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Painkiller: Hell Wars Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
23/11/2005
TVG heads to hell and back as we chat to Painkiller: Hell Wars Art Director Andrew Poznanski...
PC gamers will be familiar with the Painkiller brand and shortly XBOX owners will be able to experience the intensity of this FPS shooter. Derek dela Fuente spoke with
Andrew Poznanski, Art Director, at People Can Fly about this emerging brand and the kind of action that will be on offer to excite.
Please give us a few interesting facts about the dev team People Can Fly â“ what the goal(s) for the Painkiller brand has been and what has inspired it?
We, the PCF dev team, are a bunch of crazy/whacky guys who set out to bring back Intense Fun (note the capital letters) to gaming. There was a moment when we have noticed many of the games we play these days make us either yawn or curse and scream bloody hell. We thought to ourselves, have we become so jaded? Or maybe the games are becoming too boring and/or too frustrating these days? We felt we needed to create a game that grabs you by your (well, whatever you have that there is to grab) and takes you for a crazy roller-coaster ride, where everything is exciting, intense and fun. The game is not about simulating complexity of life, on the contrary, it is your Painkiller.
In terms of game ideas and innovation(s), what do you believe the XBOX Painkiller will offer and what have you learnt from creating the game on the PC?
Why fix something that isn't broken? We thought a lot about many ideas to incorporate in PK Xbox, but there is a very fine line between a game that is just right and one that is just too much. It is easy to spoil a nice balance of the game with adding too many ideas into one basket. There are changes here and there to keep the pacing right but it is still the same old Painkiller that so many gamers love. The positive feedback from gamers, the testing team and numerous awards, including FPS of the Year! convinced us to stick to the original formula.
A basic criteria for a successful game is not only getting gameplay right but also to ensure the game offers the âwowâ factor. Tell us about some of the technology behind Hell Wars, specially the 3D Pain engine along with the Havok physics engine. Give us also a few examples of some of the clever tricks you execute with the physics within the game?
I think that the best 'wow' factor a game can provide is one that comes directly from your actions as a gamer. I mean, of course graphics in Painkiller are stunning and often make you simply stop and enjoy the view, but I am most proud of the 'wow' that gamers scream when they see the insanely cool effects of their actions - like shooting rocket at the feet of group of monsters causing them to be blown sky-high hyper-realistically in all directions. Remember Neo fighting dozens of Mr Smiths in Matrix: Revolutions? - it's that cool, or perhaps cooler, because it is you, the player that kicks ass, and you can do it in endless amount of ways. That is the beauty of having a powerful and well incorporated physics engine in a game. I have worked on Painkiller and played it for over three years now and still scream "holy s***, I rule!!!" playing the game, not because it is my game and not because I play it so well, but simply because it is so freaking spectacular to be playing it!
How important is the story to the game once you start playing? Please fill us in briefly of the basic story and the overall objectives for the player?
The story in Painkiller, provides a nice base for players' actions, entertains and surprises with sudden twists and revelations. It is not something that is essential to understanding game and game play, but it explains a lot and gives player motivation, not to mention it gives you a moment to breathe between one intense combat and another. Without spoiling too much plot, you play as Daniel Garner, a guy who along with his fiancé dies in a tragic car accident and wakes up to a mysterious afterlife only to learn that some higher forces plan to use him (and his girl as a bargaining chip) in a war between Heaven and Hell. Of course with that kind of set-up you can imagine where the game goes from there!
The AI within many shooter is usually the make or brake aspect that a number of games fall short on. Tell us how good the AI on offer is and how you balance it to ensure an equal challenge and a progressive one for the player?
Monsters in Painkiller use all of the modern state-of-the-art, ultra-sophisticated artificial mental processes to figure out they want to kill you, and do it, as fast and as well as they can. Yes, I am being sarcastic here - I don't think that sophisticated patterns of behaviour are THE thing that separates good shooters from bad ones. I mean, look at action movies - there are so many great action flicks where hero slashes dozens of dumb baddies in order to get to the "brain" of the evil organization. If all of the enemies were ultra-smart, the movie would be about avoiding elaborate traps and set-ups, instead of a good old fashion fight. Or perhaps the more intelligent baddies would figure out that violence is not the answer and flee? Sorry, mocking the AI in FPS topic again, my point is that Painkiller is not about how smart your enemies are but how incredibly fun it is to fight them. With that being said, there are some pretty sophisticated, BUT COOL behaviours in the game - for example some monsters team up â“ like when you try to shoot them, they just might grab a nearby lesser baddie, snap his neck and use his body as a shield for protection!
A few facts about the enemy cast and perhaps you can highlight one end of level boss encounters to show the kind of challenge and diversity on offer?
