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Exclusive - Shellshock: Nam'67 Q/A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
22/03/2004
TVG chats with Guerrilla to get the low-down on their latest title inspired by the Vietnam war...
The development team behind the creation of ShellShock: Nam â67 is regarded as one of the premier European teams. There have not been that many Dutch developers of note but Guerrilla appear to have the best expertise in the country, plus complementary skills from other quarters. Much was expected on the announcement of the game and with only 3-4 months to go the game is already looking as accomplished and as detailed as initially hoped.
We spoke with David Bowry (DB), Game Director, and Doug Walker (DW), Lead Designer, to find out what it was like creating a game based around the Vietnam war and what kind of detailed research and creative ideas were undertaken to ensure this was a PC top seller!
TVG: Who came up with the concept for the game and what has inspired the team in terms of the subject matter?
DB: The core concept was developed internally by Guerrilla, along with the support of our publisher Eidos. The original inspiration was to immerse the player into Vietnamâs âtheatre of warâ by surrounding them in an operatic blend of pyrotechnics, roar of jets, blast of bombs, whistles of bullets and screams of mutilation and pain. We looked into how the Vietnam War was fought by the US and wanted to represent this in our gameplay experience. This includes the almost silent insular patrols to the chaotic and confusing all-out firefights.
To compliment our gameplay vision we looked to the truly great Hollywood Vietnam War films such as Platoon, Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket that shocked their audiences depicting the war through the eyes of the GI. We collected together the most powerful and memorable imagery of the war both real and imaginary from news footage, photos and films. This was then edited together creating a short âVietnam Filterâ movie, which we used to set the visual tone for development of the game
TVG: The game is coming on a number of formats so what is your lead machine and how will the team ensure it is not a generic looking game across all the formats?
DB: Since our code base within the company at the time of starting ShellShock was PS2, we used this as a basis to start conception and development of the game. Diversity across platforms is largely something the consoles will actually provide. We are not trying to make unique elements to our games to appease each platform intentionally. We would rather put the effort and attention into the story and experience we are trying to tell and show and let each platform distinguish the game under its own strengths and weaknesses.
Our team at itâs peak on SSN:67â is about 30+ strong, which will cover all versions of ShellShock.
TVG: How important is it for the team to be creative and what do you see as the innovations, be they technical, or the story in Shellshock?
DB: Our 2 biggest objectives in development of ShellShock is finding the right blend of innovation and transparency. We donât just think of new things for the sake of being âinnovativeâ, we want to ensure that our ideas and features are obvious and accessible to our consumers so they can benefit from our ideas and our gameplay experience. For instance, by taking the âHorror of Warâ as inspiration for the game we also looked at ways we could enhance the gameplay from this theme so the disturbing elements are not just things you see or hear, but interact with also.
Innovation in general wasnât easy with development of SSN: 67 as we are basing our game on a real-life event. This obviously gave us a lot of specific direction and content, but it was how we addressed this content in-game that lead us to be innovative with our Camera Set up, the AI and our renderer, which has to draw expansive areas of land populated with the organic foliage, military hardware, friendly GI squads and thousands of enemy units across the game.
TVG: Tell the readers a little about the background story to the game and the tasks for the player in term of their objectives and who you assume?
DB: The game story in a way is superfluous to what we want the player see and do in the game. By taking the player on a Tour of NAM, starting them out as a new recruit and progressing them to Special Forces we are able to release new weapons, mission types and experiences of war as seen by the US soldiers. We do have a game story that works in and around the levels, which can be further explored in the base camp depending on the aspirations of the player. The story is fictitious but is based on real-life events throughout the Vietnam War. (DB)
TVG: As a shooter â“ how much have you gone for pure action and fun as opposed to a balance of realism and simulation? Does it offer plenty of blood and gore transgressing maybe into some sensitive areas?
DB: As I indicated earlier, our original goal was to be innovative and transparent. We never forget we are making a video-game and we want our game to be accessible to most if not all that play them. Our game experience is heavily influenced by the way the US forces moved around and navigated their hostile terrain and engaged their enemy and this is indicative of how the game plays BUT we are not delivering a military combat simulation here.
TVG: What kind of body and environmental injury/deformation is on offer and what kind of âsightingâ options are on offer?
DW: Actors have a wide range of hit reactions defined by the location of the impact and severity of damage inflicted. Hit reactions range from simple blood impacts to full body damage. We also have destructible objects in the level itself from incidental elements such as barrels and chairs to vehicles and buildings.
We are providing three âsightingâ options that the player can select between at will. These are the 3rd person view, an over the shoulder âprecise aimâ mode and a scope mode (depending if you have a scoped weapon). Each âsightingâ option has its advantages and disadvantages but we leave their selection ultimately up to the player.
TVG: Detail one event you are working on or towards in the game that you believe will sum up the essence and excitement of Shellshock: Nam 96.
DW: One would be defending a French Colonial Fort against waves of NVA units but there are many exciting events on offer!
TVG: The one thing that marked this war was the differences in the opposing forces and the nature of this war was different to many others. How do you feel you have coped with creating this setting?
DW: I feel weâve been respectful to the war and the portrayal of Shellshock has come out looking and feeling very authentic. The levels are extremely life like and whilst itâs been a huge development challenge in moulding external environments into gaming arenas we are very happy with the results.
TVG: What kind of subtleties in actions will be on offer and are the environments open to wander around and search through or are you pulled through a series of confrontations on a linear path?
DW: Subtleties come in the form of weapon configuration (basically if you can find it in the battle field you can use it in the battle field) and character stances. This may not sound terrible exciting but we allow the player to position themselves almost anywhere in the environment to use the environment to his or her advantage.
Levels vary from corridors to wide open spaces. We intentionally aimed to create free roaming environments in general with multiple routes and multiple methods of achieving objectives however the main path is always identifiable.
TVG: To finish please paraphrase in one sentence what you hope the game will convey?
DW: Just like âOliver Stoneâ, âFrancis Ford Coppolaâ and âStanley Kubrickâ brought the visual tale of the Vietnam War to life for theatre audiences we hope to deliver a realistic and at times frightening Vietnam War experience to a wide gaming audience.
TVG would like to thank all of those involved with the interview and will bring further coverage on Shellshock: Namâ67 soon
