Cage: Motion Control Won’t Solve Issues

Quantic Dream are currently working on the Move Edition of Heavy Rain but its writer and director, David Cage, isn’t convinced that motion control is what is required to make games “a valid creative and mainstream medium”. Speaking to Eurogamer, Cage sees motion control as a way to get more people playing games like tennis but doesn’t envisage it pushing creativity.

Instead he believes the answer can be found in creating worlds, characters and stories that “will fascinate and immerse from the first minute to the last.” He continues:

“For me, the main challenges are in the content; how we can get rid of gameplay loops and invent new ways of playing; how we can bring more complex emotions in our experiences; how we can invent worlds, stories, characters and gameplay that will fascinate and immerse from the first minute to the last.”

“Motion control is an attempt at expanding the audience of games by getting rid of this barrier that is the controller. We can probably get new people playing tennis with a motion controller in front of their TV, but I am more interested in discovering how we can create content that will make them want to play more mature games. Both can be compatible, but getting more people playing party games won’t support creativity unless we create different types of content for this device.”

“What is important is what happens in players’ minds, the controller is just a means, and won’t solve all the issues we have in making interactivity a valid creative and mainstream medium.”

Cage isn’t bashing motion control completely, Heavy Rain is evidence for his support of it, and he is clearly very happy with the Move Edition. Had Quantic Dream’s initial plans been used you could have been playing with a different type of motion controller.

“The device we imagined at the beginning of the game was based on motion detection on both hands with a plastic shape embedding both fists. Our approach was maybe a little bit more organic but, in general, we are close to what we initially imagined for the game. This is what makes the Move edition fluid and natural to play, it ideally fits the interface we initially designed.”

Source: Eurogamer