An Interview With Marcus Beer !
Originally posted in a dutch magazine Pcgameplay, translated by King
Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising
Novalogic will not delliver a half product this time. After the big succes of the game Delta Force Black Hawk Down, they are going another way. Although the populairity of DF:BHD, there were some comments that you can’t drive any of the vehicles in the game. That will be different in Joint Operations. Its done with only sitting in the back of a truc, you will be able to get behind the weel also. The game can be looked as Battlefield 1942 with modern weapons and vehicles. More about that some later. Joint Operations is using a strong avanced Black Hawk Down engine, and that will be noticed at the graphics. Who already liked DF:BHD, will be delighted with all the settings of Joint Operations.The game is being played in Indonesia, in 2006. That means, nice islands, white beaches, but also a close junge, and rivers. Its something different then that you see in the Delta Force games, which have several desertmaps. The islands with their beaches are very nice, but we knew this already from the game ‘Far Cry’. The new maps are, as usual for Novalogic, very stretched, with a very good view. In Joint Operations, the multi player will be very important, but there will also be some singelplayer campaigns for those who like to prepare for the real work. We had a single player
mission, in a very tight jungle, which need to be cleared of rebels. Not really easy, because in Joint Operations the jungle is really tight. You will go with a few AI soldiers, and will clear the jungle. Suddenly you hear some shots, and you see a flashlight, and then a grenade expodes close to you. Hmm, they have seen us earlier then we them. It will not be easier, their gunners are very good hidden in the tight jungle, so its just waiting until you see again a flashlight of the next shot. Further, its night, so just running to them will have a high percentage of being killed. Joint Operations has a very good day and night cyclus, so its not only the decor. The sun will also be a factor. When a sniper is looking to the sun, he will be blinded by it. The enemy will use this to attack of course. But , when the enemy is going towards the sun, a sniper can also kill most of the group.But back to our singleplayer mission. De jungle has several ruins and open spaces. After killing a few enemy’s, we need to move on. The fastest way is over the river, which is going in the middle of the jungle. Together with you team, you jump in the boat, and go down the river. The river is not like the sea. Its full with sand, so its braun. So if you jump there in the water, you see something like a fog underwater. From the travel in the boat, you see that the maps are very big. And then, the single player maps is just some stuff. The multi player battles is where Joint Operations is all about.
Multiplayer maps can be played on a local network, or with the Novaworld server from Novalogic. Online, there can be 64 people in the same map, but also 32 player servers will be enough for a big fight. Our favorite map, is a central island, surrounded with several smaller islands. Perfect to show all the sides of Joint Operations. One team has to defend the central island, the other team attacks from sea. The are a few bunkers with a grenade launcher, and a heavy machine gun. Our patrol boat, comes back and has nothing seen. The back of the island is also clear ? Just when he speaks, a helicopter is flying over them with a few soldiers, and fly to the center of the island. Some of our teammembers jump in a truck , and go after them. From the sea, we see 2 well armed boats comming to the beach. They take the bunker under fire, and the guy behind the machine gun died. The guy behind the grenade launcher is doing a better job. He destroys 1 of the boats. The surviving soldiers are in the water, and oour snipers will kill them. That will learn them. The other boats is at the beach, and with some smoke grenades, they are comming on the beach. They fight man 2 man, and the fight is being continued in the jungle. From the truck, who was going after that helicopter, is still no news, this is going wrong! In Joint Operations arent powerfull vehicles, with powerfull guns. So no big ballecruiser, tank or gunship helicopter. There are small fast attacking boats, humvees and heli’s. This is done to have still a nice balans in the game, so close battle will still be there. The small vehicles are making the game faster, and only give more adrenaline. Almost all can take some other players with them. A helicopter can have 4 players on it. When your flying on the helicopter, you dont have to be scared that you fall of it. Just sit back, and enjoy the flight. With you machine gun, you can fire some targets on the ground. With some vehicles, you can go on another vehicle. Like 2 jeeps can go on a hovercraft, which will transport you save on the water. On this way, your mobile on your destination. What is very important, everything is very easy to control. Gameplay and pure fun are the most important things here. Further, the camera positions are also free. You can play in first person shooter, but also as third person. In 3rd person, you can rotate the camera totaly, and also zoom. Not very usefull, but its nice to look at.
