Entwicklerchat (2.2.06)

[Junker]

Delphi-PG: Hi there, my name is Chris Rubyor, game designer

petroglyphmike: Hi, I'm Mike Legg - Lead Programmer on Star Wars: Empire at War and President of Petroglyph. Thanks so much for having us here today!

joebwan123: Hi I'm Joe Bostic -- Petroglyph Design Director for Empire at War. Good afternoon!



Delphi-PG: Will the server list be based like the steam server list? or will it be like the BF2?

The list will be very similar to BF2/Generals.

petroglyphmike: What game engine was used in the making of the game and did you make a custom engine?

We wrote the engine and tools all from scratch - including the Alamo rendering engine. We started in November of 2003.

Delphi-PG: Will Empire at War be mod-able and if so, how much will we be able to change?

Players will be able to capture unique points on the battlefield giving access to cool unique units. There will also be multiplayer specific heroes for teams. In addition, we also have a wide array of options to play around with and customize.

joebwan123: Why did you decide to include a cinematic cam, and did you have to make any changes to the engine to make it look good?

We wanted to capture the 'you are part of the action' experience that was in the movies. The models were not originally designed for viewing up close, but we were surprised, that many of them worked well. Of course, we made many adjustments to bring up the close-up quality of many of the units.

petroglyphmike: Will Empire at War be mod-able and if so, how much will we be able to change?

As you can tell by all the fun mods to the demo, the game engine is very mod-able and data driven. When the final version of the game ships, you will see how fully mod-able it is. We tried to make it as data driven as possible.

joebwan123: How much development freedom were you granted on the troops, armies, fleets, and galaxy in Star Wars: Empire At War?

We had to work within the Star Wars universe and this provided many of the resources (vehicles and ships) we needed, but LucasFilm was very cooperative when we needed to add more units to fit in places where we needed specific kinds of units to fill specific roles. For example, the T4-B tank was not strictly part of Star Wars lore, but is now.

Delphi-PG: Will infantry be more useful and harder to kill?

Yes, infantry have been tuned and tweaked since the release of the demo. Like most RTS games post launch we will be watching the online community closely and tweaking the game as needed.

joebwan123: Do the storyline follow the movies pretty well? Does it cover the 6 movies?

The story starts a few years before the beginning of Episode IV, but it does continue into and through that movie a bit. You get to participate in a bit of the back story of the famous characters as well such as "what was Han Solo doing before all that trouble with Jabba the Hutt?" You'll find out.


Delphi-PG: Will the game have a Ladder???

Yes EAW will have a ladder for Land, Space tactical and MP campaigns.

petroglyphmike: Was it difficult to stay within the confines of the current technology in use by a lot of people, and not go overboard with the graphics and game AI?

Since we wrote everything from scratch, it was not very difficult. We made the engine to work well on the min-spec but look amazing on the high-end systems. There is a ton of AI in the game, especially in the strategic Galactic level, which required a lot of profiling and optimizing. The graphics were pushed to the max in land and space.

joebwan123: How long did it take to create the game, and was George Lucas involved (if so what role did he do?)?

It took about 2 years to develop. All things considered, I'm a bit surprised we were able to accomplish so much in so short a time. The three areas of gameplay combined with starting a company (and even having to move offices three times) were quite a challenge. One could say that LucasArts was very easy to work with and made our job much easier than it could have been.

joebwan123: In the past, LucasArts has a history of being intimately involved with the building of any game based on their franchise. Have either LucasArts or Industrial Light and Magic donated any effort/resources to helping build the game cinematically, musically?

Yes, LucasArts has been very helpful. We even got movie and assets for Episode III units before the movie was released! Of course the Star Wars database LucasFilm maintains was invaluable to reference.

petroglyphmike: What inspired you to completely revolutionize the Star Wars RTS gaming, and RTS gaming in general?

With LucasArts, we wanted to have really great space and land battles, so we needed to bridge them together. Strategic galactic mode was created out of this, and made for a great top-level real-time (not turn-based) strategic component. The persistence of units between the battles, combined with the fact that units can be on land or in space was a lot of fun to us.

Delphi-PG: Question: Is the death star only destroyable by Red Squadron or will other ships be able to destroy it? Also will the ion cannon be able to affect the Death Star?

Yes, Red Squadron is the counter to the Death, but it requires long and intense tactical battle to achieve victory. The Death Star is immune to Ion Cannons.

joebwan123: Will pads for all buildings be on every planet, or just specific ones? If so, what determines what pads are on each planet?

"Pads" (the spots where you can build any number of defensive turrets or tactical combat affecting structures) are on most planets. The number and placement are governed by the type of planet. Example: A swamp planet might not have as many since there is the water/mud issue.

petroglyphmike: How much time and money did it take to Just make the EAW game engine?

We started in November of 2003, with just a couple of people. For the first 18 months, we developed design, assets, code and tools until the engine was mostly complete. We then locked in on implementing the game play for the next 6 months. By the end, the team size was up to the low-mid 30's. We're about to move to our 4th office location that is being built now.

Delphi-PG: Do Capital ships die when loosing all its health, or will they not die until all hard points are killed?

Capital ships are considered destroyed when all hard points have been eliminated.

petroglyphmike: How was the loading time kept to such a minimum yet still having the game look amazing?

Most RTS's take a while to load, especially the really detailed ones. We put the loading code in its own "thread", which runs simultaneously with other code. Space maps load faster since there is no terrain map to load. Land maps are a little slower to load. With the map size, load speed decreases a bit. We also keep the persistent galactic mode in RAM at all times (even on min-spec).


joebwan123: Is playing Vader going to leave me feeling that I just used the most powerful jedi of all time?

Of course. Until you play Palpatine, that is. Then once you play Boba Fett, you may change your mind as the seismic charge Slave I drops is devastating. Each hero has powers and abilities. In the right place and right time, each one can dominate the situation. The trick is knowing when it is time to bring in a particular hero into battle.

Delphi-PG: Will there be IP to IP game play available?

EAW Does not have direct IP connect at this time; all custom and quick matching are done