| CaliGirl: Can you first
tell us a little about yourself? Your name, nick name and your position at Nihilistic?
Ray: Ray Gresko "Moongod". Project leader/Designer. My role is design and
team management for Nihilistic. In my corporate role, I also handle the company’s biz
and finances.
Robert: Robert "Innerloop" Huebner, Director of Technology and Lead Programmer.
Anthony: Anthony 'General' Chiang, 3d Art Tech. I work with both the programmers and the
artist to ensure that the 3d art looks good and the 3d data renders optimally.
Brent: My name is Brent McLeod and I’m a level designer on the team. I often go by
the nicknames "drizzle" or "Veldrin".
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CaliGirl: How did you make your big break in the industry, which took you to where you are
right now?
Ray: I came from the robotics industry, but was always creating small games and
technology in my spare time. I got my break about 8 years ago with Spectrum Holobyte (now
Microprose), working mainly in their ‘Advanced Technologies’ group on 3d stuff.
Shortly thereafter I went to LucasArts to work on titles such as Dark Forces and Jedi
Knight, and developed a bunch of systems used in other products there. Nihilistic was
formed early last year.
Robert: My first game job was with Interplay working on the networking code for
Descent. I was lucky, Descent turned out to be a huge game and the whole internet game
thing exploded, so if it weren’t for that job, I probably wouldn’t have gone on
to LucasArts and now Nihilistic…
Anthony: 10 years ago, I dropped out of college thinking I would write screenplays. As a
day job, I worked at Spectrum HoloByte doing 3d models for flight sims. I still haven't
finished a screenplay yet, but I've shipped a bunch of cool 3d games! ;-)
Brent: Nihilistic is my first real game industry job. I was previously a systems
programmer at Ticketmaster, making levels in my spare time and putting them up on the net.
I’d been involved in the Quake scene since the qtest days, and had made a number of
Q1 and Q2 levels which impressed the company enough for them to hire me.
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CaliGirl: Who influenced you the most in your career?
Ray: Early
on, I had the advantage to work with people that really loved what they were doing, and at
the same time balancing an extreme work ethic with their own personal lives. Both are
important and feed/rejuvinate the other. That kind of balance is one of the things I work
hard to achieve, basically a ‘work hard, play hard’ kind of thing. There are
really too many individuals in this industry that I admire to mention, I’m mostly
just proud to be involved in an industry that is so wildly creative and always pushing the
boundaries of technology. It’s rewarding to be able to create something that brings
people enjoyment.
Robert: Well, I think most game programmers are influenced most by the leads on the first
project they work on, so in that sense, I’d have to say Matt Toshlog and Mike Kulas
from Parallax (who have now split into Volition and Outrage), along with the rest of the
Descent team. Even today when I code things, I find myself using things I learned from
those guys. By the time I got to LucasArts, all my bad habits were well-ingrained.
Anthony: I met Lord British (Richard Garriott) at the 1984 West Coast Computer Faire and
he gave me an Ultima III poster. I've always been impressed with his games, but meeting
him face-to-face gave me the idea that I could make a career out of making games too.
Brent: I can’t say I had any particular person who influenced my
career…it’s more a collection of people and things that I’ve seen. In
particular, things like movies, various games of course, etc… the one thing I did see
was a lot of my acquaintances getting hired by various companies, which really motivated
me to make more levels and get them out on the net.
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CaliGirl: Could you summarize what Vampire: Masquerade is and what it is about? For people
reading about this game for the first time.
Ray: Vampire is a 3d action-rpg set in the ‘World of Darkness’, a world like
our own, but one in which vampires exist. The game is based on White Wolf’s extremely
popular pen-and-paper game, and places the player into the role of someone pulled
unwillingly into a horrifying existence as a Vampire. As a vampire, you have incredible
powers and dark abilities, but also must contend with intense moral decisions, decisions
which affect how well you hold onto the remaining strands of your humanity. The visceral
gameplay is immersed in a deep, mature storyline that contains over one hundred characters
and spans two timeframes - 12th century Eastern Europe, and modern day London and New
York. Besides the huge single-player gameplay, we also offer several multiplayer modes,
one of which allows the inclusion of a Storyteller (game master) to manage the experience,
with all of the capabilities that a GM would have during a tabletop game.
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CaliGirl: Where did the idea of "Vampire: The Masquerade" come from?
Ray: Most of the themes and story ideas come from the massive amount of texts and
background that White Wolf has created. There are over 50 books detailing the specific
Vampiric ‘clans’, their clouded and mysterious history, and their current
struggles for power and domination. The license is incredibly rich, and has had
contributions from some of the best authors in the business.
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CaliGirl: What has been the hardest part in developing the game?
Ray: Creating an RPG is always a huge undertaking. Add on to that multiple timeframes,
four vast cities and an enormous amount of characters, and it adds up to a lot of work.
Most of the development has been great fun, however, and seeing the game approach the
design step by step has been very rewarding.
Robert: Getting everyone to agree on some of the trickier design points is the hardest
thing. We’re a small team, so everyone has a voice when deciding things. Some
decisions, like whether to use a "point-and-click" interface or a "drive
the character" interface lead to some long, heated debates within the company.
