An interview between Karl Hilton and Develop discusses the history, present and future of Crytek UK. Haze faced ‘technical issues’ which gave Free Radical ‘less time to design the game properly’ and the current amount of employees at Crytek UK is in the mid 60s. Employees are designing art which suggests Crysis 2 is not the only focus at Crytek UK, if it was in the first place. Read the interview below.

When you walk into Crytek UK each morning, does it still feel like you’re at Free Radical?

Well, yes and no. One of the reasons Crytek was really interested in Free Radical was, after coming to visit us, they thought that the culture of the studio and the atmosphere we had here was very similar to what they have in Frankfurt.

I think they wanted to maintain that atmosphere, so in that sense, we haven’t massively changed anything. Most of the faces here are familiar. And a lot of what we do, and the way we operate, is the same as before.

Of course, we have changed a few things.

Our technology is completely different and Crytek has a different emphasis on things like HR and how staff are looked after. We’re more proactive in those areas now.

So it is refreshing. Things have altered but we haven’t thrown the baby out with the bath water.

It has been critical that the studio retains its ownership and identity; that’s one of the reasons why I’m still here. Talking to the Yerli brothers, they made it clear they were keen to keep this studio a strong, independent, creative force within their group.

They’re very good like that. They’re not just looking for additional development resources, they’re looking for people who will contribute to the value of Crytek as a whole, and that means us being in charge of our own destinies and developing original stuff.

Free Radical made some very high-caliber games and the only way we are going to retain those is if we continue to develop good, original product here.

We have a good relationship with Crytek. They’ve shown us a lot of trust and a lot of respect in dealing with us. As the Crytek headquarters are based in Germany, they have to rely on us to do a lot for them.

Continue reading ‘Interview with Karl Hilton about HAZE and the direction of Crytek UK’ »

More letters have recently been answered on Free Radical Design’s website. The answers are more Jokes than anything else this time. Like always it’s worth a read for a laugh.

Link to letters

Yes, R107 has been keeping up with the letters. More funny answers and a few answers only based on probability. Included in the answered letters, R107 says there may be a jump and roll function and there may be no Mapmaker. But then again, he said maybe for almost everything.

http://www.frd.co.uk/letters.php

Not at lot more new information from the letters section, except Free Radical Design seem to be serious when they mention TimeSplitters 2 HD. Perhaps one day it will become a reality? Also, in reply to my letter (I feel special ) no interest has been given to my story idea (:(). See the new letters here – http://www.frd.co.uk/letters.php

There has also been a new advert. This one is from 2007 and focuses on recruitment for HAZE.

http://www.frd.co.uk/articles.php?id=24