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Universal Combat: A World Apart Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
21/02/2005
TVG talks to UC developers 3000AD about their forthcoming title...
Universal Combat: A World Apart is the second title in the Universal Combat series and gives hardcore fans an enhanced āBattlecruiserā experience, keeping the flavour of combat, but utilizing newer technologies. Derek dela Fuente spoke with Derek Smart from 3000AD.
Please tell us about 3000 AD the dev team behind the game, what your core expertise is and what you have worked on before?
Thereās not much to tell really that isnāt already in the public domain. I started out as a lone wolf developer back in 1989 working on an idea for a game Iād like to play. A few years later in 1992, I formed the company 3000AD Inc and continued focusing most of my time on the development of that game. A few years later, after I literally hit the big time, I hired a bunch of friends of mine with expertise in various areas, to join me on part-time contracts.
We shipped the first game, Battlecruiser 3000AD, in 1996. We then continued working on the second game and at the same time I went about growing the team with other contractors in order to spread out the work flow and remain competitive in specific areas. Today, we have shipped five games (with an upcoming sixth) and 3000AD Inc has fourteen contractors working across three teams on our current and upcoming games.
I personally donāt have a core development related expertise really; because Iām the quintessential Jack of all trades. Over the years however, I have contracted out various development aspects such as graphics, sound, multiplayer, etc. to others who can focus specifically on those aspects, while I remain the primary hub and remain focused on design, core programming, AI. For example, having someone develop a new rendering path doesnāt make a game. Someone still has to incorporate that code into the game, handle its testing, and integration. That person would be me because I want to ensure weāre providing the best gaming experience possible for each title. Similarly, when content providers (artists, modellers, sound engineers, etc.) submit assets based on my specifications, I am the one who gets to sign off on them, incorporate them into the game, tweak them, etc. In short, as the designer, lead programmer, and producer Iām dedicated to ensuring the finished product provides the gamer with the best possible gaming experience.
Is Universal a data disc or fully runable game and what would be your mission statement and goals for this game?
We intend to ship two versions of Universal Combat ā“ A World Apart. The boxed retail version will be a full stand-alone game; while the download-only version will work as an add-on for the existing Universal Combat game. We currently do not have any plans to ship a boxed version of the add-on.
Our goal is to advance this game in much the same way we advanced all our previous games, which have kept our fans loyal to our work over the years.
Reading through your comments it appears you are very much focused on technology issues. Can you tell us about the 3D engine running the game and the
new rendering engine and any other features gamers should look out for?
While technology is our primary focus this time around, it is only because the technologies used in the previous Universal Combat game, went into development in late 2001, while the game itself was released in early 2004. As such, with all things being progressive and inevitable, it made sense for us to improve the technologies in any way we can, in order to take advantage of current day hardware technologies while providing our fans with an even more enjoyable experience.
Our new and revised 3D graphics engine and technologies remain cutting edge within the limits and scope of my games.
There is only so much that you can do with a game of this size, without going overboard. So, in this regard, the graphics enhancements were specifically selected and designed to address any areas where their use is justified and which significantly improves on the gaming experience itself. For example, the new skeletal animation engine we developed, handles the new high definition character models quite well. We went as far as we needed to and didnāt implement IK in that engine because it didnāt add anything extra to the game.
Also, while the 3D engine supports various forms of bump mapping, we havenāt enabled it, nor commissioned the assets to be created, because given the size of the game world, the massive number of assets we can have in the game world, etc. XX(deleted section conjures negative image of product? Buggy? Why bother spend time, money and resources on it when the advantage is inconsequential? Instead, we opted to use various texture materials and lighting techniques to achieve similar results without the performance hit. Most who have seen UCAWA in action (even the shots), still donāt believe, when I tell them, that there is no bump mapping in the game, none whatsoever.
As far as features go, UCAWA is feature packed providing virtually endless gameplay value. No joke. So, the emphasis on UCAWA is if it aināt broke, weāre not fixing it. There are only so many things you can do to abuse a game series and we see this happen all the time.
