[DaveyDoomsday]

Micky C, on 21 January 2013 - 11:11 PM, said:

When's the release date?

Hah! Can't answer that just yet. Right now it's about figuring out when we can realistically launch while trying to find a nice spot to launch in between the big guys. When you're a small developer with a niche game, it's hard to get noticed (and sold) in the shadow of games like BioShock: Infinite so we find ourselves in a constant back and forth about when we can and if we can. Had things gone as we'd originally planned we'd be out by now, but given all that's happened since development started our cycle has been prolonged for all the right reasons. It'll take longer, but you're getting a bigger, better game. Personally I've got no problem with that. I've said it before and I'll say it again that the absolute LAST thing I want to do is put a date on it and then have to push it. I hate that. Everyone hates that. So I'd rather wait until we know we have a date that works on all fronts. In the meantime we'll keep showing you more and more as we've got more and more to show and hopefully you like what you see as we get closer to release!

[Mr. Tibbs]

That's what I want to hear! I would love to see some gameplay, without any narration. Just in-game sound and a playthough of a level. I understand that might not be very exciting for some folks, but it would be a great way for the public to get a genuine feel for the game.

[DaveyDoomsday]

Mr. Tibbs, on 22 January 2013 - 12:47 AM, said:

That's what I want to hear! I would love to see some gameplay, without any narration. Just in-game sound and a playthough of a level. I understand that might not be very exciting for some folks, but it would be a great way for the public to get a genuine feel for the game.

Trust me, we'd actually love to show straight gameplay, but as PR says "Don't show it if it's not ready!" - and they're right.

While it certainly might be ready to show to you guys or the guys on our Facebook page or people who generally understand a game dev cycle and where we're at, straight gameplay is certainly not polished enough yet to release to the general public, press or even via Machinima as we've done with our trailers. Even some of the things you've already seen in early gameplay and trailers have drastically changed in the past few months. We've got completely different weapon sounds, new animations, ever changing enemy AI, improved environments, different lighting, PhysX and Apex destruction - it's an ever evolving beast and so is our PR and marketing plan.

Like everything else - it's a balancing act. While I wish Fred and the leads at Interceptor planned our dev cycle based around marketing and PR - that's not the way they do things (nor do most small developers) and I'm not going to push them to get certain things ready just so we can show them off earlier than we have to. We work with what we've got and what's ready to show and as we have more we'll show more!

If I could describe what it "feels" like? It actually feels a lot like ROTT 95, scary as that sounds. I think it's a combination of the right player movespeed, head bobbing, FOV, and obviously the overall ROTTen aesthetic - but it really does "feel" like ROTT 95. It didn't really hit me until one night when I was recording gameplay footage for one of our dev diaries and I was tabbing back and forth between ROTT 95 Comm-bat (with bots) and ROTT 2013... It just felt the same. Crazy, innit?

What you should know is that we DO take nearly every single comment to heart, especially from you guys. I mean, you've known about this thing longer than anyone and damn near blew the whistle on it before the reveal. (I told Fred not to put Joe's name on the team page but nooooooooooooooooooooo)

Anyway, as I said - feel free to ask any other questions and I'll always answer as best I can. If I don't see your questions here I can always be found @DaveOshry on Twitter or at DOshry@Gmail.com

[Micky C]

Just some advice: DO NOT switch over to CryEngine 3, Frostbite 2, ID Tech 5 (or really any other engine) and you should be ok.

[DaveyDoomsday]

Micky C, on 22 January 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

Just some advice: DO NOT switch over to CryEngine 3, Frostbite 2, ID Tech 5 (or really any other engine) and you should be ok.

Hah! We've invested far too much time and money into Unreal 3 to turn back now. Plus, Epic has been great to work with so far. We really do feel like a part of the #MadeWithUE3 family or whatever nonsense Mark Rein likes to go on about. They treat us the same as they do BioWare, Rocksteady or any other licensee - it's not a bad deal. ^__^

[Marphy Black]

How will the enemy AI work in the remake? The AI in the original was fairly simply: no real pathfinding, they moved around pretty slowly, and they had to completely stop and stand in place to fire, effectively telegraphing their attacks. ("Here, catch!")

