Alan Wake FAQ

The Alan Wake FAQ is maintained by ADM and Morry but extra thanks goes out to [HP] for answering and providing some of the questions and also Remedy for everything they have done and also for making kickass games.

FAQ Last Updated: 2nd June 2009

New questions are marked with a title colored like this.
Updated questions are marked with a title colored like this.

Sections

- General Questions
- The Game
- Technology
- Development

General Questions  [top]

When is Alan Wake going to be released? #

Alan Wake is set to be released Spring 2010.

What platforms will Alan Wake be available on? #

Alan Wake is currently confirmed for release on the Windows Vista for PC and the Xbox 360.

Is Alan Wake exclusive to Windows Vista? If so why? #

Petri Järvilehto had this to say on the official Alan Wake forums (18/05/06):

“I’ll confirm that Alan Wake is Vista and 360 exclusive. I know some people have reacted strongly to that, but for us this was one of the key decisions that will allow us to create the best possible game.

But… as they say, the proof is in the pudding. You guys are going to be the best judges on whether the calls we’ve made have been the right ones. We haven’t really shown anything on what we’ve been up to in the past year. Once we do, it’ll be up to you to see whether our work has been worthwhile.”

Why has the game taken so long to develop? #

Well ”quality” is whats taking so long. Well of course something like this takes its time, we’re still even if we’ve hired more people, a relatively small team when compared to other studios making similar games. And when you’re doing the game you put the quality standards pretty high and you want to make a good game, of course there is also large ambitions from the whole team in every area and that always takes time.. before the game is done. – Sam Lake

Who is publishing Alan Wake? #

Microsoft Game Studios are publishing the game.

What kind of specs will the PC need to run Alan Wake? #

Nothing is certain about the specifications but you will need Windows Vista and a fairly high spec PC. Remedy have showcased Alan Wake running smoothly on an Intel Core 2 Quad system overclocked at 3.73Ghz with a GeForce 7900GTX.

Markus from Remedy has said “Alan Wake would pretty much not run on any single core processors, although it may be possible to run on single-core Pentium 4 processors with Hyper Threading enabled, with noticeably reduced image quality/experience.”

The game will use a separate processing thread dedicated to physical calculations. Since Remedy is using Havok, there is no support for Ageia PhysX cards, so all the physical calculations are done using the CPU. Markus has explained that a normal Core 2 Quad will use 80% of one core for physical calculations.

Alan Wake currently runs faster and smoother on quad core systems than on dual core. Depending on the gameplay situation, the performance gain can be about 30%. We haven’t looked at leveraging 8 cores to the max yet. – Markus Maki

Is the 360 version going to be identical in graphics to the PC version? #

The 360 only has 3 cores but according to mixuk from Remedy it shouldn’t matter.

“Having several cores helps, but is not required, since you can run several processes on one thread. In the current plans the PC and 360 versions will be pretty identical.

Also, we stream necessary data to memory when needed, the whole world will not be loaded into memory constantly. It’s the same idea that was already in GTA3 for PS2, remember, it only had 32mb.”

Alan Wake is expected to run at at least 30 frames per second on the Xbox 360.

What is happening with Max Payne 3? #

Max Payne 3 was recently announced to be in development by Rockstar Games with a set release date of Winter 2008. Remedy are not involved with development of the title.

“As of now, we’re internally completely focused on Alan Wake. This is our way of doing things, and it’s the best way to guarantee that Alan Wake will be the game it deserves to be.” – Petri Järvilehto

Remedy and 3D Realms split IP and ownership 50:50 and eventually sold the rights to the Max Payne series to Take 2 for $48 million.

Why isn’t Alan Wake on the PlayStation 3? #

“1. We never announced platforms except for “next generation of consoles”. Yeah, the plural is in there, so I do understand where the sentiment comes from, so I do apologise for any disappointments.

We have absolutely nothing against PS3, far from it, and in fact we are still a registered Sony PS3 developer. It was a big decision for us to go with a console first party publisher with Alan Wake, but looking at it in hindsight I still think it was the right one for the game and for the company. We get a better game for you to enjoy and have less technological risks while making it.” – Markus Maki

The Game  [top]

Why the name “Alan Wake”? #

The game is about a horror writer who battles with insomnia, the stories he writes are based on his nightmares and as the story progresses his insomnia is miraculously cured, but his nightmares also return in which they slowly turn to reality. He ends up fighting to stay awake. A. Wake.. Alan Wake.

What is the story about? #

Alan Wake is a bestselling horror writer. Early on in his career, his fiance Alice, was his muse. When he’d first met her, he had started to see strange dreams which he used as material for his first book. The book was a big success. It was a dream come true.

