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Deus Ex 2: The Invisible War Interview Feature
Stephen Leyton
14/02/2003
TVG had the opportunity to speak with the Ion Storm team, which included opinions and comments from the main man Warren Spector.
Ion Storm is one of the most respected US development teams and if you care to search the Internet you will find more comments, forums, even university analysis of Deus Ex than any other PC title. Yes, it has almost become a cult title. TVG had the opportunity to speak with the Ion Storm team, which included opinions and comments from the main man Warren Spector. In this first look we got the feel and the ethos of the game in the making.
Already there has been much speculation about this sequel that blends action with adventuring, as well as RPG character creation. A team of 20 plus based in Austin USA has the mammoth task of creating a title that must live up to high expectations.
Warrren Spector: "The core design team is back, but we have all new programming and art teams. The folks we hired are very, very good but, even better, working on the multiplayer version of DX and the Game of the Year edition (to say nothing of the PS2 version) gave them the solid understanding of the Deus Ex universe and game play to do the job we need them to do. The DX2 team is rock solid."
One of the first tasks, as you would expect, was for the team to look at Deus Ex and find any glaring inadequacies - and by the comments made it appears there were a few, but development teams do tend to be overly critical. With improvements targeted towards better AI, stronger game play, refined physics, more detailed graphics, etc. you would easily believe the original title was not up to much. Considering it is viewed as one of the best titles of the year, some say decade, it is frightening what the sequel could present. It was interesting to start the interview off by getting the feedback from the team as to what makes the Deus Ex branding so good and are they worried about the expectations from them?
âThe sequel will build upon the innovation and immersion of the first title and we're expecting even better things of it. Ion is using the bleeding edge Unreal technology with some radical code enhancements. We believe one of the reasons the first one was so successful was that it made people think about what was going on around them and what could happen in the near future.â
If drop dead gorgeous graphics are the order of the day then you will not be disappointed. The technology behind the game and the teamâs expertise ensure that. Licensing the Havok engine will give the games AI and physics a feel and believability far beyond most peopleâs expectations and the comment that this is the starting point to work from means that the team is craving to push things on even further!
Andy O'Dowd, a key member of the team, elaborated on some key points. âIon is trying to innovate to an even greater degree in terms of AI. For example, let's say your character enters a room and leaves the light on and then hears a guard coming so he hides. If you don't turn the light out the guard will notice this and realise something is wrong and will search the room. Another example is that NPCs will react to the style in which you have played the game. If you've been going around wasting everyone, people will be less likely to talk to you. Although the graphics and effects are very important, Ion has a very well-crafted story to tell and all their energies are focussed on getting the player immersed in this story."
âTo add, there are definite advantages to using commercial engines. You don't have to re-invent the wheel for every specific task you're trying to achieve but you also have the fallback to say, for example 'The way they handle the lighting doesn't suit our game so we'll write our own code for our own purposes'. Both the Unreal and Havok engines offer out of the box functionality and flexibility to do your own thing. I think that's what appeals to developers. They can just get on with telling a great story and crafting a unique game play experience.â
Before we got too ahead of ourselves Andy gave a brief overview of the original games storyline followed by the new creation. "In Deus Ex the player uncovered a massive global conspiracy to bring about an apocalyptic New World Order by spreading disease, social unrest and international conflict and it was up to the player to fight for or against the conspiracy. In Deus Ex 2: The Invisible War the story takes
place 15-20 years later and the events of the first one have led to the collapse of society in general with no one faction in control. In this chaotic recovery, several religious and political factions see an opportunity to re-shape a worldwide government to their agendas, understanding that the right moves now could determine the shape of human society for decades - even centuries - to come. Amidst the debris, the player Alex D. emerges in search of the identities of true players behind the power struggles and the source of his own mysterious origins. In a techno-nightmare of the fragile revival or ultimate decimation of human civilization, you take part in a dark dramatic struggle to raise the world from its own ashes. It all boils down to the fact that the player must find out the truth of who they are and their purpose in the world. I can't say much about the story at the moment as I don't want to steal Ion's thunder but what I can say is your character is something of an evolution from the characters in DX1."
