| Raven Squad Q&A with Atomic Motion |
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What is Raven Squad about, and what can players expect from the game?
The story is about a group of elite mercenaries stranded in the jungles of the Amazons. They are originally sent in to retrieve a package holding sensitive information, but after their plane gets shot down that objective changes to survival in a civil war ridden area. The player needs to guide them through this adventure using an innovative FPS/RTS hybrid control method.
Can you give us an outline of the sort of mission objectives we're likely to have to complete?
The objectives are direct results of the storyline and are usually defined by the player characters themselves. There are several different types of objectives that the player can encounter in each mission. These range from assault to progressive to defensive types.
Can you go into a little more detail of how the squad mechanics work.
Each squad consists of 4 members that work as a unit, similar to that of a traditional RTS game. The squad keeps together and the members protect each other if necessary. In RTS mode you control the squad as a whole and are free to utilize any member?s unique weapons freely. In FPS mode you control the current squad leader and the others will follow you in formation.
Is the game playable entirely as a FPS or RTS game or does the player have to utilize both elements?
You can complete the campaign staying in one mode most of the time, but it will be a lot easier if you use the advantages of both modes.
How accessible will the interface be for gamers more used to first person shooters?
The interface will be a mixture of tactical RTS and FPS games. We are aiming to display all relevant information for the player in both modes. The goal was to unite the distinctive features of the two while keeping it simple and informative.
Do you think there's a risk incorporating two very different styles into the one game, as you might end up not fully appealing to both camps as a result?
The real gaming experience in Raven Squad is the combined use of the two control modes. Each mode is traditional enough to provide enough familiarity for the fans of that genre to ease the learning process of the other. The fans will of course discover that we did certain things uniquely, as the game has its own pace and feel that distinguishes it from traditional FPS and RTS games.
What was the behind the decision to make the story based around crash landed mercenaries? Was there a reason for the jungle locale? Will we see more varied environments as well?
When we sculpted the story for the game we investigated several different locations and found the Amazons the most suitable for the story we intended to tell. It?s a very beautiful and diverse place. The jungle acts as a sort of gateway or bridge that connects the varied locations of the game together.
Raven Squad implies as if there will be some features beyond a typical run-of-the-mill 1st person shooter, what kind of team and tactical based elements will we see in this game?
In most of the battle situations in the game your squads will be greatly outnumbered so simply marching in in FPS mode will almost certainly get you wiped out. However it?s not impossible for expert players to complete the game purely in this mode. The RTS mode will not be a decoration only, careful planning and squad positioning can be key to winning battles.
How will Raven Squad differ from the current next generation line up we're seeing, and how does it compare; what familiarities will we see in this game?
The hybrid RTS/FPS controls of Raven Squad are certainly unique in the current line up as such integration hasn?t been presented in any game before.
We originally planned the campaign with cooperative multiplayer mode in mind and this seems to have become one of the favourite new features in this year?s releases. Also many games, especially of the FPS genre, seem to break off from the traditional desert/wasteland/snowstorm environments and begin to show lush vegetation locations like the rain-forests in our game.
Brothers in Arms focuses on the story of a squad, Ghost Recon Advanced WarFighter concentrates on a war from a 'global view'. Does Raven Squad have a particular direction with its story line?
The main characters in our story are mercenaries. Their objectives are almost always selfish. They?re not fighting for any country, they are in it for the money and they only go as far as the money is worth the risk. In the story however, they will be forced to do things they would normally not, all in order to get out alive.
A very common genre on the Xbox 360 seems to be first person shooters, many games have used the FPS genre and have given their own twist to make the game unique and appealing. What will Raven Squad do to try and achieve this?
Really successful FPS games today are basically interactive movies, players control the protagonist and experience the story first-hand. Given that the experience is rich enough and the story is good enough games like these are and will be quite popular for this console generation. Raven Squad is not an FPS game with a twist; it is basically a new kind of approach. The FPS element in the game is just as important as the RTS as both have advantages that the player will want to use.
Developers are almost forced to include a multiplayer component now due to the popularity and potential of Xbox LIVE, because of this though we're seeing a huge drop in single player dependent games. Where will the experience lie in Raven Squad?
The campaign of Raven Squad was designed to be complete and enjoyable both in single player and online coop multiplayer modes. We are aware of the popularity of Xbox LIVE and it was an important focus point to include it in the design when the original guidelines of the project were laid down. Although the two modes are quite similar, the inclusion of the additional player opens up such new possibilities in gameplay that really make the multiplayer a different experience. Synchronizing your actions with another player is a different task from managing your squads in FPS and RTS alone.
Assuming there is multiplayer, or at least being LIVE compatible, what kind of support in the terms of download content will we expect to see in Raven Squad?
We have designs of several additional missions and necessary code support to include them in the game as DLC. The publisher will decide on the actual content and release dates based on future player feedback.
Talking a little more about multiplayer, will we be seeing any local multiplayer features such as split-screen or system link?
The game supports coop play through system link and Xbox LIVE for the 360 version. The PC version will use a third party service provider for online play.
An important point to talk about when designing a game is what audience it's going to appeal to, what kind of people will play and enjoy this game and can you relate it to any other title?
Positioning a game with no clear predecessor is a difficult thing. We?re targeting a teen to middle-aged more casual FPS or RTS fan base that is open to this new kind of combined gameplay. We intend to show a refreshing game experience to this audience and maybe a new point of view. This might actually open up traditionally strictly FPS or RTS players to the other genre. Hardcore gamers will also find the Veteran difficulty quite challenging.
What were your inspirations and influences in designing this game and how does it show/affect the outcome of your product?
We?d been toying with this idea for quite some time but only after we made an experimental prototype we thought that this could become a real game after all. The concept was simple; create the game mechanics from the ground up and then build characters and a story around it while keeping it intact.
On the art side we were greatly inspired by movies like Predator or Tears of the Sun or Apocalypto that present believable jungle environments. A lot of influence came from art books and photo albums depicting South American environments.
After reading a little bit about the game and the clever utilization between the two view points it had brought to our attention, and we would reckon to many others, that this kind of adaptation of the strategic birds eye view and 3rd/1st person view has been attempted before but without much prevail. How do you think this game overcome the struggles previous titles have had with this feature?
We looked at a lot of references, especially in relation to RTS controls on consoles, tried to avoid or suppress their faults and then create our own solution. The major issue was the RTS/FPS hybrid game mechanics that simply have no real reference in currently existing games that we could use. It was really tough to create a working solution to the problems that came up here and we hope the players will like the end result.
Will there be any exclusive features or differences between the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game?
Our aim was to deliver the same experience for both platforms and not to force the players to choose a version based on exclusive content that is present on one platform and absent on another, so the PC and Xbox 360 versions are pretty much the same.
We'd like to thank Atomic Motion for answering our questions
Posted By: Robert Cram
Date: 0000-00-00
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