There are more people playing than you think. Many, many, more. If you can reach an official server, you are in an area where there are more than enough people to support you if you yourself aren't the jerk. We hope hardcore jerks DO have a problem finding games.

Jerks don't have one or two reports/blocks, they have 10s of reports. They don't have three people conspiring to block them. They have 20 completely random strangers on the Internet all deciding they no longer want to play with them.

If jerks who behave horribly have fewer games to play in - good. Giving power to the players is always a goal. They get to decide who they want to play with. It really is that simple.

• Prop Artists will help create assets for the environments in Lost Hope.
  Skills required are Modelling, UVing, baking Ambient Occlusion, Texturing and
  compiling the prop for Source. Art Direction will be supplied by Felix and Victor.</li>
• Animators will work on Weapon Animations, Cinematics, and NPC Animations.
  Skills required are animating either in Max or Maya and exporting to Source
  for testing animations. Art Direction will be supplied by Felix.</li>

Gabe Newell: With the original, we were trying to create the company at
the same time we were building the game. In the sequel, we have to live up to
the expectations of the community. It seems like any project we do has its own
set of challenges. With the first game we were a year late on a product that was
only supposed to take a year. With the sequel we have the whole DX9 benchmark
imbroglio. Once HL-2 goes out the door, we're going to try to do some simpler
and saner projects for a bit.

Gabe Newell: We were concerned about this as well. Part of what we will
deliver to MOD authors are a bunch of snap-together level geometry which will
allow them to focus more on building interesting gameplay and less on figuring
out which lintel goes with which baseboard.

Gabe Newell: The increased demands on art direction and production are
certainly one of the challenges. Scalability of content is another. How can you
make it look great and take advantage of all of the latest bells and whistles
on the high-end, while still looking good enough and run fast enough on a TNT-2.

Gabe Newell: The way that the AI and physics (the simulated content)
interoperate with the authored content seamlessly. That's what the real key is
to pulling off the experience we want.

Gabe Newell: Off-hand I don't remember how much of a force it takes to
significantly damage a headcrab, but the point is that Gordon is no different
than any other object with the same mass (well, and shape). If you step on a teeter-totter,
it's going to teeter. If you weight too much for something to hold, it will break.

Gabe Newell: There are a couple of ways we tried to manage risk. Even though
we have Steam, we still have our partnership with Vivendi for retail packaged
goods distribution. We have a new engine, but we didn't announce the game until
well after we had all the systems integrated. The fundamental way to mitigate
risk is to have the best people in the world working on it, and deep enough pockets
to see it through to the end. If you give guys like Jay Stelly or Ken Birdwell
or Yahn Bernier or Tom Leonard the time and the resources they need, they are
going to do something spectacular.

Gabe Newell: It's basically a &quot;good, better, best&quot; strategy which is pretty
time tested in a lot of fields. The main driver was wanting to work with the mass
merchants like Wal-Mart to have what's called a value SKU at launch rather than
having to wait a year. Many people will go into the Wal-Mart's and end up buying
the middle SKU rather than the SP-only SKU after they've had a chance to think
about the decision. Some people who buy the single-player only SKU will be tempted
to try out multiplayer, and we can upgrade them using Steam if that's what they
want to do.



It's less of an issue for the core gamer and more of an issue about reaching out
to the casual gamer or the non-gamer and making it easier for them to check out
this game Half-Life 2 they've heard about but which they don't want to drop $50
if there's a cheaper way for them to try it out and see if they like it.

Gabe Newell: Nope.

Gabe Newell: Yes, there are other vehicles, but we're trying to keep a
bunch of details quiet so players get to have the fun of learning about them through
playing rather than through the press.

Gabe Newell: This issue scares the pants off of us. Every time we think
we understand the aggregate demand that can be created by the community, we find
that we have underestimated it catastrophically.

Gabe Newell: Bone-based facial systems are something we looked at early
on and discarded. They tend to be inflexible and the quality is low. For MOD authors,
there's a tool called FacePoser, which really is a scene generator that let's
you author content in the range from individual expression sub-components (e.g.
&quot;open the mouth this much over this period of time while pulling the eyebrows
this much over this period&quot up to the equivalent of stage blocking (this character
moves to this point and faces this entity while looking at this entity and blending
in this gesture). It's a pretty easy tool to get started with, and it looks a
lot like movie editing tools like Premiere.

Gabe Newell: It's a lot easier to have the community involved than it was
to be silent.

Gabe Newell: Nope.

Brendan: At the beginning, we actually had the Deus Ex 2 engine in mind,
and also considered UT2004, but after a while Source became the obvious choice.
It's visually beautiful, very flexible, and the existing support for vehicles
was very attractive. We were also happy with the excellent support infrastructure
Valve is creating for modders with Steam.

Brendan: Since HL2 and the SDK are not released yet, progress has been
slow, sometimes nonexistent over the months as we were all busy with jobs or university.
The delayed release of HL2 actually benefited us, because at this point we all
have a little more free time and we've been able to coordinate very well and start
accelerating our effort. At this moment the design is very mature, the episode
1 script is done, and work on models, textures, sound and music has started relatively
recently.

Brendan: We've tried to strike a balance between both. The single player
game will often call for either firepower or stealth, and many times we'll offer
multiple ways to achieve a goal, leaving the choice of methods to the player.
I have to say that while there will be plenty of chances to try to be Rambo, our
damage model is a bit unforgiving, and attacking a score of heavily armed men
without giving your actions some thought may result in grisly death. You've been
warned. Multiplayer is going to be similar. Instead of having one generic gameplay
mode where the primary objective is killing the enemy, we're going to have an
array of scenarios involving two and sometimes three teams where every team is
put into a role and given one or more conflicting objectives. Matches may involve
Counter-Strike style combat, or Splinter Cell-esque infiltration, or even some
scenarios that are race-like. Importantly, multiplayer will combine conflict outside
and inside the Elysium network, but right now we aren't going to give away a lot
of precise details on the latter, because we don't want to have people's hearts
set on something if we decide to change it around a little during play testing.
You'll have to come and talk to us about that when the mod has advanced more.

Brendan: Each episode will be several levels in a single world location.
There will be cut scenes at the beginning and end of each episode to transition
the player. We thought releasing the game episodically would be the best idea.
Since each location shares a lot of the same sounds and textures, we can focus
entirely on one episode before moving to the next, and this way we keep people
waiting for an initial release as little as possible (while maximizing withdrawal
symptoms for the following ones). The locations and their order has been pretty
much finalized, and we have some pretty exotic places in store, but we don't want
to give anything away other than that the game starts, of course, in Hong Kong.

Brendan: In the words of our resident Scandinavian: &quot;It was touch and go
for a while.&quot; We're not sure where he was going or what he was touching, but to
answer the question, no. We did have a small team, but then we didn't have much
to do. Now that HL2 is looming, we've been expanding the team, and have picked
up a few talented individuals but we still need skilled people to help with modelling
and 2D art.

Brendan: I like to think that anyone who likes FPS games or dark, twisting
film-noir thrillers will be happy. As far as the story goes, if you liked movies
like Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell, you'll like this game. With regards
to the gameplay itself, we're mixing a lot of styles, from Deus Ex and System
Shock to Max Payne, to Raven Shield. There should be something for all FPS fans,
and a few things you haven't seen before, especially what we're doing to incorporate
the Elysium network into multiplayer.

Brendan: Unless it’s in a cinematic sequence, the perspective is always
first person.

Brendan: Yes. Cars will figure significantly in the game, both single player
and multiplayer, and we plan on putting a lot of effort into them to make them
realistic and fun to drive, including features like manual gear shifting. You
might find yourself involved in a car chase or two. In multiplayer, most modes
will see each team given a car to use as they see fit, and some scenarios may
be designed almost exclusively for cars. Ever watch Ronin?

Brendan: The inventory system isn't quite so restrictive. Much like Deus
Ex, System Shock, and Planetside, everything you can carry takes up space in grid-like
inventory compartments. You have one such compartment intended for your primary
weapon, one for your secondary, and a number of others, &quot;pockets&quot;, for things
like grenades, spare ammo, or supplementary items. But there is no real restriction
on how you use the space you have. The compartments in your inventory are sized
so that you can only carry one large primary weapon, such as an assault rifle,
but if you want, you can ditch the rifle and use the space for two more pistols.
Or you can opt to leave a secondary weapon in favour of more ammo for your primary,
or more grenades, etc.

Brendan: Whether it's a large arsenal by many people's standards, I'm not
sure. We have a quality-over-quantity philosophy with weapons. While lots of guns
are good, we want to make sure that the ones we choose to include are right for
the game. Each episode will introduce new weapons and include new multiplayer
scenarios, so I can't give you the exact number of guns as it is bound to change
constantly. The early releases will likely feature only about a dozen guns, most
of them modern or exotic weapons, such as the Heckler and Koch MP-7, the new XM-8
rifle, and the Chinese army's QBZ-95. Don't expect rocket launchers initially.
Right now the heaviest thing we have in mind is the HK69 grenade launcher that
can be seen already modelled on the site.

Brendan: We are acutely aware of HL2's limitation in this regard. We spoke
to Rick Ellis at Valve in person about this. Four hours and one SWAT team later,
we decided that it would be a good idea to start with writing our own tools for
camera control to facilitate the creation of high quality cinematic scenes. Hopefully
we can make whatever tools we create available for other modders to use as well.