However, from the few glimpses we've seen of it, the AI in the remake seems to be "smarter": it looks like enemies have pathfinding, can run around at a pretty brisk pace, and can fire their weapons while moving. Each of these points sounds trivial on their own, but when combined all together, they could fundamentally alter the game's dynamic. Not that these changes are inherently bad, but the "dumb" AI is what makes ROTT's gameplay a blast. The player may be able to run circles around his foes, but the enemies persevere with their greater numbers, unique weapons and abilities, and strategic map placements. The classic AI is pure cannon fodder, and their general lack of self preservation is the heart and soul of every ludicrous gibfest.

Smart AI has its place (say, Half-Life, for instance), but dumb AI is core to the fast and frenzied gameplay of shooters like Doom, Duke 3D, Quake, and of course, classic ROTT. For that reason, I hope the AI in the remake is suited to ROTT's style. I'd hate to see enemies "intelligently" reacting to and dodging my attacks or avoiding environmental hazards. Grouping a bunch of guys for that perfect Flamewall shot or leading clueless enemies into spinning blades, boulders, and wanderwalls is just too much fun and hysterical of an experience to lose out on.

[DaveyDoomsday]

RinyRed, on 22 January 2013 - 09:26 AM, said:

How will the enemy AI work in the remake? The AI in the original was fairly simply: no real pathfinding, they moved around pretty slowly, and they had to completely stop and stand in place to fire, effectively telegraphing their attacks. ("Here, catch!")

However, from the few glimpses we've seen of it, the AI in the remake seems to be "smarter": it looks like enemies have pathfinding, can run around at a pretty brisk pace, and can fire their weapons while moving. Each of these points sounds trivial on their own, but when combined all together, they could fundamentally alter the game's dynamic. Not that these changes are inherently bad, but the "dumb" AI is what makes ROTT's gameplay a blast. The player may be able to run circles around his foes, but the enemies persevere with their greater numbers, unique weapons and abilities, and strategic map placements. The classic AI is pure cannon fodder, and their general lack of self preservation is the heart and soul of every ludicrous gibfest.

Smart AI has its place (say, Half-Life, for instance), but dumb AI is core to the fast and frenzied gameplay of shooters like Doom, Duke 3D, Quake, and of course, classic ROTT. For that reason, I hope the AI in the remake is suited to ROTT's style. I'd hate to see enemies "intelligently" reacting to and dodging my attacks or avoiding environmental hazards. Grouping a bunch of guys for that perfect Flamewall shot or leading clueless enemies into spinning blades, boulders, and wanderwalls is just too much fun and hysterical of an experience to lose out on.

That's actually been one of the more challenging aspects of our development and why you haven't seen too much of it yet! With a reboot like this we're trying to strike a balance between what's faithful to the original and what makes sense in a modern game. We're currently experimenting with a system wherein if you encounter X amount of enemies in a room, Y % will come at you no matter what depending on how many are in the scene and then based on Y, Z % of enemies will take cover and shoot at you from a distance as long as you're in LoS. If at any time you break LoS (Line of sight) or X % of the other enemies die, they will come after you as did their "friends".

At its core, ROTT 2013 is aiming to be just as fast as was ROTT 95 so we don't want to do anything to "slow down" the game. The player should never have to play hide and seek with enemies or feel the need to "take cover" other than good ol' fashioned strafing around pillars and other world objects. However, we're not making Serious Sam, and these are trained soldiers, demonic monks, intelligent robots, etc we're dealing with so they should reflect that to an extent. Certain enemies such as the Triad Enforcers will always come at you and hunt you down no matter what. But High and Low guards will be noticeably "dumber". The Strike Team and Overpatrol Triads will be the smartest of the bunch. Often taking cover and doing their signature dodge rolls while calling you an Infidel, etc. The Monks will be noticeably more aggressive, and as for the robots - let's just say they won't be any smarter than Daleks.

