Both parts of Max Payne PC game
are developed by finnish company Remedy Entertainment.
Max Payne
In the beginning of creating Max Payne it's developers,
because of the game's budget, ivtited finnish writer
and takented man Sami Jarvi known as Sam Lake. Lake
is good friends with Petri Jarvilehto, a founding
member of Remedy Entertainment, the company behind
Max Payne. Jarvilehto needed help with script writing
in one of Remedy's early games called Death Rally,
and invited Lake to write. Since then, Sam Lake has
helped write and design Remedy's most successful game:
Max Payne.
Sam Lake never was a member of Remedy, and of course
doesn't run it. Lake played several roles in the development
of Max Payne. He not only wrote the game's story and
script, but also helped to design levels, and was
the face model for the character of Max Payne itself.
He posed as Max Payne in the game's graphic novels
as well.
It is interesting that our heroes, Poets of the Fall,
took their art in creating of Max Payne too. Mark
wrote comics of Captain Base-Ball-Bat Boy, tooking
as a "model" his friend, Markus Kaarlonen
(Captain).
Besides, Mark gave his voice for "Adress Unknown"
in-game tv-series.
Max Payne 2: Fall of Max Payne
In this sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne,
Lake mainly stuck to the job of writing. The game's
script ended up being about four times as long as
some movie scripts. For the sequel, Remedy was able
to hire actual actors for its graphic novel scenes,
so Lake did not appear as Max Payne. His place took
Timothy Gibbs.
But, if players watch any of the TV set shows during
the game, they will notice that Sam plays the characters
in these, most notably, John Mirra (Mirror). His life
reminds life of Max Payne itself. A sentence "john
mirror" (mirror in the bathroom) means conctant
remembering that time passes by every day, you are
getting older and it should not be forgotten.
Most well-known part of Lake's help during creating
of Max Payne 2 is, of course, writing of Late Goodbye.
The song was adapted by Mark for Poets of the Fall.
In text you can hear a fragment with symbolizm of
John Mirror.
Mob boss Vinnie Gognitti remarks that the creator
of Max Payne's in-game cartoon series, Captain Base-Ball-Bat
Boy, is a man named Sammy Waters, which is a play
on Lake's own name.
Late Goodbye can be heard by the player at various
times during the game:
1. It is overheard playing through a janitor's headphones.
He also sings and hums along to the lyrics.
2. It is played by a Cleaner on a piano.
3. Another Cleaner whistles the song, provided that
the player does not attack him.
4. Mona Sax sings it in the shower.
5. Over the credits upon completion of the game.
In their video Lift, Poets of the Fall have the same
look as a janitor who sings and hums Late Goodbye:
In Max's flat you can find a curious disk:
Max Payne: The Movie
Lake is currently involved with writing Remedy's
next game Alan Wake, a "psychological action
thiller" slated for release in 2006. And a upcoming
Max Payne movie in 2007.
Russell, 2006
