Brevity
04-25-2002, 08:49 AM
Older news but good and again stole this from the Freak (http://forums.xengen.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33420)
"First the latest shot........... "
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_98/vortal_pic_49277.jpg
The original movie The Thing was a classic horror-scifi film of the 1950’s. Based loosely on John W. Campbell’s short story “Who Goes There?”, the movie is still very fondly remembered. In 1982, director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell worked together for a remake of The Thing. This time the movie was much closer in spirit to Campbell’s short story of a shape-shifting alien who wrecks havoc on an Antarctic research base. A box office disappointment, the Carpenter remake has found a new life on video, TV reruns and DVD and is now considered one of the best horror films of the 1980’s. Now UK game developer Computer Artworks and publisher Universal Interactive are hard at work on a game based on the Carpenter version of Thing for multiple gaming platforms. HomeLAN got a chance to chat with Peter Wanat, the producer of the game for Universal Interactive, to find out how they plan to translate Carpenter’s movie into a horror game title.
HomeLAN - How did Computer Artworks get the gig from Universal to do The Thing?
Peter Wanat - Computer Artworks (CA) made a game called Evolva that showed some great things about the team that put it together. It caught the eye of several people here at UIS and that led us to CA. They had a long history with creating "Organic" computer art and in Evolva they did some really cool things with creature AI. Those two features combined with a really talented team of artists and programmers made them a natural fit.
CA has one of those teams that maintain insane focus on what they are doing. Universal felt they where on the verge of making something really special - and lucky for us - we were right.
HomeLAN - What is the story behind the game?
Peter Wanat - It picks up sometime after the events of the film. You play Blake who is a squad leader of military personnel. You take a group of these NPCs into the Antarctic to "investigate" what happened to the crew there that has failed to respond to all communications.
HomeLAN - How would you best describe the gameplay?
Peter Wanat - The game play is part survival/horror, part action/shooter, and part squad-based assault. I think it's hard to describe well in short terms. It is unique in terms of how its gameplay merges several genres and then combines some new elements that have not been used in this genre of games before.
It pushes the conventional envelope in terms of its gameplay dynamics. It is much more fun to “play its unique features”, than it is to try to describe them in a detailed way that will end up not giving you the experience of the game.
HomeLAN - What settings does the game take place?
Peter Wanat - The game keeps you moving around parts of the Antarctic from the original US base seen in the film, the Norwegian base, a military base, a Gen Inc. research facility, a medical lab, a submersed testing facility, a military air field and a surprise final level that gives the player an answer to what The Thing really is.
HomeLAN - What are the AI controlled teammates like in the game?
Peter Wanat - There are 3 classes of players you encounter with in the game:
The Soldier - The Grunt is an armed ally - they have the ability to operate all weapons with great accuracy and deadly force and will help the player fight off the various Thing incarnations with in the game. Soldiers have highest trust and lowest fear. But can be the most dangerous to you and the mission should they go into crack up mode.
The Engineer - help to keep the player advancing past any and all obstacles within the game. Power down? Computer not working? Door won't open? Call an engineer. They can help you do all these things and make your in-game life much easier. They also can make it much easier to save your game at certain points. Engineers are scared easily and are very suspicious.
The Medic - You will do a great deal of fighting and your men will take a great deal of damage, when health packs are located in dangerous spots or hard to find, you will be glad to have a medic around. They will be your best ally in bringing down fear and increasing trust when things get out of control (and that will happen often). Medics have medium fear and low trust.
The game will remain win-able EVEN if all of your NPC's have died. However it will take much much longer to complete and be incrementally harder to complete each level without their aid.
All three classes will have AI to help them defend themselves in game but it’s up to the players to give them a direction. Directions will be given to them in the form of hot-keyed commands via the in game interface.
The interface has been kept simple so that even the most casual gamer will be able to pick it up and understand it, however the advanced gamer will be able to bark out orders at a rate that will give the player the feeling of having real life teammates.
HomeLAN - How hard is it to design a creature that can literally become anything it wants?
Peter Wanat - We allowed for The Thing to take advantage of what he assimilates into. The player will suffer equal parts shock, horror and disgust to see how the different forms of The Thing will manifest itself in order to infect you. The aspect of the Thing I find most impressive/horrid is The Thing's ability to adapt the people it has consumed into part of its body. The first time you see one of your NPCs being used as a weapon on The Body of one of the larger Thing beasts it makes you take two steps back and go "That's just wrong"--right before you light it up with the flame thrower.
HomeLAN - What is the AI of the creature capable of in the game?
Peter Wanat - The AI is motivated by The Thing's number one goal - reach a greater population base. It is not out to kill everyone (for now...) but will react in a violent manner if threatened by exposure or if challenged with fire.
