Turok: Rage Wars Interview

On Monday, the Milkman sat down with the creative team behind Acclaim's upcoming N64 multiplayer-specific game, Turok: Rage Wars to discuss a number of things about the upcoming game. Topics such as Turok 2's multiplayer, artificial intelligence, programming hurdles to Perfect Dark and Ready 2 Rumble were touched on, not lightly, but heavily. The following is an excerpt from what was discussed. The players are:

Mark Pacini: Project ManagerFrank Lafuente: Lead ProgrammerDave "Speed Bag" Dienstbier: Creative DirectorThe Milkman: Interviewist Extraordinaire

Milk: Are the increasing number of deathmatch-specific games coming out these days (for example, Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament, Team Fortress, etc.) what pushed you to do a DM-only Turok game?

Dave "Punching Bag" Dienstbier: We knew of Quake III Arena, and of course we thought it was a good idea, but the idea for Rage Wars started a long ways back, even before we finished Turok 2. Rage Wars was born out of knowing that we couldn't flesh out all our multiplayer ideas in Turok 2 in time for the holiday season. Multiplayer games are what gives a game its "legs" well after gamers have beaten the single-player game, so we figured that the time was right for an over-the-top deathmatch Turok experience. Rage Wars is deathmatch from start to finish.

Milk: What advantage did you guys have with the Turok 2 engine already complete? Was there a number of adjustments you had to make since Rage Wars is DM-specific? Dave "Medicine Ball" Dienstbier: Having the core of the engine in place was great, since we had spent the past four years fine-tuning it. It was a huge boost not having to start from ground zero on the engine. This allowed us to concentrate on the most important parts of the game, and that is the gameplay.

Mark Pacini: From a design standpoint, managing a deathmatch-only game allowed us to focus. We still had to have a single-player mode, but we can offer more in this mode since it revolves around a specific style of gameplay. When we were planning this game, we had to realize that not everyone can just jump right in and get 20 frags right away, so we had to balance things. The first few levels are fairly simple, with appropriately simple arenas. As you get further into the game, you will encounter much more complex arenas. This way we were able to please the hardcore gamer and the newcomer as well.

Frank Lafuente: From a technical point of view, we had a big challenge. The big concern was having an AI (artificial intelligence) that could handle the various modes in the game (capture the flag, co-op mode, deathmatch, frag fest, etc.). We can have four players playing simultaneously, as well as having a few bots (AI controlled enemies) thrown in as well. If there's only one player playing, there can be up to five or six bots. How many will be implemented is not decided yet, since balance is important.

Dave "Below-the-Belt" Dienstbier: Arenas are limited in size because we didn't want people going too long without seeing each other. Anyone who plays Quake online will know what it's like when there are too many people playing at once. So we tried to balance things so that it wouldn't be too hectic, but you wouldn't go for too long without seeing someone to shoot at. We had to balance things from Turok 2 because we saw for ourselves what had worked and what didn't work. The market can be fickle. We looked at what was good in one game and what was bad in another. We designed Rage Wars so that people would crisscross each other and constantly have to be on the move. Otherwise "Ba-Boom!" Also, depending on how many people are playing, certain maps will open up. If only two people are playing, maps appropriate for two people will be selectable. This way we avoid having two people having to chase each other for hours when they're in too large a map.Milk: How many people did you have working on level design specifically?

Dave "Sucker-Punch" Diesntbier: We have four guys doing level design.

Milk: When Turok 2 came out, everyone was pointing to how it would compare to Goldeneye, since those two games were really the only first-person shooters worth talking about at the time. Now that Rage Wars is set to debut this holiday season, how do you feel going head-to-head with the child of Goldeneye: Perfect Dark?

Dave "Glass Jaw" Dienstbier: Well, to strike an analogy, if everyone in Hollywood were afraid of the next Titanic, no one would ever make another movie. By the same token, we are certainly aware of Perfect Dark, but at the same time, we're not particularly concerned about it, either. I'm sure Perfect Dark will be excellent at what it does, but we'll be bringing a game to the masses that is fast, has great level design, awesome weapons, and tight, focused gameplay. You always have to assume that whatever Rare does is going to be kick-ass, but we're confident that Rage Wars will be a game people will want to play.

Milk: What sort of features does Rage Wars have (that is, modes, weapons, characters, levels, etc.)?

Mark Pacini: You get four players to select from at the beginning, with 17 characters total. You can unlock the extra characters, and other things, by completing the single-player scenarios. It behooves the player to play the entire game, basically.

Dave "Southpaw" Dienstbier: There are 16 weapons total.

Frank Lafuente: And 36 levels. There are 36 levels in the single-player game, and these are carried over into the deathmatch multiplayer games as well.