Adam Foster: A long time ago as a small child, I'd draw maps
and plans for stories I was writing. I guess I had that mapper bug from a very
early age - I've got careful, highly detailed plans for islands, buildings and
machines stashed away somewhere, and moving it to a computer was the only sensible
step.

I think I should scan in some of the stuff I wrote - for instance, somewhere there's
a disturbingly accurate version of Harry Potter I created, a decade or more before
the first Harry Potter book was written. There's also a stack of more conventionally
unconventional short fiction as well, some of which is already in digital form.
Except stored on dramatically obsolete hardware!

But anyway. In 1998 or so, I picked up a copy of Doom 2, for the purpose of building
maps. About a year later, I released 'Fractured', a five-map mini-episode thing
with no real ending. I'm quite proud of it - it's got the less-linear design that's
persisted in my later maps, for other games.

I moved on to Quake after that, and was learning how to use Worldcraft when some
interesting game called 'Half-Life' was released. I eventually got round to playing
it in the early summer of 1999, and was so transfixed that I built my first Half-Life
map that very day. I was somewhat intrigued by all the 'xeno_' textures, and was
very careful to avoid any spoilers...

The rest of my mapping career has been a stop-start affair, starting overly ambitious
projects which rapidly grew out of control. MINERVA's an attempt to return to
the heady days of Someplace Else, and it seems to be working!

Adam Foster: From a mapping point of view, I'm still incredibly
happy with Someplace Else. I played through it again recently while preparing
the Steam-compatible release, and had forgotten how much I had enjoyed building
it.

It was my first officially released map for any modern game engine, and I'm still
proud to put my name on it.

Adam Foster: Direction. Always give the player something to fight
for.

Too many mappers produce some long, arbitrary list of otherwise unconnected rooms
and corridors - if you give the map an overall theme and direction, then things
are more likely to fit together properly. Witness the first MINERVA map - as early
as possible, you'll see a strange plasma beam arcing down into the centre of the
island. So what's that for? If you fight onwards, you'll stand a chance of finding
out.

Special tricks? Not really. I plan things out in my head while building things
(no sketches unless the situation gets really desperate) - and spend months making
sure the map is properly connected, scripted and with suitable gameplay. Polish
the map, it's important!

Adam Foster: Proper co-operative gaming is perhaps the only multiplayer
gaming I really *like* - deathmatch and its derivatives really aren't my idea
of fun. I'd much rather work with friends against some particular, enjoyable threat
than waste time being shot in the head by pimpled teenagers with squeaky voices
and attitude problems.

Years ago, I spent a short amount of time making sure some Doom 2 maps I'd developed
would be compatible with co-operative mode, but that's about all I've done since
then. Beyond playing through Quake over a null-modem connection with a friend,
that's about the only thing I've done along that line; I've never even got round
to downloading Sven Co-Op for Half-Life.

Still, I've been making the source .VMFs for MINERVA available for anyone wishing
to convert them to any nascent co-op mod for Half-Life 2. I really hope someone
does convert them - the main reason I haven't is more because of the programming
necessary for the basic mod, rather than the entity work and other changes.

Adam Foster: One irritation, shared with other game engines,
is that the alpha- sorting is a bit unreliable. Put a partially transparent object
somewhere near another one, and there's a chance that they'll be drawn in the
wrong order - with the more distant object being drawn in front of the nearer.
I understand it's a technology limitation based on the lack of Z-buffer testing
on partially transparent textures, but it's still annoying. No idea as to a fix,
beyond completely redesigned graphics hardware!

Another irritation is the entity limit. I've been informed it's for big, serious
networking reasons, but it's still a bit frustrating to almost complete a map,
then have to start deleting details from the beginning again, just to fit everything
in. Downhill Struggle ended where it did precisely because of that...

Adam Foster: Less of an engine limitation and more of a game
design decision is the relatively small number of enemies available in Half-Life
2. There's a good selection, but it would be all too easy to use them all in a
single map - which I've been consciously trying to avoid in MINERVA. So yes, it's
been a bit of a never-ending Combine soldier onslaught, but it means that I can
still do something entirely different in future.

But yes, more enemies to choose from would be nice.

Adam Foster: I started MINERVA in February last year, which did
involve learning Half-Life 2 mapping - so with September 2005 and March 2006 release
dates so far, I'll let you draw your own conclusions!

Development is very stop-and-start, in that I might do very little for a month
before working solidly for a week or more. It's partially dependent on when I
have the time, and when I'm in the right frame of mind - but hopefully I'll be
able to find more time to work on MINERVA in the near future.

Adam Foster: MINERVA's mostly about having fun, so I've been
working through a list of things I'd decided would be fun to build. First of all
was an island - some years back I saw the intro for the Silent Cartographer map
in Halo, and was utterly spellbound by the idea of a full, 3D island in a computer
game, rather than just arbitrary corridors and boxy warehouses seen from within.
So, the first map I built for Half- Life 2 had to be an island - any similarity
to Silent Cartographer is purely intentional. It was originally called Flatulent
Geographer - the 'Carcinogenesis' name was a fairly late alteration.

Something else I've always wanted to build is a city. Half-Life 2 has been the
best approximation I've seen of such so far, and I'm interested as to how far
the idea can be pushed. There was some early E3 video of Half-Life 2 which gave
an amazing impression of a large, open European city being consumed by the Citadel
- I'm partially being inspired by that.

Why the snow? Well, it needed a contrast, and I've always been a fan of crunching
through snow in computer games...

Adam Foster: Not a prop as such, but the Combine helicopter.
It's gorgeous - it's a human design subverted in a vile manner, and manufactured
in some horrific, mechanical factory based in a gigantic alien-constructed Citadel,
imposing itself on an Earthly city...

Oh. You want a prop, not a dynamic, AI-driven machine? Hmm.

How about one of the trees, the leaning, curved tree as featured in the Carcinogenesis
screenshot? Yes, you may note that it's sat right next to a certain helicopter.
I'm that predictable!

SidewinderX: I am the Project Leader, as well as now being the principal
modeller.



[=hris: I am a coder, and the web designer.

SidewinderX: Well, there were a few major reasons. The main one was that,
while we were sure that our mod was innovative, the modern time setting was something
that everyone was doing and it would get repetitive. This time setting has
never been touched in an FPS. The closest that we could find are Vietnam
games, and Operation: Flashpoint, which was based in the 1980s. This time setting
will not only allow us to do very cool things based on the historical facts that
everyone knows, but it allows us to use a very cool time setting with unique traits
in the weapons and vehicles.



[=hris: Yes. Although modern shooters are fun, the mod community is getting
a bit saturated with them at the minute. A lot of modern mods are taking each
others ideas making it hard to distinguish between them. This time setting will
let us add more individuality to CW:MP.

SidewinderX: We think they'll like it. And it should interest a wider range
of people.



[=hris: Obviously some people would have preferred a modern military shooter,
however, I think in general it will be received well as it sets us apart and also
adds a new era, which can't be found anywhere else.

SidewinderX: Well, with the time setting change we have added a Cuban campaign
that will be shorter and more simple than the others will be. The campaigns as
a whole will follow this basic format: there will be an initial mission, with
multiple possible outcomes. The outcome of that mission determines what the next
mission will be. The commanders of the teams will have opportunities at certain
parts of the campaigns to elect to attempt side missions, where the results of
which will impact the next campaign mission. For example, if NATO completes a
side mission of damaging an airport runway, the Warsaw Pact may not have access
to air support in their next mission. We also plan to set up a &quot;Save&quot; system for
clan tournaments. A clan match may have 1-2 missions at a time, then &quot;Save&quot; the
progress, and continue the clan battle later. This, we hope, will serve to make
CW:MP a premier tournament and ladder mod.



[=hris: It's little touches like the side missions which will really define
the campaigns, as well as secondary objectives that will act in a similar way
to the side missions, helping you on the next map. Some games have implemented
a mode where you progress through missions in a &quot;campaign&quot; but none have had the
dynamic features CW:MP will have. Also, we will have stat tracking throughout
the campaign, so that people can build up experience points - a bit like Call
of Duty: UO, but you get to keep your bonuses at the end of a map.

SidewinderX: There were two main reasons. The first was exactly that; a
shorter and simpler campaign will allow us to get a playable version out sooner.
The second reason was that a shorter version will allow us to get the code of
the campaign implemented and tested sooner, which will speed the overall progress
along.



[=hris: Well, Cuba is a small place! It does however allow us to get a
version with a full campaign, and most of the vehicles out quickly. We don't want
to release a half finished mod, which doesn't have many vehicles / skins etc.
Having a smaller first campaign will mean more time for improving other content.
Also, it will keep the file size down, so the mod will be accessible to more people.
I think a lot of people are put off mods that would be a huge download, when they
haven't played it, and therefore don't know if they will like it.

SidewinderX: The team hasn't done anything with the tools. I, of course,
cannot speak for each individual team member, but I can assure you that none of
the content of the mod will have been made with the stolen files.



[=hris: We don't condone the use of the illegal pre-alpha material, however
the coders have been playing about with the HL1 SDK, although there is obviously
not as much power there as the HL2 SDK will have.

