SiN Episodes - Interview - SiN Release
A new SiN game? One that might even change the way games are distributed? Naturally, we had to find out more about SiN Episodes, Ritual's upcoming episodic first person shooter. Luckily, we were able to abduct a few of the Ritual guys long enough to answer our questions about the game. We would like to thank Steve Nix, Tom Mustaine, Shawn Ketcherside and the Levelord for taking the time to answer our questions. This Interview by SpaecKow was published 2005-08-01 on ritualistic.
Interview
Let's start off with the fact that SiN Episodes is not going to be a traditional retail title. Instead you're using Valve's Steam service for direct distribution from the developer to the end user. Why did you choose to go this route and what are the advantages?
Moving to an episodic model for distributing games makes sense for a lot of reasons right now. Many consumers are saying that they don't want their media in traditional chunks and some people may not necessarily want to go out and spend $49.99 for a long game that they are not even sure they will like. Being able to pay less than $20 for a game that you can complete during the course of a week should be very popular for a large audience.
Since we're self-funding this project, we also have complete creative control, which allows the team to come up with great ideas, quickly test them out and to keep only what works. We like to follow an iterative design approach and everything moves more quickly when the company can make final decisions instead of having to wait for feedback from the publisher.Related to that, games of traditional length have become very expensive to make over the last few years, while sales have not really increased that much. Very few titles actually make money and the situation is not improving. Going episodic allows us to get a game out with a lower development budget, while at the same time having a much better chance of being financially successful if the game is popular.
Another big advantage is that we can dynamically adjust our content from one episode to the next, depending on the feedback we get from gamers. This really allows us to tailor the experience to what the gamer wants.
What do you say to those who claim that Steam is the wrong tool for getting SiN Episodes to gamers?
We have been looking at Steam as our distribution system for years and it really makes a lot of sense for SiN Episodes. The HL2 launch proved that Steam is very capable of handling large scale releases and we will be able to reach a large number of gamers worldwide immediately with Sin Episodes. Steam will provide a distribution route for non-traditional projects that might not appear to make sense in a publisher's greenlight meeting and Sin Episodes is the first game to take advantage of that.
We're also talking to retailers about getting a boxed release out there, most likely containing several episodes at a more traditional price point.
In previous interviews you said that you were 'targeting a sub-20 dollar price point' for the first episode. Can you be a bit more specific about this? To most people, sub-20 dollars means 19.99$
We're going to offer several packages similar to what Valve did with Half-Life 2. The basic package will definitely be well below 19.99 though.
Any hard feelings at Ritual about working with Valve? SiN was, after all, in direct competition with Half-Life when it came out in 1998.
On the contrary - after working with Valve on Condition Zero and Counter-Strike for the Xbox, we've built quite a good relationship with them. The Valve guys are actually huge fans of SiN, so being able to work with them on this game, as ironic as it may seem, is a great opportunity for us and the franchise.
Now, what has Blade actually been up to ever since he busted that mob operation in Wages of Sin? What is the general story setup for SiN Episodes: Emergence and how does episodic distribution affect the way you tell the story?
SiN Episodes is set about four years after SiN. Players will find in that Elexis Sinclaire is very much alive and kicking, despite her unorthodox escape at the end of SiN. She actually managed to entrench herself at the very top of Freeport's society and is nearly worshipped by the wealthy elite, despite the fact that HardCorps tried everything to take down Sinclaire and SinTEK Industries. Blade has become nearly obsessed with bringing Elexis to justice and his actions and attitude in SiN Episodes will reflect that.
Episodic distribution makes it harder to tell your story in the sense that not everybody might play all the episodes. So we decided that each episode would feature a self-contained story in addition to contributing to the overall story arc. So it's definitely possible for somebody to go in and get any one episode and enjoy it on its own. Of course, to get the big picture, you should play all the episodes.
Things like interactive environments and Action Based Outcomes made Sin pretty distinct from other shooters of its day. What can we expect from SiN Episodes in this regard and how are you leveraging the built-in physics engine?
SiN Episodes will feature the same amount of interactivity and a little extra, since we now have a fully-fledged physics engine to play around with. So not only will you be able to blow things up, but it'll happen in a physically correct way!
We also have quite a bit of vehicle-based combat in the first episode, which is another very popular feature we had in SiN. Again, we're going to expand it by making it more interactive. We have one sequence in the game where Jessica is driving the HardCorps car through a docks district, while the player picks off bad guys. During this whole thing, you'll be able to switch positions in the car, open the sunroof and all the windows, and even lean out of the car to get a better shot.