As with anything else on this project it's been a balancing act, but it's certainly been one of the more challenging aspects of developing this game.

If I had to give an example of what we were aiming for? I'd say that in general the enemies will be smarter than a Serious Sam Headless Kamikaze but dumb enough to still be caught in traps for ludicrous gibs.

[Green]

Quote

The 3rd Rise of the Triad podcast and developer blog is now live!

Dig deep into our environmental art and design process in these latest looks into our development!

Developer Blog #3

http://interceptor-e...art-and-design/

ROTTcast .Mp3

https://dl.dropbox.c...7/Rottcast3.mp3

https://www.facebook...147983668690197

[Hank]

Micky C, on 22 January 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

Just some advice: DO NOT switch over to CryEngine 3, Frostbite 2, ID Tech 5 (or really any other engine) and you should be ok.

can't resist - why not?
I love CryENGINE®3 dearly; and it is a long standing, 3D Realms/Duke, tradition to switch engines.

[Tetsuo]

DaveyDoomsday, on 22 January 2013 - 04:13 PM, said:

The Monks will be noticeably more aggressive, and as for the robots - let's just say they won't be any smarter than Daleks.

That other stuff sounds good to me but I wanted to comment on this in particular. Daleks sure don't tend to take cover for the most part since they roll around in personal tanks so they usually rely upon their armor and or shields to deflect shots. But yeah that does paint the right picture for those who are familiar with daleks.

[DaveyDoomsday]

Tetsuo, on 22 January 2013 - 07:30 PM, said:

That other stuff sounds good to me but I wanted to comment on this in particular. Daleks sure don't tend to take cover for the most part since they roll around in personal tanks so they usually rely upon their armor and or shields to deflect shots. But yeah that does paint the right picture for those who are familiar with daleks.

We're going to try our best not to be sued by the BBC.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

[Green]

Quote

Our latest production diary, "Redesigning a Classic World" is LIVE on Machinima!

http://youtu.be/N7iX_gPh6II

In this episode the team at Interceptor Entertainment talks about how we've rebuilt the world of ROTT for 2013!

There will be no extended cut next week - ain't nobody got time for that!

Have a great weekend!

https://www.facebook...405713949518359

[Mr. Tibbs]

That's a great sneak peak. I really like these behind-the-scenes development diaries. I can't wait to play a new FPS with traps and secrets. We haven't seen that fun stuff for over a decade.

[Sangman]

Damn most of this just screams amateurish mod quality. I stopped watching when they were talking about seeing NPCs behind bars in a prison as if that's actually a meaningful feature at all. I'm sorry but the level design I've seen so far looks very amateurish.

[Mark]

I haven't overdosed by playing a lot of modern games so I'm liking what I see here.

[Tetsuo]

The only things that really screams out to me as amateurish is when a secret was activated a pillar clipped through the wall... They should design some way like a slot in the wall for the pillar to slide across to make it look realistic as solid objects don't tend to pass through each other IRL. Also, how they seem to be excited by standard issue stuff like a disappearing HUD. But other than that… great. I'm liking how they are really going for adding in a lot of secrets to the levels.

[MusicallyInspired]

Tetsuo, on 02 February 2013 - 09:09 AM, said:

The only things that really screams out to me as amateurish is when a secret was activated a pillar clipped through the wall... They should design some way like a slot in the wall for the pillar to slide across to make it look realistic as solid objects don't tend to pass through each other IRL.

Exactly what hit me first. And it has a simple solution. The wall could be pushed back a bit first and then slide into the wall. Then it doesn't matter if it is going into the wall, at least it'd look like there's a slot it's actually going into. That was terrible.

