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Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Q&A Feature
Chris Leyton
11/10/2005
TVG chats with the senior coordinator behind the Ghosts impressive return...
Recently pushed back into 2006, a new Tom Clancy experience is on offer. With once again, new features, innovative technology, the setting of Mexico completes what looks like another class release, as we soon found out as Derek dela Fuente spoke with Adrian J Fernandez-Lacey, Senior Coordinator on Tom Clancyâs Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
Please introduce yourself to our readers.
My Name is Adrian J Fernandez-Lacey and I am Senior Coordinator for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW). I coordinate the assets and visuals between the studios and our marketing departments and make sure that the consumer sees the best of what we have to offer.
When it came to producing GRAW, what feedback from Ghost Recon 2 did you take into consideration or does GR3 represent a new direction for the series; looking back over the whole series what would you say is the core essence of the GR brand?
The core essence of the GR brand has always been to create a strong, believable and realistic tactical military shooter. We have a number of key advisors involved in the development process ensuring we get as close to real weapons, tactics and environments to give the player a truly immersive experience. When starting GRAW we were not looking to take a completely new direction, but obviously as we were taking the brand to the next generation consoles, we were looking to add a new dimension to the gameplay experience. In GR2 we went from FPS to the OTS view, this has been maintained for GRAW. We have also added new moves such as the climb over walls and objects, and the cover mode, which allows the player to move against walls and peak around corners, giving the player an added sense of stealth. The most significant change is the Cross Com device, which allows the player to control unmanned Air Support Drones as well as near, mid and far support troops. The multiple window displays provided by the Cross Com allows the player to see what his troops see in real-time which adds a new experience for the player.
Is there any particular reason the game is set in Mexico; what does it offer in terms of fresh gameplay elements or ambience and how much research and detailed designing will ensure it looks like the real thing?
Being half Mexican I was happy with Mexico City as a setting, but it was actually chosen as it is the 3rd largest city in the world. Basically the diverse environments within the city itself, from modern day Mexico with Sky scrapers and office buildings, to old Mexico, with Villa style houses and right next door Shanty Towns and Pyramids allows the player to progress through one City but with a huge variety of situations.
A small team actually went through Mexico City taking hours and hours of film footage and thousands of photos trying to determine key areas where missions could take place. This was all done to achieve as much realism as possible and to ensure that the player really felt that they were in the third largest city in the world.
GRAW has become a signature title for the Xbox 360; what do you feel are the gameâs most significant visual tricks?
Personally I think the use of Post rendering FX and High Dynamic Range will give the player a new sense of realism and effectively a more immersive feel of the battlefield. With these visual treatments, you really feel the heat of the Mexican sun, and the intensity of the urban battlefield.
â To clarify for the X360 development, GRAW will have no limits as a result of the old gen consoles as the engine is built from the ground up.â
Could you please explain the full functions of the cross-cam system to our readers?
The âCross-Comâ communication device is the biggest new feature for the Ghosts. This device is powered by satellite technology and gives the Ghosts full visibility and command of the battlefield. It will increase the playerâs vision of the battlefield in various ways: the player will be able to control unmanned drones and see further and behind buildings via the âCross Comâ window, also he will be able to communicate with other allied forces and control Apache air strikes. This is based on real military technology and increases the soldiersâ âsituational awarenessâ on the battlefield.
The game is across all formats including the Xbox 360. What will be the differences beyond the obvious visual enhancements; is the Xbox 360 version based on entirely new technology or are their restrictions imposed by the current-gen versions â“ to conclude please tell us a little about how youâve managed to make GR3 look so impressive?
To clarify for the X360 development, GRAW will have no limits as a result of the old gen consoles as the engine is built from the ground up. All assets are created especially for the next gen platforms. This translates into larger textures, more shaders and more animation blendings for starters!
But we do not just have more power visually we are very focused on immersive and gameplay improvements that the next generation develops allow us to achieve, such as sound, physics, AI and so on. Effectively we now have 6 âvirtualâ processors and we use two of them for the visual content of the game. That leaves us 4 to do a whole lot of very cool stuff.
You work closely with the military to ensure the weapons are accurately modelled and authentic! Can you tell us more about the technologies that make up the Integrated Warfighter System?
Through the Future Force Warrior program, the U.S. Military has completely re-imagined the way we look at our combat forces. By thinking of the individual soldier as a system, and leveraging advanced technologies to improve that system, we can create a fighting force that, man by man, is more responsive, more durable and more lethal than any existing force. You as the player will now have the opportunity to take control of the most advanced military technology in unique on and offline battle situations pushing your gameplay experience to new heights.
Ubisoft developers have built a parallel system in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, which weâre calling our Integrated Warfighter System.
First, all of the IWS components are extremely lightweight, watertight, flexible, and comfortable. Moulded closely to the soldierâs form for optimum mobility and responsiveness, this armour can easily withstand fragmentation from 9mm weapons.
Itâs covered in head-to-toe MULTICAM⢠camouflage, an advanced pattern that takes advantage of the way the human mind perceives shape, volume and colour to make the wearer nearly invisible in all environments, even under infrared night vision.
The new Cross Com system is driven by satellite technology and gives the soldier unparalleled awareness and command of the battlefield. This system links to a helmet-mounted digital camera and conducts real-time images to the monocular face shield, enhancing situational awareness. The cutting edge technology of the Cross Com also allows squads to talk wirelessly during missions and even share data with support vehicles and aircraft.
Can you talk a little about what role physics takes within GRAW; is the game entirely based on real-time forces or is it a mixture of scripted events?
Basically the majority of things are calculated in real-time, for example when there is an explosion of a Gas Station or a vehicle, the debris is calculated in real-time. Whatâs interesting is that in GRAW the particleFX now interact with the environment.
What can we expect from the multiplayer stakes; particularly on Xbox Live for the 360, as well as PC and will there be any additions to the current-gen offerings?
The multiplayer offering on Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter Fighter is huge. While we can't give away too many details right now, players will be getting a fully customizable Game Mode system, totally unique Cooperative Campaign, and the ability to create their own Character Identity!
Finally, is it difficult to bridge a generation change with one brand; how big is the make-up behind the game, could you talk a little about the structure in place regarding the teams developing GRAW?
There are always new challenges when going from present generation consoles to next gen, but many of our teams have already experienced this several times. With Xbox 360, our teams are substantial as we use specialists for every part of the mix of core development, such as artists, animators, etc, therefore allowing us to maximise every aspect of the hardwareâs capabilities. The teams are naturally bigger as we are dedicated to providing a high quality product that is bespoke for the next gen consoles and most importantly giving innovative gameplay and features to next generation gamers.
TVG would like to thank with Adrian J Fernandez-Lacey for taking the time to answer our questions; weâll have further coverage on Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter soonâ¦
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Date Added:Mon 29th Jan 2007 13:42
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Date Added:Mon 27th Nov 2006 23:46
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Date Added:Tue 17th Oct 2006 12:11