The AI for the Thing beasts is very elaborate. It will act in very different manners with in similar situations making it very hard to pin down. The AI for NPCs exposed to The Thing will also be very sneaky making it difficult for you to know whom you can trust and whom you can’t. The goal of having highly changing AI routines is to keep the player on his toes and in a constant state of second guessing what's happening with in the game. The AI will help add to the psychological horror elements with in the game.
The AI for the non Infected NPC's will be complex enough so the NPC's feel more like PCs. This will make sure the player never becomes frustrated by NPC's not following orders because of bad AI, If an NPC is not following your instructions it will be because they; 1. Don't trust you. 2. They are too scared to do anything to help you.
HomeLAN - Do you have any plans to have a multiplayer mode for The Thing?
Peter Wanat - Right now we are leaning towards not putting multiplayer into the final version. We have many amazing things we could do with multiplayer options. That said... at this point our goal continues to be making the NPC's in the game as close to realistic players as we can. So we are keeping those cool gaming conventions close at hand. If we have time at the end of the game, it could happen...If not this time around don't be surprised if it makes for one hell of a sequel. 8))
HomeLAN - Both versions of The Thing, but especially the John Carpenter version, have large followings. Do you feel any pressure to fulfill any high expectations?
Peter Wanat - We drew most of our inspiration from the Carpenter version, the game is a sequel to the movie. I don't think we felt "pressure" per se, but we definitely wanted to make a game that captured all the best aspects of the movie. We felt that the way Carpenter ends the movie left the viewer still guessing what happens to MacReady. The players of the game will find out the answer to that, and come away with a little more insight into The Thing.
HomeLAN - The game is coming out for many different platforms. What will the differences be with each Thing game?
Peter Wanat - The game will leverage the best of whatever platform it's on. It will make use of the strengths of each to the fullest. But the most important thing here is that the game will play well regardless. This is the number one area of concern for us at this point. You hear so much today about the next generation systems and their specs - Universal has a history of making brilliant PLAYING games (Crash and Spyro) - The Thing will follow that lead in every version - putting game play as the number one priority.
www.homelan.com
This is one that I believe is going to go up on everyones wishlists once E3 shows more, it's evolving into something more than I had thought at first. I just hope for that July/August release before the mega hits get here..........
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_77/vortal_pic_38544.jpg
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_77/vortal_pic_38563.jpg
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_77/vortal_pic_38567.jpg
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_77/vortal_pic_38578.jpg
"First the latest shot........... "
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_98/vortal_pic_49277.jpg
The original movie The Thing was a classic horror-scifi film of the 1950’s. Based loosely on John W. Campbell’s short story “Who Goes There?”, the movie is still very fondly remembered. In 1982, director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell worked together for a remake of The Thing. This time the movie was much closer in spirit to Campbell’s short story of a shape-shifting alien who wrecks havoc on an Antarctic research base. A box office disappointment, the Carpenter remake has found a new life on video, TV reruns and DVD and is now considered one of the best horror films of the 1980’s. Now UK game developer Computer Artworks and publisher Universal Interactive are hard at work on a game based on the Carpenter version of Thing for multiple gaming platforms. HomeLAN got a chance to chat with Peter Wanat, the producer of the game for Universal Interactive, to find out how they plan to translate Carpenter’s movie into a horror game title.
HomeLAN - How did Computer Artworks get the gig from Universal to do The Thing?
Peter Wanat - Computer Artworks (CA) made a game called Evolva that showed some great things about the team that put it together. It caught the eye of several people here at UIS and that led us to CA. They had a long history with creating "Organic" computer art and in Evolva they did some really cool things with creature AI. Those two features combined with a really talented team of artists and programmers made them a natural fit.
CA has one of those teams that maintain insane focus on what they are doing. Universal felt they where on the verge of making something really special - and lucky for us - we were right.
HomeLAN - What is the story behind the game?
Peter Wanat - It picks up sometime after the events of the film. You play Blake who is a squad leader of military personnel. You take a group of these NPCs into the Antarctic to "investigate" what happened to the crew there that has failed to respond to all communications.
HomeLAN - How would you best describe the gameplay?
Peter Wanat - The game play is part survival/horror, part action/shooter, and part squad-based assault. I think it's hard to describe well in short terms. It is unique in terms of how its gameplay merges several genres and then combines some new elements that have not been used in this genre of games before.
It pushes the conventional envelope in terms of its gameplay dynamics. It is much more fun to “play its unique features”, than it is to try to describe them in a detailed way that will end up not giving you the experience of the game.
HomeLAN - What settings does the game take place?
Peter Wanat - The game keeps you moving around parts of the Antarctic from the original US base seen in the film, the Norwegian base, a military base, a Gen Inc. research facility, a medical lab, a submersed testing facility, a military air field and a surprise final level that gives the player an answer to what The Thing really is.
