this afternoon, just as Killzone 2 demo went live, Spanish site Meristation.com held a Q&A session between their registered users and Steven ter Heide (Senior Producer) / Eric Boltjes (Senior Online Game Designer) from Guerrilla Games.
http://zonaforo.meristation.com/foros/viewtopic.php?t=1255965&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
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Q: Did the criticism about the E3 trailer affected you? how did you feel after it? was it motivating in a good way or a very high expectations you felt forced to match?
A: The trailer was always meant to be a way to communicate the 'vision' of the game to the team here at Guerrilla. When it was presented to the public and the response was overwhelmingly positive we were really motivated to create the game that lived up to that promise! It was scary and a lot of work, especially keeping silent until 2007, that was very hard...
Q: How has Guerrilla received the reviews of the game? Did you expect them to be so positive?
A: The response has been overwhelming so far. We knew we had a good game but it is always scary when you sent out your 'baby' to the world. To be honest we were not expecting this many great scores! It has exceeded our expectations!!
Q: whats the secret to archieve this level of graphics on PS3 and set a new bechmark in consoles?
A: We always had a clear vision on how we wanted the game to look in the end, so our entire engine was built with that core vision in mind. Having that clear idea from the start really helped during the development. We really tried to push the PS3 to its limits but we are sure that in time developers can push even more out of it!
Q: how have you managed the hype factor inside Guerrilla with all the big expectation Killzone 2 raised?
A: At some point you just have to stop looking at the hype and buzz and just finish the game as best you can. Only now that we're done we actually take a look at the outside world again! We were so busy actually finishing the game, we didn't really have time to look at everything! There apparently is a new President of the USA?
Q: Is Guerrilla working in any downloadable content for Killzone 2, like new maps, skins or multiplayer modes? can you talk about it?
A: To be honest, we are too tired to make DLC. Give us a few days to catch up on sleep! ...Seriously though, of course there will be DLC but we cannot talk about that yet at this time. More news about this will follow after the launch!
Q: why has Killzone 2 had such a long development period? what it because your own exigence level or did you have any trouble programing in PS3?
A: Sony gave us enough time so we could make sure that Killzone 2 was going to live up to our original promise! This enabled us to really give a lot of attention to details and polish/test everything to the max!
Q: From a technical point of view and being aware of the hardware limitations, would you compare Killzone 2 with Crysis?
A: It is very hard to compare with other games because we really tried to make Killzone 2 its own unique experience. We tried to create an interactive theatre of war combined with all the cool things that the Killzone 2 universe offers, like the iconic Helghast enemy and the realistic feel of the combat.
Q: Do you think the online experience will overpass the level that you shown on the beta?
A: The Beta phases were really important because we got feedback first hand from users about our different badge abilities, ranking systems and clan/tournament implementations. This allowed us to tweak all these systems according to the feedback we received. Some of the changes we made for instance was how fast you rank up, how many ribbons you need for medals, we introduced new control mechanics like crouch toggle, gave the user more control options etc. And we really got to fix the last remaining bugs and performance issues obviously!
Q: do you plan to take care of the online community with special actions like championships, tournament, events, etc? Killzone 2 can last almost forever if you work together with the community
A: The community is very important to us! Killzone.com will allows us to communicate with our users, set up special tournaments, developer blogs, patch information, and much more! Also what we plan to do is highlight specific Clan events, for example: When Clans challenge each other for (example) 1 million points, we will put that on the front page! Our community is key! We have listened to the KZ1 community to see where we could improve things and will continue to do so with KZ2!
Q: Killzone 2 has acomplish several archievements, but among all it strong points what is the one you feel more proud of?
