I recently did a second Q&A with Darren Hedges, the developer at Propaganda Games on TRON Evolution.

At some point after Christmas, I plan on doing a last Q&A with questions submitted from the users here at TRON Sector. In the meantime, he is the current Q&A, done just prior to the game's release:

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Firstly, thanks for taking the time out again of your busy schedules to answer some questions for TRON-Sector about TRON Evolution.

DH – No problem. Glad to talk to the TRON fans out there again.

It’s been a few months since the first Q&A and we’re almost at the release date. How’s everything looking?

DH – Well, the game is off for manufacture and release. You guys can get your hands on it in the UK on November 26 and in the U.S. on December 7.

Legacy seems to be a work in progress all the way up to the release of the movie. Is it the same way with Evolution?

DH – Yes, to a certain degree, the process of making a game is very much like making a film. It’s very organic in nature. However, there is a point in which you need to polish and stop adding more.

Jeff Bridges isn’t voicing Flynn/Clu in the game. Was he approached to do the role at all?

DH – Unfortunately, Jeff couldn’t voice the role for the game because of prior commitments around the time of our voiceover recording. We were lucky to get Fred Tatasciore. So we really got the best of both worlds.

Describe the casting process for Evolution. How did you go about choosing the various actors for their characters?

DH – Well, obviously we really wanted to get as many of the film’s cast both past and present that made sense. So we started there, talking to the agents and arranging the talents’ studio time. After that, we looked around for the other parts we wanted in the game and voice cast a wide net to see who fit the roles best. We looked for a voice that sounded like the characters we wanted them to play so that the role felt natural to the actors involved.

What has been the biggest challenge of getting this game ready?
In your opinion. Has any of it been easy?

DH – The biggest challenge … that’s easy. We really wanted to make something that the fans of TRON would be really excited about and love playing. Talking to you guys and play testingwith fans and players alike, we gained a lot of information on how we were doing and what the fans wanted to see.

Can you say anything yet about the portions of the old Encom system that could be in the game?

DH – The MCP doesn’t exist in our game. Kevin Flynn has rewritten it by this point.

TRON has quite a cult following. How have you found the fan reaction to be to the game? Did you seek their opinions?

DH – We looked to the fans all the time. The 90-degree turns for the light cycles are a testament to that. As you know, the new TRON universe is based around real-world physics; however the fans really wanted to see 90-degree turns on the light cycles. We had an engineer in the studio that worked in his own time to make this happen based on that feedback.

We’ve had the light tanks revealed. Any other new machines that you can tell us about that haven’t been revealed?

DH – Nothing that I’m going to reveal just yet.

Aside from the light cycle, some folks (like me) would love to take control of a Recognizer. Can we do that in Evolution?

DH – No, as we tell the prequel story for TRON: Legacy, the Recognizer is still a new vehicle in the world.

Having seen the Light Jets in the TRON Night trailer, can we expect to see a machine like this in the game?

DH – The light jets don’t yet exist in the TRON: Evolution timeline.

Last time you couldn’t say anything about any creatures in Evolution. Can you say anything now? We’ve already seen the Grid Bugs in Betrayal.

DH – We don’t have the Grid Bugs in Evolution and there really aren’t any creatures outside the Grid Bugs on the Grid.

Having seen the finished game, is there anything about it that has surprised you at all?

DH – For me, the most surprising thing has been the excitement around our multiplayer and Persistent Character Progression. When we were developing the multiplayer systems, we knew we wanted to create something unique with the TRON system but the response to the multiplayer and character progression from fans and players has been great.

Has there been any decisions made about gaming material after Evolution, or is that dependent on sales?

DH – We don’t have anything to reveal right now so I can't say.

If the game does well, do you think we will see a game that ties in directly with the story as presented in Legacy?

DH – No, I don’t think we’d ever do a story that ties directly in with the TRON: Legacy storyline. With TRON, we always want to expand the universe, as it is so rich in content and retelling the story from TRON: Legacy does not achieve that goal.

Thanks again, Darren. We’ll see you again after the game comes out and we’ve had a chance to digest it.

DH – My pleasure and I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys think of the game and the new TRON universe in TRON: Legacy.