Please give us some information about the new single and multiplayer co-op campaigns and what currently you are most pleased with?
Well, they are basically designed to take advantage of the new and revised game engines, as well as to provide gameplay experiences based on capabilities we didnāt have before.
For example, this is the first time a campaign for the pilot career is being created. This campaign had to be carefully designed and scripted in order to make it primarily combat oriented without it being boring and or repetitive; because this career is not exactly the most advanced one in the game. I decided to do this one specifically because several hard core fans and new ones who came on board with UC as their first game, wanted to experience the world from the perspective of a more urgent combat aspect. Especially since our previous campaigns were designed and developed for the high end and all powerful commander career.
Being the second part in the UC series what are the major improvements over the original title and are you happy with the momentum of the game and enough people are well in tune with the building of this brand?
I think I touched on the improvements in a previous question; so Iāll just add that UCAWA maintains the scope and feel of our games and does not stray from what works, is tried and proven. A game sequel doesnāt necessarily have to stray too far from its predecessor because thatās exactly why most sequels ā“ and most game add-ons - fail.
We have a sizeable fan base for our games and while we always welcome larger numbers, its those who keep coming back game after game, that we most care about. For that reason, messing too much with something that works for the hell of it is not part of my goals.
Two mission campaign scenarios: One player as a Terran Insurgent Commander and the other as a Terran Military Elite Force Pilot. Can you tell us how different the game tasks and feel of the game is for each side and the variety on offer for the six missions encountered?
I canāt tell you much without giving it away. The fact that the commander and pilot careers are vastly different in scope and premise, is enough to know that the experience is going to be vastly different as well. There is a big difference between being the commander of a powerful carrier with a massive amount of firepower, crew and fighter complements and being a lowly combat pilot in the cramped cockpit of a fighter that can be destroyed in the blink of an eye with the wrong left turn.
A feature talked about is the brand new high-definition skeletal based first-person character models, with over 2000 new animations. What does the mean in terms of what is on offer? Can you quantify this please?
Our previous character animation engine was morph based. We moved to a skeletal engine for various reasons; some being memory, performance and bones handling.
On the content creation side, the new graphics engine revisions, allowed us to up the ante significantly; in terms of polygon count, texture sizes, etc. While the models are not photorealistic, looking at the models from UC and comparing them to those in UCAWA shows just how far weāve come. The fluidity of the motions is also immediately apparent in the new game.
(Attached are four images taken from both games. Draw your own conclusions.)
UC01- Mobile Infantry Marine
UC02- Elite Force Marine
UCAWA01- Mobile Infantry Marine (foreground)
UCAWA02- Elite Force Marine
Please expand a little please on the new player controlled naval crafts and ground vehicles classes.
In the previous game, there were no player controlled naval assets. However, in this new game you have the option of controlling the three new LCAC naval assets. You will be able to switch to the higher end naval assets and use their guns, etc. but you just canāt drive them around like you can the LCAC assets.
As far as vehicles go, you can still control them and weāve also added two new vehicles. The existing ones from the previous game were also revised in order to allow multi character support and independent handling for those with mounted guns. These are all new technological advancements we have done for this new game.
There are also newly redesigned planetary bases with dozens of new scenery models and assets. Once again can you give a little detail please?
In all our games, given the size of the game, world the planetary bases were sparsely populated when you take their size into consideration. This time around, while the sizes remain relatively the same, the added power of the new engines, allows us to create all new assets (while revising some new ones) for populating the various bases so that they donāt look as barren or uninhabited as in the previous game. The idea is to make them a bit more interesting without going overboard and impacting performance at unreasonable levels.
We also created new textures for some areas of the terrain and vegetation, which the graphics engine revisions have helped to make look better than the previous game.
Sum up what you hope the UC experience will offer.
The same type of exhilarating gameplay experience our fans have come to expect and enjoy in our games over the years. Weāre not re-inventing the wheel, nor catering to the lowest common denominator. You either like our games or you donāt. There is simply, no middle ground; and if you already like our games, then you already know what to expect from this new addition.
Thank You