[=hris: Obviously no coding / map making can be done, as the full SDK doesn't
exist, but we have a lot of concept material for the maps as well as plans for
layouts, reference photos, and campaign flows. Unfortunately because of the change
in timeline, some of the art work that had been completed has had to be ditched,
but we are progressing with creating the new models. I don't see this holding
up our release, based on the current modelling progress for the new timeline.

[=hris: Not before November 16th! Initial material will start rolling out
before the end of November, I would expect, but screens fit for human consumption
could take longer. Again, we don't want to release stuff that has &quot;insert jeep
model here&quot; or &quot;re-texture this&quot; plastered all over it.



SidewinderX: Well, I've spent the better part of 4 hours trying to get
the Model Viewer to do something useful, so maybe longer!

[=hris: September 30th!



SidewinderX: We really have no idea at this time. The current plan is to
have an extended private beta to get the campaign system functioning, balance,
etc, and THEN move onto a public release with the Cuba campaign fully implemented.

[=hris: One thing - We are always open to community suggestions. We will
alter the mod based on what people say in
our forums
and several features have already been adopted based on comments posted so far.



SidewinderX: Yeah, join
the forums
and leave us your 2 cents! On the team side of things, we're looking for another
modeller/texture artist to help with prop design, and mappers will always be considered.

Argyll: I am Argyll: the Project Leader and Founder of Operation: CO-IN.
I also design/maintain the website, map, 2D Art, and any other jobs that need
filling in.

Argyll: Op: CO-IN is based on Modern Infantry Combat, primarily the Sub-Conventional
warfare between a Paramilitary or Guerrilla unit and a larger and more high-tech
Nation (such as the USA or Great Britain).

Argyll: That is a possibility, but the primary focus is around the last
decade and a few years into the future.

Argyll: Game play is also a very important aspect along with realism in
the mod. How we envision the game play is to have a high replayability factor
and promotion of teamwork. We will not sacrifice fun or other essential game play
elements for the sake of 'realism.'

Argyll: When we say 'realism,' we are referring to the style of game play
rather then the features commonly associated to a 'realistic' game such as Iron
Sights or weapon damage. We will include those features, but also the promotion
of Teamwork along with objectives that would be seen in an actual combat scenario
(i.e. capturing certain ground or structures instead of flags or other items seen
in most games). We will encourage teamwork and real tactics as much as possible
in order to create a 'realistic' experience in a game.

Argyll: Myself being Canadian, I am tired of always having to play as the
Americans in games. So, we are developing a system where players will be able
to customize their team to appear as they are playing as a soldier from their
nation. We plan on adding additional nations in the future. For the first release,
we will have the U.S.M.C., British Royal Marines, a Paramilitary Force, and Guerrillas.
We plan for the future: Canada, Russia, Australia, and Germany.

Argyll: That is correct, but they will still be able to play in the same
game at the same time.

Argyll: If a player would like to play as USMC, they will see all that
team as the USMC. If a player wants to play as Canadians, they will see all that
team as Canadians.

Argyll: The weapons will have general characteristics that are similar
with multiple weapons. A British SA-80A2 is a Full-Automatic, 30 round, 5.56mm
Rifle with a scope; the Canadians use the C7A1 which has the same characteristics.

Argyll: I find it actually hard to compare the two. At first glance, they
do seem similar, but the details are quite different.

1. AA:O you are always the Americans, no matter what team you are on. We are having
separate teams.

2. More realistic objectives in Op: CO-IN.

3. We are more based on the Infantry, but AA:O does concentrate greatly on Special
Operations.

4. We will include more nations than just America, to appeal to a broader audience.

5. Vehicles transportation including Truck, Jeep, APC, and Helicopters.

Those are just the main points. The overall style and way that it is played we
intend to be much different.

Argyll: Realistic objectives are more like what the Infantry would do.
For example, instead of having to rescue hostages, or reaching one point, or capturing
a flag... you have to work more as a team rather than an individual to gain control
of certain areas of a given map. This could be anything from a single, but large,
building (apartments, government, etc.), to a city block, or a small town/village.




There can be multiple objectives on the maps as well. But, not only just capturing
and holding areas... the Guerrillas will need to rely on weapons caches in order
to resupply, so that becomes another priority in order to win.

Argyll: We are modeling the teams around a Platoon. There will be a Platoon
Commander that will co-ordinate the different Squads. They are basically there
to have a general picture of the battle and how the team should carry out the
mission. There will be Squads of 8 soldiers. Two fire teams of 4 within that Squad
and controlled by a Commander. They will take orders from the Commander and carry
them out as the situation determines. We believe that this Squad based system
will be ideal for clan and League play.

Argyll: We realize that this ideal will not always work out in a Pub server,
but the overall objectives of the map will require the necessary teamwork. Objectives
will require a minimum of 4 soldiers to be in the designated area for a certain
amount of time. So, if the members of the team are looking to win, they should
use this system to their advantage.

Argyll: We are aware of that, because even I'm guilty of pursuing a high
kill count in DoD. However, we plan to not have stats (kills, deaths, etc.) while
the player is alive. What we are going to do is have either round-based games
or very few reinforcement waves (map determined) and once the round is over or
the player has been eliminated for good, the stats will be available to them,
so they can evaluate their performance.

Argyll: I would just like to thank the Op: CO-IN Dev. Team... they are
absolutely outstanding! They can pull off great quality work and meet the deadlines.
Also, would like to thank our very dedicated Community on the Forums (http://forums.opcoin.net)
and GameSurge IRC Channel: #opcoin.



We are also hiring positions in the following areas: Map Prop Modelers, Vehicle
Modelers and Skinners, 1 Weapon Skinner, Mappers, and of course... Programmers.
More details can be found at our website: www.opcoin.net.

Precizion: No. Something we have been keen to state from the start
is that AG2 will be a new game with new things to learn. None of the design
team really have any interest in just remaking AG with better graphics. After
all, some of us have been playing that game for around six years now, and it
really is time for something different.



We will take advantage of some of the great features AG had to offer though,
such as the comprehensive set of match options which will be used and improved
upon in AG2.

Precizion: Even though I am not that keen on it myself, I would say
such games certainly have their place. They can be especially good for anyone
who is just looking for a quick bit of fun and who is not that interested
expending all that much effort on it. However if a player is looking for
something with a bit more to it, HL2DM does fall quite a bit short in many
areas. Hopefully AG2 will be able to satisfy those gamers though.

Precizion: In some ways yes, as it will certainly be faster and have
many features that cater to the more competitive gamers. But in other ways no,
as AG2 will not just be a match mod like the first AG was. Instead it will be
a game that, whilst taking its base from HL2, will be designed almost from the
ground up. We will be looking at every aspect of the gameplay and changing
whatever is needed to make the game as fun and rewarding as possible.



For more information on just what we hope to achieve, please check out the
about page
on our website.

Precizion: A lot of reasons. But as it would take quite a while to
go through them all, I will instead just say that, having looked at many
different factors, a decision was made that the game and scene would benefit
overall from its removal.

Precizion: Mainly through a lot of good PR work and word of mouth
from the players. There are a lot of players out there who probably started
out their FPS careers with games such as CS and who have never really played a
deathmatch game properly. It would be great to get some of those to try the
mod. The problem though is not so much getting them to play the game, it is
getting them to stay. Like I mentioned in a previous answer, having new
players come up against those who have years of experience over them is not
the best situation to have. There is only so much a player can take of being
totally outplayed before they begin to get a bit tired of it. And that really
is a shame, because there is so much depth and richness of gameplay in
deathmatch games which only becomes apparent after many months of playing.

Precizion: Well AG2 certainly caters to the more competitive players
and should have the depth needed to be used in such tournaments, but I would
not say it is really an aim.



The thing about pro-gaming is that, even though it offers benefits to the
game/scene used (increased publicity and perhaps an influx of new players), it
does also tend to do a bit of damage as well (player's attitudes for one). If
such a thing were to come about though, I expect we would most likely help it
along. We will just have to wait and see.

Precizion: That is a hard question to answer at the moment. All I
can really say is we will try to get as many maps as possible in to the first
release so that players have plenty of variety.

Precizion: We are trying to stay away from remakes, especially of
the more popular maps. You may see one of two updated levels from some of our
mapper's back catalogues, but only if they are not that well known and can be
adapted to play well. We really want AG2 to be as fresh as possible.

Precizion: This is something we have given a lot of thought to,
especially since it is not present in HL2. We do have a couple of ideas for
different types of long jump (neither of which are the same as they were in
the first game), but whether they will be used or not has yet to be decided.
One of the reasons for this is that, due to the increased speed and a couple
of new moves, it may not be even needed. I think though that this will be
something that will be decided once we begin proper play testing. We may even
bring in some outside players for a closed beta and give them a chance to have
their say after testing it.

Precizion: Not right now. Perhaps once we get closer to completion
and move into beta testing we will release more information on them, but not
before. All I will say is that they should help to make the game a lot more
fluid.

Schtoofa: The original team was assembled about November 2003... it pretty
much had billdoor, mirv, defrag and rebo at the time. Sev and eat joined around
the same time but they were all waiting for HL2 to come out, and then later the
SDK so they could mainly just work on ironing down concepts.

Schtoofa: As of now, you bet. We're all having a blast working on it and
feel we can make a great Team Fortress style MOD. On top of that, we figure it'll
be valuable experience and maybe even something to add to a resume at some point.