[Tetsuo]

Either that or they could slice the pillar in half or however much is necessary and turn it into sort of a facade pillar that can slide in front of a wall like that without clipping through it.

[Kristian Joensen]

I am not seeing the terrible graphics some are claiming, certainly not terrible for a $15 debut title by a small, remote development studio, that has been 1 year in development and that had been 6 months in development when we first saw it. Most AAA games out there get atleast 100 man years put in to them, this may not even have reached 30 man years yet. To me it looks like a fun little, fast paced, action packed old school game with decent enough graphics.

[Jimmy]

I'm with Sang. This game's only hope is that it's really fun. It has nothing else going for it. (Not to say it's ugly or anything like that, it looks just about like everything else these days.)

[Micky C]

Quote

We have NPC sitting in prison cells

Prisoner NPCs? Huzzah! They've caught up to Quake 2.

Hopefully they do more than just sit there and ignore you. And IIRC DNF also had a disappearing HUD.

But generally speaking from a design standpoint of what I've seen, this is to ROTT what DNF should have been to Duke 3D.

[thatguy]

Micky C, on 02 February 2013 - 03:19 PM, said:

Prisoner NPCs? Huzzah! They've caught up to Quake 2.

Hopefully they do more than just sit there and ignore you. And IIRC DNF also had a disappearing HUD.

But generally speaking from a design standpoint of what I've seen, this is to ROTT what DNF should have been to Duke 3D.

Depends, are you talking about the Disappointingly released DNF?

[Kathy]

Disappearing HUD, by the way, is a detriment to immersion since you notice it disappear. Having constant HUD might be somewhat distracting at first but once you get acquainted to it being there it becomes part of the screen without treading on immersion. If you want increase immersion through HUD then consider removing it altogether than try to sneak in a "disappearing HUD", especially in a shooter where HUD is an essential part.

[Spirrwell]

Burnett, on 03 February 2013 - 12:20 AM, said:

Disappearing HUD, by the way, is a detriment to immersion since you notice it disappear. Having constant HUD might be somewhat distracting at first but once you get acquainted to it being there it becomes part of the screen without treading on immersion. If you want increase immersion through HUD then consider removing it altogether than try to sneak in a "disappearing HUD", especially in a shooter where HUD is an essential part.

I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to make something like that an option. I mean that's simple Boolean logic. I mean once the HUD is in place, making it an option as to whether or not it's a disappearing HUD wouldn't even take an hour. Well, it shouldn't anyway.

[Kathy]

You'd be amazed how much these "simple options" are overlooked. Again and again.

[Bloodshot]

I really hate games that have disappearing HUDs. If you have a regular HUD you do indeed get used to it, and if you have no HUD, you can get used to that too since the game is built around that. But with disappearing HUD it goes away then you go to check your ammo or health or whatever and it's not there, then you have to make it come back by doing something.

IMO, pretty stupid.

Also when they talked about secrets it irked me that they didn't seem to mention how they would make them distinguishable. What they showed just looked like they would press in a wall or use a pillar - I really hope there's more to it then that, because with stuff like that you just cause people to press every pillar and wall they come across.

ID was always really good at secrets, they'd have visual cues, especially in RTCW when you had things like a slightly tilted wall torch, or a wall panel that looks pushable. Easy to miss, but they catch your eye if you stop and look around.

[Kathy]

Really? I remember literally pressing every wall in Wolf3d.

[Malgon]

^So Blazkowicz uses his head like in the gif to find secrets? No wonder he's such a badass.

[thatguy]

Malgon, on 03 February 2013 - 11:48 PM, said:

^So Blazkowicz uses his head like in the gif to find secrets? No wonder he's such a badass.

Meh. If it was Chuck Norris, the walls will open in fear! Then again, it'd be kinda scare seeing walls randomly open before you.

[Jimmy]

I've never cared for the idea of immersion anyway. I'm not such a dolt that I forget I'm playing a video game or watching a movie or what-have-you. I wonder what it'd be like to be such a simpleton.