We are proud to have had an interview with marcus beer.
Q> Can you introduce yourself to our visitors?
A> Hi, i am Marcus Beer, Head of public relations of Novalogic, in the USA.
Q> What can we expect of the singleplayer part of Joint Operations? Is it a total campaign, or is it just a preparation for the multiplayer part?
A> In the beginning we started with the idea that the singleplayer part was only for training, but now the singleplayer campaign will be a full gameexperience, with a very good story, variated missions, vehicles, AI teammembers and enemy's. Lots of developers who worked on Black Hawk Down, have joined the team for Joint Operations. We are planning to have 9 a 10 missions for the singleplayer campaign. Of course, you will learn there lots of skills that are usefull in the multiplayer part.
Q> AI teammates often do strange things, like in BattleField 1942 they run away with vehicles. How will you solve these kinds of problems?
A> We are known with the problems that AI teammates can bring with them. We have learned from the mistakes in Black Hawk Down. We used a totaly new AI for Joint Operations. In the singleplayer missions, AI teammates will wait for you if they are already in a vehicle, or will say that you need to take a position. Of course, you also can take care of these things, and give commands to them.
Q> Will AI Teammates also be used in the multiplayer part of Joint Operations?
A> Its a delicated situation to use AI teammembers with other players. Its much easier to use AI teammates in a singleplayer mission, then in a dynamic multiplayer map. Its very difficult to find a balance for the AI teammates, so they aren’t inactive, but also not too active. We haven’t decided yet if we will use AI teammates in multiplayer maps. If we do it, it should have a positive add-on to the whole game.
Q> What are the differences in graphics between Black Hawk Down and Joint Operations?
A> Joint Operations uses a third, very new version of the Comanche/Black Hawk Down engine. De newest DirectX 9 functions will be supported. There will be dynamic shadows, and of course the realistic day/night cyclus. From that, we expect very much in the multiplayer games. You start a battle when the sun is still shining. But when the climax is comming, its is night. Because there things, there should be used lots of tactical changes..
Q> The per-poligon hit detection works very nice in Call of Duty. Will Joint Operations have also such hit detection?
A> We will use the per-polygon hit detection, but not exactly how CoD is using it. In Joint Operations there wont be several animations that depends on where the player is hit. But it will be used for how much damage it makes. Like a bullet in the hart, will make lots of more damage then in the leg.
Q> And what about the vehicles. Can we shoot the tires of a truck?
A> It wont be possible to shoot the tires, because it would slow down the speed of the game. Of course, the vehicles can be destroyed on several ways. You can take down a helicopter with a rocketlauncher, or you can shoot the pilot of the helicopter, so it will crash. The possibility to shoot a driver or pilot true a window, is there.
Q> Join Operations plays in the far Indonesia. Did you used satillite photo’s to make realistic maps?
A> We have done lots of research in the topographic of Indonesia, where we also used satillite photo’s. Still, we have used some artisitic freedom to make the maps, this so the gameplay would be better. You can find 3 kinds of landscapes in 1 map. Like ocean, with the beach, a jungle, and mountains.
Q> Multiplayer part will be very important. What multiplayer modes will be in Joint Operations?
A> We have a few special modes in development. We can’t say anything about those. Of course the known modes like Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag will be there. Also Attack & Defend will be there, that is a mode where 1 team attacks an objective, and the other defends it.
Q> How many multiplayer maps can we expect?
A> The exact ammount is still not known. But all types of terrains will be there. Further, after the release of the game, we will release new maps also. We think much about the support to the multiplayer community.
Q> Will there also be a level-edittor?
A> Of course, all tools for the mod community will be there. We are looking forward to see skins, mods and total conversions.
Q> Do you make use of several kinds of playertypes in multiplayerbattles?
A> Of course, at the release there will be 8 kind of playertypes, like sniper, heavy gunner, cbq, medic and engineer. De skills of these playertypes will be needed to finish a map. Players will be forced to play as a team , and thats of course the meaning in Joint Ops Multiplayer.