Schtoofa: Just to clarify, the screenshots you saw were taken of a map
not made by our mappers... however you can definitely expect the favorites and
classics to return. At least as many of the classics we can manage, as well as
some entirely new maps.

Schtoofa: JI believe the programmers decided to not overuse the physics,
as it would likely slow down the game a lot... but it will be used for some things
(just not as intensely as in HL2DM for instance). For instance, when something
blows up (say, a dispenser) you can expect there to be some dispenser chunks flying
around.

Schtoofa: There aren't any plans to cut classes from FF, so you can expect
them to be there on release.

Schtoofa: As much as I'd like to toss a feature your way, we're still finalizing
a lot of the characteristics of classes. I'll probably be able to have more to
say about that as time passes.

Schtoofa: Good question, but we figure that should be left up to the leagues
themselves.

Schtoofa: We've got a handful of maps already in the works, most of the
sounds completed, many models underway, and some in-game mechanics worked out.
We still have a long way to go though.

Schtoofa: We'll try and give updates frequently, and appreciate any support
folks have to offer. Including this interview!

Havok: Valve were one of the earliest users of our technology, and were
able to give us great feedback throughout their development of Half-Life2. They
really understood what it could do, and its limitations. With Valve’s input, for
example, we completely re-implemented our constraints system. We certainly hope
to continue working with Valve.

Havok: The Havok 2 engine is simply the latest iteration of our physics
engine. Development started on our physics as early as 1999, and we have been
refining / rewriting parts of it ever since based on the feedback from our customers.
Our product development team has had approximately 10 engineers working on the
core physics for the last 4 years.

Havok: Havok 2 was developed as a games solution from the start. The design
decisions we took during its development were all based on this assumption. For
example, wherever we can get away with it we will happily sacrifice accuracy for
speed. Havok is used outside of games though – for example the team responsible
for the Burly Brawl scene in Matrix Reloaded used Havok to pre-visualize and simulate
the motion of the Agent Smiths.

Havok: Sure. We listen carefully to what our customers tell us because
ultimately it’s about the game and how fun / cool it is. For Valve, for example,
we did extra work on constraints (improved the ragdoll simulation).

Havok: I don’t know what the rumours are, but our relationship with Valve
has always been a good one.

Havok: Well, the games that use it are the key to why the engine is unique.
Every time we’re used in a game by one of our clients the engine improves further
based on the feedback from the client. We’re now in over 100 games – that’s a
lot of games experience that’s built into the engine. Sure, we could talk about
features and performance and all that but ultimately the most important thing
is: does Havok understand what it takes to make game physics work? We’re still
learning but we’ve more experience of this than any other provider out there.

Havok: There are currently 26 full time engineers working for Havok all
with Bachelor Degrees, mostly in computer science, computer engineering, or mathematics.
We have PhDs and Masters degrees too (but none of these were in physics). You
don’t need to have a higher degree in physics to work on a physics engine. We
look for people with a love of programming, who get stuff done, and get as excited
as we get about what we do.

Havok: Like everyone else, we double and triple checked all our own security
measures – that’s about it.

Havok: I think ragdoll physics are starting to become quite commonplace,
especially in first person shooters. With our help, our clients are starting to
go beyond the common ragdoll effects you see in games today. We’re looking at
more realistic ragdoll modelling, and also how to expose the power of the ragdoll
simulation to the character animators to give them much more control over the
dynamics.

Havok: We have looked at these in the past, but nobody we have worked with
has really come up with a good way to incorporate these into gameplay, with the
possible exception of the use of a simple buoyancy effect.

We are only just coming into a time where physics is being used generally by games
to enhance gameplay. I think in the near future we will see this become more prevalent,
as game designers start to explore the possibilities physics presents more.

Havok: We don’t simulate anywhere near the frequency needed to synthesise
sound, so we don’t do wave superposition etc. For details of what you can achieve,
you should see Brian Sharpe’s (from Ion Storm) talk at GDC this year. They have
been using the Havok engine as the basis for physically based sound effects.

Havok: That depends – on what platform? Do you count assembly / microcode?
Do you count the tools used to create content, or the debuggers…? Lines of code
are somewhat meaningless as a metric – remember that on consoles in particular
we try to keep the engine as small as possible because of the limited memory of
those systems. We’re an embedded software component, so we have to be fast, tight,
efficient and robust.

Havok: Hey, we’d love to. We’re all indy developers at heart!! But, all
our resources are focussed on delivering good software and fantastic support to
our clients to help them deliver games. So right now we’ve no plans this.

Havok: This is up to Valve, They choose what level of functionality to
expose. The physics will of course be customizable and tweakable but Valve have
worked hard to make sure it is as easy as possible to harness the creative potential
of the physics. We’re incredibly excited to see what the mod guys are going to
create with the Half Life 2 engine.

Mith: It'll be powered by the source engine technology, the same technology
that powers Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2. Essentially though, LGW will
be a Half-Life 2 Modification the same way Day of Defeat is to Half-Life 1. LGW
won't draw any story elements or characters from the Half-Life universe. There
will be no gravity guns or combine.

Mith: The Pacific Theatre of Operations in World War II involved Allied
forces pitted against the Empire of Japan. Hollywood only tells us the story of
the US Marines island hopping throughout the pacific, and while LGW will cover
some of the island hopping campaign, we'll also tell more of the untold stories
in the pacific. Japan's goal was to push western influence and western colonies
out of the Pacific. This also brought the Russians, Australians, Canadians, and
British into conflict with Japan. You'll be seeing some of the battles they fought
against the Japanese as well. The pacific will be a welcome change from the European
feel of Half-Life 2. You'll be fighting in the jungles of the pacific, on the
islands of the Philippines, or even in the ocean with the possibilities of naval
battles.

Mith: We will have a simple mode of TDM and Capture the Flag, but the heart
of LGW is going to be found in one game type: Attrition. Attrition is built to
offer a more realistic depiction of the combat experience with frontlines, a rear
zone, and supply lines. The team's objectives are clear-cut, but your options
become more dynamic when you get down to the squad level.

Mith: The Last Great War started just at the start of the wave of these
war games, so we're stuck with the ongoing cliché that war games are getting old.
On top of the game type, Attrition, which we feel to have a lot of potential,
we also hope that our content area and focus can also draw in some new interest.
In the pacific, there are many elements we'll be including that have never been
covered before, such as British, Canadian, and Australian ground forces in the
Pacific with maps like Kokoda Trail, Singapore, and Hong Kong. We wont promise
anything for later theatres yet, other than we hope to fulfil our original goals
and perhaps cover every theatre, from the beginning.

B0B: Assault infantry are the backbone of any army. They are flexible enough
to be assigned any task so long as there are enough of them with appropriate support.
They are the first into an area and often the last out, responsible for anything
from assault to occupation. They're armed with a wide variety of weapons well
suited to mobility while possessing a fair amount of firepower. They rely heavily
on each other in combat, making use of suppress and move tactics. Players can
select to play as a number of assault infantry specialists, such as medics, field
recon, or combat engineers.



While the medic is expected to do his part as a rifleman, he is primarily responsible
for treating those injured in combat. Medics can not fully restore an injured
soldier to perfect health, but they can keep injured soldiers alive on the battlefield
and possibly bring them back to combat ready status. Medics can also heal small
wounds on themselves, however extensive injuries require the assistance of another
medic to treat. You can read up on the stamina system to get a feel for what it
is exactly the medic can do. Healing other players will also involve a VGUI mini-game.



Combat engineers are highly trained specialists. They're also some of the only
people whose job isn't primarily to shoot at you on the battlefield. Very useful
for precise demolitions work and laying mines, as well as constructing fortifications
and disabling enemy mines. Not heavily armed, but loaded down with a lot of equipment
regardless. We'll be making a lot of use of the VGUI system to make laying and
disabling mines as well as setting and disabling explosives either 2D or 3D mini-games,
adding a nice change from the traditional &quot;hold the button to set the bomb&quot;.



Everywhere and nowhere at the same time, recon specialists are an army's eyes
and assassins. Armed with long range rifles or short range personal defence weapons
as well as binoculars and field radios, recon specialists are responsible for
providing an overview of the battle for everyone else. They are capable of directing
artillery fire, calling in reinforcements, directing bodies of troops, scouting
enemy movement, and eliminating specific individuals from a distance as well as
providing sniper support for a body of troops. Possibly the most training intensive
and demanding of all specialties.



Support infantry provide heavy weapons support for assault infantry. They're not
particularly mobile, but once they get themselves set up they can lay a formidable
base of fire. They excel in both offensive support and defence. They consist of
heavy machine gunners, flamethrower infantry, and mortar infantry. Although not
infantrymen by nature or particularly threatening alone on the battlefield, armour
crewmen operate the tanks combat vehicles that can turn the direction of a battle.
While anyone can operate trucks or jeeps, only armour crewmen make up the crews
of the more deadly combat vehicles.



We'll be seeing a pretty wide variety of light and heavy armour; in fact just
about every armoured vehicle seen in the theatre of operations. Vehicles will
be operated by multiple players and can have players riding on top also. Armoured
vehicles won't be invulnerable, but on the same note they won't be taken out by
only one or two anti-tank weapons. Aside from armour, we'll be seeing jeeps, motorcycles,
and trucks. These basic vehicles can be operated by any player class.

