Jon Hare on games, life and Sensible Soccer

The industry veteran talks shop

Your new project, 'CCTV', sounds interesting. What can you tell us about this game?

For me it is a breath of fresh air as it is the first totally original game I have worked on since 1998 (except for one or two others that never saw the light of day). In CCTV you play the role of a Police Security Officer who uses CCTV cameras to identify and apprehend criminals big and small in an effort to clean up the streets of his city. The game works in 1 player, 2 player co-op and 2 player competitive modes and is presented in a light-hearted manner, treating police work in a similar fashion to Cannon Fodder’s representation of war. CCTV is fast paced and totally designed around the hardware of the Wii and DS. As the game hots up the decision making of the player becomes more and more frenzied as he must wait for the fellons to commit their crimes on camera and then pick them out of the crowd and encourage them to grass up some of the bigger fish in the local cesspool of crime.

You recently hinted that a Cannon Fodder revival could be desirable. What would stay the same and what would change if you could bring this game back in some form?

Well it depends on the format. An XBLA version should just be a conversion of the Amiga original like SWOS.

I designed Cannon Fodder 3 for Codemasters in 1999, the development stopped and started 3 times but the design would still hold up well today on all the major formats, it would be nice to see them pick this up again for Wii, 360 or PS3. It is a 3D game presented in a modern Disneyesque style, here you are in charge of the world’s peace keeping forces, with a lot of emphasis on developing character skills of a select squad of SAS style troops. At the same time there is a complex international story evolving as 5 separate Al Qaeda-style organizations threaten to terrorize the world. I loved designing this game, it is very comprehensive, I hope Codies still remember it exists.

Are there any other classic series' you'd like to see brought back on platforms like the Live Arcade, in a similar manner to SWoS?

Apart from Cannon Fodder, of our old Sensible games I would love to see a proper multiplayer version of Mega-lo-Mania on XBLA, now that would be amazing, I love that game and think it is probably the most under rated of all Sensible titles.

Also Heroes of Might and Magic would be fantastic. It is my most played game of all time.

You seem to be a busy chap! I gather you're also working as a consultant on various online projects, as well as 'something' football related. What can you tell us about these projects and your input into them?

Over half of my time these days is spent as Director of Development for Nikitova Games. However I have also spent the last nine years now as a Consultant, both as a games designer and in a Business Development capacity.

Currently I have a number of different long-term, several days a month style, design consultancies that I am working on, most of which at present happen to be Online Games with PC as their main format. Yes there is some football content in there too, I seem to have always had at least one football game on the go in some way or another since about 1988.

Speaking generally for a moment, what do you make of so-called 'next-gen' games? Are there any particular games that have impressed or disappointed you?

Good question, I am not an avid player of time consuming games as I do not have time to play them and when I do I tend to play all night sessions and my work really suffers. Of the next-gen games I have seen I thought Assassin’s Creed looked amazing, but the controls are a touch complex, I have been enjoying playing Spyro on the Wii with my daughter, I am yet to see anything mind blowing on the Wii although I have not got all of the top draw Nintendo titles yet. I also recently played Guitar Hero on 360 which as a guitarist I found a little annoying to be stuck between either jumping between too many keys at once (5) without any muscle memory of where they are yet, or having to miss out notes in the rhythm (which is just confusing).

Finally, what does 2008 hold for Jon Hare?

A clarity on perspective of who I am and happiness that I have so many people in my life that I love and feel loved by.

I am 41 now (over half way there J), and so far I have been lucky and I am generally pleased with my achievements. Now I need to work out just what it is I want to achieve with the next 41 years of my life.

Thanks for your time, Jon!

By Luke Guttridge