Interview sa Paulom Wedgwoodom

Great that you took the time for this interview knowing you are a very busy man. The fans are screaming for info about Quake Wars so I hope you can shed light on some questions I got from the community.

No problem Jan! Thanks for asking lots of questions I haven't seen before.

Q1 - Knowing the closed Beta is almost there you should have figured out the balancing by now. How did you balance the different classes and weapons in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (ETQW)? What were the used parameters?

In Wolfenstein ET the teams were basically re-skinned versions of each other, so we could use damage-over-time formulas (rounds fired per minute x damage per round = potential damage per minute) to rapidly determine if differing weapons were approximate equals. This approach just doesn't work with ETQW's team asymmetry; even if you just consider the simple hand-held weapons, there are still unequivocal differences between the GDF reloading weapons and the way the Strogg weapons simply overheat.

Balancing ETQW's new tools, items, vehicles and deployables is even more complex. The Strogg Flyer Drone is similar to, but doesn't equate to, the GDF Third-Eye Camera. The Strogg Technician's Create Spawn Host ability has no GDF equivalent. Even vehicle propulsion is different between the teams.

There's no way to just calculate the balancing arithmetically. Our method involves constant debate amongst the team, analysis of the feedback from the closed-Beta, focus groups, and Activision's QA team, making iterative adjustments, and then more play-testing - thousands and thousands of hours of it.

Q2 - Can you explain the different stages of game development? There are a lot of people screaming for a Beta but what does a Beta mean?

I'll do my best. At a high level, there are generally five major milestones in a game's development; the technology prototype, the proof-of-concept for gameplay, Alpha, Beta and Gold.

At ‘Alpha' the game must feature all gameplay components. At ‘Beta' the game is shippable including final art, minus bugs. At ‘Gold' the game is complete. When a developer launches public ‘Beta Test', they may be testing the game prior to, or after, the internal Beta milestone, depending on their goals. The Beta Test naming doesn't necessarily mean the game has reached its internal Beta milestone.

In the case of ETQW, we are running an invitation only closed-Beta that is expanding the player-base through a series of phases. You'll know this already Jan, as you're one of the invitees

This closed-Beta will continue beyond the official Beta milestone, in the run up to the game going gold. The quality of feedback we receive is absolutely fantastic. We're really grateful to everyone that gives up their time to take part.

However, what the public-at-large is screaming for is probably the game's Demo. It's our goal to ensure that ETQW's Demo if released, represents the game experience you'll have playing the shipped, balanced, finished game. On that basis we're not running an open public Beta because it just wouldn't represent what ETQW will be at release.

Q3 - Can you explain the internal focus tests, how does this work?

Focus testing is often a marketing exercise; a group of people are asked about their response to a product or its packaging. This test is chaired by a moderator, who tries to stay objective and avoid leading questions - the producer of the product can appraise its quality using this group's objective feedback.

Our focus testing for ETQW is also about getting feedback and determining quality, but we tend to use to test quite specific things. We'll arrange for a specific group of gamers (such as those who haven't played shooters before, or who haven't played PC games before, or who have great multiplayer combat experience), and then test one area of the game in particular (such as how well they handle pursuing objectives, or using vehicles). We tend to use focus testing to improve the game's accessibility (our internal Production Testers are already great at giving us the more expert hardcore feedback). As Kevin Cloud has mentioned before, we take all this feedback into account when making decisions about the game's design, but the feedback never dictates the design.

The focus tests are always fascinating for us: we've been so close to the game for so long, it's very hard for us to look at it afresh. Also, it keeps us alert to the hard fact that it just doesn't matter if we think something works in theory if it doesn't work for players in practice

Q4 - How regularly do you play test and what are they like?

Here at the Splash Damage office we hold a playtest for development staff at 5.00pm every day for an hour and a half. We also have the full-time Production Testers who are playing all day. Many of the team members also join the evening closed-Beta playtests with the invited members of the community. id Software also play in daily playtests, while Activision have a large and dedicated QA testing team that play round the clock.

The playtests themselves range from quite crowded servers crammed with all sorts of developers and community players, down to hilarious 4 v 4 games far, far too late at night when everyone's a bit goofy and spammy. Those playtests tend to be neither dignified nor pretty : )

Q5 - During this play testing do you also consider the way clan matches work in competition play? Clan matches follow the stopwatch ABBA system most of the time, how does that fit in the current map setup? Will there be features built-in like match start/reset/pause like ETPro?

We haven't finalized the server administration or call voting, but many of the team here have lots of experience playing in top clans and administering leagues and servers - I'm sure the system will be great.

Q6 - Did the test team already work out cool tactics?

There are two types... Those that are funny, but that we consider as exploits and those that are legitimate aspects of the sand-box game-play.

