With SG gaining more and more connections in the gaming industry, we have finally been able to pierce the veil of secrecy behind how comic based video games are made.

With Iron Man, Ant Man and others slated to hit shelves in the near future, I thought it would great for all our SG readers to get an insiders look at how a comic book video game is made.

Read on for our exclusive interview and the inside goods on “How a Comic Book Video Game is Made.”

Thanks to Marvel video game industry rep Ryan Johnson for the opportunity to pick his brain and ask some tough questions that have always plagued us.

PMPB: “First off, do you have developers actually read the source comics their game will be based on?”

Ryan: “Heck no. We tried that, but since most of the budget for these games is given to their movie tie-ins, we rarely have enough money to be able to afford someone who can read something as complex as a comic book.”

PMPB: “Really? I never would have guessed. Ok, can you walk me through how you pick which famous comic book enemies you use in the games?”

Ryan: “Oh, that’s an easy one. We take a look at the most popular enemies in the Marvel Universe, and then throw them away. We think fans have seen enough of the really cool Marvel villains like Mr. Sinister, Thanos, Carnage and Apocalypse.”

PMPB: “That makes sense, I guess. How about voice talent? Where do you find the actors to play the parts of the many famous Heroes in your game?”

Ryan: “Actors? We don’t use actors, that would cost too much money. In the case of the latest Fantastic Four title we released, I just scooped up the loudest homeless people I could find on my way into the office.”

PMPB: “Well, loud and homeless, huh… Could you describe how you choose which development team will produce a title?”

Ryan: “Well, we just follow the same formula the government uses. Lowest bidder wins. Whoever can give us the bare minimum while working under a seriously rushed schedule, wins. The huge fan base behind these games means that actual game play, mechanics and graphics have less to do with sales than the name of whatever hero we put on the cover.”

PMPB: “Wow, this really sheds some light on comic book games. Before I let you go can you give us any insider info on the new Iron Man title coming out later in the year?”

Ryan: “I wish I could, but for some reason I was excluded from this project. Apparently they have some weird plan for this game. I’ve heard they actually fought for a decent budget, have many of the movie actors as voice talent, started production almost a year and a half in advance of release day and the developers seem to be actually reading the source material from the Iron Man comics. I even heard they are tweaking their graphics engine to do some sort of cutting edge flying game play. If you ask me, it sounds like a recipe for disaster.”

Well, this is just incredible.  On the other hand, this interview really explains the utter crap comic book video games on the consoles.  I’m surprised that he didn’t say they used MS Paint for crying out loud. 

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