But then Wake’s fiancé vanished without a trace. Wake was devastated. After that, he couldn’t write anymore. His dreams stopped and he began to suffer from insomnia.

At the beginning of the game, Wake travels to a sleep clinic to seek treatment for his condition. The secluded clinic is located near the small town of Bright Falls, Washington, far away from the stressful urban lifestyle. Receiving treatment at the clinic, Wake is able to sleep again. At the clinic, he meets a mysterious woman who is the very image of his missing fiancée, uncannily so. At once, his dreams return, this time as terrible nightmares. Wake begins to write again: a new book based on those nightmares.

But something is horribly, horribly wrong.

Impossibly, the town of Bright Falls starts to change to something awful that bears a close resemblance to Wake’s new book. Wake ends up fighting for his life with a gun and a flashlight in his hands, trying to understand what’s happening.

Is it Third Person or First Person perspective? #

You take control of Alan using a third person perspective. It is yet unknown whether you can switch to first person or any other view during the game.

Will there be Multiplayer? #

There will be no multiplayer in this game.

“We have all kinds of ideas related to replayability, but we want to prototype them further before we’ll talk about them.” – Sam Lake

“We’d much rather give the players a great single-player game, than a mediocre single and multiplayer game.” -Petri Järvilehto

How interactive is Bright Falls? #

The player can explore buildings and talk with Non Player Characters (NPC’s).

How is the game structured? #

The story of Alan Wake is made up like a continuing season of a TV series, consisting episodes where the story unfolds as the player completes missions. Some of the episodes end up in a classic cliffhanger, while others are calmer, concentrating on character development and Alan’s past. Although you can play the game in one-episode portions, that isn’t Remedy’s ultimate goal. “We want to give the game an irresistible ‘one more episode’ atmosphere” lead designer Petri Järvilehto says.

The plot of Alan Wake is tied in episodes, but the game world isn’t. You can move freely around Bright Falls and the surrounding nature without any urgency. There is much to explore in the huge environment and by talking to the residents you might discover unexpected secrets. “However, Alan Wake isn’t a Bioware RPG” Järvilehto clarifies. “The storytelling doesn’t advance if the player wonders aimlessly around the woods.”

Is the game similar to Grand Theft Auto? #

“Alan Wake is more tightly character-driven and story-oriented. Meaning that the player’s goals and missions are closely focused around Alan Wake and his story. Also, the setting, the tone and the game being an action thriller all set it clearly apart from the GTA games.” – Sam Lake

“Intense cinematic action is something that we love to do, and Alan Wake features tense combat gameplay as well, but all things considered the game has a lot more emphasis on adventure and exploration that what Max Payne did.” – Petri Järvilehto

“Driving is an integral part of the game” – Petri Järvilehto

Will there be wildlife in the game? #

Yes.

Max Payne has bullet-time, what will Alan Wake have? #

“We believe that our approach with Alan Wake will provide the players with a new take with the combat style and gameplay. We’re not revealing any details yet though.” – Sam Lake

“The combat is not purely about gunplay. The use of light plays an important role in the combat, and different light sources provide new gameplay angles there.” – Petri Järvilehto

The fight scenes in the game emphasize on quality and uniqueness, not quantity. “Even the risk of having to get involved in a fight has to feel suspenseful” says Petri Järvilehto. “One of our biggest challenges has been to try and turn a fighting encounter that lasts only for a couple of seconds into something that feels thrilling even after a minute.”

Alan Wake is a free-roaming game, will there be parts of the map to unlock? #

“We’ll open more of the game world as the game progresses. The area is so large, that we want the players to become familiar with a smaller subset of the world, before we introduce new locations and new areas.” – Sam Lake

Are there alternate methods to completing the missions? #

“The basic idea with the free-roaming world is that we give the player goals, and then the player can go about achieving those goals in the way he chooses.” – Sam Lake

How does light have an effect on gameplay? #

Light will weaken or hurt Wake’s enemies, and creatively taking advantage of any and all light sources within Alan Wake’s grim world ought to be one of the interesting aspects of play.

It’s not that simple however, as Alan is hypersensitive to light since he was born. “The events fall under one big shadow from the beginning: the dilemma of what is real and what is merely a nightmarish figment of Alan Wake’s imagination” says Lake.

“A setting sun doesn’t bode well for Alan Wake” says writer Lake. “During nightfall the player has to either equip himself properly or look for shelter.”

Are there any loading times? #

No. Utilising multiple cores, the game will seamlessly generate vast areas of the game world for the graphics card to render.

