| Title: |
The Precursors |
| Date: |
04.27.2007 |
| Platform: |
PC |
| Genre: |
RPG, FPS |
| Developer: |
Deep Shadows |
| Publisher: |
TBA |
Please introduce yourself and the game The Precursors.
I am Sergey Zabaryansky, the head of Deep Shadows. “Precursors” is our first next-gen project, a Role Playing Game with FPS and Space Sim combat in a science fiction setting.
The Precursors looks like it powered by the next-generation of the Vital engine. What advantages does the Vital engine offer you over other engines?
The new version of our engine, called Vital Engine 3, was created specifically to support the game development on platforms such as Windows Vista, Xbox360 and PS3. Among the most important features of our games we can name big seamless worlds, where you can go wherever you want. The engine supports streaming, this helps us to create huge but very detailed planets. Up to 100 square miles of terrain can be calculated in the real time. Vital Engine 3 supports shaders 3.0, all the modern post-effects such as motion-blur, High Dynamic Range and others. Most of the objects in the game are destructible; this includes vehicles and space ships, but also buildings, walls, obstacles and even some terrain features. Nearly all destructible things have zonal damage system and will break in parts according to physical laws. It can be worthy to mention that our engine is fully compatible with Xbox 360 from the technical side, and we’re working to support other modern consoles.
What do you think of the other major graphic engines? (Crysis, Source, Unreal Engine 3, Renderware, etc)
We’re looking at them quite closely, and can see from the press that most new games have only one next-gen feature included. As for Crysis engine, it looks very promising for large developers in the future, but only after technology is finished and proven by the success of the game. Moreover, it’s a PC-only engine now. HL2 and Gears of Wars success have proven Source and Unreal3 engine to be great tools for creating excellent games. Definitely they are among the best choices for linear first person shooters at present time. However, since our game is mainly a freeplay RPG, and only has FPS style combat, we’re not aiming to fully emulate them. Renderware is a good engine for multiplatform development, but this is all I can say about it.
What gave you the idea for The Precursors?
The idea is inspired by the reading of Andre Norton’s books. However, there is no direct link between them and our ideas for the game. We try to recreate space adventure atmosphere itself that was reproduced in “Solar Queen”.
What are the team's inspirations when working on the game?
We want to give to the players an opportunity not only to play a nice interesting game, but also to live there, to feel the atmosphere of space exploration. To achieve that, we create an open game world and a nonlinear storyline, and we’re implementing a good RPG system that would allow to emphasize stealth or diplomacy over fighting skills. A part of the team is working just to create and test the quests, and we have a few hundreds of them already done. Everybody’s aiming to make the game as good as possible; this is our main inspiration at the moment.
Does The Precursors have a North American publisher?
Now we are holding negotiations with a North American publisher, but at the moment we can’t disclose anything officially. I hope you understand.
Tell us about some of the weapons we will see. They look like a combination of standard and organic.
There will be more than 15 different types of carried weapons, from standard to organic and unusual sci-fi. Some weapons are easy to recognize, but there are lots of things that may look weird even in concept. But the players should not fear them; poison throwing slugs serve their purpose just as well as combat shotguns. You can upgrade most weapons. For instance, you can improve accuracy, magazine size, capacity, rate of fire, reload time. All this costs money or requires various skills, of course. There will be also some artifacts that will have a unique combination of bonuses and improvements. One of the key features of “Precursors” is organic weapons. These are animals or insects which have such natural offensive capabilities as, for example, acid spit. Adequate food is their recharge. The owner feeds his “pet” and knows how to deal with it at all times, that's why it's not a problem to control it even at the height of battle.
But in total there are more than 30 types of weapons available, including heavy military stuff. There will be plenty of opportunities to use the latter, and the fans of sci-fi style action can take control of combat mechs, buggies, helicopters, flyers, their own space ships and more.
The game will feature a RPG system including an inventory. How robust are the RPG elements?
