Heavy Rain "on time, on budget"

Quantic Dream co-CEO and EGDF chairman Guillaume de Fondaumiere has told GamesIndustry.biz that the production of Heavy Rain is going well, and that the title is "on time, on budget".

Part of reason for that, says de Fondaumiere, is down to careful planning and clever outsourcing, but he also believes that a strong and positive relationship with the game's publisher, Sony Computer Entertainment, is important.

"We understood we'd have to double the structure in our studio, that we'd have to rely on external resources to produce our next game," he explained during an interview at this year's GameHorizon event. "And for almost a year and a half we not only worked on technology in setting certain standards, and the quality bar on the development, but also on the organisation.

"You don't work the same way when you outsource - especially when you outsource 500 man-months of production - then if you have everybody working in the same room on a project. So it took quite some time, but it's been quite successful, and we're very happy with how we organised internally to be able to work with faraway outsourcing companies, the way the outsourced work was delivered, and the way that the whole thing integrated into the final game.

"But from what I can tell, looking especially at the games I've seen at E3, a number of developers are doing this successfully. I think we've reached another stage in the industry where developers can be much more mature."

Specifically he praised the team in Liverpool for being "dynamic," citing a "great working relationship".

"This is also very important - when you don't have to worry about whether the publisher is going to pay you, whether they're going to accept this and this, whether they're going to ask you to do the same thing two, three or four times, and so on," he said.

"Unfortunately we've all experienced that in the past, and you're using up a lot of time and resources - but thankfully we've had a great relationship with SCE and I think, from what I hear from other developers, not only are developers becoming more mature, but also publishers."

The full second part of the interview with Guillaume de Fondaumiere is available now. Part one, in which he talks about the origins of the cultural tax break in France and how the UK should keep pressing, is also online now.