Earlier this week, we reported on Gameware Europe's forthcoming James Pond: Rogue AI, a sequel to the classic '90s series created by Chris Sorrell. Fans have reacted negatively to the game's promotion of AI slop, but what does Pond's dad think?
Well, if you guessed that his reaction would be utterly vitriolic, then you were bang on the money. Speaking exclusively to Time Extension, Sorrell – who also helped create the amazing MediEvil series – pulled no punches when talking about Gameware's latest venture:
"I hate almost everything they do with a passion, all the more so since they duped me into being part of their shambolic Kickstarter campaign all those years back, and I stupidly allowed my name to become associated with their bottom-feeding enterprise.
Frankly, the only way that Gameware shocks me these days is by doing something that demonstrates even the tiniest shred of integrity or creativity. ...For example, their first video from the new game showed JP using a massively extending suit with a fully twisting body bending around the level. It looks like fun - or at least could be in the hands of a capable level designer (who probably doesn't work for Gameware). ...But at least it seems like someone with a degree of talent was involved in its creation!
Unfortunately, everything else they've shown seems far more expected: yet another warmed-over re-hash of a 34-year-old game that somehow makes it look like 30 years of tech progress never happened. And of course, the fact that they're promoting it with lazy, AI-generated bull-shit - well, what could be more on brand?!"
Sorrell even admits that he's been so stung by how the Pond IP has been treated in recent years that he has distanced himself from the character. "Frankly, I feel like the James Pond name has been so degraded by Gameware that I only want to distance myself from it; I've politely declined all JP interview requests for a few years now," he says.
"I'm sure I make terrible 'business' choices in my own work - striving to do things that I've never done before, to make things that hopefully have something fresh and innovative to offer (hence I'm still working on my game). I just don't see any other, relevant way to make games, though, and it feels like there's a painful kind of irony in an entity such as Gameware owning the rights to those first games that once meant so much to me."
Sorrell wasn't done there, though. He goes on to point out serious issues with the way Rogue AI is shaping up. "Gameware's depiction of James Pond himself is just all over the place," he says, before adding:
"He was always a character that some artists struggled to depict (at least in a way that looked right to me), but back in the day (with a few lamentable exceptions) I did my best to advise/steer marketing artwork in the right direction. Clearly, no one at Gameware even cares to try: I noticed over the course of a few days they showed artwork and updated their Facebook avatar with JP images that all looked utterly different. Some more like frogs, some that reminded me of something out of Futurama ('The Problem With Popplers'), none of which looked like JP as I recognize him! If at least a few of these weren't straight out of an AI generator then I'd be amazed."
Sorrell also laments the fact that the ownership of Pond is shared between Gameware and System 3, another company which is currently using AI to create most of the artwork for its games – with the most egregious example being Dropzone. "Like the whole situation couldn't be any sadder," says Sorrell. "That there are two companies fighting over these tepid scraps just beggars belief!"
It's plain to see Sorrell feels hurt by these developments, yet is powerless to prevent them as he no longer owns the rights to the character he created all those years ago. "I'm really sorry for fans of the originals that their childhood memories continue to be exhumed in pursuit of meagre profit," he concludes. "Like I mentioned with the extendo-suit, there might be small glimmers of hope that this new game is better than what has gone before. Just the fact it isn't a PS5 port of Robocod with further degraded graphics is at least something to be commended, perhaps?"