The return of Lo Wang.

Pretty super happy with the coming reboots of Shadow Warrior, and Rise of the Triad. Both a very high-quality games made with passion and talent to spare.

While everything in this teaser is in-game, it doesn't show gameplay. But I love the setting and imagery. Gameplay trailers coming...

Not really into self-pimping, but this is a pretty good introduction to what we're trying to accomplish with the reboot. Think of the old Shadow Warrior like the original 1960's Batman film, a lot of fun, but overall pretty darn cartoony and silly. The new Shadow Warrior modernizes the character and the fun, but retains the badass, cut-throat attitude of Lo Wang.

Just to be clear that I do not hijack improper credit, Max Payne was developed (all content and code) by Remedy Entertainment (they did all the hard work!), and produced by 3D Realms (meaning we funded a significant portion of the game, handled the publishing agreements, helped guide the game's design, helped play-tested and polished the game, handled the shareware release, and oversaw and co-designed the game's marketing).

Publisher/producer? What roles behind a game do these take? For example, how much input does one have in the actual design of a title?

Scott: When we act as a producer, we often contribute significant funding to a project, which allows it to reach a point where it is much easier to pitch to publishers. We also provide design guidance, marketing guidance (for example, I was a prime mover on all marketing for Duke Nukem 3D, Max Payne, and Prey, leading the design of the retail boxes, game ads, picking the screen shots, writing all of the marketing text, etc.), and at the end, we are deeply involved with play-testing and polishing. It’s quite a lot of work, but then, it’s also really fun.

Prey was well received by press and gamers alike, so just how much input did 3D Realms have in its development?

Scott: All of the above! Big money. The overall concept came from me, and was then co-shaped by Human Head and me together. I brought in all three of the external writers and worked closely with them, and Human Head, to lay-out the story and characters. Human Head and I worked on all of the key gameplay ideas, some coming from me (death walk, spirit walk, Talon) and some from Human Head (gravity and wall walking). And many from 3DR were involved with the game’s play-testing. It really is a big collaboration.

Money is the root of all evil. Said one developer, “Someone once told me the Golden Rule really is, ‘The guy with the gold makes the rules.’” Scott Miller, 3D Realms co-founder, states it just as plainly. “The dirty secret is: Publishers con-trol developers through payments. Rockstar was paying Human Head so late on the milestones payments [in the early days of Prey] that 3D Realms was jumping in to help Human Head because they had payroll to meet. [Rockstar] even said to us, ‘[You’re] taking over the control [we] have over developers.’ Nasty stuff like that happens all the time.” For its part, 3D Realms is helping its fellow developers by offering creative and financial assistance on projects.

Naturally, the money that publishers pour into a project entitles them to have some say. These suggestions can run the gamut of good, bad, and ugly. “When Prey was being developed early on it was actually a Rockstar-label game,” ex-plains Miller. “At the time, Metroid Prime was going to be released, and they had the whole visor thing, and this pro-ducer [from Rockstar] said, ‘Well, the visor is going to be a big thing for Metroid, and we should have a visor for Prey.’ And it didn’t fit anything to do with the game at all. So it ended up where we were rejecting all these crazy ideas, and for that reason along with some others, Rockstar ended up dropping the game because we were too hard to work with.”

Devolver actually called Scott Miller at 3D Realms to ask about rebooting the game with Flying Wild Hog… before they had talked to Flying Wild Hog. After 3D Realms expressed interest, Lowrie talked about the challenges of getting the Warsaw-based developer on the phone, but the enthusiasm was immediate once the two groups began to talk.