|
|
|
›› Willkommen! ›› 104.367.254 Visits ›› 18.315 registrierte User ›› 25 Besucher online (0 auf dieser Seite)
|
|
 |
Interview
Half-Life: Nightwatch
22.12.2004 | 22:32 Uhr | von Caboto
|
2.696 Hits
1 viewing
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Seite 1
Bilder
| 0 Kommentare
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Once again the old HL-Engine should be brought to their outer Limits.
Read in our Interview with the Nightwatch-Leveldesigner Deckaux what the Singleplayer-Mod will bring you.
Thank you for taking some time for us. Please introduce yourself and explain your tasks at Nightwatch.
- Deckaux: My name is Pablo Philipp, better known under the unpronouncable name of "Deckaux". I´m employed as a level designer at NW.
How far has the development of HL: Nightwatch come in the meantime?
- Deckaux: Well, I can´t say much about that at this time. I´ve been in the team for a few days now and I´m missing a full overview of the project. Aside from this, it is really difficult to say how much has been completed since the mapping work for example is distributed to many people. As long as the level designers haven´t finished their work yet, it is difficult to say how much the level design of NW has advanced. To say it is done "when it is done" is as much liked as unsatisfying. Although it is the same for us because we will know when it is done as soon as it is done. And it is all the same, for the level design as for the coding and for all the rest.
So it is far too early for a release date. How far have you used story elements from the original Half-Life?
- Deckaux: The story plays at the same time as the events in Black Mesa. You don´t take part in the story from the original, but sometimes you feel the consequences of some events from Half-Life & Co.
That means we are not going to see any known places or even watch Gordon Freeman from a distance?
- Deckaux: No, existing levels are not going to be used. So you are not going to see any known places, at least not directly. You also have to pass on Gordon Freeman and Adrian Shepard. But events from other episodes will have a direct influence on the incidents in NW, as much as events in NW will try to explain some of the incidents in Black Mesa. We wanted to create an independent story and thought that these "meetings" would be really cool and come up with a bit of nostalgia, but on the other hand it would also make a negative impact on the independence of our own story. Furthermore I think that people have had enough of things like these already. I also think it´s more interesting if you can imagine why something just happened, as you can´t see it.
With what kind of weapons can you fight yourself through the levels? Will there be more weapons than the already known, grenades for example?
- Deckaux: The weapons on the website are not all of the weapons that will appear in the game. On the website you can see already some concept arts of experimental weapons on which we are working at this time. One of them will be the "particle pulse rifle". Furthermore we are planning to implement a rocket or grenade launcher. But since this will have a great impact on the balancing and the M4A1 has already got a grenade launcher, we feel free to eventually remove the rocket launcher again.
And against which aliens can you use these weapons? Only against the former known Xen aliens or will there be new alien races of similar kind?
- Deckaux: At this time, it is planned to implement at least one new alien. It is not going to be seen very often. But when you see it, it will be a really big challenge for the player.
Although the old school critters will experience some improvements. The so called "Race X" from OP4 will not be there anyway. A good decision in my opinion.
Will there be special characters (except the player itself), such as Dr. Kleiner or Eli Vance in Half-Life 2?
- Deckaux: Yes, there will be some unique characters in the game.
Will the player get to Xen during the game?
- Deckaux: Yes, a trip to Xen is part of the sight-seeing tour. But don´t be afraid: The jump ´n run part has been reduced to a minimum because we all know about the public opinion on Xen. So there will be no "jump puzzles" or things like that.
Good to hear.
According to the FAQ there will nearly be as many game segments as in Half-Life (HL: 93, HL:NW: approx. 80-85). Will the gameplay be as long as it is in HL, too?
- Deckaux: Hard to say, I think it´s going to be a bit shorter but not much. On the one hand because NW will have 13 levels less than HL, and on the other hand because of the much higher level of detail, the levels are going to be slightly smaller than the levels in Half-Life.
What are the new features that you added to the HL1 engine?
- Deckaux: The particle system is already known from other mods. It would be exaggerated to call it "new". Apart from this there are many more very cool features: First of all, a full mp3/ogg support what proposes a very high quality level for the soundtrack. Furthermore there is a possibility to incorporate the visibility of the player into the gameplay. Some of the enemies just react or don´t react if the player stands in darkness. We also improved the enemies´ AI. And the implementation of the VGUI system allows to send ingame messages.
