Anthony Delaney, the lucky winner of Atari and Atomic's Unreal Tournament 2004 competition, had a chance to quiz Cliff Bleszinski of Epic on the developer's new title. Six narly questions were answered with six equally narly answers, and you can check them out right here. Just click the link and find out how Cliff tackled the interrogation.
Cliff Bleszinski: Australia is not the only place suffering from this rift. Much of Europe and North America are becoming sharply divided by the ‘high-speed divide’. The only place that seems to be steam-rolling ahead with broadband penetration is Asia.
I'd imagine that if there is going to be a solution it is going to be a multi-faced one in which [the] government and [an] industry partner [will join up] to encourage more high-speed penetration. Years ago, the US Government implemented programs to make sure that rural American had phone access and I've heard rumblings about similar initiatives [in relation to broadband]. It is in everyone's best interest to make sure that this happens -- not just for gaming.
In the meantime, we -- as developers -- have a number of steps we've taken to help our games. A game like Unreal Tournament, one that is considered ‘multiplayer only’, features a great offline element with bots and single-player ladders. In UT2004, we've done significant work on the single-player experience so that when you play through the tournament it really feels like a series of challenges. You earn credits and you can use them to change arenas, steal players, and accomplish any number of other goals. The other main thing that we can do is to make sure that our game is as playable as possible on a 56k connection. If a person with a 56k connection can have a decent online experience on a few servers then we've made some headway towards introducing the fun that is online gaming to a wider audience.
Question 2: The theory has been put forward that gaming hardware has surpassed the requirements of games these days. However, when UT2003 was released it truly demonstrated that hardware could not always cope, especially if the game was set to highest detail, with full antialiasing and ansiotropic filtering. When do you think we’ll reach a point where average users will be able enjoy gaming, and specifically Unreal Tournament, in its full glory?
CB: There will continue to be a back-and-forth momentum between what next-generation video cards and consoles are able to accomplish versus what developers do with them. Full-scene antialiasing is nice, but it will only be used in a widespread manner when it is free [doesn’t degrade performance]. Until that point, gamers aren’t willing to take the frame rate hit.
Part of the problem with the PC is that of backwards compatibility. Any smart PC developer knows that there are certain tradeoffs between making great graphics and keeping your spec reasonable so that your title will run on the maximum installed base of computers that are out there.
Question 3. While first person shooters are undoubtedly the realm of the male gamer, there are a number of female players who enjoy a bit of a frag fest as well. What strategies, if any, have you implemented to try and appeal further to this rather large and untapped market?
CB:First person shooters -- and action games in general -- will most likely remain dominated by male gamers for years to come. Testosterone driven entertainment experiences tend to be driven by a largely male population; sports are a primary example of this. Sure, there are female sports fans -- and plenty of them -- but the majority of the fans are male.
By keeping our games accessible and graphically appealing, we can attempt to reel in a larger audience overall, and that audience includes female gamers.
Question 4: When a game goes platinum, such as the original Unreal Tournament, how does this influence sequels? Does this limit the number of changes that are willing to be made to keep the content fresh?
CB: Once you have an established base of fans for any given title it opens up a realm of possibilities and it also limits you. As a developer one must figure out ‘What worked with the previous game? What did not? What is considered “safe” to change versus what is “risky?” How much should we change for the sequel?’
Looking at the differences between Unreal Tournament's deathmatch mode and Unreal Tournament's Onslaught mode -- there are similarities but, ultimately, the two are quite different. A game and genre need to adjust for the evolution of an audience.
Question 5: In UT2004, there will be apparently a large focus on vehicles. This has been a trend in the industry recently, and admittedly has brought a lot of freedom with it. What have been the negative issues that you have had to conquer in respect to the game's design?
CB: The typical ‘laundry list’ of questions emerges when one takes an established game and adds an element such as vehicles to it. Questions like ‘Where are the vehicles? Who acquires one? What happens if someone gets out of their vehicle; can anyone then grab it?’ Each game must find a series of answers that work well within the existing title's framework and adjust accordingly. For instance, in UT2004's Onslaught, players cannot ‘steal’ an enemy vehicle unless it has been driven by foe -- i.e. ‘unlocked’. We did this because we wanted a held ‘point’ or ‘node’ to remain more entrenched. Once you have a node you have an advantage!
Question 6: With such a large fan base of the series, what has been some the most memorable fan comments that made the project worth it?
CB: We tend to take the good with the bad. As much as we appreciate compliments, we tend to seek out criticism more from our fans. When I meet people in person and they exclaim an appreciation for one of our titles, the first thing I ask is ‘Well, what didn’t you like?’ The biggest kiss of death for any developer or studio is to rest on its laurels and refuse to adjust and evolve with the market. And we're a restless crew -- we anticipate gamers' feedback for years to come!
Issue: 133 | February, 2012