ET:Quake Wars | Interview with "Locki"

[warren-the-ape]

From: http://www.planetquakewars.net/content.php?content.49

On our visit at the Splash Damage Headquaters we had the chance to do a audio interview with Paul "Locki" Wedgwood. He is the owner and creative director of the company.
This interview is just a audio transcript and not a verbatim.


How big is the installation size of the final game?

Locki: It will all match to one DVD, but we dont know the exact installation size yet. It also depends on how big your cluster values are set to on your harddrive and if you are using a FAT32 or NTFS partition. But it will definitly fits on one DVD.


How big is a average Map which is using the Mega Texture Technology?

Locki: A normal Megatexture starts at about 6 GB Source Image. Its 32 000 squarepixels large and that includes various properties. We compress that to a file which is about 300 - 400 MB per Map. This will use abour 30-40 MB of Memory in the game itself. Thats a brilliant system beacause we are starting at 6 GB and at the end it just uses about 40 MB of RAM on your computer.


is it possible to disable the vehicles that you dont have any vehicles on a normal map? A lot of our users are playing RtCW and W:ET since years. they like to have the same feeling to play like in their old game.

Locki: There is no mode to play our maps without any vehicles. But we have some maps in our game which are comparable with the old W:ET or RtCW Maps. Not every map features the same vehicles and for sure not the same amount of Vehicles. Some Maps have more and some have less vehicles. But to accomplish your targets you always have to be on foot. The vehicles can't help you there. So we have a lot of Maps which are focused on foot-combat.


How about DirectX 10 support for the futher? Are there any plans to release the game on DX10?

Locki: Its a OpenGL game which will support DirectX9. But our Game is fully Vista compatible. We are still running a lot of different test on different plattforms, so we can be sure that it is running on each plattform without any problems.


How about the Rating for the Game? Do the players have to be 18+ to play the game?

Locki: The game isn't rated at the moment, but it dosent have blood, stabbing or banned symbols in it. So we expect a better rating than Wolfenstein. Activision is talking all the time with the guys which are doing the rating system, but i think we dont have to be afraid. There are no humans which are killing other humans directly. Or to say it better, its not the goal of the game to do this. The goal is to protect your teammembers and to reanimate them. The goal is to play as a team and to advance your tactical teamplay.

Are there any localized versions of the game like in Quake 4 where you have a special german version.

Locki: We are just working on is just different in text an names of the elements in the game. There are no special localized versions planned for the german market.


Is a Linux and Standalone Server planned for the release date? If yes, will it be available on the retail DVD or do you have to download it from somewhere!

Locki: Actually we have a Light Server Build which does not require all of the Megatexture Files. This is the minimum you need to run the server. You will need to have a special CD-Key to run it, but its free. You only have to register a E-Mail Adress for this key, so we can let you know about new Patches and updates for the server administrator. We have the dedicated server in testing for linux and its running very well. After this we will look for the Linux client.


Are there any Booster-Packs or Add-Ons planned like in other games like Battlefiled?

Locki: id Software has developed a plan for the continious support and additional content for the game, but at Splash Damage we are exclusivly focused on the PC Version right now. As soon as the PC version is finnished we will polishing up the SDK and take care that the documentation is up to date. But im sure that id software will deliver long time support for this game.


Are there any features included like Quake TV?

Locki: Yes, there are some guys working on this.


What is Splash Damage doing for a good Leagues and Ladder Support?

Locki: We expanded our closed beta with a lot of clans, so we get a lot of feedback from them concerning problems with clan and tournament stuff. We are already talking to a lot of pages which are doing tournaments, ladders and LANpartys to be sure that our game will be pushed int the leagues to be sure that we can give them what they need.


Does it mean that a demo function is already included?

Locki: It might be that this is not fully supported on the release, beacause this is not one of those thigs which has the highest priority. But at the moment you can record network games on the client and the server where you can view everithing what happens, but we dont have finalised the interface for this.


How do you handle the distribution of Patches, Add-Ons and Maps? Will it be on a simmular platform like "Steam"?

Locki: We have a Auto-Update service in the game where you can check for updates. the other way is that you donwload a patch from a normal website and use the patch like in other games.

