GA: First off, for those who may be unfamiliar with who you are and what you have developed, give us a little bit of background on KROME Studios if you would.
John Passfield: Krome Studios was born in 1999 when Robert Walsh, CEO, joined forces with Steve Stamatiadis, Creative Director, and myself, Design Director. We worked together on a surfing project for the PC, and wanted to build a cool game development company that focused on console development creating original and licensed games. Within five short years, I'm pretty excited about what we've been able to accomplish - we are Australia's largest game company and a leading worldwide independent development house. To date we've shipped a total of nine games on PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PC and GBA, including King Arthur, the TY the Tasmanian Tiger series, Sunny Garcia Surfing, Extremely Goofy Skateboarding and Championship Surfer.

GA: The first TY the Tasmanian Tiger was rather successful; especially if you think about the little advertising time, the flood of AAA titles that came out at the same time, and other obstacles the game had to deal with. What do you think was the biggest draw for the TY franchise?
JP: I believe the biggest draw for TY was the mixture of the Australian theme, the fun gameplay and the family friendly nature of the game. We made a game with younger players in mind while not ignoring older players. I think the best thing we did was to create a cool character in TY, and a story and environment that appealed to both groups without being too hard or too easy.

GA: At what point did you feel that TY was up for a sequel?
JP: TY is Krome's baby, so we've always believed in the potential. This wasn't a one hit wonder for us; we were invested in making it work. However, in business terms, I'd have to say that we wanted to do the sequel a few months before we went gold. The ending for TY 1 has a character from TY 2, and the new look TY was included in the art you could find in the game world. Sneakily enough we've littered loads of clues for TY 3 in TY 2 - one major one can be seen from the very top of Sly's Shack...

GA: How long was TY 2 in development for, and did you accomplish everything you wanted in this follow up?
JP: TY 2 has been in development for approximately two years if you count the pre-production time during TY 1. Being extremely ambitious developers and always challenging ourselves to do more, we wanted to add more to the game and make it bigger. With TY 2, I'm really happy that were able to see our vision through by adding a lot of new stuff and making the game as big and entertaining as it is, so I'm more than happy with the end result.

GA: Now that TY 2 is on store shelves, are there plans for another adventure?
JP: Yes, there is but as you know, our PR team would throw a boomerang at us if we gave away anymore than that for now. Instead, we're taking the time to enjoy TY 2's success. However, I can tell you that there are clues for the new story in TY2. Ok, really that's it! J

GA: KROME Studios also has another title coming down the pipeline with King Arthur. First question regarding that title is what was the inspiration behind producing a game based on the King Arthur film?
JP: Simply, we wanted to make a great movie-based game. And from a development standpoint, we wanted to prove to ourselves and the world that we were able to simultaneously develop two very unique, quality projects at once. We all loved the story and the pedigree it had with Bruckheimer, the cast of talent and all. We were on set during filming and had access to the script so we were able to make the game look like the movie. Luckily for us, the Bruckheimer team are game fans so it was a great relationship for us. More over, the film has so much action that lends itself really well to a video game.

GA: What type of game is King Arthur? Does it fit in the RPG status or is it more Action based?
JP: It's an action combat game with light RPG elements. It does an awesome job in following the action of the movie, and I would have to say is one of the great movie licenses. In fact my mother-in-law commented on how much the movie looks like the game after she saw the movie with my wife at the local cinema!

GA: How difficult is it trying to produce a game, and at the same time, get it finished to coincide with the feature film's DVD release date?
JP: It's very challenging, but not impossible. We were very respectful of Jerry Bruckheimer and the director's vision for the film so we went to great lengths to make sure the game is exactly like the film while keeping in mind we were creating an interactive experience. As with any film, story elements can change during shooting and editing, so we had to work hard to make sure we matched these in the game. Like I said, it was challenging, but it was very worthwhile given the game we made.

GA: What can we expect from the future with KROME Studios? What games are in the development phase?
JP: Good on you for trying to get this out of me! Well, I can't say too much, except we are looking at a number of game ideas that might be interesting to add to our portfolio. Also, we've got our animation deal with Film Roman - of The Simpsons and King of the Hill notoriety - for TY so that's going to be exciting for us. And speaking of that little guy, of course, we are working on another title featuring our (thought to be extinct) boomerang wielding Aussie hero.

GA: Thanks once again for your time. We at Gaming Age wish you nothing but the best of success for you now and in the future.
JP: Thanks for chatting with us Brian.