Rogue
Entertainment has always been a company that's spoken softly yet
carried a big stick. In other words, they say very little
but consistently produce great work. How did they get involved
in the Alice project? Was it your experience with them in
previous projects (such as mission packs for Quake and Quake II)
that led you to them?
I've
know the guys over at Rogue since my first days at id. The fact
that they are now working on this product is one of the nicest
examples of serendipity I've ever seen.
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As
this concept art proves, Alice is shaping up to be very
demented indeed (214k)
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Using the Q3A engine
for Alice seems like an obvious choice considering both your and
Rogue's experience with id-engine games, but since its focus is
on multiplayer play, how do you see it as a development tool for
single-player? Are there any obvious enhancements you're
planning to make that you can talk about now?
We've
already made enhancements to allow us to immediately start single
player development, but we're not ready to go into it yet.
What
variations of multi-player play are you considering?
Lots!
But we're not going to go into it yet.
The
multiplayer game is from a first person view, while the single
player is played from a third person view. Can you explain why
you made this decision?
Well,
this comes mostly from talking with various people in the industry,
the players, and online community, and from my own personal preference.
It just doesn't seem that a proper DOOM/Quake style deathmatch
can take place in 3rd person. This does not mean that you won't
be able to run a 3rd person server, but multiplayer will default
to 1st person.
Will
the weapons be identical in both the single and multiplayer games?
How will the difference in perspective change them, if at all?
The
weapons will be identical. You can see how the 1st/3rd person
switch works in the current version of Q3.
Since
the game is based on the Alice books (which are fairly tame),
who will you be fighting against? Will the game's emphasis be
on pure action, or exploration?
I'm
hoping that we can recapture the action adventure feel of the
original DOOM. The characters you will be fighting against are
a mixture of original characters (Mad Hatter, Tweedledee, etc)
and new characters that we've designed just for the game.
What
prompted the decision to have two geographically separate teams
to work on the single-player and multi-player aspects of the game?
What challenges do you foresee in communication and shared development?
The
decision was based on the fact that this solution offers us the
best chance at creating a solid product on time and on budget.
The Rogue guys have Quake-based game development down to an art.
We also have internal support from large group of very talented
people at EA who are focusing an amazing amount of creative energy
on this product.
Since
you're the Game Designer, how do you plan on communicating your
vision to the troops (friendly people at Rogue) when you live
in a different city? Will you be sending anyone from EA to Rogue
to help? How much time are you spending at Rogue's office?
This
is one of the best parts about working with Rogue. Since we've
all known each other for so long the communication issue is almost
non-existent. The vision was communicated a while back when I
spent a week in Dallas working with the Rogue guys. They are as
much a part of the creative process as I am, and we've really
come together on the design of this product.
What
will your role at EA entail in addition to Game Design?
Will you also fill the slot as Lead Level Designer? How
about Project Manager?
At the
moment my official title is "Creative Director". Under that guise
I find myself doing everything from game design to level design
to project management. Again, I'm also surrounded by a great group
of people here at EA who are constantly helping with every facet
of production.
What's
the best thing that you learned at id Software that you've carried
over to EA?
Wow,
that's a really difficult one. id taught me so much about games,
work, and life in general. I think the most important lesson I
learned there is the one that I take with me even when I'm not
at work: "Never take yourself too seriously."
What's
the work environment at EA like?
Just
amazing. And speaking of which... I need to get back at it now
:)
Thanks American
McGee!
-
Russell "RadPipe"
Lauzon is currently exhausting all his free time researching
Beer Goggles.
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