Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom interview - Russ Harding on Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson in VR

One studio has been riding the VR wave a while now, creating some stellar titles, thanks, in part, to one Time Lord. But, for their next title it’s a much more gangster-toned affair. VR and Peaky Blinders fans are in for a treat with Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom which has just released on Oculus Quest 2 and Pico 4 headsets.

The game aims to give fans a real taste of the hit TV show like never before. The game feature stars of the show. In particular, Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson, who are reprising their iconic roles.

Russ and Stuart Cullen Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom interview — Russ Harding (left) with Stuart Cullen

We were lucky enough to grab a quick chat with Maze Theory’s Chief Creative Officer – Russ Harding. We spoke to Russ about bringing the world of Peaky Blinders to VR, working with the show’s talent and what the future holds for the studio.

TechStomper’s Stuart Cullen: Was a game based on Peaky Blinders a natural progression from the studio after the relationship you have built with the BBC on the Doctor Who games?

Maze Theory’s Russ Harding: Interestingly enough even although its broadcast by the BBC. It isn’t actually a BBC IP, it’s Caryn Mandabach and Banijay productions who are the companies behind it.

When we finished Doctor Who, we really wanted to do something that was a bit more character-driven and had drama. We really loved the world of Peaky and are massive fans.

Many years ago I worked on a PSVR title called the London Heist. And a little bit on Blood and Truth. I really wanted to take that over and do something around how we developed character interactions.

Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom VR Game — Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom

So we pitched to Peaky Blinders. I think what really helped was all the work we had done with Doctor Who. And I think they could see we were empathetic to the show, and the way we worked with the show runners.

And they ended up saying ‘yes’ to us making the game based on the show.

Before you secured the Peaky deal, was it top of your list of wants and, if so, why?

There were other IP’s that we were bouncing around and are still being talked, for sure. But the thing we really wanted to do though was to move into world exploration in a bigger way, with more drama and character building.

What we really wanted to tackle mainly was characters. As it’s a thing that people have really avoided but it’s such a big thing to avoid in games. It ultimately leads to avoiding all the characters.

So that throws up a LOT of questions because when you put a character in VR. They have to be really present. They need to feel like they are really there. Plus you need to have some sort of agency with them too.

With Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom being based on a hugely loved show, how do you tackle creating a tale within that world? And were there any challenges you faced trying to work around what is already there?

The game has a completely unique story out with the show’s tale. We looked at the show and chose to go between seasons. Because Peaky does this wonderful thing where at the end of the season there is a two year gap.

We thought that was a really good opportunity to explore what happens between those gaps in the main tale. So we took between series 4 and 5 because that was like almost the archetypal rise of the Peakys in the overall tale.

It also felt like a good entry point for anyone who doesn’t really know about the show, Tommy is quite recognisable as a character, even if you don’t know the show and you get the gangster tropes.

We had a story we wanted to tell. So, we pitched the tale to the team at Caryn Mandabach and they bought into us and our vision. We wanted it to work in VR. And to take it from Small Heath and bring it to London. We wanted to bring a few new characters into the fold and we ended up working very closely with the series creators to develop the story.

Being set in an already established universe, can fans expect to see any new characters? And if so how are they linked to the show as a whole beyond the game?

There are some very subtle links that you will likely pick up on if you are a real fan. But Rowena Fox ,for example, is a new character we have developed with Steven Knight – the show’s writer and his team.

She is a totally new character in the Peaky world. While she is a relative of the family, it gave us quite an interesting scope to do things without disturbing the series. If you’re coming in new to Peaky, another thing we didn’t want to do is ruin the earlier series for you if you ever wanted to go back and watch them.

The game and the show are entwined but they also do stand alone in their own right as well.

Having already had the Doctor Who games tales and lore being added to the expanded content of the universe, will the same happen with The King’s Ransom in the Peaky universe?

Well. the game is already seen as part of the Peaky story and its lore, so we are completely integrated with the show the same way we were with Doctor Who. Where everything we created in that universe, was part of the greater Doctor Who universe.
It’s the same within anything we create in the story of the The King’s Ransom, it will become part of Tommy’s lore. Arguably this could be expanded upon.