Dave "Butterbean" Dienstbier: Another edge we have is the level of customization in the game. Gamers will build equity in their characters via the reward system we have in the game. Players can pick a character, and name them. Then they can pick their own particular arsenal selection. Each character can hold five weapons from the 16 that are available. This way, gamers who like heavy-duty firepower can pick those kinds of weapons, while gamers who prefer stealthy tactics can pick sniper weapons and such. The awards system also builds over time with the character.

Milk: Explain.

Dave "Double-Dutch" Dienstbier: Depending on your accuracy, or total victories, et cetera, you can unlock new character skins, game modes and weapons. You can save your customized characters and bring them to a friend's house, and see whose character is better. Weapons are very cool, since each one has a duality, just like they did in Turok 2. Personally I like the shotgun's duality. In its second form, it'll pump four times and let out a continuous blast of shotgun ammo. It's very awesome. Even the warhammer has a powerful duality, adding rocket-propulsion to its head-crushing power.

Milk: Is Rage Wars RAM-Pak compatible?

Frank Lafuente: Yes, it is compatible with the RAM-Pak. We've optimized it so that it's a great visual buffer, allowing for hi-res, and cleaner textures. It also smoothes out the frame rate, since we have a set arena to work with, avoiding any data-accessing like we had to do with Turok 2's extremely large environments. In single-player mode, the game will run at around 30fps, in multiplayer it will run at 25fps.

Milk: How long has Rage Wars been in development?

Dave "Punch-Drunk" Dienstbier: Some development started when T2 was being finished. We assembled the full team back in March and have been working on it ever since. We've been doing a lot of work on the collision system. In T2, all enemy data was fully polygonal, but player collision was handled in a different way. Everything was particle-based. Now everything functions using a fully polygonal collision system.

Mark Pacini: I want to stress that since so many more people are playing video games these days who had never played them before, we want to appeal to all of them. Someone trying a first-person shooter for the first time isn't going to stand a chance with a seasoned pro, so we had to create a game that would level the playing field. Hopefully, Rage Wars will introduce people to the world of first-person shooters.

Dave "Philadelphia" Dienstbier: Also, anytime we do a new game, we don't recycle things. We always implement new ideas and push things as far as they can go. Even if we bring back an old weapon, we create new poly models, new animations - we enhance them so they're bigger and better than they were before.

Milk: If someone were in a store and had to choose between Rage Wars and something else, how would RW differentiate itself from the other options out there?

Dave "Float Like A Butterfly" Dienstbier: Rage Wars is going to be the most intense, hard-core, focused game on the market. Perfect Dark is supposed to have 40 weapons, but they won't have weapons like the chest burster (think Aliens in a tube), the inflator (think Dig-Dug in 3D), or the emaciator (think about not eating for thee years).

Frank Lafuente: We also have things like CPU-assisted capture the flag, where you can play against the computer, or you can have CPU-controlled characters on your team. No one else is doing anything like that.

Milk: What other kinds of weapons are in the game?

Dave "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots" Dienstbier: The cerebral bore is back . There's also the Iron Claw and the napalm gel, which is particularly interesting. With the napalm gel, you can stick it to anything in the game including players and detonate it manually. This can lead to some interesting tactics. Let's say your teammate has very low health, and you know that another shot will do him in. You can cover him with Napalm Gel, send him in to a pack of your opponents, and detonate him right in their midst. All kinds of confusion will take over! Frank Lafuente: There is also a rocket launcher that works in conjunction with the rocket magnets. Place the rocket magnets at certain places, and the rockets you shoot will steer towards them, which is great if you're trying to get someone around the corner. You can get them with the splash-damage from the rocket.

Dave "0 and 7" Dienstbier: There's also the teleport mine, which looks like a weapon pick-up. You drop the teleporter part down, which looks like the weapon. You then place the destination part, say, over a lava pit. So when someone goes to pick up what they think is a weapon, all of a sudden they find themselves dropping into a lava pit. There are a number of lethal zones in the game - lava, falling death, and poison water, which eats your ammo. The chest burster is also a neat strategic weapon, because of the 30-second delay before the chest burster comes out. This can lead to some real chaos if the game is set at a ten-frag limit. If you and another player both have nine frags, and you hit him with the chest burster, you can bet those last 30 seconds are going to be hectic as he tries to get you, and you try to avoid him, before the burster explodes!

With that, the Milkman concluded the interview and promptly challenged Mr. Dienstbier to an "anytime, anyplace" round of Ready 2 Rumble, and was subsequently offered a match of Rage Wars in return. Kid gloves off, the two gaming giants set off in search of some Papa John's pizza and proceeded to talk all things N64, Dreamcast, and Mario Golf. Turok: Rage Wars is scheduled to ship this holiday season.