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[radrelic]

http://perfectdarkzero.com/journals/botwood_interview_1.htm

Duncan Botwood has been designing games for as long as some Operatives have been playing them. His impressive credits include Perfect Dark and GoldenEye, and his current assignment is to orchestrate the design of the multiplayer aspects in Perfect Dark Zero. Our Operative infiltrated the heavily-guarded Rare compound in the United Kingdom and, at great personal risk, obtained the following interview with Duncan.

MGS Operative: Will the single player campaign and online multiplayer be very different types of games? How did the two evolve together?


Duncan Botwood: At their cores they carry the same mechanics, the same weapons, but the fundamental difference is that in multiplayer, you will be playing against other humans. This adds an element of uncertainty to your opponent’s actions. The multiplayer levels do not use graphics taken directly from the Story mode, but they share many of the same textures and where possible are themed on the Story mode levels to provide that visual link. We did experiment early on with using the Story mode levels, but the time taken to adapt these for use in multiplayer was longer than it took to make a new multiplayer level from scratch.


MGS Operative: Can players choose from different multiplayer character types?


Duncan Botwood: Current plans are for the players to be able to pick one of the multiplayer characters as their Profile character for free-for-all matches, and have the player who is setting up a team game select Team Identities for the teams in those games. Team Identities are sets of characters grouped by their association within the Story mode, divided into hero characters and grunts. The hero model is given to the top-ranked player on the team so they are easier to identify.

Part 2 of the interview to be released on Sept. 10

 

[Mrbob]

PD0 is going to own.

THE launch title to get.

 

[PG2G]

I just need an interviewer somewhere to ask them why the graphics suck. Thats all I need to hear from this game. Though, this is a Microsoft interview so hopefully some publication will interview them sometime soon.

 

[cabel]

THE launch title to get.

"Launch" title?

Is there a betting pool around here on that yet?

 

[raYne]

Hopefully the second part(the hell?) of the interview is the interesting one.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

"Launch" title?

Is there a betting pool around here on that yet?

I don't think Microsoft would put an ad in a mag and not have it at launch

 

[Oni Jazar]

"the fundamental difference is that in multiplayer, you will be playing against other humans. " Oh golly gee thanks for that fun fact!

I don't get the anti camping "spawn rooms". Won't people just camp where the spawn room teleports? Doesn't really make much of a difference it seems.

 

[Docpan]

PD0 is going to own.

THE launch title to get.

lmao

 

[Optimistic]

I just need an interviewer somewhere to ask them why the graphics suck. Thats all I need to hear from this game. Though, this is a Microsoft interview so hopefully some publication will interview them sometime soon.

I agree.

Duncan Botwood: There are six basic maps that each have multiple variants

Only six maps? If they're all of the quality of the classic maps in Goldeneye I'm not fussed, but if even one of these is a dud that's very disappointing.

MGS Operative: What gameplay innovations will we see in PDZ multiplayer?
Duncan Botwood: Base-camping in multiplayer games is a problem, so we came up with a way of evening the odds: Team Spawn rooms. These are remote locations where members of the same team can kit themselves out with weapons and then jump into the main level using the teleport in the centre of the room. There are also advanced teleport locations at strategic points around the map which can be hacked by teams. Once hacked, these locations are linked in to the Team Spawn room and appear as secondary teleports to the sides of the main device. Entering these will allow the player to jump to that new location.

I like the sound of this though.

 

[Rorschach]

So....MrBob is back onboard?

 

[Mrbob]

I've never lost faith in PD0. When RARE shows the ultimate Xbox 360 game at X05 with PD0 just remember who has been backing this game through the good (None so far) and the bad!

 

[Oxymoron]

Only six maps? If they're all of the quality of the classic maps in Goldeneye I'm not fussed, but if even one of these is a dud that's very disappointing.

Microtransactions.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I agree.



Only six maps? If they're all of the quality of the classic maps in Goldeneye I'm not fussed, but if even one of these is a dud that's very disappointing.



I like the sound of this though.

Each map scales depending on the number of players in the game. Supposedly, with only a few players they are really small, but scale to absolutely huge when lots of players join matchmaking (up to 64).

Also, MICROTRANSACTIONS.

Edit: Beaten!

 

[BigBoss]

So....MrBob is back onboard?

He'll jump ship again at TGS and then a week later he will be back praising the Xbox 360, its a cycle.

 

[Optimistic]

Each map scales depending on the number of players in the game. Supposedly, with only a few players they are really small, but scale to absolutely huge when lots of players join matchmaking (up to 64).

Yeah I know, but it's still pretty weak, especially for those without Live. I mean hell, if you don't have live, the fact that the maps scale depending on the number of people playing is completely irrelevant. It would be much better if they'd designed say, six maps for four players, 2 for 16 players, 2 for 32, and 4 for 64, or something like that. It would also be nice if the graphics weren't total arse...well now I'm just getting bitter but still. ffs.

MICROTRANSACTIONS.

Indeed. ffs.

 

[Rorschach]

Each map scales depending on the number of players in the game. Supposedly, with only a few players they are really small, but scale to absolutely huge when lots of players join matchmaking (up to 64).

Yeah, it's like BF2. In BF2, the maps completely change with each size. Even though it's the same exact map, they feel and play completely different, so it will seem like more if they do it right. I just hope the lag is kept to a minimum unlike Halo 2's big team battle.

