Interview - Richard Ham

(zXSwordXz) #1

Found this guys…not sure if it was already posted. If it was, I’m sorry.

http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/02/16/interview-richard-ham-creative-director-of-splash-damage-brink-multiplayer-customization-and-a-new-era-in-online-gaming.aspx

(Senethro) #2

I’m not at all sure about this missions thing. I found them a bit fiddly to be bothered with in ETQW and never touched them, even with the incentive of extra XP. I was just there to frag mostly.

So, a request. How about if I hold down the mission button, look at something that has a mission associated with it, release, automatically selects the thing I was looking at as my mission. It benefits me by getting extra XP. It benefits my team because it gets me participating in the missions and so they’ll get those voice over clips saying I’m going to 'splode a turret or revive someone or whatever.

What I’d hate is for someone to be about to revive me, pause a second to select me as their mission (they press mission button a total of 7 times as they scroll past me twice) and then get headshot by a sharpshooter because they’re standing still. Context sensitive please.

(H0RSE) #3

What I’d hate is for someone to be about to revive me, pause a second to select me as their mission (they press mission button a total of 7 times as they scroll past me twice) and then get headshot by a sharpshooter because they’re standing still. Context sensitive please.

This issue was addressed in the interview.

“So when you’re in a hurry, instead of bringing up the Objective Wheel and having to navigate through it, you can just tap the objective menu button instead of holding it. In doing this, you’re telling the game “I want to do this task”, and the game will automatically take care of all the communication. And you’ll get your XP bonus!”

(spazski) #4

What a good interview. I’m definitely hyped for this game over any others this year. Glad they decided to make changes to the weapon loadout system, but I don’t think I would have minded either way.

(SockDog) #5

Rahdo confirmed it’ll work pretty much like that. I’m still a little dubious whether it’ll work well enough to be used in a firefight but at least they acknowledge the problems with the system in ETQW.

Here’s the linky to Rahdo’s post in the thread:
http://splashdamage.com/forums/showthread.php?p=211532&highlight=mission#post211532

(3Suns) #6

Good read!

The presentation of the narrative and the fact that one can do any of the missions in any order sounds brilliant and simultaneously has me scratching my head. I need more data to process. :wink:

(H0RSE) #7

The presentation of the narrative and the fact that one can do any of the missions in any order sounds brilliant and simultaneously has me scratching my head. I need more data to process. :wink:

What are you scratching you head about? I know if you choose to do the missions in any order, there won’t be any story attached to them…You will just be playing a match like in ET. So you won’t ruin any campaign elements.

(Szakalot) #8

Very good find!

One thing I’d like to see for comp, to throw the MMO factor out of the way: in a comp setting everyone stats flat, but there is a pre-set number of skill points (or upgrades or whatever) that you can spend on the unlocks of your choice.

Tactical possibilities seem so endless (for example going for a super fast rush squad, or a heavy defending encampment - as a whole team)

(darthmob) #9

[QUOTE=Szakalot;213423]One thing I’d like to see for comp, to throw the MMO factor out of the way: in a comp setting everyone stats flat, but there is a pre-set number of skill points (or upgrades or whatever) that you can spend on the unlocks of your choice.

Tactical possibilities seem so endless (for example going for a super fast rush squad, or a heavy defending encampment - as a whole team)[/QUOTE]My thoughts exactly. Depending on who makes a promod I fear it will all be thrown out to make it more like ET though. :confused:

(3Suns) #10

Ok, are you saying that there is a story (campaign) that can be “engaged” at will. If you are playing MP online, then you disengage it and just play the “map” for a skirmish?

Or is it just that there isn’t any overall story arc to the ark story? And actually, instead of it being a typical SP campaign game that can be played co-operatively, or against human enemies, it is actually a multiplayer game that can also be played solo because you will have friendly A.I. in addition to the enemy A.I…

Either it is a really unique idea, or there really isn’t an overall arching narrative to the game at all, and it is just a slightly deeper TF2. That is why I am scratching my head… still…scratching my head. lol

(tokamak) #11

[QUOTE=3Suns;213419]Good read!

The presentation of the narrative and the fact that one can do any of the missions in any order sounds brilliant and simultaneously has me scratching my head. I need more data to process. ;)[/QUOTE]

I’m still not sure how they ever manage to do that either.

(H0RSE) #12

Or is it just that there isn’t any overall story arc to the ark story? And actually, instead of it being a typical SP campaign game that can be played co-operatively, or against human enemies, it is actually a multiplayer game that can also be played solo because you will have friendly A.I. in addition to the enemy A.I…

Yeah, the game has a campaign for each faction. You can play it solo, 8 player co-op, or 8v8 MP. The missions will be in a certain order, tied together through cutscenes and backstory or whatever, and you can progress through and see both factions views of the events unfolding as the civil war unravels on the Ark.

At the same time, you can just choose to play matches without any story, and you can also do this solo, co-op, or MP. So say you’re playing through the Resistance campaign and your friend jumps online. He just wants to play some matches, so you exit your campaign and join his game which is just a stopwatch match. Now since you aren’t playing the campaign, you can choose to play Security or Resistance. You play with him for a couple hours, he leaves, and then you go back to your campaign as Resistance.

Now I’m not the definitive, be all end all, Brink guru, but I’m pretty sure this is how it works.

(Jamieson) #13

I think the comments section is more interesting than the interview itself, there are alot of people praising the game or interested which is a good sign.

(tokamak) #14

[QUOTE=Szakalot;213423]Very good find!

One thing I’d like to see for comp, to throw the MMO factor out of the way: in a comp setting everyone stats flat, but there is a pre-set number of skill points (or upgrades or whatever) that you can spend on the unlocks of your choice.

Tactical possibilities seem so endless (for example going for a super fast rush squad, or a heavy defending encampment - as a whole team)[/QUOTE]

Yeah I like that idea for competition as well. Though a league rule option to fix all ‘skill builds’ of the players from the start of the league would make a lot of sense as well.

(badman) #15

A new story entry has been added:
[drupal=601]Game Informer Publishes Huge Richard Ham Interview[/drupal]

There’s a brand-new interview with Splash Damage’s Creative Director Richard Ham on the website of U.S. gaming mag, Game Informer, covering a smorgasbord of Brink topics. Among other things, Richard discusses the game’s dynamic mission system, customising your weapons, playing the story out of order, and what sort of things you can expect to unlock over the course of the game. Go check out the full interview on GI’s website - it’s a very informative read.

On a side note, the latest print edition of Game Informer also features some great Brink content. If you’re in the U.S. and near a newsstand, expect to find a preview laden with plenty of Richard Ham quotes and new screenshots.

(tokamak) #16

There are a lot of choices to make, and we suspect that players will actually want to create multiple characters to experiment with different combinations, so they’ve got the right fighter for every occasion – almost like an MMORPG.

I really like this. Makes it more likely that you’ll have to go back and build new characters than just switching a few settings on your current existing one. Gives more meaning to building a character.

And yes I’m talking about pub play here, for comps a talent build system fits better.

(3Suns) #17

HORSE, thanks, that answered a lot of questions. Very interesting approach!

(H0RSE) #18

Also, if you start a campaign, you can’t start the other factions campaign until you finish the one you are on, (no switching mid way through) or you make a new character and start a new one.

(Yoshimitshu) #19

Už aby to vyšlo ! a nech to je poriadna kvalita lebo Bad company 2 a AvP sú somariny neprehladne …

(madness) #20

Yes…