For the known exploits, the Production Testers maintain a list that is regularly reviewed by my Design Team, and Kevin Cloud at id Software. Together we produce a list of actions to counter these, and the exploits then continue to be tracked by the Production Testing team until confirmed resolved. These have included using unbalanced Land Mine upgrades to turn them into instant proximity grenades, and pushing huge vehicles like the MCP around with the tiny Icarus (it looked like the Strogg guy was a superhero!) Naturally we've fixed these already Their favorite multiplayer tactic this week is to man the Armadillo Truck with two soldiers sat in the back and equip them with Rocket Launchers. They then do drive-by double-rocket attacks. They're calling this the double-barreled Armadillo

As for cool and legitimate tactics, there's so much potential because of the game's sandbox nature - from placing Third Eye Cameras on an enemy objective so that you can track the status of their defense, to more social-engineering oriented behaviors, like tailing an enemy Medic when you're disguised, because the enemy (for some reason) doesn't see players near a Medic as a threat.

Q7 - Is it possible to tweak the game for better online performance like we are used to in previous id titles? Die hard gamers will most likely cut back on the visuals to improve FPS but I would like to play the game as it's meant to be.

Yes, all the standard graphics and networking settings will be present, plus new ones that represent the engine's additional features.

Q8 - Can you tell us more about the announced persistent global ranking system? Battlefield2 has such a system and I liked it a lot just to compare my skills (or lack of) with my friends

It's going to be great! The persistent system includes a wide array of achievements you can attain and the military ranks you're promoted to as a result. Each achievement requires the successful completion of a set of teamplay tasks (such as completing objectives, or supporting teammates) that relate to one class, and these in turn result in promotion.

This approach works really well because you can't gain military rank simply by repeating actions (such as sniping from the top of a hill for six months), any more than you would do in the real military. You can certainly get promoted through the early ranks through combat alone, but to make Commissioned Officer status and above, it will take success at teamplay across the game.

The result is that your military rank actually demonstrates your teamplay ability. We think that's important - when you see a high military rank, you know the guy deserves respect for his achievements.

Q9 - Will it be possible for clans or fan sites to import ranking data to their websites?

That's our plan, and what's even better is that Activision hope to provide a dedicated stats server just for this use, ensuring that performance for web users is not affected when the big stats sites collect their data.

Q10 - You decided to use the hit box detection system with zones instead of the per pixel hit. How does this work on the vehicles? Knowing you can shoot of a wheel. Do vehicles have weak spots?

For players, there are hit detection zones for the legs, torso, neck and head. For vehicles we use per-poly hit detection (and that supports the destruction of individual components). In practice, this means that a player can focus his attack on the wheel of a vehicle and disable it, rather than always attempting its complete destruction. Conversely, the enemy team can repair the vehicle and put it back in service.

Q11 - Will we have hit sounds like in ET Pro with headshots having a different sound then a hit on the torso?

Yes. We have two different hit-sounds for shooting players (defined by head and torso), and a further sound for vehicles and deployables. The differences are quite subtle (to ensure accessibility for new players), but different enough that hard-core players will pick up on them.

Q12 - Is it possible to kill someone with full health in just one shot (headshot) ?

Yes, but it's also possible for certain classes with the right combination of rewards to always survive the first headshot.

Q13 - Is it possible to gib a spawn host in order to prevent Strogg from spawning there?

Yes. The GDF Medic can destroy a Spawn Host with his Defibrillators.

Q14 - Is there a big influence on your aim when walking/running/prone? And how do you simulate inaccuracy?

We can control the base level of accuracy for every weapon based on your stance such as prone, crouched, standing, using iron-sights or leaning, and then reduce or increase accuracy as appropriate to whether you are shuffling, walking or running.

Depending on the weapon being used, the difference can be subtle or extreme. It feels good in practice - you can reliably use an opponent's stance or movement as a guide to their threat to you, while the bonuses for things like firing from behind cover while crouched and iron-sighted feel worthwhile. The advantage of rapid movement is that you are less of a target. The advantage of steady movement is that your accuracy is better.

Q15 - We loved the ETPRO knife backstab goat sound, is something similar also added in Quake Wars?

I don't think there are any goat sound effects in ETQW

Q16 - If you jump off of a tall building will you survive the fall or, is it possible to use a parachute?

You take falling damage proportional to the height you've fallen from, though this is fairly generous compared to real life. There is a delay before your parachute unfurls when falling. This combination of factors means that base jumping is possible but requires a fair amount of practice. This puts base jumping on a technical level with rocket jumping, trimp'ing or wall-jumps in the Quake days - very rewarding once you've crested the learning curve! This is true for the vehicle trick jumps too.

Q17 - Is there some kind of buddy tracking system available from within the game?

Yes. You can add friends, form or join clans, and then track their locations and join them on servers. You can also invite friends and clan-mates to servers, and send them instant messages. When they're offline, you can also send them messages via the server for later delivery.

Q18 - Is there more info about the VOIP system? will it be like W:ET (vsay) or like the system in Battlefield2 which can replace teamspeak/ventrillo

Right now we have a functional VOIP implementation in-game, that allows you to communicate with Fire-Team members, team members and globally on the server. In testing this has proved adequate, but doesn't yet meet the potential it could have. Kevin and I will continue discussing it's implementation with the Designers here for the coming weeks.

Q19 - Will we die the "ragdoll" way or like W:ET where you drop on the ground facing the stars waiting for a medic?

