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Exclusive Chaser Feature Feature
Stephen Leyton
05/03/2003
We chat with the developers behind Chaser, a new first-person-shooter published by JoWooD.
Chaser is a First Person Shooter (FPS), which has been in development for nearly two years with the end now in sight, for Slovakian based developer Cauldron - which has 17 people working full-time on the project. An excellent mix of experience gained from their previous titles, which includes â“ Spellcross and Battle Isle: The Andosia War, with their speciality on action and strategy games should ensure Chaser is more than your average FPS. Derek dela Fuente spoke with the team to find out what exciting features the game will present in what seems to be a year of potential big shooters.
What makes a good shooter? Is it the presentation, the AI, the main character, or even the enemy? Is it how fast and eventful the action is or even the precise accuracy of the shooting on offer or could it even be the weapons? You could easily spend hours on this debate but the fact is FPSâs need all these ingredients plus a little bit of special ambience and the âunknown X factorâ.
It does appear that Chaser has the aforementioned qualities in abundance, as was highlighted by a team member. âChaser offers mixed action scenes, effective situations, high level AI of enemies and reversals in the story.â It also offers its own unique qualities including, for PC owners, keeping abreast in the technology race, which the team are on top of. âThe team has been working hard since early 2001 and we believe we are creating a supreme FPS game! Weâve successfully kept the game at the forefront of technology by implementing a huge range of features into the game but weâll reveal more about these at a later date.â
âFrom the very start of development, our goal has been to create a game with a movie-style setting and environment. As a result, the story is continuous from beginning to end with a wide range of stunning movie effects, like black and white flashbacks, cut scenes and impressive set pieces. The gripping plot is going to keep you locked into the action and eager to find out what happens in the end. However, what sets Chaser apart from the rest is the whole experience of playing it. Itâs a hugely entertaining experience and weâve spent time on ensuring the graphics and gameplay will complement the efforts we have put into our interactive movie style game.â
Chaser is set in the year 2044 and you take on the role of Chaser on a journey full of incredible action. At the beginning of the game, Chaser wakes up suffering from amnesia on board the spaceship HMS Majestic and is being pursued by a crack team of heavily armed shocktroop soldiers. You are taken into an apocalyptic future set on Earth and Mars and have to find out what has happened.
Pulling in and engrossing the gamer in the plot is an important consideration for Cauldron. A vast array of unique environments to discover and explore will effectively give the player empathy â“ willing them on to want to see more. The style of the game also changes, as the player progresses through the storyline, so donât expect a gung ho shooter but one with well moderated pace and forethought which has been cleverly devised to grab the attention of the player at the very start of the game. âThe opening sequences will see the enemy hunting John Chaser (the main character) so you will need to escape and shoot your way to safety. Gradually the situation changes, as you become a fugitive and forced by the local mafia to undertake a host of dangerous operations. But as time passes, Chaser slowly gains the upper hand and turns the tables on his pursuers.â
Chaser is not divided into missions but is one big story with lots of action, events and tasks which include the player having to escape from a falling space ship, saving a person, intercepting a secret meeting, stealing special items from a factory, plus a lot lot more. âThe environments we have created in the game are as real as they can possibly be, and as a result the enemies you encounter within Chaser are the logical inhabitants of those environments. So your enemies will include commandos, gang members, mafia assassins, soldiers, etc. The main problem you will have is staying alive. You will need to stay alert as everyone will be out to get you and ultimately will have to use a wide variety of tactics appropriate to every situation you face.â
As in real life, every single enemy within Chaser will be able to use several senses to hunt you down. It is also important you hit major organs as shots to the legs and arms will still allow enemies to continue firing at you as they lay injured. âWe have implemented a large number of detection points to make the game as realistic as possible, including head and neck, the chest, the legs, arms and fingers.â
The enemy can see you if you come within their line of sight and they can also see that you have killed some of their comrades. They can hear you and other enemiesâ gunshots. They will detect your footsteps as you explore so youâll need to sneak around if you wants to remain undetected. Of course, running produces louder steps than walking or crouching. Such is the advanced AI within Chaser, enemies will adapt to the room they are in at any given time. They will find good defensive positions, like corners or crates, and use them as cover for their attacks on you.
Cut-scenes have been integrated extremely cleverly within Chaser and will gradually reveal more about your past and your future tasks.
The team is incredibly proud of their CloakNT engine that has been custom-built for the creation of Chaser. They believe it is one of the most advanced engines available at the moment. This simple fact alone will allow Chaser to perform things that you simply wonât find in other games. It allows for very detailed scenes and characters and along with the advance system for animations results in fluent character motions. Characters have interesting facial expressions so they can smile, frown, etc., which add to the general authenticity of play. Also to be spotted by the eagle eyed is the use of curved surfaces, which add and convey excellent level detail. The particle system gives the game that extra gloss, with great looking explosions and effects.
Chaser is pure unabated, well implemented, action with a reasonable use of tactics. There are parts of the game where using your intellect, as opposed to your weapons, will reap rewards, so you will need to progress â“ sneaking around to grab some vital information.
With real environments â“ the gameâs design is very close to the current world - there are no alien worlds, no hyper-futuristic worlds. Players will recognise architecture and objects, which give a great âfeel goodâ factor. A number of FPSs throw up some real anomalies that spoil not only the challenge but the feasibility of the whole world. With an agreeable variety of weapons from pistols, riffles, shotguns, machine guns, grenades, up to grenade launchers and explosives, a commendable, balanced, and well thought out concept is conveyed. As the player progresses through the story, he will find and use more and more powerful weapons but you must never forget that staying alive is the prime objective.
Cauldron in their own words summed up what is on offer: âChaser is a cutting-edge, all-out action game with an engrossing storyline that will captivate you from the very first moment to the last, making you want to come back and immerse yourself in the whole experience again and again.â