Normally rather than just taking a vote on something like that, we prefer to argue about
it for a couple hours until someone gives in. Lots of things like control schemes,
interface layouts, etc. have been subjected to this grueling process.
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CaliGirl: Do you have an estimated time when you feel the game may be released?
Ray: We’re targeting a Winter 1999 release.
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CaliGirl: What do you feel sets Vampire: The Masquerade from other RPG Games?
Ray: The most obvious answer is that you get to play a Vampire, with all the
advantages and curses that come along with it. The other difference that sets Vampire
apart is the type of roleplaying involved. White Wolf turned the roleplayer’s eye
inward, to explore strife and anguish, guilt and greed. The decisions you make in Vampire
can affect your characters’ spiritual outcome just as much as how well they swing an
axe, for example. The interpersonal side of this kind of roleplaying is important, since
an enemy made in the Dark Ages is likely to still be around in the modern day. Roleplaying
an immortal character seems to put more weight behind every decision.
Robert: Two of our earliest design ideas were the storyteller-based multiplayer scheme
and the idea of setting the game in both the Dark Ages and modern day time periods, and
those two ideas give the game a very unique edge to it. We’ve stuck to most of our
early "gut feeling" design choices and so far they have paid off well.
Anthony: Visually, we've set the bar very high with this product. Our goal was to make
this RPG look as rich and detailed as any 3D game on the market.
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CaliGirl: What do you have planned in terms of multi-player support?
Ray: This is one of the big innovations in Vampire. As I said before, we allow for the
optional inclusion of a Storyteller within the multiplayer game. In this mode, the
Storyteller can take control and speak for NPCs, alter the location and time of day, and
generally keep the experience exciting and interesting. People can create their own
stories (called ‘chronicles’) and run them for other players or distribute them
to others. We feel there are just as many people who want to create narratives and
characters as there are people that make levels/mods to popular games.
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CaliGirl: What type of weapons or spells can we expect to see in the game?
Ray: Vampires have a huge set of special abilities, called ‘Disciplines’,
which are learned over time from various sources. These are gifts of the embrace, and
range from being able to turn invisible, grow your hands into feral claws, or mesmerize
someone into a trance. The player will have access to many different abilities, and can
advance their skills in each of these as they progress through the game.
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CaliGirl: Do you already have a set of system requirements for Vampire: The Masquerade?
Ray: The final system requirements haven’t been set down yet, but the title is
being targeted at systems with 3d acceleration. Our technology takes full advantage of the
current visual capabilities offered by hardware.
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CaliGirl: Do you have a favorite tune or food that you have while developing the game?
Ray: My diet consists mainly of Diet Coke, ‘Penguin’ caffeinated
peppermints, and Djarum cigarettes. The musical tastes vary depending on the mood of the
day, but my old standbys are Marilyn Manson, Korn, NiN, and various techno groups.
Robert: We started out fueled by Diet Coke, but lately Pepsi One has been the office
champ. Must be the Star Wars cans or something. Everyone has their own CD player in the
office and uses headphones, since we are all in one huge room rather than individual
offices, so the musical tastes are all across the spectrum.
Anthony: Pop-Tarts and coffee.
Brent: Pepsi One, whatever snacks Ray buys for the office… :) As far as music, I
listen to quite a few different styles, usually dependant on what I’m working on at
the time. For the most part, it’s a lot of Industrial such as Velvet Acid Christ,
16Volt, Cubanate, FLA, Skinny Puppy, etc.. and a lot of movie scores…mostly from
James Horner, Elliot Goldenthal and of course John Williams.
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CaliGirl: Can you name your five favorite games of all time?
Ray: Doom, Resident Evil, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Eye of the Beholder and
Mario64.
Robert:
Civilization, X-Com, Half-Life, Populous and Star Control
2.
Anthony: Duke Nuk'em 3D, Wizardry, Doom, Star Saga One: Beyond The Boundary and Wing
Commander I
Brent: In no particular order: Doom, TIE Fighter, Starsiege Tribes, Quake and F-19
Stealth Fighter
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CaliGirl: Did you have a chance to see any cool games while you were at the E3? Any
favorites yet?
Ray: Lots of great stuff shown this year. Unfortunately a lot of the best stuff was
behind closed doors, shown to the press only. The best stuff I had the chance to see on
the floor included Anachronox, Battlezone2, FAKK2 and Nocturne. All had a great ambience
and depth of feel to them. Blue Stinger looked great also, really awesome monsters!
Robert: Midtown Madness, Battlezone2, Anachronox, FAKK2, Quake3, Messiah. If the
Interplay booth had been open to the public, I’m sure I’d add Giants and
Descent3 to this list.
Brent: There were just too many cool things at E3 to list…that show is like a total
brain overload. I am looking forward to Tribes 2, and Q3A quite a bit.
Anthony: I was impressed with Oni, Outcast, C&C2: Tiberian Sun and Ready 2
Rumble. All are very different games, but they all looked great.
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Related Links:
Interview by CaliGirl |
