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Freedom Force vs The Third Reich - Developer Diary #2 Feature
Derek dela Fuente
11/02/2005
TVG chats to Ken Levine about the technology and design behind the eagerly awaited sequel…
Freedom Force Vs The Third Reich is already receiving much media acclaim and with its stylish graphics and the proven track record of the development team assures this is going to be a game that will strike a chord with gamers wanting something slightly different.
In the second part of our consecutive Developer Diaries with Irrational Games, we spoke to Ken Levine â“ General Manager and Creative Director - about the technology behind the game and the creative way the team works.
TVG: What improvements in terms of the technical features and spec will the game offer over the original Freedom Forces and what is the min spec?
Weâve really gone nuts with new graphical features and effects. The biggest change, in my opinion, has to be the dynamic lights. The game looked pretty hot before we implemented this feature, but once we saw a level with all the new lighting features, there was no going back. Not only do they look better, but it adds a whole new gameplay twist as well. I was running around a dimly lit Patriot City the other day, when I picked up a car to hurl it at a Kill-a-Rilla. It occurred to me that I was carrying around a two thousand pound flashlight since it still had its headlights on. I tossed it across the street, it hit a lamppost, blew up and knocked over a building. You can imagine what that did to the lighting.
TVG: Does the visual presentation of the game, bright and stylised, present any problems or special needs, in terms in making sure it looks polished and plausible? Do you feel the style adds greatly to the games ethos?
It can be both a big help and a hindrance. On one hand, you have a bible of sorts to go back to. If any of the artists is ever unsure of what direction they should take an object or level, they can refer to the original game or the era of comics that inspired the game. Reference material is vital.
Conversely, there are times when we find ourselves going down what we think is a really cool direction. Sometimes, we have to take a step back and realise that something is probably a little too dark for the game. You have to be very careful when youâve created a very specific tone. If you donât tread carefully and craft every object and character to fit the mood, you run the risk of destroying the universe you spent so much effort creating.
TVG: Please can you tell the readers how technology focused is the team and also a little about the 3D engine (Gamebryo) you are using?
Starting a sequel with a brand new engine can be pretty dangerous. All of a sudden youâre given all these new tools to go nuts with. Itâs vital to find a reasonable place to draw a line in the sand. Thankfully, Gamebryo has allowed us to go a lot further before we had to start worrying about limitations. As I said before, I feel the dynamic lights are huge. When you add in the projected shadows, force shadows and vertex colours, all of a sudden the levels have an entirely different dimension to them. Admittedly, the original game could have been richer. With all that we wanted to do with destructible environments, we had to settle for some fairly basic level geometry and lighting. This is no longer the case. If you did a side-by-side comparison of the two games in action, the difference would be clear.
TVG: Can you tell us a little about the destructible environments, perhaps let us know about a few new ideas the team is working on?
Now that we have considerably more flexibility with the new engine, we can concentrate on not only the sheer number of interactive objects in a level, but also on making those objects much more interesting. For example, one of our levels is set in Berlin. There are all sorts of festive stores around the level that have really cool signs. Should you just so happen to destroy one of them, you can then pick up the pieces and hurl them. One of my favourites is the butcherâs shop. Itâs got a giant pigâs head and butcherâs knife. You can pick those items up and toss either of them. You never know what youâll be using as a weapon in FFv3R.
TVG: The superpowers of the cast are central so how do you go about creating them?
In general, thereâs no real set process we follow. Probably the most common one is that design will take a look at one of the new characters that Robb is concepting. Theyâll often ask me for a little piece of their original story and perhaps the focus of their powers. From there, they try to come up with powers that fit the characterâs tone. Some powers are almost no-brainers. Take Tombstoneâs âPossessionâ, for example. I mean, how can you create a character from beyond the grave and not give him the ability to jump into an ememyâs body?
TVG: How much does the team do âon the flyâ in terms of adding new bits or have you got most of the concept and development done?
Weâre well beyond the concept phase. At this point, we wonât really be adding any new features. Weâve recently been doing a whole lot of focus testing. If anything major ever came up, weâd be willing to make some tweaks. That said, our primary focus right now is bug fixing and polish, polish, polish.
TVG: Will you tell our readers about the kind of progression the game offers and how you upgrade each character?
Like the original, Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich is all about Prestige. The more heroically you save the day, the more Prestige points youâll receive. You can then use these points to upgrade your powers and heroes. You can even use them to recruit new heroes.
TVG: How much continuity will gamers see from the first game in terms of characters, powers, game structure, ideas? How do you see the game in terms of progression?
While youâll certainly see quite a bit of reference from the original, 'noobs' wonât feel left out. There may be a few inside jokes, but weâre not going to alienate anyone who never played the original. There are definitely some storylines and themes that were introduced in Freedom Force that will be revisited and expanded upon. Weâll be doing it in a way that clues new players in, but doesnât feel like a complete rehash that panders to them. Weâre doing our best to make both camps happy.
TVG: Can you tell us a little about some of the improvements you have made to the AI and how you test it to ensure it not only gives a challenge, it doesnât work in a stupid way and makes the gamer feel like they need to think and outwit the opponent? How difficult is it to get it right?
Your team will no longer sit back and take a beating if you leave them alone. For FFv3R, we wanted them to be able to hold their own. This led to one of our biggest balancing acts. Finding the sweet spot where they donât need you to babysit them and where you find yourself watching rather than playing was a real challenge. In the process, it jump-started our reworking of the entire power system. We now have four levels of usable powers. In order to keep the team AI from using up all their energy, we created a tier of powers that we refer to as âzero cost powersâ. In other words, theyâre the abilities your team will use that wonât prevent you from being able to use any powers when you begin controlling the character again.
TVG: To excite the readers for Part 3 of the Diary, can you tell us about how many characters the gamer will be able to control and possibly tell us about your fav and his super powers?
Too many. Seriously, there have been a few points in development where weâve wanted to smack ourselves for making so many playable characters. In the end, when you consider how many different approaches to each level there are and the fact that it makes you want to replay missions to continue improving your characters and try new ones, itâs more than worth all the trouble. In total, there will be no less than twenty-three playable characters, with a few nifty surprises thrown in for good measure. When you add to that, the ability to create your own characters, youâre talking about an unprecedented number of playable heroes.
Picking a fav is never easy. Sure, Tombstone is cool and Quetzalcoatl is a great help to the team, but right now Iâm digging Sky King. I get a chuckle playing as him.
TVG: Tell the readers one interesting fact about the game.
You fight lots and lots of Nazis.
With the vast improvements sweeping throughout the game, Freedom Forces vs The Third Reich shows every sign of building upon the success of its predecessor. With a European release penciled in for April 2005, weâll have more in the coming weeks from the team at Irrational Games.