We went absolutely crazy with monsters in Painkiller. I think we have set a record for a number of different enemies in FPS game, ever. You certainly won't feel like in some other games where you're fighting same bunch of identical mercenaries, only their camouflage pattern slightly differs. Since Painkiller takes place in a different plane of existence, we could populate the game with any spawns of evil we could think of. And since our (sick) imagination has no (moral) limits, you will encounter sadistic commandos with a characteristic red ball in their mouths, evil witches, undead ninjas, zombies that throw their own body parts and vomit toxic waste in your direction, psycho nuns, possessed mental patients, and many more. Add to that Painkillers' trademark boss monsters - spectacular bastards of truly epic proportions that are capable of not only destroying you but also entire levels and there is enough of fun and diversity in Painkillers' baddies for two or even three games!
20 diverse levels we are told will be on offer. Does the diversity extend to not only the looks and settings of the environments but also the kind of challenges and objectives?
Absolutely, there are levels that are wide open and allow for free dynamic running and shooting while other levels are tight and full of surprises that make you think tactically before turning another corner or opening another door. There are some attractions in levels but nothing that would distract you from main task - blowing the monsters to bits. You won't have to work as a delivery guy for half hour in order to progress in this game...
Shoot now; think later is off putting to many action fans who want a little bit more interest in a game. How would you best describe Painkiller in terms of out and out action and are there a number of eventualities to each action and will a number of tactics to be executed?
How can a true action fan be put off by intense in-your-face action? If you crave action, that's what you'll get in Painkiller. Of course, the smarter you are, the more ways of dealing with baddies you will see - you can corner them in tight areas and finish them with a single rocket, you can use environment to your advantage and lure them into places full of explosives for a spectacular bang, you can opt for close combat or try to snipe them in the safety of a good camping spot.
What kind of weapons and goodies/rewards are there and are all the environments fully detectable/destructible?
The weapon set in Painkiller is something that I am extremely proud of and something that (according to many gamers and journalists) will be remembered years from now. We kept the number of weapons to a reasonable minimum, and each of them is very well executed and suitable for different action. To add something extra we have paired our weapons, so you have always "two-in-one" in your hands, which allows for rapid changes of shooting style and gives an additional bonus of shooting combos, so effectively you'll have a "three-in-one" gear. All of the weapons feel right and pack a heavy punch. You can feel you're kicking some serious ass with those; you won't be shooting some purple-pink blobs and stars in Painkiller. They look great but its how they feel that makes them so cool. You just have to blow a monster to shreds with our powerful shotgun or pin him to the wall/ceiling with a huge wooden stake from a stake gun. Yes, for those who haven't heard of the stake gun (and apparently live on Mars), this is THE coolest of weapons. Don't take my word for it; read the reviews, forum posts, hell, try it for yourself! You shoot out a mighty wooden pole that tears monsters to pieces, makes them back flip like in a freaking circus or just pins their lifeless bodies to whatever you imagine; wall, ceiling or another monster. It's an absolute joy. As for the destructible environment, there is plenty of things you can demolish, but you can't destroy whole levels - they're just too nice to look at. Well, some monster bosses can, but they're insensitive to beauty of the world. Oh, did I mention that the stake gun is cool?
How is injury and killing worked into the game? One hit and you are dead or do creatures etc have a number of detection points?
There is just too much of intense action in Painkiller to care about where specifically you hit your enemy. I mean you will certainly see where you hit him - especially if you pin him to the wall by his hand or head, (damn, that stake gun ownz!) but damage amount does not differ. There are some enemies that carry shields or have only some specific parts of their body vulnerable, but other than that you don't have to worry about area-specific hit points. The damage amount that each weapon carries is different, and all types of monsters differ - sometimes one shot will be enough, sometimes you'll be up for quite a fight.
What kind of skill sets and attributes do you have and can they be built on as you progress?
Once you kill and consume souls of 66 monsters you morph into a demon and for a short period of time you are immune to damage and have a powerful dark power at your disposal. It happens automatically every 66 souls. Apart from that we have a pretty large system of power ups, or as we call it in the game - a Tarot Card Board. With gold that you find during the game you can purchase tarot cards that give you either temporary or permanent new abilities. You can get faster, stronger, more lethal, etc. More new cards can be discovered throughout the game allowing for even more interesting and spectacular upgrading. Painkiller has many secrets and possibilities to discover, that is why despite the game's seeming simplicity, gamers play it for months unlocking, and exploring and still canât get enough of a fix!
TVG would like to thank Andrew Poznanski of People May Fly for taking the time to answer our questions. Painkiller: Hell Wars is currently slated for a March 2006 release on Xbox; weâll have more on the game shortlyâ¦