Mith: We have a full department of researchers and historians to find what
the artists need to make the content, but most LGW Staff Members work on the mod
because they like the time era &amp; online games. Inspiration comes from many sources,
from films to books to other games.

Mith: The Last Great War started out very small with a team of less than
five, as a simple weapons mod for Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. The team as it
stands now consists of roughly thirty talented artists, coders, and mappers who
come from all over the world, and from many former mod projects.

B0B: We actually plan on featuring as much realism in LGW as possible,
but it won't compromise gameplay. We'll be keeping crosshairs in game, but they'll
only serve as a reference to the centre of the screen. In fact, we'll be keeping
a minimal graphic interface, but the interface we provide will give the player
most of the information available to soldiers in combat. One of the few exceptions
we'll make to this rule is rally points for fire teams; they'll be visible in
game in order to make the player really feel like they're part of a fire team
as opposed to &quot;just another player tagging along&quot;.



We plan on throwing a lot of visual distractions at the player as well. There'll
be a lot of shrapnel, kicked up dust and dirt, and smoke to obscure the playing
field. On the same note, we'll be knocking the player around a lot in game too;
concussive force will knock a player a good distance away flat on his back and
getting hit could take a player to the ground (without killing him). Of course
we'll be featuring realistic recoil and aiming and realistic bullet and shrapnel
ballistics.



One of the biggest changes we'll see is the formidability of fighting an enemy
that's &quot;dug in&quot;. LGW will be one of the first games to prove that a disorganized
frontal assault can't rout an enemy out of a fortified position. Fire team leaders
will have to work with their teams to suppress enemy positions, move their teams
under cover fire, and bound on positions with reliance on fire support.



Aside from simply the class system, the team will be broken down into squads and
fire teams. There will be a server set number of squads, which will be divided
into fire teams. Squad leaders will be responsible for coordinating the overall
assault using their fire teams, and fire team leaders will be responsible for
coordinating movement of individual players. There will be typically three to
six players per fire team, and two to four fire teams per squad. Squads and fire
teams will consist of a mixture of classes.

Mith: SVC was a pretty nifty &amp; simple concept brought about in the very
early days of development. Most games at the moment have a series of root keys
and command menus. While LGW will still have those, we're presenting another possible
option to increase communications and teamwork between players. Just like the
site says &quot;We plan on making a hotkey you can press that shouts out a voice command
by pointing your crosshair towards a target. For the example, let's say the hotkey
is X. You see a Canadian Bren Gun position in a balcony down the street. You press
X and a voice command will play based on what the SVC script picks up.&quot;

Mith: We've got a great team full of talented individuals. We're still
looking for some more talented &amp; willing staff members to contribute to the progress.
We're well on our way of planning out and building up to our first public release,
beta 1.0. I see a great future ahead for this mod, and am very proud at how far
it has come since it began.

kathunx: We all know that everyone reading this interview used to dream
of being a pirate when they were young, who didn't? The creators of Battlefield
Pirates captured that dream and converted it into a solid, pirate-based modification
for Battlefield 1942. I can easily say that was probably our biggest source of
inspiration towards beginning development for Mist.

kathunx: One of my favorite parts of Mist is where the game takes place.
The Mist isles is an array of various islands, each island having it's own environmental
diversity. For example, one island is a former Spanish settlement named El Rico
(The Rich). El Rico is ideal for urban warfare, as well as ship-to-coast and fort-to-ship
combat. More islands including The Waterhole (containing tropical jungle-based
setting) and The Ruins (containing barren, desert-based setting) are also available
for an enjoyable, diverse game-play experience.

kathunx: In my own opinion, I think most videogames based in the 20th or
21st century have already been structured to set examples for the rest, and all
they can do is slowly improve. However, not many video games based before the
20th century have been enjoyable to a wide variety of people. I think that Mist
will appeal to a large, diverse crowd because of the various features that we
implement into the game. The variety of environments, the diversity of classes
and the importance of team-based game-play is something that we hope will turn
into a solid, enjoyable experience for all types of gamers.

kathunx: The Cursed Pirates are undead scavengers who are solely trying
to conquer the Mist Isles for one reason; they want them back. Long before the
Cut-Throats and Black Buccaneers found out about the Mist Isles, the Cursed Pirates
had taken over the Mist Isles and treated them poorly. As a result, the spirits
of Mist placed a curse on them, stating that if they want to return to life, they
must keep the Mist Isles from being taken by anyone else.



The Black Buccaneers are greedy, rich and pampered seadogs that want ownership
of the Mist Isles only for the luxuries it offers. Their state-of-the-art equipment
gives them an obvious advantage to taking whatever they wish.



The Cut-Throats are men of honor and nobility. They wish to succeed in taking
over the Mist Isles only to restore the honor it once had. Being experienced in
piracy and having a history of being a just yet rebellious group of pirates, will
give them a great advantage towards the other two teams.

kathunx: Sean (anonymousity) is from the Battlefield Pirates staff. I've
been on several mod teams, most of them for Battlefield 1942 and Unreal Tournament
2003. A lot of our staff is oriented around the Battlefield Pirates community;
Sean leads a clan called CT (you guessed it, Cut-Throats), and our lead Public
Relations man Chris leads his own clan, the BB (just guess). The rest of our staff
members are fresh from college or already have a wife and kids. I guess you can
say we're pretty diverse.

kathunx: Mist's game-play is actually a healthy mix of both genres. The
life of piracy itself was often fast and furious, but depicting it correctly while
still making the game enjoyable and fast-paced is something we want to be sure
to accomplish. The game will have it's ominous, yet subtle moments, but it will
also feature the edge-of-your-seat game-play that most gamers thirst for.

kathunx: There are currently 24 levels scheduled for development at the
moment. There are usually more than one map per island, but some islands are too
small to have more than one. As hardware requirements go, our models are easily
making par with polycounts and still look great (for example look at our CP characters).
I believe that if you can run Half-Life 2 on your computer without any worries,
Mist should run on your computer just as easily.

kathunx: Most of the community from Battlefield Pirates has also shifted
to the Mist Mod community. Mist is also a part of the Pirated Studios community
(www.piratedstudios.com).

kathunx: Vehicles and Vehicular Combat have already been planned out thoroughly.
The ships in development range from a small rowboat to a large galleon. The larger
ships require a crew to control. For example, to control a galleon, people need
to be on the ropes to control throttle, people need to be on separate cannons
to control the ship's arsenal, and a captain needs to be on the wheel, controlling
the ships movement. People may have heard of a body-spot damage system, in which
a shot to the head causes massive damage, where as a shot to the hand or foot
does not. We are trying to accomplish a vehicular-spot damage system, in which
a cannon ball to the mast disturbs control, or impact near the bottom of the ship
causes leaking and a chance of sinking (depending on the amount of damage). Hopefully
this will encourage team-based game-play and almost a sense of camaraderie between
players.

Brad: My name is Brad Newsom, and my role in Periculum is to keep everything
in order. Although this is a very complicated task, this isn’t my only role in
the making of Periculum. I am the heart of the ideas that are created into the
Periculum you see today. Most of the ideas for monsters are thought up by myself
and a select group who are specifically used for monster design. I also am the
one who created a base for the story of the novel for Periculum.

Brad: To me, Periculum is a sacred yet powerful word. Periculum is basically
Latin for &quot;Fear, Danger, Experiments&quot;. As you can see, this meaning says a lot
about the mod. Since the subtitle for Periculum is &quot;A Science of Horror&quot;, I can
see that Fear and Experiment would fit ever so well. Games such as Silent Hill
are nothing more than just play on your fears - no intense battles or action.
So that’s where the word Danger fits in. In Periculum, we LOVE playing on your
fears, not with in your face type of scares, but more of some ingenious actions
the Creatures/Monsters may perform. With some great AI improvements for the creatures,
they can create some intense scenes later in the game. There's your in-depth view
of the meaning of Periculum!

Brad: I'm sorry for such lack of info we have released as for the background
of Periculum. The reason is because most of the elements of the game can really
dull down if we release too much information. If we released an excess of information,
players wouldn’t be surprised with the game, and we care a lot about our loyal
fans. Anyways, the characters other than Rolfe Harkom, the main character, Elizabeth
Harkom, Rolf's wife, and Lucy, their daughter. There is Peter Grendel, Rolfe's
childhood friend. We never publicly told anyone about this character yet because
he is one of the MOST crucial characters behind the whole mystery behind Periculum.
Without ruining the plot and story, I won't say anything more. I think in the
near future we will be releasing a teaser which actually will be a cut scene of
chapter 1 of the mod. So you can look forward to that.



As I said before, the character will go through the story without knowing the
whole plot itself. One thing I never discussed yet is that the player will have
the ability to stray off the main story to find alternative paths and alternative
outcomes of the story. Basically it’s a choose your own adventure type of mod.
Heh, I hope no one will complain about linear mods and games anymore when they
play Periculum!




Gameplay wise, players will have the ability to choose what they wish to do, but
also will be able to go through different gameplay modes such as Typical First
Person Exploration, to Intense Battles between mobs of Genetically Engineered
Monsters against Soldiers, to various vehicle use, to mini games. So basically
there is a vast variety of experiences.

Brad: Yes I know, Periculum's heart lies within a Singe-player state. We
still want to stick with a special Cooperative Version of the main game, though
we do have some Deathmatch gaming capabilities and other spectacular game types
such as Infection and Swarm. More information on these game plays can be described
at this webpage.

