PAX East interview with Watch Dogs Community Developer Nicholas Schmidt

04/14/13 by

by Megan McCurdy

[ Editors note: We didn’t get any photos of Watch Dogs, which is super secret, so I’ve sprinkled in some general PAX East photos here. ]

Ever wanted to be a hacker? Or possibly a secret anti-hero with more realistic powers? Then “Watch Dogs” is the game for you. This game brings the power of an unstoppable hacker to your console. Turn the city of Chicago against itself, save people in unsuspecting ways, or just wander about and do your own thing. This game created by Ubisoft is an open world hacking adventure.

Join the Events Insider staff as Nicholas Schmdt, the Community Developer shares a small view into the game called “Watch Dogs”.

Events INSIDER: In your demo, it’s implied that you can tweak and control anything in the city. I just want to ask you straight out: is that true?

Nicholas Schmidt: It is.

Events INSIDER: But the demo that we saw seems a bit like a linear quest. So if the game has linear plot points, then it’s not really the whole city, right?

Nicholas Schmidt: The gameplay you saw [ in the demo ] right there is what we call a vigilante mission. And it’s part of a concept that is the living city in the game. Every NPC that you see has a story and their own agenda.

Events INSIDER: And it’s a single player game, right?

Nicholas Schmidt: It’s single player, but it’s also multiplayer, but I don’t have any details on that.

Events INSIDER: I’m always skeptical when it comes to hacking… I’ve played games that promise “You can do all this stuff!”, and I’m like “Yes!”, but then I get the game and can only do half the things they told me I could, or only at certain points.

Nicholas Schmidt: By [ holiday 2013 ] I think you won’t be a skeptic anymore!

Events INSIDER: All the hacking implies a sophisticated interface. Can you tell us anything about why the interface won’t overwhelm players?

Nicholas Schmidt: I know that the dev team has been working hard at making it really accessible for everyone, and from what I see so far, it is accessible.

Events INSIDER: Thank you very much. If it lives up to it’s promise — and that’s up to you — it’ll be the game of the year.

Nicholas Schmidt: Thank you. The team is working so hard right now. They work twelve hour days, these guys.

So the questions still stands do you want to be a hacker? Well, now is your chance.

If this game lives up to its promises, it could be game of the year.

Watch Dogs comes out Holiday 2013 and currently can be preordered. Check out the official Watchdogs website: watchdogs.ubi.com for more information and excellent trailers, and you will be hooked and inevitably hacked.