He'll jump ship again at TGS and then a week later he will be back praising the Xbox 360, its a cycle.

Yeah...it's hard to keep up with.

 

[quetz67]

but the fundamental difference is that in multiplayer, you will be playing against other humans.

Rare was always good for groundbreaking new concepts

 

[JackFrost2012]

"Launch" title?

Is there a betting pool around here on that yet?

I had my doubts as well, but word on the street is that it WILL make launch, no matter how many Korean coders they have to dragoon in the process. Perfect Dark Zero? More like Perfect Dark Won!

 

[mrklaw]

waiting for PD0 is like playing that Yoshi mini game in Mario DS.

Going to be shit

Going to be great

Going to be shit

 

[Prine]

I've never lost faith in PD0. When RARE shows the ultimate Xbox 360 game at X05 with PD0 just remember who has been backing this game through the good (None so far) and the bad!

STFU bitch, i was onboard before you were acting like a drama queen, whining about every little thing.

Sit back down you minger

 

[Mrbob]

STFU bitch, i was onboard before you were acting like a drama queen, whining about every little thing.

Sit back down you minger

:lol :lol

The crown is mine.

You can be my assistant, though.

 

[Kobun Heat]

I had my doubts as well, but word on the street is that it WILL make launch, no matter how many Korean coders they have to dragoon in the process. Perfect Dark Zero? More like Perfect Dark Won!

Badum pish.

I agree, for the record -- I think they'll pretty much do whatever it takes to have this out at launch, whether that means shanghaiing more Koreans or actually pushing back the day the box hits shelves. Seriously, this goes, they launch with... Kameo? Please.

 

[Izzy]

Badum pish.
Seriously, this goes, they launch with... Kameo? Please.

Errr, they have Madden, Oblivion, COD2, RR6 and the rest...not too shabby methinks.

 

[Mrbob]

Errr, they have Madden, Oblivion, COD2, RR6 and the rest...not too shabby methinks.

Despite all the bad press PD0 is still the most anticipated launch game. MS needs to make sure it is out at launch. *And* it needs to be AAA. Maybe moreso for Europe than North America.

I see some industry peeps have posted in this thread. Has MS even shown you updated version of PD0 yet?

 

[Izzy]

Despite all the bad press PD0 is still the most anticipated launch game. MS needs to make sure it is out at launch. *And* it needs to be AAA. Maybe moreso for Europe than North America.

I see some industry peeps have posted in this thread. Has MS even shown you updated version of PD0 yet?

I dunno, IMO they have more than enough high profile franchises for successful launch.

 

[nubbe]

PDZ will be amazing ... ... ... wow

 

[Tunesmith]

Yeah I know, but it's still pretty weak, especially for those without Live. I mean hell, if you don't have live, the fact that the maps scale depending on the number of people playing is completely irrelevant.

Why would that be? Are you forgetting about sims (bots)?

 

[Azih]

At their cores they carry the same mechanics, the same weapons, but the fundamental difference is that in multiplayer, you will be playing against other humans. This adds an element of uncertainty to your opponent’s actions.

Wow. Insight.

 

[JoDark]

GE, and then PD were MP bliss. Something tells me with Duncan at the MP healm, this game will be as well.

I'm in the never lost faith camp. Rare has NEVER made a bad looking game, in fact many of their games are the best looking on their respective systems.

MUCH more important...

GE and PD defined console MP, and most of the PD MP options have yet to be matched. If these are in PDZ... OH YEA. Kick ass secondary functions. Laptop, RCP-90, Super Dragon... and the MINES! LOVE the remote mines.

Can't freaking wait.

 

[Azih]

Hey you know what would be the best extra ever?

The original N64 version included completely unchanged BUT WITH A SMOOTH FREAKING FRAMERATE LOCKED at 60.

Hell I'm not sure if even the 360 has that kind of power.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

multi-player this, multi-player that... this is starting to sound awfully familiar. I'm just waiting for MGS/Rare to tell us that the reason they aren't revealing anything about SP is because they don't want to ruin the amazing plot for gamers.

 

[KingJ2002]

I agree... regardless of all the bashing it received my gut still tells me this is going to be THE game to own at launch.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

^^ LAME.

If PDZ has the single player Halo 2 does (minus the cliffhanger), the game will be a heralded success.

Halo 2 had a good single player campaign, with occasional spots of brilliance balanced against occasional spots of pure tripe. But "good" isn't going to cut it for me this time around, and I have absolutely no interest in yet another easy-bake, self-checkout gaming experience that MP-focused titles tend to be. I'm sure it will be a smash hit with the Live crowd if it happens to be a multi-player centric games with a decent to good single player campaign; the xbox crowd never asks for much more than an opportunity to blown up fellow humans in shallow fights.

But that's not for me, and I want Perfect Dark Zero to be that must have title that justifies the purchase of the console. And judging by how Halo 2 was presented, I'm getting a real bad feeling about this.

 

[Father_Brain]

This is actually going to make launch? All the screens released to date have to be some kind of joke, then - I'm just not sure whether the joke is on us or on Rare.

 

[FightyF]

It was a ridiculous statement (the explanation of multi vs single)...but only when taken as a quote.

Read the question again...it didn't leave much for an answer. I can't think of any other answer other than that one fundamental difference, plus the maps being based off the levels but not being the levels themselves.

I agree...a more direct interview would be welcome.