Brad: Without spoiling to much? Wow, that’s a hard one. I'll try my best.
These creatures have been created by a sick man or a vast team of research. There
ya go, hope that doesn't spoil anything!

Brad: Wow, great question! I really want to answer this. I love music and
I know almost every gamer has there favourite genre of music, though I can't guarantee
all the genres will be included in the soundtrack. However, I can guarantee there
the music will be based around scaring the crap out of you. Since Soundtracks
are suppose to capture the mood of the game/mod, I feel that I am very user-friendly
with a list of good bands who would greatly dedicate there time for exclusive
music for us. Though since Periculum is so early in development, we can't guarantee
certain bands in the final soundtrack. At the moment we have decided to include,
Slipknot, Cradle of Filth, Angels of Silence, Marilyn Manson, Nightwish, Korn,
and Linkin Park. When the time calls to get the soundtrack created I will be putting
my best to getting all these bands in the Soundtrack. I can guarantee that Periculum
will be completely different by the time we ever get to that status.

Brad: We plan to have many types of environments. Some such as your house,
Snow Storm in the Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, Cheyenne Mountain Complex,
and others. I've been to Colorado Springs, Colorado USA many times and I feel
that if we can make locations as accurate as possible, we can truly make environments
believable. What I think would be the scariest environment is the Cheyenne Mountain
Complex, just because that’s the heart of the creation of these beings the player
will meet.

Brad: I'll plainly say this: Periculum is not a horror game you will just
play and forget. With the source engine, we will capture the players emotions
by using the emotions of another character to interact with the player. We also
have tried our best to make events and game play elements as memorable as possible.
Though to be specific, the thing that will make Periculum superior to others is
the vast choices you can make in the mod, though that’s on the outside. On the
inside we have planned to make all monsters and creatures act on a 6 level AI
system. Basically each creature will be assigned to a certain level. For example:
Level 1 of the system is Super Intelligent, which gives the creature the abilities
to avoid combat if not offended, taunt player, hides when needed, learn from past
mistakes, telekinesis, observes players actions, etc. There are many variables
to pass which will create a very realistic behaviour simulation in all situations
of the game. Imagine a very odd creature stuck to the ceiling staring out you,
as if it’s learning your every move. Even if the creature doesn't feel threatened,
it may just ignore you, however, if its health is like 75%, It will need to feed,
then it will try to attack you when you least expect it. Say goodbye to Doom 3
and all other horror games you have ever played. Say hello to Source.

Brad: At the moment we see a February release. The novel has been a base
for what will be in the game. Basically, it’s a more reader friendly than gamer
friendly. Most of the settings will be the same and the plot will stick in the
same way, though most of the transitions between events will be completely different
to create the effects we need for Periculum.

Brad: We are still looking for 3d modellers and Model Skinners/UVW Mappers.
Other than that we also still need Model Animators and Model Riggers. With that
said, I would like to thank you for interviewing me. Thank you, Gothax.

Ryan Daly: Spatial Fear is a first-person game that takes players to all
sorts of outlandish sci-fi environments, all the while weaving an entertaining
story that will suck players in and spit them back out breathless.

Ryan Daly: Well, people know us and have recognized how well the original
Spatial Fear: Prologue was produced. We've got some of the best art around and
we want to maintain that level of quality throughout the mod's production.



Mod-making isn't our hobby, it's our life; we're serious about this work, like
every other modder should be. I'm confident this team can produce a quality gaming
experience by the time this is all said and done.

Ryan Daly: The latest rendition of the Unreal engine was great for multiplayer
gameplay, where story-telling wasn't the goal/focus of the developers making the
engine. We're not here to deliver multiplayer gameplay, (although we will have
a small multiplayer component), we're here to tell a story. I think we can all
agree that Gabe Newell and the guys over at Valve have created an entertaining,
intelligent, and outright beautiful game for the public to play and enjoy, and
that has a lot to do with how they run their studio. The same principles are in
place on our development team, and we're lucky to have the people and art that
we have.



I think when any developer is deciding on an engine to create their game with,
there's a bit of thought put into the technological resources and restrictions
that come with this decision. But there's also something else, something not quite
so definable. I think the closest analogy I can make is when a movie director
is trying to find the right cinematographer.



What I'm trying to get at is there's a certain style to every engine. The Crytek
engine has that cheesy yet entertaining popcorn-movie-esque style, the Unreal
engine has a cartoonish sci-fi feel to it, and Source has a realistic sci-fi feel,
while still managing to maintain a level of out of this world flavour. That's
the concept we're aiming for here, a believable space drama.

Ryan Daly: The prologue released for the Unreal engine is a great example
of a successful mod, in terms of design and execution. In our first release, we
intend to do a sort of &quot;re-envisioning&quot; of the prologue, and label it the first
chapter in a series of releases to the community. This way we won't have to tell
our audience to go dig up an old copy of Unreal Tournament in order to understand
just what's going on in a second chapter.

Ryan Daly: It's really not that complicated fortunately. Mankind has made
its way into space and has found and inhabited many planets in different galaxies.
However, a rebellion has broken out on several planets, and Jael is headed towards
one of those wayward planets on a military ship when an alien species boards her
ship, kills the crew and thus, the start of the player's journey. The player will
subsequently travel down to the planet to rescue the survivors of the AD
who actually made it off the ship and are now running from the alien hunters.
There's a lot more to the story, and soon Jael and the survivors find themselves
embroiled in a war between alien species and are forced to settle a millennia
old vendetta.



Other than this simple explanation of where things are at, the player isn't bombarded
with information concerning the Spatial Fear universe's current events.

Ryan Daly: There's a cast of human supporting roles that ranges from an
uppity (yet comedic) British A.I., to Tarth Hollens, another deployment officer
aboard the Antimatter Discharge. The first chapter will keep it quite simple when
it comes to human contact. That being said, most of the NPC contact is limited
to killing aliens, and rescuing the survivors of the Antimatter Discharge.



However, the first scene constitutes Jael actually boarding the AD. She meets
Tarth and they travel through a large Star port, where many people can be found
browsing items and ordering fast-food. All the while Tarth talks about life aboard
the AD. We have voice actors lined up (theatre majors.) We intend to fully use
the lip-synching technology Valve has created, and the FacePoser application used
to construct and choreograph intense scenes.



I would tell you more about later chapters, but perhaps that info is best left
for later interviews.

Ryan Daly: Actually, the influences come more from Half-Life 2 and Bungie's
Halo 2 than anything. We've constructed an epic story where eventually Jael will
end up saving humankind from two alien races, the Kreen and the Skav. Atmospherically,
in the first chapter you'll be scared a couple of times, but afterwards the ball
is in Jael's court in terms of the story. She's the one that's chasing the aliens.
That's not to say that there won't be other frightening scenarios in the game,
but the majority will be spent in highly intensive combat scenes.

Ryan Daly: The gameplay will remain vastly similar to Half-Life 2, though
we do intend on changing the way combat situations play out. Squads will be more
effective in Spatial Fear than they were in HL2, and there will also be other
changes relating to the way aiming plays out, though we can't talk about that
just yet.



The environment will have plenty of physics objects and such for the player to
interact with, as well as smart screens a la Prologue.

Ryan Daly: We'd just like to thank Valve for giving us the best mod-making
support a company has given, regardless of what a lot of people have been saying.
We are always on the lookout for new team members, specifically character modellers/animators
and texture artists, so post on our forums at
www.spatial-fear.com if you want in,
pending a portfolio review.

Splaty: I'm Splaty and I'm the lead mapper.



Mitlancer: I'm Mitlancer, I am a modeller.



d0cd: I'm d0cd, modeller and I'm the project leader.

d0cd: Well basically 3 way Team Co-op. Two human controlled teams playing
against each other to complete objectives, whilst a third team of AI controlled
dinosaurs &quot;hinder&quot; the teams. There are also plans of a deathmatch mode being
produced as well.

Splaty: That's right. The two teams each have individual objectives which
they will attempt to complete, whilst simultaneously stopping the enemy team from
completing their objectives.

Splaty: There'll be a reasonable variety, ranging from the standard 'reach
this point' to the more complex 'destroy this, and then weld this entrance shut',
etc.

Splaty: The character classes will be pretty standard, such as marksman,
scout, etc, though they'll be a few classes relevant to the JR style. We're still
considering the best way to implement weapons and equipment, although we'll most
likely be going with a normal approach where the class is given relevant weapons,
and can then swap them with those they find on the battlefield.



d0cd: The systems side to JR is still under decision. As we are not too
sure how the best system would work to provide the best experience possible. More
recently we have been discussing things and have decided to base the weapons selection
as being able to choose any weapon for that given slot, ie. The primary slot will
hold the main weapons, rifles, sub-machine guns etc…, secondary slot for pistols
and so forth, and then there is a 3rd slot for the melee weapons and what not.
However these weapons will severely hinder certain classes and others will help
them. It will be complicated, there is no purchase system planned. No CS here
I am afraid. We are looking for realism. We may make it so that there are only
a certain number of weapons of available for the whole team, and its down to the
team to decide what weapons that each class chooses, so team co-operation will
play a very important role.



