenneger, and Will Smith have all expressed interest in doing voices for Spyro 2, but we're looking for even bigger stars...

Visit our website :
www.playstation-europe.com/spyro2

Developer:   Insomniac Games / Universal Interactive Studios
Genre:  3D Free Roaming Platform/Adventure
No. of Players:  1   Peripherals:  Dual Shock Analog Controller, Memory Card