Visual Futurist Syd Mead Discusses 'Aliens: Colonial Marines' and Video Games (Q&A)

Syd Mead worked closely with James Cameron designing the USS Sulaco for the Aliens movie. When Sega and developer Gearbox Software signed a licensing deal with 20th Century Fox to create a virtual sequel to the film, Aliens: Colonial Marines, for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U, they enlisted Mead to further explore the ship. The visual futurist has worked in games before, designing a new light cycle for the TRON 2.0 game after working on the original film and creating the aliens for the PC game Wing Commander: Prophecy. Mead talks about how video games are opening up new opportunities for Hollywood film franchises in this exclusive interview.

The Hollywood Reporter: What are your thoughts on Aliens migrating to video games?

Syd Mead:As in current movie productions, now they do a parallel production. The gamers expectations are so high, it practically drops into theatrical. Theres no surprise that they would take the franchise with Gearbox Software working with 20th Century Fox and come out with a game. They did sequels of the original movie in the first place, so why not? The game market is at least as big, or bigger, than the theatrical release part. So it makes sense for business reasons and stylistically. Who knows, if this goes well maybe theyll make another Aliens movie.

THR: How did you work with Gearbox Software on this game?

Mead:We were approached after they got the got the agreement with Fox. I got the assignment of doing the interior. Obviously, I designed the exterior of the Sulaco, and for the movie, some of the interior sets like the drop ship bay. They wanted to recreate the mechanical mood of the Sulaco, interiors that Id already done, which is one of the reasons why they contacted me.

THR: This Aliens: Colonial Marines game is very cinematic. What are your thoughts about how far gaming has progressed over the years?

Mead:A lot. My first video game was with the Don Bluth Studios in Toronto back in four-bit days. We only had seven VGA colors; the pale blue and pink. Then I worked with 989 Studios/Sony in San Diego on what was going to be the Jet Moto 4 for PlayStation 1. Then they changed all the coding for PlayStation 2. They got a phone call from Tokyo and said, Stop everything. Dump it. So they dumped it. We only got to Jet Moto 3. Working with games now, its not the limitation of the technique, its the limitation of the ideas, the demographic its aimed at, the quality of the gameplay, the scripting, runtime, and all that.

THR: Where do you draw inspiration from when it comes to creating things like what youve done with this game?

Mead:From the story. I dont write the story. I can do a good outline for my presentations, but Im not a narrative storyteller. I read the story, or the script in the case of a film, and that starts the creative process. I work one-to-one with a director. In this case, one-to-one with the guys at Gearbox and that starts the process.

THR: What was it like working on the original Aliens with Jim Cameron?

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Visual Futurist Syd Mead Discusses 'Aliens: Colonial Marines' and Video Games (Q&A)