03/29/05 >> Vivisector: Beast Inside

Genre: First-person Shooter

Developer: Action Forms

Publisher: 1c Company

Official Site

 

 

Vivisector: Beast Inside is a first-person shooter from the russian developer Action Forms. We had the chance to talk with them to learn more about this horror-inspired shooter.

 

 

 

 

Tell us a bit about Vivisector: Beast Inside and what you hope to accomplish with the game.

 

The game’s storyline is a kind of our own vision of the human relations problem. This is shown through NPCs’ actions and dialogs. Because of different views on good and evil every player will carry out his own decision. Our aim is to create such an atmosphere when a player finishes the game and has a feeling that this was more than just a game, but an exciting action movie. We want players to be part of the process and enjoy every minute. Just as in good action movies.

 

 

What sort of gameplay elements are you adding to make Vivisector unique?

 

Vivisector is a mix of high adrenaline action, horror, thrilling storyline and role elements. Our aim is to make the game exciting. We don’t want the player to be bored.

The action and horror elements will prevent the game from being boring, strong storyline will hold the player’s attention as he goes through all the unpredictable turns of the storyline; role elements elements will give gamers more freedom of choice. Combining the above mentioned features we are trying to create an original and interesting game.

 

 

Your V-COLD level editor sounds very interesting.  Can talk about some of its features?

 

V-COLD or Visual Compound Objects Level Designis a powerful system of level processing that makes easy to change the geometry of finished levels. It features compound objects and hierarchy of operands for boolean operations. This system is unique and you will not find it even in such powerful 3D processors as Maya and Max.

 

 

Because of this easy-to-use yet powerful editor, will Vivisector ship with V-COLD?  And will the mod community be urged to use it to create their own maps?

 

Unfortunately Vivisector most likely will not feature the V-COLD system, but this hasn’t been decided yet.

 

What kinds of environments will the player explore?

 

The world of Vivisector is a mix of huge open air and extensive indoor levels combined in one global map of the island. There are only a few loadings on a map, so that they will have no negative impact on gameplay. There are no strict routes to complete a level and players will be free to explore those earning some extra experience points. Open areas are generally volcanic island landscapes with scattered buildings and abandoned military objects. Indoor levels represent experimental underground complexes and laboratories.

 

Will there be multiple paths or ways to beat the game? 

 

Yes, there will be - the will have more than one ending.

 

 

Your game engine (AtmosFear) looks very impressive.  What kinds of things can we expect from it?

 

AtmosFear engine supports a great amount of up-to-date features, here are some of them:

 

- Dynamic weather changes

- Weather changes

- Powerful skeleton-based animation produces realistic motion of characters

- Powerful action system, which allows to animate background scenes (everything in game is working, for example plants are swinging)

- Hi Level of details

- Detailed character models

- Breakable light sources

- Character shadowing

- Detail mapping

- Water, Flares etc.

- Particle systems

- Multi-pass Rendering

- Pixel and Vertex shaders

- Monsters with realistic fur

- Realistic damage system

- Possibility to shoot off body parts and equipment of a character

- Possibility to shoot through wooden items

- In-house developed physics engine that allows players to pick up items and use them as a shield from enemy bullets and hits

- Possibility to throw items and damage enemies.

- EAX 4.0 support

- Software mixing

 

How many enemies will there be?  And what kind of AI will they have?

 

We wouldn’t like to reveal all secrets and tell the exact amount and characteristics of enemies , but we can say that the player will encounter humans, ModBeasts – enemies with implanted weapons and low intellect, HumAnimals – humanlike creatures that copy human behavior and use tactics elements, OverBrutes – creatures with highly developed intellect programmed to solve various military tasks. Every kind of creature will act according to their intellect level, adequately reacting on different situations.

 

What kinds of weapons will there be and how many?

 

There are about 25 types of weapons in the game. Among those are knives, pistols, automatic weapons, grenade launchers, plasma guns, grenades, and many others.

 

 

Will Vivisector have any kind of multiplayer to it?  If so, what kinds of modes of play will there be?

 

The final version will not contain multiplayer mode. Vivisector is a story-driven game, so we decided it to include only single player in the release version.

 

What games were of inspiration during development?

 

During the development process we tried not to take any of the games as a source of inspiration. We may say that the main were the books by Herbert Wells and especially The Island of Dr. Moreau.

 

Will there be a demo?

 

Yes, we are planning to release a demo in April 2005.

 

 

When do you expect Vivisector to be completed?

 

The game is scheduled for a Q2 2005 release. Currently we are balancing some weapons, testing the game itself and doing debugging at the same time.

 

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

 

We wish all your readers a lot of really good games this year. We hope that Vivisector: Beast Inside won’t disappoint you. We’ve developed the game that satisfies us as players, that became more than a game for us. This game is like a book where we enciphered a kind of message for every player. Whether he or she receives this message depends only on the player. See you in Q2 2005!

 

 

Interview by Alex Hammond