In the original SiN, we got to visit a huge number of unique environments, ranging from Freeport City Bank and the dam to Elexis' exotic island and her private mansion. Tell us about the locations you have planned for SiN Episodes - are we going to get to see more of Freeport?
Emergence takes place in various parts of Freeport City, so you'll definitely get to see a lot more of the city this time around. We really want to showcase Freeport City in this game, and we've actually updated its look somewhat to reflect the fact that the game is set in the future. Freeport as a city has many layers, starting with the older, poorer districts, and going all the way up to the modern high-rise buildings of the wealthy elite, and the level design will definitely mirror that.
Can you tell us more about the weapons that we'll see in the first episode?
Blade's Magnum will naturally return, but apart from that, most of the weapons are new. We're trying very hard to make each weapon useful, even in the later stages of the game. For example, the Magnum can now fire a depleted uranium shell that can easily penetrate lighter materials, so you can actually take out enemies hiding behind doors. It's a neat little tool that will make the Magnum so much more useful than it was in the first game.
SiN had us fighting a variety of enemies, ranging from lowly foot soldiers to heavily armored commandos and - of course - a rather creative assortment of SinTEK mutants. I suppose SiN Episodes will return to that mix, so can you share any details about the enemies we will face?
That's right, we're going to have both human and mutant enemies in the first episode. The beloved SinTEK grunts will be back, and some will even be equipped with jetpacks, so be sure to watch the skies. We also have a bunch of new mutant characters, including one that keeps growing and evolving until you finally take him out. Be sure to take care of those as soon as possible, or you might be in for a nasty surprise.
Obviously Sin had a very over-the-top style, with exaggerated (and nonetheless likeable) characters that seemed to come straight out of cheesy action movies. Can we expect the same from SiN Episodes, or have the characters grown with the times?
The SiN universe has evolved somewhat since the first game. JC has grown up and matured a bit, and even Blade has become a bit more bitter and sarcastic because of his past experiences with SinTEK. The two are joined by HardCorps hotshot Jessica Cannon, who is helping Blade out in the field. Jessica sometimes has trouble keeping her temper in check, but she is quite athletic and able to reach places Blade can't get to, which makes her an invaluable asset.
A few weeks ago you said that SiN Episodes wouldn't ship with multiplayer, but that it was definitely planned. Can you tell us anything more about this?
Multiplayer is definitely near the top of our to-do list and we have several unique ideas for it. We do want to get the community's input here, so we're going to have a multiplayer survey on SinEpisodes.com in the near future.
For a while now, you've solicited community feedback and opinions using the Question of the Week threads in our forums. How important a role does the community play in the development of SiN Episodes
The community is extremely important to us. In the end, they're going to be the ones playing the game, so we want to make sure that we deliver a gaming experience that meets and exceeds their expectations. For SiN Episodes, we're actually toying with the idea of having global community-driven action-based outcomes, which are decided by whichever path is chosen by the majority of people. At the same time, we understand that it may be frustrating to not see 'your' outcome become a reality, so we're still determining the extent to which this feature will be implemented.
Episodic delivery also gives us the opportunity to respond and adapt to community feedback from one episode to the next - if a feature is well-received by gamers, we might expand its role in the game, whereas aspects that aren't liked can be changed or phased out completely.
Concerning the technology - you are using the Source engine, which was of course also used for Half-Life 2. Ritual has a history of modifying third-party engines (the UberTools for Quake III come to mind here) - have you added any features to the Source engine for SiN Episodes?
We've added a number of enhancements to the engine in order to get the most out of it for SiN Episodes: Emergence. There are now damage zones for vehicles, so you can shoot off parts like the windshield or the doors. We also have a new system dubbed Context Look, which allows non-player characters to accurately respond to what the player is looking at. Blade might be going through a cluttered room looking for a specific device, while JC reacts to what he is looking at. So he might go 'That's not it, boss, that's just a useless PDA,' or 'Quit looking at those magazines and get back to the mission.'
We would, of course, very much like to have a release date.'
SiN Episodes: Emergence is currently on track for a release in late Fall of this year (2005).
An ancient and evil alien race have kidnapped Duke Nukem and Col. John Blade to do battle in a tournament that shall determine who is the greatest, most badass hero in the perpetuality of the universe. The two gladiators are equipped with machineguns, rocket launchers, whatever weapons they can imagine and then dropped inside the arena. What happens?
Our boy Blade would kick ass, of course! - but it would be considered a technical victory because when the battle was supposed to start, Duke would still be in the locker room getting ready to come out ;)