Warren Spector interjected at this point. âRight before E3, word got out about the fact that you play 'Alex D' so we just went public with it. Players of the first game who paid close attention in Area 51 will have some ideas about who Alex D is and how he (or she, this time!) is connected to JC and Paul (both of whom play major roles in Deus Ex 2)."
The environments, locales, and settings are also inspired from DX1 but will be diverse and interesting with lots of unexpected surprises, spanning the whole world! The attention to detail to convey realism will be unsurpassed and you could roll off a long list of superlatives to highlight this point, but I am sure you get the drift!
Andy: "The way locations are handled will give the player a different experience. An example of this is the way light and shadow are used. In DX2 you can hide in the shadows effectively. Some of the new levels are set in such varied places as Antarctica, Egypt, Germany and Seattle. Part of the attraction of DX1 was the basis in reality and the real world locations. Weather will also be a factor in these levels."
Trying to add a sense of being there, even adding some kind of emotion to a game has been much talked of but many believe this can't be done in a game. Andy and Warren commented.
Andy: "No, developers, such as Ion Storm, will always find a way to surpass what has gone before. Saying we've reached a limit is like saying we may as well not make any more films as everything has been done already."
Warren: âThere's no telling if DX2 will touch players' emotions the way a great book or movie can but we're certainly going to try. We've always been about more than an adrenaline rush and that's not going to change any time soon."
Mixing game genres may confuse but the player will still have to think about the direction they want to grow their character and like the first one it won't be intrusive or slow the game's pace down one bit. It's up to the player to decide how much time they want to devote to enhancing the character. A full world with interactive objectives within a plausible setting, where you can move and grow at your own pace is on offer! Sound and dialogue will help and assist in your tasks and characters will have facial expression to add even more authenticity. NPCs have an added dimension and will be able to expand and inform about the current situation when you meet them. Just a little comparison, there are three times as many dialogue lines in this as compared to the original that was itself cram packed! Continuing on, the levels in the game may not be as large but there will now be multiple routes through them making them more involved!
Playing either a male of female (Alex B) could be a clever angle for Eidosâ marketing campaign to try and capture some of the Lara Croft audience but Ion were eager to put the record straight.
Andy: "No, it wasn't some cynical 'How can we sell more copies' decision. It was a decision based upon the fact that more and more women are playing games and we feel they should be fairly represented. Plus it seems only natural to allow a player to decide their in-game gender. Not all great stories or films have males as the main character."
Warren: âEven beyond the totally valid points about playing a female character, it's worth pointing out that Deus Ex (and Thief even more) attracts a surprisingly high number of female players. We want them to be able to select an avatar that reflects who they are. But, really, the bottom line on gender selection is this: DX is all about deciding how you want to interact with the world and making choices that really affect how the world responds to you -- how could we NOT allow players to make the critical choice to play a man or a woman in the game and accomplish our stated goal?..."
A great deal of time and effort is taken when creating the pivotal cast and something that Ion has worked on for a long time. They want to offer ways of upgrading your character but not to such a degree that play becomes unbalanced. The old favourites are in there as well as a few choice new additions such as the Leech Drone and the Skull Gun. The skill system is gone in DX2 as it was felt this could be better represented by the use of augs. There is also a 'black market' for augs in DX2 so the player can go to a far darker place when developing their character. All that would be conveyed on the baddies/enemies in the game at this point were that they were 'very clever and very mean'.
Deus Ex2 has got so much to offer in detail, content, originality and game play we could only skirt around them but we shall be back in a few months to get a meaty update but left with a one liner from the team on the experience on offer 'The first game was concerned with the end of the world...this time it's about the beginning of a new one.'
More in-depth info soon!