Some of these points, i.e. the improved AI, should ensure the maximum of freedom of decision concerning the fights. If the player prefers to sneak around the enemy to attack him - then he should be able to do this. Of course that doesn´t work everywhere, but we are trying to allow it as often as possible so the player has a full control over the confrontation with enemies. The game should not be a never-ending chain of triggered ambushes, but a movement around enemies and against enemies respectively, enemies with different kind of alertness and preparation. Concerning this, did Half-Life 2 inspire you to a few new ideas?
- Deckaux: Yes, sure! Particularly the story of Half-Life 2 was very inspiring.
Generally we tried to match with Valve. Until now, we internally worked with Half-Life. And now, since Half-Life 2 raised the bar, we would be pretty stupid not to take over some of the gameplay improvements of Half-Life 2 compared to its predecessor. That is not a general command to the level designers, it is more a subjective switch, a raise of everyone´s personal bar. Francis Woodhouse, one of your programmers published an article about bump-mapping with HL1 on the VERC Collective. Are we going to see something like this in HL: Nightwatch?
- Deckaux: This was just an experiment, you cannot use these bump maps on all surfaces. Due to this fact you are never going to see them in NW.
When are we going to see the first full action in-game pictures?
- Deckaux: As soon as all weapon models and the HUD are finished, we can show you some in-game screenshots. Also the VGUI - which was already done - is being revised at the moment. As soon as all this fits together, you will get to see some of it. Promise.
Can you tell us something about the reasons why Andrew Weldon, the original found of the project, left the team?
- Deckaux: Andrew was offered a job at Raven Software, so it was clear. No one would have rejected this job. Personally I would commit a murder to be allowed to work on Quake 4 now. Everyone understood him and wished him all the best for his further life. He often visits our forum and keeps close contact to us. But he does not work on Nightwatch anymore.
On the one hand because he is under contract with Raven, so Raven is entitled to catch everything he does. On the other hand he simply has no time to work on a voluntary project. Did you get support from Valve? If yes, in what extent?
- Deckaux: Not beyond common support. They answered some of our questions and offered us the tools and documentations to raise a MOD, but there was no more special support.
So the MOD will not be available directly through Steam? How large will the download of your MOD be?
- Deckaux: It will be a few hundred MB, 200 MB for sure. You will be able to get Nightwatch through Steam via "Browse Games".
What was the stimulus to continue working on a HL1 MOD although Half-Life 2 was released? Why didn´t you port everything on the Source Engine and continued working with it?
- Deckaux: At this time, there surely are many people owning Half-Life 2. But a huge part of our users did not dare the leap to the Source Engine, probably for technical reasons. We are not going to sacrifice the playability. If the situation is going to change just before the release, we will discard the HL1 version. But at this time, this is no question.
[Read more on this topic in this thread.] The size of your team, but also the size of your MOD approaches the size of a retail product. Did you ever think about to commercialize the project?
- Deckaux: No, not quite. We have always been a voluntary community project and do not want to gain money from it until we´ve put some in. But that´s out of the question.
How is the current team sitation? Do you have enough people for the project?
- Deckaux: We already met the needs of level designers. But we could use some help on other sections. For example in sections "Character Animator", "Skin Artist" and "Texture Artist". There is also a lack of voice talents which has to be eliminated until the release. Futhermore it is possible that some job offers will be added when the Source port demands it.
We all know that the MOD is done "when it´s done". But are you targeting a special timeframe?
- Deckaux: That depends on how the porting is developing. If we realize that a Source version if worth delay, the release date will delay, too.
I estimate - if all fits together - over-optimistically and in the bettermost case summer of 2005, more like late summer. Thank you for your time and the numerous answers. And good speed with HL: Nightwatch!
- Deckaux: Thank you very much. It has been a privilege.
Check the Images-Link above ("Bilder") to see 2 new screenshots!
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Links:
- Half-Life: Nightwatch Homepage
Weitere Artikel:
- Half-Life: Nightwatch (22.12.2004)
|
|
|
|
|
