OuFtb
04-21-2004, 11:50 AM
So anyway, what's the real deal with Unreal Championship 2? We caught up with Epic's President Dr. Michael Capps to find out.
Unreal Championship 2 then - why the combination of first-person shooter and beat-'em-up-style melee combat and how did you come up with the idea to put the two together?
Dr. Capps: From the beginning, we knew Unreal Championship 2 was focused on the Xbox audience. Live is a big part of the Xbox gaming experience, but so is playing with your mates in the living room.
When we first started brainstorming, we thought about bringing in more of a "fighting game" feel - like picking characters, going at it one-on-one for a few rounds, then picking some different characters, arenas, or weapons, and doing it again. That naturally meant smaller arenas, characters with different moves and abilities, and more focus on defensive manoeuvres rather than run-and-gun action.
The emphasis on melee fighting really came from iterative design. We started with ideas for more variety than simply a single melee weapon (which has been the standard for the Unreal Tournament and Unreal Championship franchises). Then we wanted people with melee weapons to be fully competitive against a guy with a rocket launcher, so the shield and reflecting were born.
Then we wanted more variety in the combat, and the animators put together some fantastic test moves, and the gameplay team added an aerial attack, and everyone was blown away.
And the coolest thing was, it was just as fun to be the guy with the sniper rifle as the guy with the staff. After that, it was like a drug. We still haven't been able to stop - spin attacks, charge moves, aerial attacks, it just keeps coming. Eventually we'll have to stop and ship the game, but until then...
What's the maximum number of players both offline and online?
Dr. Capps: Right now we're targeting eight players online. That's the best mix for providing a feeling of large-scale action and team gameplay while still letting us have super-detailed characters and environments. Plus, the balance between melee and ranged-weapon combat starts to break down when you have dozens of guys with auto-firing weapons, so eight has worked really well.
Can we play in purely first- or third-person, or do we have to switch between the two depending on whether we want to go melee or "gun"?
Dr. Capps: When you're in ranged-weapon mode (using enforcers, flak cannon, etc.) you can switch at any time between first- and third-person. Pulling out your swords automatically switches you to third-person; you really need the extra peripheral visibility in that mode, and honestly, first-person sword fights are always a bit wonky in games.
What would your response be to those voicing concerns that combining third-person melee and FPS combat may mean we'll end up simply getting diluted experiences of the "pure" genres, this leading to a game that doesn't know what it wants to be?
Dr. Capps: I've played so many excellent mixed-genre games lately that I don't know where to begin.
We've worked hard so that you can play Unreal Championship 2 the way you want to play it. Some folks on the dev team play exclusively in first-person and never use melee weapons, and they have a blast. We know a lot of our hardcore fans are probably thinking we're crazy to put third-person in an Unreal game. Hell, I thought it was absolutely nuts - until we started experimenting with it, and we realized how much fun it could be.
To sum up - the guys who want a solid FPS will be happy, and the guys who want a high-agility third-person fighter-shooter will be happy.
Can you tell us about the depth of the melee combat? For example, what sort of basic moves and combo moves can we expect, and how difficult will it be to pull off the combo moves?
Dr. Capps: I don't want to give away too many details on this yet, partly because we're still adding some last-minute goodness. Because of the fast pace of our game, and the need for both thumbs for movement and aiming, the emphasis is more on tactics and timing than memorising key combinations. All the characters have the same basic control scheme for special moves and melee attacks - the trick is using a Necris life-draining move, or a Skaarj blade burst attack, at the right time.
How many characters are you planning to have in the game at launch - could we get details on these?
Dr. Capps: We're expecting to have more than a dozen primary characters, with lots of variations and baddies. I'm still hoping we'll be able to cram in a few more, so no specifics yet, sorry! I will say that there's nothing more satisfying than playing a Skaarj character and ripping an uppercut through your opponent's chest with their wrist blades.
We understand each character will come with a unique or trademark attack - what are some of the more unusual special attacks we're going to see?