HomeLAN - What are the AI controlled teammates like in the game?
Peter Wanat - There are 3 classes of players you encounter with in the game:
The Soldier - The Grunt is an armed ally - they have the ability to operate all weapons with great accuracy and deadly force and will help the player fight off the various Thing incarnations with in the game. Soldiers have highest trust and lowest fear. But can be the most dangerous to you and the mission should they go into crack up mode.
The Engineer - help to keep the player advancing past any and all obstacles within the game. Power down? Computer not working? Door won't open? Call an engineer. They can help you do all these things and make your in-game life much easier. They also can make it much easier to save your game at certain points. Engineers are scared easily and are very suspicious.
The Medic - You will do a great deal of fighting and your men will take a great deal of damage, when health packs are located in dangerous spots or hard to find, you will be glad to have a medic around. They will be your best ally in bringing down fear and increasing trust when things get out of control (and that will happen often). Medics have medium fear and low trust.
The game will remain win-able EVEN if all of your NPC's have died. However it will take much much longer to complete and be incrementally harder to complete each level without their aid.
All three classes will have AI to help them defend themselves in game but it’s up to the players to give them a direction. Directions will be given to them in the form of hot-keyed commands via the in game interface.
The interface has been kept simple so that even the most casual gamer will be able to pick it up and understand it, however the advanced gamer will be able to bark out orders at a rate that will give the player the feeling of having real life teammates.
HomeLAN - How hard is it to design a creature that can literally become anything it wants?
Peter Wanat - We allowed for The Thing to take advantage of what he assimilates into. The player will suffer equal parts shock, horror and disgust to see how the different forms of The Thing will manifest itself in order to infect you. The aspect of the Thing I find most impressive/horrid is The Thing's ability to adapt the people it has consumed into part of its body. The first time you see one of your NPCs being used as a weapon on The Body of one of the larger Thing beasts it makes you take two steps back and go "That's just wrong"--right before you light it up with the flame thrower.
HomeLAN - What is the AI of the creature capable of in the game?
Peter Wanat - The AI is motivated by The Thing's number one goal - reach a greater population base. It is not out to kill everyone (for now...) but will react in a violent manner if threatened by exposure or if challenged with fire.
The AI for the Thing beasts is very elaborate. It will act in very different manners with in similar situations making it very hard to pin down. The AI for NPCs exposed to The Thing will also be very sneaky making it difficult for you to know whom you can trust and whom you can’t. The goal of having highly changing AI routines is to keep the player on his toes and in a constant state of second guessing what's happening with in the game. The AI will help add to the psychological horror elements with in the game.
The AI for the non Infected NPC's will be complex enough so the NPC's feel more like PCs. This will make sure the player never becomes frustrated by NPC's not following orders because of bad AI, If an NPC is not following your instructions it will be because they; 1. Don't trust you. 2. They are too scared to do anything to help you.
HomeLAN - Do you have any plans to have a multiplayer mode for The Thing?
Peter Wanat - Right now we are leaning towards not putting multiplayer into the final version. We have many amazing things we could do with multiplayer options. That said... at this point our goal continues to be making the NPC's in the game as close to realistic players as we can. So we are keeping those cool gaming conventions close at hand. If we have time at the end of the game, it could happen...If not this time around don't be surprised if it makes for one hell of a sequel. 8))
HomeLAN - Both versions of The Thing, but especially the John Carpenter version, have large followings. Do you feel any pressure to fulfill any high expectations?
Peter Wanat - We drew most of our inspiration from the Carpenter version, the game is a sequel to the movie. I don't think we felt "pressure" per se, but we definitely wanted to make a game that captured all the best aspects of the movie. We felt that the way Carpenter ends the movie left the viewer still guessing what happens to MacReady. The players of the game will find out the answer to that, and come away with a little more insight into The Thing.
HomeLAN - The game is coming out for many different platforms. What will the differences be with each Thing game?
Peter Wanat - The game will leverage the best of whatever platform it's on. It will make use of the strengths of each to the fullest. But the most important thing here is that the game will play well regardless. This is the number one area of concern for us at this point. You hear so much today about the next generation systems and their specs - Universal has a history of making brilliant PLAYING games (Crash and Spyro) - The Thing will follow that lead in every version - putting game play as the number one priority.
www.homelan.com
This is one that I believe is going to go up on everyones wishlists once E3 shows more, it's evolving into something more than I had thought at first. I just hope for that July/August release before the mega hits get here..........
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_77/vortal_pic_38544.jpg
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_77/vortal_pic_38563.jpg
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_77/vortal_pic_38567.jpg
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_77/vortal_pic_38578.jpg