A: We're especially proud of how everything came together in the end; all the different features, visuals, sound, voice acting, they all really fit well together and create the KZ2 universe we originally visualized in our minds. I myself (Eric) was involved a lot in multiplayer so obviously I am a bit biased. What I liked the most there was how well our Badge system influenced team play but most of all how it gives players the opportunity to develop their own unique playstyle! (Steven mentions he is proud the most (crazy enough) of the bit in the wastelands where there aren't any enemies. The atmosphere and tension are just amazing! But you guys will have to see for yourself)
Q: why did you decide to remove the secondary fire on the weapons? did you consider it was an obsolete element or was it to archieve a more balanced combat, based exclusively on aiming (on the first killzone the ISA secondary fire was totally overpowered)
A:It was a conscious choice because we wanted to force the player to play more tactically. There isn't a single gun in the game that you can use to complete the whole game with and you have to choose which weapon to use for which event and tactic.
Q: Killzone 2 graphic engine is awesome, do you plan to license it in order other studios can exploit PS3 potential like you did or will its techonlogy remain Guerrilla exclusive?
A: No, the Killzone engine was specifically build for Killzone/Guerrila. We do share our ideas and some parts of the code with other Sony studios but there are no plans to license the engine out.
Q: why did you decide to remove the cover system in the online modes?
A: We tested the usage of L&P in multiplayer a lot but because of the 360 degree nature of MP it just didn't work as well as we had hoped. A lot of user testing showed that players would rather just use standard crouch in MP.
Q: is it true that you received support from other Sony Studios in the development process of Killzone 2? how was it?
A: Yes we did! We received help with the creation of art assets like characters and levels but we also shared technology. Coordinating all this support was quite a challenge but a very fun exercise for us to work with so many different people in so many different countries!
Q: Some shooters are focused on individual experience, like BioShock, and a cooperative mode doesnt fit well, but in those based in militar combat with companions like Killzone 2, a cooperative mode seems quite appropiate. Why did you decide to stay single player?
A: We wanted to focus on a Single Player experience; in KZ1 we had four playable characters but we wanted to narrow it down to one single experience. We believe that coop has to be something that goes in from the ground up and with our very strong SP and MP experience we decided to not add coop. We are investigating possibilities for the future...
Q: After the good results of Liberation, would you consider to release another Killzone on PSP?
A: We are very happy with Liberation and right now we are focussing on the PS3. We cannot say yet what we are doing in the future!
http://zonaforo.meristation.com/foros/viewtopic.php?t=1255965&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
----------------
Q: Did the criticism about the E3 trailer affected you? how did you feel after it? was it motivating in a good way or a very high expectations you felt forced to match?
A: The trailer was always meant to be a way to communicate the 'vision' of the game to the team here at Guerrilla. When it was presented to the public and the response was overwhelmingly positive we were really motivated to create the game that lived up to that promise! It was scary and a lot of work, especially keeping silent until 2007, that was very hard...
Q: How has Guerrilla received the reviews of the game? Did you expect them to be so positive?
A: The response has been overwhelming so far. We knew we had a good game but it is always scary when you sent out your 'baby' to the world. To be honest we were not expecting this many great scores! It has exceeded our expectations!!
Q: whats the secret to archieve this level of graphics on PS3 and set a new bechmark in consoles?
A: We always had a clear vision on how we wanted the game to look in the end, so our entire engine was built with that core vision in mind. Having that clear idea from the start really helped during the development. We really tried to push the PS3 to its limits but we are sure that in time developers can push even more out of it!
Q: how have you managed the hype factor inside Guerrilla with all the big expectation Killzone 2 raised?
A: At some point you just have to stop looking at the hype and buzz and just finish the game as best you can. Only now that we're done we actually take a look at the outside world again! We were so busy actually finishing the game, we didn't really have time to look at everything! There apparently is a new President of the USA?
Q: Is Guerrilla working in any downloadable content for Killzone 2, like new maps, skins or multiplayer modes? can you talk about it?
A: To be honest, we are too tired to make DLC. Give us a few days to catch up on sleep!
...Seriously though, of course there will be DLC but we cannot talk about that yet at this time. More news about this will follow after the launch! Q: why has Killzone 2 had such a long development period? what it because your own exigence level or did you have any trouble programing in PS3?