Dr. Capps: Each race has their own energy type - electrical, telekinetic, even a vampiric substance called nanoblack. For example, one electrical attack is the EMP pulse, which detonates airborne explosive projectiles. It's a great for defending yourself against incoming rockets, but if you can get the timing right, it's even cooler to blow up their rockets in their faces.
I like our regenerating combo, which uses nanoblack to drain life out of the environment, leaving the screen black-and-white near the player. It's a slow regeneration process, but if you can stay near other characters, you can suck their lifeforce as well.
Are the special attacks purely for melee combat or are there special "first-person shooter" attacks as well?
Dr. Capps: There are special melee moves, but all the adrenaline moves (like speed, lighting attacks, etc.) will be available regardless of your current weapon choice.
What can we expect from levels in Unreal Championship 2 - size, design style, environment types - and how many of these will there be at launch?
Dr. Capps: Players will get the variety of otherworldly environments they expect from an Unreal project. I'm not the artist, and I'm not sure words would do the work justice anyway - so I think the best thing to do is direct folks to our screenshots so they can get a taste [For screenshots, see our Unreal Championship 2 Game Homepage].
Any unlockable content that you can tell us about?
Dr. Capps: Sorry - you have to unlock it, first! But there will be weapons, levels, characters, all sorts of goodness.
Finally, what for you is the coolest thing about Unreal Championship 2? What's your most fun experience with the game to date?
Dr. Capps: Honestly, the most satisfying part of this job is talking about a cool idea, then a few weeks later to be playing the game and see how the artists and engineers have turned that initial vision into something that's five times cooler and that looks incredible.
If I had to name a single experience... It was lift-jumping and then wall-dodging off a cliff face, zooming in with the sniper rifle, then pulling off a low-gravity/quad-jump combo so I could slowly arc across the sky - giving me enough time to nail three headshots before I landed. That'll never happen again.
But having someone fire three rockets at you, and pulling off a perfect reflect and sending them right back in their face, is pretty darned satisfying.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=103584
I copied the whole thing this time, it would suck to be reading and then it pops up saying you must join to keep looking at the site :)....so theres nothing else in the link.
Unreal Championship 2 then - why the combination of first-person shooter and beat-'em-up-style melee combat and how did you come up with the idea to put the two together?
Dr. Capps: From the beginning, we knew Unreal Championship 2 was focused on the Xbox audience. Live is a big part of the Xbox gaming experience, but so is playing with your mates in the living room.
When we first started brainstorming, we thought about bringing in more of a "fighting game" feel - like picking characters, going at it one-on-one for a few rounds, then picking some different characters, arenas, or weapons, and doing it again. That naturally meant smaller arenas, characters with different moves and abilities, and more focus on defensive manoeuvres rather than run-and-gun action.
The emphasis on melee fighting really came from iterative design. We started with ideas for more variety than simply a single melee weapon (which has been the standard for the Unreal Tournament and Unreal Championship franchises). Then we wanted people with melee weapons to be fully competitive against a guy with a rocket launcher, so the shield and reflecting were born.
Then we wanted more variety in the combat, and the animators put together some fantastic test moves, and the gameplay team added an aerial attack, and everyone was blown away.
And the coolest thing was, it was just as fun to be the guy with the sniper rifle as the guy with the staff. After that, it was like a drug. We still haven't been able to stop - spin attacks, charge moves, aerial attacks, it just keeps coming. Eventually we'll have to stop and ship the game, but until then...
What's the maximum number of players both offline and online?
Dr. Capps: Right now we're targeting eight players online. That's the best mix for providing a feeling of large-scale action and team gameplay while still letting us have super-detailed characters and environments. Plus, the balance between melee and ranged-weapon combat starts to break down when you have dozens of guys with auto-firing weapons, so eight has worked really well.
Can we play in purely first- or third-person, or do we have to switch between the two depending on whether we want to go melee or "gun"?
Dr. Capps: When you're in ranged-weapon mode (using enforcers, flak cannon, etc.) you can switch at any time between first- and third-person. Pulling out your swords automatically switches you to third-person; you really need the extra peripheral visibility in that mode, and honestly, first-person sword fights are always a bit wonky in games.