Where is Bright Falls located? #

Bright Falls is located in Washington, USA.

Where did the ideas for Alan Wake come from? #

“The TV-series Twin Peaks is one of our sources of inspiration. The location in the game is similar, an idyllic small town in the state of Washington with something threatening waiting under the surface. The TV show also had an excellent nightmarish atmosphere. The works of the author Stephen King is another source of inspiration. He has used the idea of a writer whose life turns to a nightmare in several of his stories.” – Sam Lake

How long will it take to complete Alan Wake? #

The story arc of Max 2 was modeled after that of a movie. With Alan Wake our template is a season of a TV-series. Alan Wake, season 1, if you will. Remedy is definately aiming for a longer gameplay duration.

Will Alan Wake use the comic-book style of narrative like Max Payne? #

“The graphic novel screens, we feel, were a Max Payne specific thing. With Alan Wake we want to integrate the story more tightly to the gameplay. There will be cinematic in-game cutscenes, but more importantly there will be scripted events, and we want to have the important NPCs around in the game as much as possible while the player is in control. Voice-over narration was a very useful tool that we used in Max Payne, and it’s something we are considering for Alan Wake as well, but done in the style that’s quite different from Max Payne.” – Sam Lake

Alan will narrate his thoughts throughout the game as a means of character and story development. “Narration was one of the story telling tools that we used in Max Payne and with Wake, it’s such a fantastic tool because he’s a writer who’s writing out the story itself. It works out really well.” – Petri Järvilehto

Will there be any Alan Wake sequels? #

Yes. Alan Wake is going to be part of a series. Each game is part of a “season” of a TV-series style template.

There will also be multiple endings for Alan Wake, setting the story up for future episodes.

How large is the game world? #

36 square miles (10 x 10 kilometres).

How many DVD’s will the final game be on? #

Alan Wake will fit on a single DVD.

Technology  [top]

Are Remedy supporting modding of the game? #

“We’d definitely want to, but we can’t guarantee that at this stage. We’re using so much different middleware components, that there may be some legal issues with the release of the tools.” – Petri Järvilehto

How far is the draw distance in the game world? #

Currently around 2 kilometres (1.2 – 1.3 miles).

What graphical methods will be implemented in the game? #

Complete modeling of atmospheric scattering, fully volumetric shadows that are projected through the entire world, full weather modeling, day/night time cycles, ambient occlusion, normal mapping, high dynamic rendering, bloom, depth of field and loads of different pixel-shader effects.

What engine is Alan Wake using? #

It’s an in-house engine developed by Remedy, known as the Alan Wake Engine and incorporates the Havok physics component. The game is being designed with five threads: rendering, audio, streaming, physics and terrain tessellation. One core processor can be dedicated to physical calculations.

Does the game support DirectX 10? #

Remedy have not announced anything on this subject.

Development  [top]

What level of development is the game at? #

“We’ve spent a lot of time in pre-production, fleshing out the concept, writing the core technology and building the tools that we’ll need to be able to create the game. Right now we’re making rapid progress, but there’s certainly still a lot of work ahead of us.” – Petri Järvilehto

How many people are working on Alan Wake at the moment? #

31 staff at Remedy HQ, though parts of the game are outsourced. Five people work in game design, eleven in visual arts, nine in programming, two in project management, two in business and legal, and two in IT support.

How long has Alan Wake been in development? #

Over 5 years.

“Alan Wake is a concept that we’ve been working with for over a year now. Once Max Payne 2 shipped we spent a little while recovering from the crunch, and then started working on different concepts trying to find the concept that would excite us and that we could be passionate about. And after several drafts we found something that we really liked… and that concept was Alan Wake.” – Petri Järvilehto (31 May 2005)

How much has it cost so far to develop Alan Wake? #

The game’s production costs have exceeded 7 million dollars. Remedy was financing the production itself for a couple of years until Microsoft Game Studios came in with its vast resources. The game’s final budget is a business secret.

What are the design goals? #

Remedy has four main design goals with Alan Wake:

1) Alan Wake is a psychological action thriller.
2) Alan Wake introduces lighting as a new field in game mechanics.
3) Alan Wake has a cinematic story that takes place in a vast, open-ended environment.
4) Alan Wake is a game that has to earn 90+ scores.

“First three of the goals have never been attempted anywhere in the form that we’re aiming at” according to Alan Wake’s producer Lasse Seppänen. “The final item, quality, is still the most important. Nothing else matters unless we can put together an excellent game.”

Who is Alan Wake modelled after? #

A professional Finnish actor, Ilkka Villi

How are the forests created? #

Remedy’s art team has developed them in-house.