Friday, 20 March 2009 13:01

Games Fusion interviews James Schmalz, founder and creative director of Digital Extremes on their forth coming First Person Shooter title, Pariah.

Q. For those who don�t know can you start by telling us a little bit about the storyline of the game and introducing the characters?

A. In Pariah, you play Jack Mason, a military doctor in the year 2520. You are a brilliant doctor, but are currently at a bit of a low point in your career and have been demoted several times. You have been called upon to perform a routine sick prisoner transport on earth. The lowest of the low jobs for Mason. But, of course, things are not as they appear and as you are transporting your prisoner off planet, there is an explosion and your ship goes crashing to earth. You and your prisoner, Karina, survive only to be confronted with new challenges and mysteries as the story unfolds.

Q. Why did you decide to make the main character a doctor? And what benefits will this bring to the player throughout the course of the game?

A. He is a doctor specifically for story reasons. We wanted someone who wasn�t your typical muscle bound hero that we see in every game. We also found it more interesting that a doctor would be placed in a situation such as Jack�s where he must fight and kill for survival.

Q. How much cooperation will there be between DR. Jack Mason and Karina during the game? Can we expect to see them working together as a team?

A. Both Jack and Karina are central to the story and key storytelling elements. They work together in the game in some instances, but for the most part they are storytelling tools.

Q. What will the levels be like in Pariah? And can we expect to see a predominantly indoor game, outdoor game or a good mix between the two?

A. There will be a combination of indoor and outdoor areas. The game takes you from areas of deep dark forest, to full on desert to desert canyons. From a futuristic train to an ominous place called the Anvil. Lots of variety and hopefully environments you have never seen before.

Q. The depth of field blur and water reflection effects, which have been featured in various still images portray some of the most beautiful visuals of the game seen so far. What other visually exciting effects will there be?

A. We are very pleased with many of the technology additions we have made to the engine, both in terms of performance, physics, memory and visuals. We added in the Havok Physics engine to give us great physics. We added in bump mapping on many of the objects in the world, including vehicles and weapons. We have added post effects like bloom and distortion as well as a great deal of performance increases such as a super fast decal system, fast per polygon collision and more. Overall we are really trying to take advantage of the hardware in every way possible.

Q. What weapons will be available in the game? And what special characteristics will they have?

A. We have a wicked new weapon system that affects single player and multiplayer play by allowing the player to customize their weapons and upgrade them as they play. So as you play through the game you can select which weapons you want to upgrade and improve. As they upgrade they gain different features and powers. It�s very cool and makes combat in multiplayer very unique. So we have a core set of traditional weapons such as an assault rifle and a rocket launcher, etc. and then we have some really unique and new weapons.

Q. Can you tell us about the A.I. within the game and how the virtual characters react within the environment?

A. There are a number of aspects that we will not divulge yet but I can say that we want there to be thought and strategy required and for it to not be mindless action. There will be thinking in terms of how to approach your enemies. Going in guns blazing will not always be the best method. Determining the strengths and weaknesses of each of your enemies will be key. Each enemy will be very different, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and when you encounter them in mixed groups they interact in ways that make them even more challenging to destroy. On top of that we have the already great Unreal AI that we have adapted to single player and enhanced, so the enemies are very human acting.

Q. Where did you get your inspiration for developing the futuristic look of the game, including the weapons, vehicles and clothing?

A. From our team! We really focus on a collaborative development process that draws from the abilities of everyone on the team. It can be tricky to coordinate at times, but it�s important to us to have every team member involved and have input.

Q. From my understanding Pariah utilizes the Unreal Championship 2 engine. Does this mean the game will play similar to an Unreal game in terms of feel and movement?

A. We have spent the last year and a half enhancing the Unreal engine, so the list is endless as to what we have done to the engine. We have huge improvements on the performance side of things. Some of the more notable things are bump mapping, post effects, vehicles and a very rich single player AI system, the integration of the Havok physics engine and some other things that will really surprise people when we start talking about them.

Q. What differences will there be between the PC, Xbox and PS2 version of the game?

A. The different skus (Xbox, PC and PS2) are being developed simultaneously and therefore each one will take full advantage of its hardware. One of the things we are striving for on the PC is to not have the requirements too high even with full detail on. I'm sure you have played a few games lately that have pretty crazy system specs. We really hope to please a lot of people by having a system spec that is realistic and not prohibitive.

Q. Pariah is said to include roughly 15 hours of gameplay. How have you optimized the single player game to ensure the action is kept consistent throughout each level?

A. We are doing that right now. All the content is done; everything now is about balancing and fine tuning.

Q. First Person Shooter games are often renowned for their repetitive and linear gameplay. What have you done to ensure that Pariah doesn�t conform to the same characteristics found in other First Person Shooter games?

A. The core of Pariah is an FPS. We want it to be a familiar experience, but different. So we have added things like upgradeable weapons, lots of outdoor and indoor areas, the vehicles, drop ships and tons of variety as well as the map editor and great multiplayer. And one other thing we are really trying to push is the story element. We are on our 5th draft of the story and have had 4 writers on it. So, we really hope it shines through and everyone loves it.

Q. What multiplayer modes have you been working on and what features are you looking to implement?

A. In multiplayer, we have Team Deathmatch, CTF which are old favourites that are now fresh and new because of vehicles and upgradeable weapons. We have also added in Siege and Frontline Assault. Frontline Assault is a gametype we have talked about for a few years that we have implemented and refined into something very exciting. The basic idea is to mimic the frontline in a war. It gets pushed back and forth until it eventually gets pushed to the other base where you can then destroy the objective and win.

Q. What mood are you aiming to set in terms of music for the game?

A. The music and sound is so important in making you feel more immersed in the game. We want the music to set a tone of suspense, adventure and give it an epic movie like feel. We have hired a top notch musician to compose and create the music in Pariah. We�re planning on announcing who we�ve chosen very soon.

Q. Finally is there anything else you would like to add about the game?

A. I think the biggest challenge has been the countless trying and retrying of new ideas to make sure they are fun. I cannot tell you how many times we have changed the weapons and vehicles to make them as fun as possible. And we will continue to do so until we go gold!

Pariah is set for release in 2005.