And I do hope in time that will happen as I think there are some really interesting stories that can and are waiting to be told around its tale.

For fans of the series having the actors reprising their roles in the game must me a huge get for the studio, how was it working with them and did they bring anything to the table beyond just their acting prowess?

Everyone we have worked with on the talent side on any project has always been brilliant to work with and that’s the same for the cast of Peaky.

We really wanted to work with the talent from the show. Because we thought it would be extremely hard to portray that world without Cillian Murphy. And the same for Paul Anderson, because he is such a physical actor we really wanted to work with him in mo-cap.

Cillian has been playing Tommy for almost ten years. And actually when we were in the studio with him, he knows the role so well he totally got where Tommy was and what he was doing.

Peaky Blinders Cillian Murphy actor VR motion capture

He altered the script where he felt it wasn’t maybe quite right, and helped to really shape our version so he remained true to Tommy.

Paul Anderson definitely hasn’t played a lot of games in VR. But to his credit he’s really game to, as we gave him a go at a few titles in the studio.

But it’s a bit of an alien world doing mo-cap if you’re new to it. You are covered in balls surrounded by scaffolding, so it’s really hard to get your head around it if you’re not used to that environment. Especially if you are used to being in a studio, where there is a real pub with lots of props around you, for example.

So we did manage to get some live feedback running so Paul could see himself playing Arthur. And to his credit he took to it extremely quickly and well. His performance is very energetic, and meeting him face to face is really something, I’ll tell you.

When playing Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom you are a mute character, which is an interesting choice. Why did the team choose to go down that path?

I think the choice was about firstly the embodiment of the player. Because even though you take on the role of Sam, we want you to feel very much like you are taking on the role as yourself.

And to some extent, the more and more you voice a character the more disappointed you can be from that. Not all the time but sometimes.

It also means where you interact with characters, it limits how you do that especially in VR, like what system do you go with? A word wheel or that sort of thing?

Which takes you into a really narrative-heavy mechanic, and we didn’t feel that’s what Peaky is really about. As it is more about you taking on the role and being the lead in an adventure game with a bit of drama and a bit of criminal underworld fun.

With being a mute character were there ever any plans to add gesturing recognition into the game, for nodding and waving, let’s say?

There is motion control in there. And the characters do react to you, in the sense they know where you are within the world. So, we do use a bit of gesturing. But we found that in testing there are some real limitations when you start nodding your head and the like.

Hand gestures. Yes, that’s quite an easy one to get an interaction with the characters, but nodding and head gestures are often quite hard to distinguish. So there are moments in the game where we use hand gestures but they are often more secondary things. Because anything gated by those sorts of things always ends up causing issues.

As is always the way when you play a game in VR, nine times out of ten you’re going to ”dick about” for a bit in the world, for lack of a better use of words. Do the team build messing around into the game, so key moments are not missed?

We do make quite a few allowances, although it doesn’t cover everything. As there is a certain amount we can cater for and then there is a certain amount we could spend a lot of time and energy cratering for, but for little effect.

But, at some point, you need the player to play along, and we try to get that side out of people early on. Because that’s the joy of being in VR. But there are so many parameters you could try and cover. We do cover some, and those are the ones that add value back to the player.

With the Doctor Who games seeing the port to more traditional systems, do you think Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom will make the jump from VR to flat screen systems in the future?

I don’t think this version of Peaky will make the jump to non-VR. But I have likely said that in the past about other games. Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom is 100% built from the ground up for VR. It’s an action-adventure game in VR. It will not naturally make the jump over to more traditional formats easily.

I think the expectations with how you play these sorts of titles will change as Peaky is a rich VR experience. One that has a high quality to it. And to port that to traditional consoles, I think you’d have to create something that really matches it and the expectations around it.

So, never say never, but it’s not on the cards just now.

With The King’s Ransom being the second title for the studio that is built on a HUGE pre-established IP, what will the future hold for the studio?

I think we’ll be looking at another IP. Maybe. We do also have some of our own IP titles in the works that may be coming in some ways.

At the moment we have learned a lot from our past games. And we are looking into supporting content post-launch for Peaky. As well as building prototypes and concepts not really based on IPs. But more inspired by some of the work we would like to carry on in the future.