Mitlancer: The weapons themselves will range from the common modern day
arsenals from around the globe. They all fit in with the modern time period and
each have a great functionality towards the gameplay.

d0cd: Well vehicles, we will be adding different vehicles to different
maps depending on whether the objectives require so. The vehicles will be as balanced
as possible so that if you do have a vehicle you don't have a massive advantage
over everyone else out there.



Splaty: The vehicles will range from the usual assortment of Jeeps and
trucks to, hopefully at least, boats and maybe even hovercraft.

d0cd: This is our MAJOR goal with JR, to produce as real an environment
as possible. Dinosaurs that feel like they're actually other players on the Internet,
counter-acting your moves. Using intelligence to navigate to the weakest prey,
etc... We will spend an enormous amount of time playtesting the dinosaur AI and
behaviour to ensure as realistic as experience as possible.



Splaty: Obviously the network requirements to throw down a full-scale Dinosaur
AI that walks around and decides who to hunt, where and when would be unrealistic.
But Dinosaurs will react to human presence [realistically] and will decide what
to do, be it ignore them or take them down.



d0cd: Yes, depending on their species. This is down to a mixture of behaviour
and resource limitations. Even on a standalone machine to be able to calculate
an island full of creatures all fully interacting and making their own decisions
requires an immense amount of processing power.

Splaty: We do have quite a few dinosaur 'experts' on the team, including
at least one who studies palaeontology at university. I myself don't know much
about it, so I can't answer your question.



d0cd: Hmm there are many theories surrounding this dinosaur. I only know
about the thoughts behind this dinosaur because of a Walking with Dinosaurs special
on it. Though I can’t remember what the conclusion was as to whether it was herbivore
or carnivore. I’m sure it was herbivore that it used its enormous claws for grabbing
at branches.

d0cd: Hmm species names I'm not too good on. But I can give you dinosaur
names, hell I've modelled pretty much all them. We have the well know herbivores
like Brachiosaurus, Gallimimus, Triceratops, and the carnivores, Velociraptor,
T-Rex, Compsognathus. We have a few obscure ones like Elasmosaurus, which is a
water creature, and Carnotaurus.

Splaty: We'll be taking the large map size limits into consideration as
we design them. We're planning on having a variety, including outside and internal
areas. For the most part, the outside areas will be pretty free roaming. You could
easily wander off from your squad, get lost in the jungle and fog and end up getting
munched on by a pack of dinosaurs. As for hidden areas, you'll have to wait and
see!

Splaty: Our modellers create the bulk of the jungle, and an intuitive use
of fog and model-fadeouts mean that we can create a realistic jungle without having
to render too much at one time.

Splaty: Yes, we were at a time going to create the mod for both the CryTek
and Source engine, but decided to stick with HL2. While Far Cry does have large,
immense jungles, we felt that if we used Far Cry, our mod would just look the
same as any other mod on that engine. I haven't used the Far Cry editor myself,
but I've heard that it's not particularly difficult to create realistic jungles.
While in HL2 it's more difficult, it will also be more diverse and look unique
to JR.

Mitlancer: I've answered this question a thousand times from a modellers
point of view, the engine is far superior to any other engine currently available
because of the sheer power it holds, the engine itself is capable of doing a lot
more than people give it credit for.



Splaty: Oh yes indeed. We plan on having a variety of natural and man-made
traps littered about the maps

Splaty: The former.



d0cd: Basically because of possible legal action. We didn't love the idea
of getting half way through production and then being told to shut down.



Splaty: We were never threatened with legal action, but we never received
any form of written reply from them either. So we just played it safe.



d0cd: Plus our own design provides us with a lot more creative freedom
Mitlancer: When a modification is restricted to a license, it can be held
back at every point. Not to mention the problems with actually obtaining the rights
to work from that base.

Mitlancer: A little from column A, a little from column B.



Splaty: We're catering for both styles. If you want to run in without your
team you can, although you might get jumped on by a dinosaur. Alternatively you
can take it slow, watch your squad-members backs, etc.

Splaty: Thanks very much and thanks for the interview!

Adrien C: My name is Adrien Chatillon; I work Public Relations for
the E-Force mod.

Adrien C: The European Union goes head to head against the Chinese,
fighting for oil supremacy in the ice-cold lands of Siberia. The year is 2015;
the world has suffered its greatest oil crisis, it now finds itself submerged
in a world of turmoil, disaster and confusion. Few countries have managed to
survive, the European Union only by finally uniting 15 countries under one
nation, and the Chinese by their harsh laws of fuel economy. In what appears
to be dark times, a solution has been found. Deep in the virgin lands of
Siberia 4 major oil deposits capable of moving a country for 1 decade have
been discovered. This, however, could be enough power for an army to travel
around the world. Without the fuel to move its once powerful mechanized
armies, the United States is left to homeland security, leaving the European
Union fighting for oil control against the powerful and determined Chinese.

Adrien C: E-Force will be mainly played in scenarios, which will
follow the Europeans fighting for oil in Siberia. This gives us the
possibility to make some wild and original concepts.



The beauty of this is that each map/scenario has an alternate path; the next
map to be played depends on the outcome of the previous one.



We also have some derivations of the most famous game modes. For example,
instead of having capture the flag, we have capture the tanker, where players
need to capture their adversaries oil tanker and bring it back to base,
instead of capturing a flag.



We also have the City Deposit game type where armies must capture strategic
points in cities, oil storage (enables your gas-guzzling vehicles to work),
electric factories (enables your smaller electric vehicles to work), and
munitions factories (unlocks more equipment, acts as a re-supply depot).

Adrien C: For vehicles, we have now planned to include SUVs, Jeeps,
quad bikes, ATV’s, APC’s, dirt bikes, snowmobiles, hover boats and some minor
civilian vehicles.



As for weapons, we are including most of today’s weaponry; anything that can
be found at an army base will be in the game. And while I can’t mention any
specific weapons, I can tell you that each weapon is perfectly rendered using
accurate recoil, weight, accuracy, range, caliber and damage.

Adrien C: For one, we have an original story. Secondly, we let the
player choose the outcome of the story, which is highly satisfying. Thirdly,
we have invented a never before seen game play mechanic which is 100% based on
team play.

Adrien C: Sure, what it means is that, instead of having the ever
boring one kill one point, players will get points depending on the class they
choose and on their objectives. For example, the medic gets 3 points for
healing, 4 for reviving and 1 for killing. A grunt, however, may get 4 points
for a kill. Another way to get points is to follow orders from your squad
leader and stick together with you teammates. Point will give you the
possibility to acquire better weapons, gear, skills and other treats.



Also, apart from a main objective, players will get sub objectives, depending
on the class they choose, which are vital for the competition of the main
objective.

Adrien C: We celebrated our first birthday a while ago as a matter
of fact. As for when we will go live, I will have to use the answer we gamers
all hate: &quot;When it's done&quot;.

Adrien C: Thanks.

Kiroke: Hi, my name is Francois, a.k.a. Kiroke and I’m the team
leader / lead game designer for T: DP.

Kiroke: We were looking for a software project that would be an
interesting challenge. Going for the same old Counter-Strike clone would not
represent any challenging job for coders; it would only be a job for mappers
and modellers. We didn’t realize at a certain point we would create a
sure-fire hit, but we did realize we had the potential to create a unique kind
of mod.

Kiroke: The coding part is a well understood part for the core team:
We are used to dealing with software projects such as this one. Managing a
project with external resources from around the world is quite a different
game though; you cannot make precise estimates as to when a particular task is
to be finished. We are thus looking for partnerships with art schools.
Students that are credited to work on a project have a deadline, plus they
have an additional motivation to do a great job (their final score).

Kiroke: The battle will oppose the Trojans against the Achaeans (the
Greeks). Players are the messengers of the gods; they influence the battle by
controlling one soldier at a time. Depending on the class a player chooses to
play, the kind of battle he will live will be very different. A shade will
prefer sneaking around, while an Olympian will be the main fighting figure.
The Hero class will lead other soldiers into the battle, buff them with auras,
and will try to defend his soldiers.

Kiroke: The two forms are not “classes” but rather two ways of
seeing the battlefield. There are three kinds of spirits: the Shade, the
Olympian and the Hero. While in spirit form, you cannot influence the
battlefield; your only goal is to choose the next soldier you will control.
This choice is based upon the soldier’s position, health, current weapon etc.
Once you’ve selected your soldier, you will possess him and gain control of
his body. This is the “human” form. It is also when the kind of spirit you’ve
selected will become important: you will be given different abilities
depending on the selected spirit. The Spirit form is third person, while the
Human form is First person.

Kiroke: The weapons will be as you would expect them to be in that
time period: swords, bows and arrows, slings, etc. They are described on our
website in the weapon section. The interesting part about the weapon system is
that players will get the weapon of the AI soldier they chose to possess.
Players will also be given a divine usage for each weapon; a secondary attack
if you want. This divine attack can be pretty deadly: a javelin can be thrown
with such strength that it will pin down an enemy to the wall.

Kiroke: At the risk of breaking some illusions about the mod: there
will not be thousands of NPCs running around. The Source engine focuses mainly
on details rather than on large scale battles. While we are trying to add as
many soldiers as possible, we want every AI soldier to be smart and to react
normally. Add the load of managing the AI to the load of computing the
ballistic weapons on the server and you’ve got a very concrete limit to the
possible number of AI soldiers. We do want to focus on players’ immersion
though, and we think we’ll be able to do this with appropriate sound effects
and map design.

