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F.E.A.R. Extraction Point - Tim Hall Feature
Jon Wilcox
30/10/2006
TVG chats to the Producer of Extraction Point, expansion pack to the 2005 supernatural FPS...
Having unnerved us in 2005 with the release of F.E.A.R., Sierra Entertainment appointed developers Timegate Studios to produce an expansion pack that continued the storyline of Alma and the F.E.A.R team. Entitled 'Extraction Point', the pack has just been released for PC; TVG recently caught up with Tim Hall, Producer of F.E.A.R. Extraction Point for Sierra.
TVG: Would it be fair to say that the development team have been influenced by the west/east shift of influence within the horror genre? And can we expect more of the Japanese-styled psychological shocks form Extraction Point?
I think that's a fair statement and since Extraction Point picks up right where F.E.A.R. ends there will be some more shocks from Alma heading your way.
TVG: How have you had to alter the elements of suspense within the sequel? Surely, the challenge of presenting new moments of unease to potentially desensitised fans is a tough one...
In the original you really are trying to figure out what is going on and unravel the mystery of Armacham. In Extraction Point you already know what's going on and worse is that you are now stuck in the middle of it trying to escape. This provided us with a lot more uncomfortable moment opportunities as you are going to be running for your life the entire time.
TVG: And what about the narrative? Can we expect more revelations, and have you had to balance this with the notion of continuing the plotline for future instalments in the franchise?
There are a few revelations that I'm not going to discuss, but we always take the storyline into consideration and we aren't ready to close the book on FEAR just yet.
TVG: There's been a lot of talk on the forums about the two enemy factions in the game fighting against each other as well as the player. Has it been difficult to marry conflicting AI routines for this?
No not really - it's true that since Alma has been unleashed that there is a greater paranormal presence in the game now. Let's just say that the world has become a lot more dangerous for everything in it.
TVG: There's also been talk of new Armacham units being present within the expansion. Can you give us a brief overview of some of these please?
Yes. We have some new units both on the Armacham side and on the paranormal side. As far as the Armacham units go we have some very well armoured heavies - you didn't think you were just going to find the mini-gun lying on the floor did you? In addition to this, you will see a more distinctive squad definition from them in Extraction Point.
TVG: With the original game, the spectral entities - while prevalent in the nightmare scenes - were a bit thin of the ground as far as enemies were concerned. Is this still the case with Extraction Point?
No - if you've played the Extraction Point demo you will have already run into the Shadow Creatures which are sort of like poltergeists only a lot more dangerous. We had a lot of fun adding in more of a supernatural threat with this game and we're looking forward to feedback from the community on it.
TVG: The Chaingun looks awesome and is completely devastating. How have you had to balance its power within Extraction Point?
The point of balance for the weapon has to be its ammo. We wanted it to be a great big gun that did huge amounts of damage to anyone or anything in its path, but with that comes considerations of ammo placement versus the depletion of the fun factor. That said, as a bit of a hint, you do get to hold onto it and fully load it up for a certain encounter in the game. As the game progresses, and the enemies get tougher, the minigun really comes into its own.
TVG: Also, the introduction of supply crates... How have you positioned these throughout levels, and will there still be instances of repeated play and searching for much needed resources?
The crates tie in with the new story line so I'm not going to go into too much detail regarding them but you can get essential items out of them. We still have supplies around in the same manner as FEAR so the crates are really just an added layer that produces some bonus pickups.
TVG: Can you give us an example of where the laser carbine might be used? And how are you balancing such a long range weapon against the Replica's AI - there's nothing duller than snipping enemies who don't try to evade...?
Sure. The laser comes into play in several places but it's not like a sniper rifle. Let's just say that the laser is good at 'severing'. Sniping with it wouldn't get you the results you are looking for. With that in mind, picture yourself in a smaller room severing limbs surrounded by meaty clouds of blood and you'll have a better picture of the potential fun factor that comes with it.
TVG: From what we've seen of the game, the hinging on the enemy models seems a whole lot more realistic. Are the days of flailing ragdolls gone for good?
If you look at the ragdoll in the original FEAR you won't see much flailing rag doll. The FEAR models do react in a very realistic manner when hit and we've certainly continued that with Extraction Point as it's a huge feature of the game.
We want the player to have that visceral sense of seeing everything in complete chaos playing out. So when a player throws a grenade, hits slo-mo, then shoots it in mid air thus blowing a grunt through a big window into the next room while his arm flies off down the hallway, it's a scene that has to play out in a realistic looking way. If we keep this level of realism locked down, it'll encourage the player to do these cool manoeuvres again and again.
TVG: This is a bit of a departure stylistically as far as Timegate are concerned. How has the transition from strategy title experience to FPS coding been?
Timegate has been great with this being their first FPS. I think it's also very
important to note that Timegate made some great games before FEAR and having the ability to make a great game is a huge obstacle that they didn't have to get around. Team FEAR here at Sierra also has a great deal of FPS history with most of us working on titles such as No One Lives Forever I and II, Aliens Vs Predator and so on. So combined we've made a really solid team.
TVG: We've heard that Extraction Point will offer between six and eight hours of gameplay. How do you gauge what is and isn't acceptable as far as playtime's concerned for an expansion pack?
We really wanted the expansion pack to act as a continuation of the story and more of a continuation than the typical "explore the new section for four hours and hope you find the one new gun" type of approach. The story elements that we wanted to portray, and the picture that wanted the player to get of this world, would have been really hard to convey over a short period of time.
We also have all of these new environments to show off and we wanted the people out there who liked FEAR - but who wanted more, diverse environments - to have fun in some new and much larger places and to try some ranged combat in addition to the closed quarters combat that FEAR does so well.
TVG: We're reckoning that if Alma ever had a school report card, she'd get an F in domestic science. Any ideas how she might have fared in the other subjects?
Well art would be an A for sure in a Jackson Pollock kind of way. I'm not sure if telekinesis counts as a science or not - let's give her a B just to be on the safe side.
Our thanks to Tim Hall for taking the time to answer our questions, and to Johnny Bryant at Vivendi Games. F.E.A.R. Extraction Point is available now for PC.
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