SL: Develepment for Max Payne 1 was started in mid 90's, little after midway of 90's and we were looking for inspiration and ideas from the movies a lot. The aim was to start to develop a movie like game from Hong Kong action, classic film noir and American crime movies. Comics were also a great source of inspiration and in the Max Payne there just was comics used. For example the script was originally written in sort of like comic format.
I: Game was made in Espoo at the basement of detached house and now then-
SL: It was such as, sort of like, cellar band/ carage band atmosphere, that we started up with, yes.
I: And now creation of yours was on the silver screen. How do you feel now after the movie?
SL:Well there is naturally no way that I can take credit from Max Payne games. Developing games is more than anything a team work. We were doing it with good team. Movie - it's incredibly awesome that circle is in a sense closing. Could't have dreamt it back then when we were seeking inspiration from the movies, that someone would sometime make a movie that is using these games as source work. So it's fine feeling and it's pretty unparalleled situtation here in Finland, that some creation that has been made here ends up in the processing of Hollywood system and there comes action blast of this kind. The thing in the games that was used in the movies pretty slightly, just a little in the beginning and sort of like this one line at the end, was, that was pretty immanent in the games, this kind of Philip Marlowe like narrators voice that shed light on mindset of Max Payne and also created certain pulp-fictio atmosphere, wich we had as target and exemplar in more ways than one. There wasn't so much of that in this movie, so it was left maybe more like open to interpretations that what sort of a person Max Payne is in the end and what motivates him along the way. It has entirely different team making this movie. They have used our source work as material and they have seen this thing through their own lenses and made their own interpretation. And of course also videogame and movie are always two different things, that they have made changes that they have seen as the best so that one can make a movie.
I: So how do you see Max Paynes future both in gaming and movies?