A: Sony gave us enough time so we could make sure that Killzone 2 was going to live up to our original promise! This enabled us to really give a lot of attention to details and polish/test everything to the max!
Q: From a technical point of view and being aware of the hardware limitations, would you compare Killzone 2 with Crysis?
A: It is very hard to compare with other games because we really tried to make Killzone 2 its own unique experience. We tried to create an interactive theatre of war combined with all the cool things that the Killzone 2 universe offers, like the iconic Helghast enemy and the realistic feel of the combat.
Q: Do you think the online experience will overpass the level that you shown on the beta?
A: The Beta phases were really important because we got feedback first hand from users about our different badge abilities, ranking systems and clan/tournament implementations. This allowed us to tweak all these systems according to the feedback we received. Some of the changes we made for instance was how fast you rank up, how many ribbons you need for medals, we introduced new control mechanics like crouch toggle, gave the user more control options etc. And we really got to fix the last remaining bugs and performance issues obviously!
Q: do you plan to take care of the online community with special actions like championships, tournament, events, etc? Killzone 2 can last almost forever if you work together with the community
A: The community is very important to us! Killzone.com will allows us to communicate with our users, set up special tournaments, developer blogs, patch information, and much more! Also what we plan to do is highlight specific Clan events, for example: When Clans challenge each other for (example) 1 million points, we will put that on the front page! Our community is key! We have listened to the KZ1 community to see where we could improve things and will continue to do so with KZ2!
Q: Killzone 2 has acomplish several archievements, but among all it strong points what is the one you feel more proud of?
A: We're especially proud of how everything came together in the end; all the different features, visuals, sound, voice acting, they all really fit well together and create the KZ2 universe we originally visualized in our minds. I myself (Eric) was involved a lot in multiplayer so obviously I am a bit biased. What I liked the most there was how well our Badge system influenced team play but most of all how it gives players the opportunity to develop their own unique playstyle! (Steven mentions he is proud the most (crazy enough) of the bit in the wastelands where there aren't any enemies. The atmosphere and tension are just amazing! But you guys will have to see for yourself)
Q: why did you decide to remove the secondary fire on the weapons? did you consider it was an obsolete element or was it to archieve a more balanced combat, based exclusively on aiming (on the first killzone the ISA secondary fire was totally overpowered)
A:It was a conscious choice because we wanted to force the player to play more tactically. There isn't a single gun in the game that you can use to complete the whole game with and you have to choose which weapon to use for which event and tactic.
Q: Killzone 2 graphic engine is awesome, do you plan to license it in order other studios can exploit PS3 potential like you did or will its techonlogy remain Guerrilla exclusive?
A: No, the Killzone engine was specifically build for Killzone/Guerrila. We do share our ideas and some parts of the code with other Sony studios but there are no plans to license the engine out.
Q: why did you decide to remove the cover system in the online modes?
A: We tested the usage of L&P in multiplayer a lot but because of the 360 degree nature of MP it just didn't work as well as we had hoped. A lot of user testing showed that players would rather just use standard crouch in MP.
Q: is it true that you received support from other Sony Studios in the development process of Killzone 2? how was it?
A: Yes we did! We received help with the creation of art assets like characters and levels but we also shared technology. Coordinating all this support was quite a challenge but a very fun exercise for us to work with so many different people in so many different countries!
Q: Some shooters are focused on individual experience, like BioShock, and a cooperative mode doesnt fit well, but in those based in militar combat with companions like Killzone 2, a cooperative mode seems quite appropiate. Why did you decide to stay single player?
A: We wanted to focus on a Single Player experience; in KZ1 we had four playable characters but we wanted to narrow it down to one single experience. We believe that coop has to be something that goes in from the ground up and with our very strong SP and MP experience we decided to not add coop. We are investigating possibilities for the future...
Q: After the good results of Liberation, would you consider to release another Killzone on PSP?
A: We are very happy with Liberation and right now we are focussing on the PS3. We cannot say yet what we are doing in the future!