Is a limitation of the Frames per Secound planned in the game like in Quake 4?

Locki: At the moment we are doing a lot of experiments with several settings. But i dont think that we will use a limitation of the FPS.


What about a date for the demo? do you know it?

Locki: it will be a couple of weeks before the Game is hitting the stores.


When will the game be released?

Locki: When its done


Is there a difference on the numbers of vehicles depending on the number of players?

Locki: We don't dynamicly encrease the number of vehicles when there are playing less players. Our Maps are designed to play very well with a amount of 24 players on it. The lowest should be 10 or 12. In between of this to values you will have a very good game.


The stuff with the registration of the Nicknames is not really clear for me. how does it work exactly? How does it work for clanplayers which are switching between different clans?

Locki: You can create a Clan where you can invite other players to join you. You as the owner of the Clan can promote or kick peoples, you can set-up the Clantag. This menas that you registered username is independent from your clantag. when you join a clan you will be directly linked with your clantag. The good thing is that you always can be sure that a guy which is called Locki is me! No other player can choose this name to fake.

[Repta Profile]

nice info, i guess PS is going to support ET:QW

When will the game be released? Wink

Locki: When its done Razz

good answer, better late then unfinished

[Xander Profile]

Yes repta i hope too...
PS have to be prime on this game in order to increas our community influence !
And for sure i love the concept of teamplay more realistic....rambo is just a movie lol

[warren-the-ape]

nice info, i guess PS is going to support ET:QW

Dunno I've seen that gameplay demo from QW and that looked very promising, only negative thing (for me) is the setting but I do believe that if the gameplay rocks you will see past the setting/characters.

That last question about creating clan tags, register nicknames and inviting players (online) into your clan/community is a feature which sounds very interesting as well.

Lets see how much the game will cost, then see how much it will cost to upgrade my PC

[Repta Profile]

nice info, i guess PS is going to support ET:QW

Dunno I've seen that gameplay demo from QW and that looked very promising, only negative thing (for me) is the setting but I do believe that if the gameplay rocks you will see past the setting/characters.

That last question about creating clan tags, register nicknames and inviting players (online) into your clan/community is a feature which sounds very interesting as well.

Lets see how much the game will cost, then see how much it will cost to upgrade my PC

the game will cost 50€ as most games does, if you can run quake4 then you can run this game.

i hope this game will feel like RTCW:ET, there are a few things that i dislike. 1 the speed, i have read somewhere that you don t have stamina so you can run unlimited but when you run you can t shoot. I hope this won t slow the game to much down. a few things i hate about RTCW:ET are airstrikes and mortars, farm weapons and anoying. In ET:QW you will have more of these things, i hope it isn t going to ruin the gameplay like it did in bf2. 1/2 of your deads was because of some stupid explosive.

[Mobius Profile Website]

Would't it be 60 euro?

[addshore Profile]

Nice price

I just cant wait for it to be released

[Repta Profile]

Would't it be 60 euro?

could also be, haven t bought a game since a long time. i have.... other methods to get games. It is a normal price, and 50-60€ is nothing if you can have years of fun with it.

[Frodo Profile WebsiteICQ]

Everybody, do not prepay! If the gameplay will suck, it will be too late. I propose you to wait 2-3months after game show up, and then, read some opinions and all, about everything, then buy a game.

If it rocks i am going to buy full, original game (that is not my usuall way my original games need to be very good for buying them )

[addshore Profile]

Everybody, do not prepay! If the gameplay will suck, it will be too late. I propose you to wait 2-3months after game show up, and then, read some opinions and all, about everything, then buy a game.

Yeh i wouldnt buy it right away either. Try to get a friend to by it borrow it then decide.

If it rocks i am going to buy full, original game (that is not my usuall way my original games need to be very good for buying them )

Lol i think everyone does that. And also yes im acctually going to buy the full game as well

[Mobius Profile Website]

Would't it be 60 euro?

could also be, haven t bought a game since a long time. i have.... other methods to get games. It is a normal price, and 50-60€ is nothing if you can have years of fun with it.

Agree.