Peaky Blinders: Mastermind - Creator Interview & Gameplay Details

If you're a fan of Peaky Blinders, then I have some news for you. There's a new game that may well have slipped under your radar, and it's set before the events of season one. Not being the biggest fan of puzzle games, I was skeptical.

But the Peaky Blinder name drew me in to thinking: Maybe this is what finally makes me dive headfirst into the puzzle genre. So I tried out the beta and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

To get more detail and satiate my own curiosity, I sat down with TV show producer Jamie Glazebrook and leader of the entrusted Futurlab games, James Marsden. Through the rest of the article, my questions are based around my own experience of the game.

The first thing that struck me about the game was the slick art style and authentic music. Could you tell us more about that?

James: The cut scene art was done by a single comic book artist, along with the icons you see when switching players. Whilst the game has an original soundtrack, made by the band Feverist, who also made the soundtrack for season ones international release.

How closely does the story follow the TV series?

James: We were keen not to step on the toes of the show, so we decided to work within the world before it, before Tommy's rise. In the first episode of the show, you can feel the tension between Tommy and his older brother Arthur, who is head of the family. You can feel Tommy beginning to undermine Arthur, so we decided to really flesh out how it got to that stage.

Jamie: It was really exciting to me as producer of the show because we're always looking forward to what's next, whereas this allowed us to explore what was happening before the events we worked on in season one.

Why a puzzle game?

Jamie: We were really happy when James came with that sort of idea for the game. It allows you to really get inside Tommy's head, what he's feeling and what he's planning. Which is really what the show's about. Genius.

*A smile sneaks across James' face*

The mechanic of controlling time like a puzzle really hooked me, you are almost playing against yourself. Trying to shave seconds off your time by watching the little mistakes that you made. It really is quite unique. How did that come about?

James: We are hugely inspired by dance and rhythm in general. We had the idea of choreographing an ensemble cast of characters in a game, but we just didn't have the vehicle for it. Then Curve came to us with the Peaky Blinders license asked what we could do with it.

After watching the show, we realised it really is about how Tommy is able to get the most out of each member of the group, and how best to work together to accomplish his goals. They don't always know why their doing certain things, but they trust Tommy and eventually it all comes together. That's what we wanted to give the player.

Who do we get to control?

James: You get the Shelby Family. Tommy, Polly, Ada, Arthur, Jon, and Finn. We did talk about Alfie, but MAYBE in the sequel or DLC. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

How much inspiration in dialogue and tone was taken from the TV show?

James: We've done everything we can to capture the heart of the setting and of each character. In terms of the dialogue, there was initially a lot of swear words in it, but it doesn't have the same effect when you're reading it in your head. So we now only have them for the really impactful moments.

Jamie: You can really tell that James and his team have really captured the essence of the TV show. It feels like it's the same story and the same world.

Were there any moments when you as game developers and TV show writers had to come together to solve a problem?

*James and Jamie nod in agreement*... "The Chinese".

James: To start with, the game was a full-on war with "The Chinese". But what came back from the TV guys was that, "The Chinese" are legion. You can't fight "The Chinese", you may have to tone it down a bit.

The reason we went with them in the first place is that right at the beginning Arthur says "you don't mess with The Chinese". Something's happened there for him to say that, so instead we fleshed it out and built up to him saying it.

That way, we now know why you don't mess with "The Chinese".