Carbondale subject to alien invasion

College town used as background for upcoming Sega game

The Carbondale community will soon have the opportunity to see a new phenomenon – what the town looks like in June in the midst of a blizzard.

A team from Sega of Japan has been visiting this sleepy college town this week to use it as a basis for a new game, expected to be released November 2004. Though the team is shooting the town in 100-degree heat, the game puts players in the middle of a blizzard that secludes them from surrounding towns while they fight off alien invasion.

Cord Smith, a marketing representative for Sega of America and SIUC alum, said the corporation was looking for a middle-American town that fit certain criteria, like having a mall, a school and other small-town features. Having been raised in Du Quoin, Smith immediately thought of Carbondale.

He said the team, which includes eight for Sega of Japan and two from Sega of America, will leave Carbondale Thursday after spending nine days photographing about 17 sites in the city, including a storm sewer, the new and old high schools, and the police station.

“The way American homes and buildings are designed are very different from Japan, and all of this team works out of Tokyo,” he said. “To them the difference of any of these houses is great to what they see in Japan, from the doorways to the structure, anything.”

Smith said the team took the trip to make the game, which hasn’t been titled yet, as realistic as possible. They have been photographing aspects of buildings, including the textures of the walls, to incorporate into a 3-D composite.

“Any specific detail or item that will make something look more real, they’re interested in,” Smith said. “It could be a doorknob or the wall or the ceiling.”

Smith said that though the town will look similar to Carbondale, it would not be exact. The team may combine composites or modify them slightly so that the buildings better fit the game.

“We’re using these locations as a reference to build something unique from them. For example, [the old Carbondale High School] is enormous,” Smith said. “We may not need a building this size in the game – exploring it would just be mind numbing. But it can be scaled in size; maybe it will be two stories instead of three.

“But if you look to the subtle nuances and details, I think you’ll be able to tell what it was before – you’ll catch the subtle nods.”

Steve Payne, owner of Quatro’s Deep Pan Pizza, 218 W. Freeman, said the group seemed very interested in the little details of his locally owned restaurant, digitally videotaping and photographing the establishment.

“Their interest in realism and scale was phenomenal,” he said. “They had rulers and tape measures all over the place. They measured the distance between booths and even the heights of the table.”

Payne also said the team seemed very interested in Quatros’ pizza.

“They were in an extreme situation; they were serious workers – they were also serious eaters,” he said. “I don’t know that any of them had ever seen pizza before.”

The City of Carbondale granted the Sega team access to sights all over the city, including the old and new high schools, a storm sewer, city hall and the police station. Smith said he was blown away by the amount of access the crew received into city buildings.

“We got into a lot more places than we expected; we were really happy,” Smith said. “But they are just so overwhelmed with detail at this point, it’s hard to tell exactly what it’s going to look like.”

Smith said the team also digitally photographed a few community members to get the feel of small-town people. Though, Smith admitted they would probably be used as victims rather than characters.

City Manager Jeff Doherty said he was more than happy to accommodate the team, few of whom speak English, with what they needed from Carbondale.

Doherty said he is accustomed to international visitors, many of whom are drawn to the area because of the University, but was intrigued by the way they intended to use the city.

“We helped them get what they were looking for,” he said. “They seemed really impressed by the community.”

Yosuke Moriya, a localization producer for the Sega of America office in California, said the team was really impressed by the town, and the friendliness they encountered in the community.

“I noticed everything is larger than I would have expected,” he said.

Smith added Moriya was also befuddled by the large number of one-way streets in such a small town.

Reporter Katie Davis can be reached at [email protected]