We experimented with rag-doll physics during early development, and decided to move back to death animations. These are not predicted by the client, and lead to better gameplay - for instance, it's pretty important that players end up in places where other players can revive them.. Aesthetically, we also prefer death animations to be created by Animators rather than physics.

Q21 - In the Alpha version you had to give consent if someone wanted to enter your vehicle. Is it possible to switch this off? In the Alpha version I found it very distracting.

Actually that was consent to use the main gun and it was optional, such that the driver or pilot could retain control over it if they so wished. We've now removed this Gunner Consent system, as we made the decision to provide the pilot/driver with the main gun controls at all times.

Q22 - We heard something about bots. Is there news about bots being in the game? This would be great for training purposes.

No comment. Yet.

Q23 - Will there be a "special edition" in a cookie box?

Not an _actual_ cookie box no But there will be a cool collector's edition. The mock-ups looked amazing. It will have some cool goodies in the box too.

Q24 - Is there a limit to the amount of turrets/artillery/air strikes a team can call in?

Yes. Although this may be subject to change, we're currently experimenting with a system that enforces queuing when two Field Ops or Oppressors try to target the same area. This helps reduce spam, while allowing them still to target alternative locations immediately.

Q25 - If the requester of an artillery/air strike dies just after the request, will it still fire?

Yes, much like a grenade that you've thrown, or a rocket that you've already fired.

Q26 - Are medics able to heal themselves? Do they regenerate their own health?

They do currently. However, we're still having, er, passionate debates about the role of the ‘Rambo Medic' (our slang term for playing the Medic with a focus on your own health, rather than others). Should you hear an accusing comment while in our office like "Paging Doctor McRambo", it's not usually meant as a compliment

Q27 - Can you tell us something about the Mission and Task System?

Firstly, the average player can choose to ignore it completely. They can jump onto a public server, grab a weapon or vehicle and run around having fun. This system is not forced on the player, but rather encourages them towards having a better gameplay experience - you see it's our belief that the buzz that comes from multiplayer combat, is multiplied by coordinated teamplay.

In essence, the Mission System represents a list of tasks that you can do to help the team progress, tailored to your chosen class. The backend is quite advanced, creating that list of tasks based on the intelligence that your team is gathering, and then making them available to players by determining how appropriate it is to offer them that mission at that time.

The result is that as a new player, regardless of whether you are familiar with the combat role you've chosen, the weapons that you're carrying, or what your team objectives are, you'll know where to go, what to do when you get there, and what you reward will be for success. When you select a Mission, it will also automatically place you on a Fire Team alongside others pursuing the same goal, so you'll know for example, exactly which team-mates are also focused on escorting the MCP, or planning to destroy a Strogg Plasma Mortar.

Tasks differ from Missions in that they are more passive. Using the Radial Menu, you can call for health, ammo, someone to pick you up, report an incoming enemy etc. These radio messages generate live tasks that are displayed as an icon on the HUD above the target (or yourself) to the appropriate nearby classes that can help. This means that when in localized combat, you can quickly determine who needs your help, or who can help you. Some Tasks are automatically generated, such as a player who needs reviving, or a deployable that needs repairing. In this instance the Medic and Engineer will automatically see those requests as they happen.

Q28 - I like to know more about the improved net code which is mentioned before. Can you go into more detail about the "split stream" and "area of relevance" concepts? Does this help in decreasing the possible lag?

The DOOM 3 engine's networking system was completely different to the one we'd improved with Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Wolf ET's features (such as anti-lag code for better sniping) couldn't be migrated over, so we worked with id Software to create a completely new approach to meet our goal of having everyone on the battlefield seeing exactly the same thing at the same time. Almost as importantly, we wanted everyone on the battlefield to see as far as possible.

As a concept, "Area of Relevance" is somewhat like "Level of Detail" for graphics (or more abstractly, Stephen Hawking's Time Cones) - a set of circles emanate out from you, and the amount of data that we send back depends on what can actually affect you at a distance. A good example of this is the sniper scope. When you're not using the scope, we send less information about players that are a long way away from you, but when you zoom in the frequency of updates is adjusted based on the easily-predictable data.

The other new feature is ‘Split Stream Networking'. All our data is split into two streams, with things that happen at great regularity that the client can reliably predict (such as certain vehicle physics results) being sent less often, while things that happen less often (such as the firing of an artillery gun) being sent real-time. This feature alone halved the bandwidth used.

Q29 - Does Quake Wars support wide screen (16/9) resolutions? And I mean REAL support so when I have a wide screen I see more than with a standard 4/3 screen?

Yes. It supports all standard widescreen resolutions, allowing you to see more at the sides. This support has been implemented in the renderer and the user interface (so that HUD components move to the outside appropriately).

You can also set your own custom resolutions, and can even use a 4:3 aspect ratio resolution for improved frame-rate (such as 1024x768), but change the anamorphic rendering so that you see more at the sides (effectively it compensates for the stretched display by rendering more).

No matter how you do it, when you switch aspect ratios, you see more at the sides.

Q30 - Final: You are almost done with Splash Damage's second big hitter, what's next?

Sleep, then playing lots of ETQW with id Software!

Thanks for this interview Paul. Hope to meet you on the game servers soon.