We’re inclined to make the game a RPG with FPS style combat and some Space Sim elements. “Precursors” have many planets filled with NPCs with their own story. You can take objectives from these NPCs and accomplish missions for them. You will have both non-linear and linear missions. Many quests have two or more ways of solving them, and you can choose whichever you like best. There are approximately 400 side quests in total. Some will be rather simple and straightforward, but others quite elaborate, involving puzzle-solving, diplomacy and cunning. You earn money and experience when you complete them. Money can be used for purchasing different kind of weapons, bullets, upgrades, vehicles, medicine, food etc. Experience points give you an opportunity to improve your character and get more perks. In the game, you will see various perks that touch almost all aspects of character’s activity. Starting from a certain level, your character will specialize in some things, such as fighting, negotiating, stealth and so on.
By the way, there's a stealth mode in the game. Using it, you can silently kill all enemies in a certain location or steal something.
From the bits of story we've read and from the screenshots, it looks like The Precursors takes place in a wide variety of locale. Just how many different places will the player visit?
You are traveling on your ship through the Universe, and you can land on different planets, dock on space stations and visit huge space ships. The world of “Precursors” is large and multifaceted, the planets are various, among inhabitable there are around 10 totally different ones. For an example, you’ll start on a dune planet, parched dry by sun, and then can go to the icy planet, or you can visit planet of endless autumn, you can even have fun on the water planet. There are lush tropic jungles and desolate ruins of skyscrapers of an ancient civilized race. During your journey, you will visit cities and space ports, mountains and underwater caves, ancient ruins and bustling markets, and some other types of environment, each with it's own atmosphere. Many locations hide secrets - you will embark on perilous quests, search for powerful artifacts and meet strange aliens. Enemies will lurk everywhere, so you’ll have lots of random encounters – in space and on the planets. All kinds of creatures have different models of combat behavior, both for different types of opponents (aliens, humans, monsters) and for different conditions.
What has the team learned from Boiling Point that they are applying to The Precursors?
We take into account all positive and negative sides of Boiling Point game and as a result we improve conception of developing the game. We realized that the game of that size needs much more time for polishing. And we want to do the game with medium requirements and without drawbacks of Boiling Point. For this moment we improve level design and upgrade engine, physics and other things which you will see and, I hope, that the gamers will like. In “Precursors” players are free in moving not only in some locations like cities, towns, military bases, but they can fly between planets.
The game features a very distinct art design. What were some of the Inspirations when designing the worlds?
All our designers like science fiction and fantasy. They read a lot of books and watch many movies, so we can say all these planets and story are taken from their imagination.
How has the European press responded to The Precursors?
As we can see from the comments that we have in the European press, it responded to our game positively. Even the Japanese media reacted to the game favorably.
What's one game title (past or present) that you would have loved to have designed?
These games are sequels to Oblivion and Fallout.
When you think about talented developers, who comes to mind and why?
I can judge only from technical side, so for me it's definitely ID Software and Epic Games core teams. I also should mention Max Payne and 3D Mark teams due to their demo design origins.
Though there are many talented developers in Europe, many of their games either don't make it here to North America or are poorly received. Do you agree, and if so, why is that?
This can’t be said about the European game “Far Cry” and many similar titles. Besides, there are not so many publishers in the USA, and they can only pick a limited number of titles each year. To me it looks like such things depend on the project. Some games are territory oriented and sell extremely well in Russia, but nowhere else. We work on the games that should have a worldwide appeal, and we will do everything needed to make our games closer to worldwide market.
Do you think there is a distinct difference in gaming taste between American and European gamers?
Yes, there’s a difference in taste, especially with genre and setting preferences. Platform shares also vary, and some of them quite wildly (next gen share is almost zero in Russia). But good AAA quality games usually sell well on a worldwide basis. Say, Gears of War (if will be released on PC) in Russia will have about the same level of popularity as in the USA. The markets are different, but not that much as often presumed.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Thanks for your interview; we will do our best to justify the hopes of the players who are waiting for our game.
Interview By: Alex Hammond