Q> Joint Operations is playing in 2006, and uses a lot of weapons and vehicles. Are they all realistic, or are there also a few created for Join Operations?
A> We have worked very close with some militairy advisers to make sure that the weapons and vehicles would be very realistic. All ‘hardware’ that you see in the game, are being used in the game by other army’s. Only with the Chinook, and the amfiby buggy we made something different. We made the Chinook some bigger, so they can have 2 panzers in them, in real they only can transport 1. The amfiby buggy can transport 5 players. We have just had a weaponsound recording session in the Grand Canyon, where several employees could fire some weapons.
Q> Sounds very good! Will both teams have the same vehicles?
A> Both teams will have different vehicles. Every vehicle at the Special Forces will have a opponent. The western vehicles have mostly the modern, and blits vehicles. But they will not be always the strongest. We made sure there is a ballance in it. This is very important in multiplayer games. Also, both teams can use the opponents vehicles, if they can get them.
Q> What will be the most spectaculaire weapon in the game?
A> My most favorite will be the Stinger Rocket, which will search for the target after it is being shot. But there will be lots of impressive weapons. There is for everyone a gun. For a sniper, or for a heavy gunner. Besides guns, we got also grenades, flashbangs and smoke grenades. Smoke grenades can be used for cover for your teammates, or for entering a room with enemy’s.
Q> How can players get new ammunition, or how will be done the healthcare. Will there be medicpacks?
A> Here, the playertypes will be very important. When your shot, you can call for a medic. They can heal you with their medicpacks. For ammunition, you can go to one of the mobile armouries, and most of the time, there will also be one near the spawnpoint.
Q> How will you take care of the spawnpoint. Will you begin at the first point of the map?
A> Because the maps will be very large, it wouldn’t be fun to walk a long distance before you can take part in the battle. This is why we will use progressive spawn points. When your team gets a area in the map, you will be able to spawn there, so you can enter the battle fast.
Q> Everyone talks nowadays about the physics in the game. What physics can we expect for the vehicles and playertypes in Joint Operations?
A> We are very busy to get the physics and feeling in several vehicles and guns. You can expect a very realistic drive and shoot behaviour of them. For playertypes, we use the standard physics model. We dont use the ragdoll physics anymore, because it takes down the speed in multiplayer battles, and also it made it difficult to heal with the medic.
Q> Vehicles are easy to drive. You did this on purpose?
A> Yes, we did it like that, so everyone can take part of all aspects of Join Operations. The controls and movements are easy. This so you dont have to be a flightsim expert for fly a helicopter. This is the same for boats and vehicles. We didnt want to make the same mistake as in other multiplayer games, where some vehicles are difficult to control.
Q> How will you take care of the respawning of vehicles?
A> When vehicles are destroyed, they will respawn back on their startpoint. But we want more then that. This because we dont want that games have to travel without transport. So in 1,5 a 2 minutes, we want a new vehicles on that spot, so other players can travel fast to the battle. We are still very busy with this system, and testing is not finished yet.
Q> Will voice communication be supported in multiplayer?
A> Of course! Voice communication helps players a lot, so we will support it.
Q> Cheating is the biggest problem in online gaming. How will you get cheaters?
A> We have implemented serveral new systems to fight against cheaters. There are always people who like to destroy a game for other people. Teamkillers and cheaters will be banned from the Novaworld multiplayer servers. Players need to have a unique cd key before they can play online. We hope to filter the cheaters from the game.
Q> Why did you wait so long before you guys are making this?
A> We already had a long time this idea to put something like this on the market. The technoligy is finaly at this point, that we can make it how we want it, with beautifull graphics and very good gameplay.
Q> When can we expect Joint Operations, and what will be the system requirements?
A> The releasedate is march 2004. The system requirements are still not set. Gamers with a highend system will enjoy all the graphical details, but the game will also be playable for midrange systems, although, you will miss some details then.
Q> Thanks for the interview.
A> Your welcome
[Edited on 12-3-2003 by Chad]