Kiroke: There will be siege machinery, but no combats between
players in vehicles. Some maps will focus on advancing a battering ram up to a
certain point. We might also allow ourselves to differ a bit from historical
accuracy and add some catapults and ballista.

Kiroke: The players will definitively be stronger. They’ve got a
divine usage of the weapons, have distinct skills, and we expect them to make
slightly better decisions than AI soldiers!



AI soldiers will be really important though and are at the base of the
gameplay. They are your spawning points, so you obviously want them to be
alive. The more AI soldiers you’ve got helping you pushing a battering ram,
the faster it will move. Players will most often have to protect their AI
soldiers in order to make any progress at all on the maps.

Kiroke: We do plan to create a soundtrack for the game and currently
we have two active composers, and I must say their work is impressive up till
now.

Kiroke: We certainly are proud to have chosen that engine. The
physic is interesting, plus we’ve got constant engine updates coming from
Valve. We are especially looking forward to work with the graphic shaders
soon.

Kiroke: The school project officially ends on December 2005. We
should be able to release a public version at that time, or else our
evaluation shall be in peril!

Kiroke: Only that we do want to bring you guys an entertaining and
funny game - not just some school project technology demo!

Kiroke: You’re more than welcome!

Morgan: Thanks for interviewing me, I’m sure people will like what
we have to offer.

Morgan: The storyline is pretty involved but leaves enough open to
prevent us from restricting ourselves. It is, however, an alternate reality,
so the events leading up to the war are a little different than you’d expect.




Basically, the world was for the most part at peace, the Soviet Union and the
rest of the world had found a way to keep the world economy in balance. The
United States government was corrupted and built a computer system to make
things right and restore liberty to the people without crippling the power of
the corporations that corrupted elected officials. The system gets confused
and believes that corporations are to blame for people’s unhappiness, so it
decides to destroy them, which would destroy the world economy. The Soviet
Union invades the American States of Canada and parts of the United States to
attempt to force them to stop the computer system, but even the US couldn’t
stop it. A massive attack was launched on the main part of the system and it
was apparently destroyed. The world was left shattered, torn by the war,
bombings, civil war, terrorism, and radioactive fallout.



The game picks up a few decades after the war, in a fight for control of
resources, dominance in various areas, and most of all, survival.

Morgan: WOTAMOD is certainly going to be one of the more creative
mods out there; our weapons are not brand new shiny M4A1s and SOCOM pistols,
our firearms will be old, worn, rugged, abused weapons that will jam and need
to be maintained to ensure performance. Our melee weapons will be crude,
sadistic weapons made from whatever was at hand, such as our street sign
battleaxe and scythe, toaster mace, various baseball bats with sharp stuff
attached to them, Jagged pieces of aluminium siding on a stick, saw blade
battleaxes, assorted knives, etc. Some of these weapons you can make yourself
using tools. That’s another thing, allowing players to combine items in their
inventory to make various new items (whether they be explosives, equipment,
weapons, armour, accessories, ammo, etc.) will surely allow even the players
themselves to express creativity.



Aside from that, our maps will not just be death match with rusty guns;
objectives will require teamwork and creative problem solving to accomplish
goals. Our characters will be customizable by the player, and will vary in
ethnicity. Our vehicles will be unique in their own ways (like our Luxury
Whaling Sedan, a Lincoln Towncar with a harpoon mounted on the roof) There may
very well be too many things to go into, there are some very creative people
working on this project and I believe you can see this through our work.

Morgan: Adding single player would require a lot of AI coding and
such to make the game worthwhile, and even then it wouldn’t be as enjoyable as
playing against human players. People love to talk smack, often make mistakes,
and are generally very unpredictable. This makes for a very fun and rich game
play experience that doesn’t get boring as fast as single player.

Morgan: Each faction will have its own weaknesses and strengths.
Depending on a map, a faction may be in better or worse shape. Also, there
will be sub-factions that may even be at war with each other. Raiders will be
known for their gang wars within their own ranks.



I don’t believe there will be a dominant faction that will appeal to players,
although everyone will likely have their favourites, the factions will be
balanced. Not all factions will be on every map; generally, 2 or 3 factions
will be on the map, and they will be balanced in one way or another to make
game play interesting.

Morgan: Tough decision, they’ll all be so cool !Although one of the
maps will be a drug war map in which villager and raider drug gangs are
slitting each other’s throats in a town for control of the town. There will be
one leader randomly chosen for leadership of each of the small gangs, a few
chosen to be thugs, and the rest of the players will be drug addicts with no
predetermined loyalty to the dealers. If they don’t receive their fix, they’ll
die of withdrawal. To get their fix, the drug dealers will offer jobs to each
of the junkies, such as “Here’s a pistol with 2 shots. Go put 2 shots in the
head of that dealer over there. If you do it I’ll give you 2 hits of owl juice
and a dimebag of ook. And ya best bring that gun back or I’ll kill ya myself!”
Also, the UMA will be sending an anti drug trafficking task force to the area
to arrest people, so that may be one of the other playable teams.



I’d love to be a junkie on that level; it would be both hilarious and fun.

Morgan: The maps will all be objective based involving a few
factions fighting to complete their objective. As so, the maps will vary in
their design. There will be some maps with open areas, but for the most part
the maps will be somewhat urban environments.

Morgan: Thanks for interviewing me, I’m sure people will like what
we have to offer.

Morgan: The storyline is pretty involved but leaves enough open to
prevent us from restricting ourselves. It is, however, an alternate reality,
so the events leading up to the war are a little different than you’d expect.




Basically, the world was for the most part at peace, the Soviet Union and the
rest of the world had found a way to keep the world economy in balance. The
United States government was corrupted and built a computer system to make
things right and restore liberty to the people without crippling the power of
the corporations that corrupted elected officials. The system gets confused
and believes that corporations are to blame for people’s unhappiness, so it
decides to destroy them, which would destroy the world economy. The Soviet
Union invades the American States of Canada and parts of the United States to
attempt to force them to stop the computer system, but even the US couldn’t
stop it. A massive attack was launched on the main part of the system and it
was apparently destroyed. The world was left shattered, torn by the war,
bombings, civil war, terrorism, and radioactive fallout.



The game picks up a few decades after the war, in a fight for control of
resources, dominance in various areas, and most of all, survival.

Morgan: WOTAMOD is certainly going to be one of the more creative
mods out there; our weapons are not brand new shiny M4A1s and SOCOM pistols,
our firearms will be old, worn, rugged, abused weapons that will jam and need
to be maintained to ensure performance. Our melee weapons will be crude,
sadistic weapons made from whatever was at hand, such as our street sign
battleaxe and scythe, toaster mace, various baseball bats with sharp stuff
attached to them, Jagged pieces of aluminium siding on a stick, saw blade
battleaxes, assorted knives, etc. Some of these weapons you can make yourself
using tools. That’s another thing, allowing players to combine items in their
inventory to make various new items (whether they be explosives, equipment,
weapons, armour, accessories, ammo, etc.) will surely allow even the players
themselves to express creativity.



Aside from that, our maps will not just be death match with rusty guns;
objectives will require teamwork and creative problem solving to accomplish
goals. Our characters will be customizable by the player, and will vary in
ethnicity. Our vehicles will be unique in their own ways (like our Luxury
Whaling Sedan, a Lincoln Towncar with a harpoon mounted on the roof) There may
very well be too many things to go into, there are some very creative people
working on this project and I believe you can see this through our work.

Morgan: Adding single player would require a lot of AI coding and
such to make the game worthwhile, and even then it wouldn’t be as enjoyable as
playing against human players. People love to talk smack, often make mistakes,
and are generally very unpredictable. This makes for a very fun and rich game
play experience that doesn’t get boring as fast as single player.

Morgan: Each faction will have its own weaknesses and strengths.
Depending on a map, a faction may be in better or worse shape. Also, there
will be sub-factions that may even be at war with each other. Raiders will be
known for their gang wars within their own ranks.



I don’t believe there will be a dominant faction that will appeal to players,
although everyone will likely have their favourites, the factions will be
balanced. Not all factions will be on every map; generally, 2 or 3 factions
will be on the map, and they will be balanced in one way or another to make
game play interesting.

Morgan: Tough decision, they’ll all be so cool !Although one of the
maps will be a drug war map in which villager and raider drug gangs are
slitting each other’s throats in a town for control of the town. There will be
one leader randomly chosen for leadership of each of the small gangs, a few
chosen to be thugs, and the rest of the players will be drug addicts with no
predetermined loyalty to the dealers. If they don’t receive their fix, they’ll
die of withdrawal. To get their fix, the drug dealers will offer jobs to each
of the junkies, such as “Here’s a pistol with 2 shots. Go put 2 shots in the
head of that dealer over there. If you do it I’ll give you 2 hits of owl juice
and a dimebag of ook. And ya best bring that gun back or I’ll kill ya myself!”
Also, the UMA will be sending an anti drug trafficking task force to the area
to arrest people, so that may be one of the other playable teams.



I’d love to be a junkie on that level; it would be both hilarious and fun.

Morgan: The maps will all be objective based involving a few
factions fighting to complete their objective. As so, the maps will vary in
their design. There will be some maps with open areas, but for the most part
the maps will be somewhat urban environments.