What would your response be to those voicing concerns that combining third-person melee and FPS combat may mean we'll end up simply getting diluted experiences of the "pure" genres, this leading to a game that doesn't know what it wants to be?
Dr. Capps: I've played so many excellent mixed-genre games lately that I don't know where to begin.
We've worked hard so that you can play Unreal Championship 2 the way you want to play it. Some folks on the dev team play exclusively in first-person and never use melee weapons, and they have a blast. We know a lot of our hardcore fans are probably thinking we're crazy to put third-person in an Unreal game. Hell, I thought it was absolutely nuts - until we started experimenting with it, and we realized how much fun it could be.
To sum up - the guys who want a solid FPS will be happy, and the guys who want a high-agility third-person fighter-shooter will be happy.
Can you tell us about the depth of the melee combat? For example, what sort of basic moves and combo moves can we expect, and how difficult will it be to pull off the combo moves?
Dr. Capps: I don't want to give away too many details on this yet, partly because we're still adding some last-minute goodness. Because of the fast pace of our game, and the need for both thumbs for movement and aiming, the emphasis is more on tactics and timing than memorising key combinations. All the characters have the same basic control scheme for special moves and melee attacks - the trick is using a Necris life-draining move, or a Skaarj blade burst attack, at the right time.
How many characters are you planning to have in the game at launch - could we get details on these?
Dr. Capps: We're expecting to have more than a dozen primary characters, with lots of variations and baddies. I'm still hoping we'll be able to cram in a few more, so no specifics yet, sorry! I will say that there's nothing more satisfying than playing a Skaarj character and ripping an uppercut through your opponent's chest with their wrist blades.
We understand each character will come with a unique or trademark attack - what are some of the more unusual special attacks we're going to see?
Dr. Capps: Each race has their own energy type - electrical, telekinetic, even a vampiric substance called nanoblack. For example, one electrical attack is the EMP pulse, which detonates airborne explosive projectiles. It's a great for defending yourself against incoming rockets, but if you can get the timing right, it's even cooler to blow up their rockets in their faces.
I like our regenerating combo, which uses nanoblack to drain life out of the environment, leaving the screen black-and-white near the player. It's a slow regeneration process, but if you can stay near other characters, you can suck their lifeforce as well.
Are the special attacks purely for melee combat or are there special "first-person shooter" attacks as well?
Dr. Capps: There are special melee moves, but all the adrenaline moves (like speed, lighting attacks, etc.) will be available regardless of your current weapon choice.
What can we expect from levels in Unreal Championship 2 - size, design style, environment types - and how many of these will there be at launch?
Dr. Capps: Players will get the variety of otherworldly environments they expect from an Unreal project. I'm not the artist, and I'm not sure words would do the work justice anyway - so I think the best thing to do is direct folks to our screenshots so they can get a taste [For screenshots, see our Unreal Championship 2 Game Homepage].
Any unlockable content that you can tell us about?
Dr. Capps: Sorry - you have to unlock it, first! But there will be weapons, levels, characters, all sorts of goodness.
Finally, what for you is the coolest thing about Unreal Championship 2? What's your most fun experience with the game to date?
Dr. Capps: Honestly, the most satisfying part of this job is talking about a cool idea, then a few weeks later to be playing the game and see how the artists and engineers have turned that initial vision into something that's five times cooler and that looks incredible.
If I had to name a single experience... It was lift-jumping and then wall-dodging off a cliff face, zooming in with the sniper rifle, then pulling off a low-gravity/quad-jump combo so I could slowly arc across the sky - giving me enough time to nail three headshots before I landed. That'll never happen again.
But having someone fire three rockets at you, and pulling off a perfect reflect and sending them right back in their face, is pretty darned satisfying.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=103584
I copied the whole thing this time, it would suck to be reading and then it pops up saying you must join to keep looking at the site :)....so theres nothing else in the link.