No One Lives Forever 2 Preview

Thanks to Sierra's lovely PR Sarita Churchill, we've been able to put together this thorough and very informative interview with the development team working on No One Lives Forever 2, sequel to that excellent swinging 60's shooter starring super-secret agent Cate Archer. Unlike many other interviews where you get just one not-so-tech-savvy person to cut and paste stuff about the engine and art design, this one actually features worth-while responses from the guys and gals that know what they're talking about, including stuff on the storyline, engine, Cate Archer's new look and so on. Thanks for the effort NOLF2 team, and thanks Sierra.

ActionTrip: Well, we've all heard of the new Jupiter engine, so let's start with that. Give us a basic overview of the improvements over the previous LithTech code. Will it be less of a hardware hog and to what extent? Relatively speaking naturally...

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Kevin Stephens, Director of Engineering: The new Jupiter engine includes quite a few improvements. First, the rendering pipeline has been completely rewritten allowing the designers to create levels with 30 times the detail of NOLF 1. We've also created new particle systems used for snow, explosions, fire, weapon fx and debris; revamped our water system to support cubic environment maps and non-rectangular shapes; and added numerous new texture blending capabilities including support for multiple u,v coordinates (smoother transitions between textures), two types of bump mapping, improved detail textures and decals.

In addition, we've updated our models to support dynamic animation sets (which allows us to have many more animation variations), improved model node control (which allow the AI to turn their head, eyes, and torso and track moving objects like the player), and added movement encoding to prevent sliding AI (the AIs movement is tied to the animation so it looks correct.). We've also added support for phoneme-based lip-syncing, which greatly improves the look of talking characters. Finally, the size of our models has been compressed which helps them to load faster and take up less memory.

ActionTrip: Cubic environment mapping... I sorta understand the concept, but could you clear it up for me (the readers) please.

John O'Rorke, Engine Engineer: A normal spherical environment map basically uses a single texture to cover an entire hemisphere. The only problem with this is that as you reach the edges of this hemisphere, the image data becomes less and less dense so that the images look distorted and low resolution from a large number of angles. The cubic environment map essentially acts as if you were in a box room, and then took a scene and painted it on the walls of the room. This provides consistent image data at every angle so there isn't ever any low resolution looking angles and allows for environment mapping an entire sphere instead of a hemisphere. So in summary, cubic environment map simply allows for higher resolution simulated reflections for all angles.

ActionTrip: I understand that the water will play a big role in the game. How do you plan to fit this tech-novelty into the gameplay?

Craig Hubbard, Game Designer: Certain environments within the game feature water, so we figured we might as well expend some effort making it look as good as possible.

ActionTrip: Any info on Agent Archer's new look. Are there any special tricks that you plan to use in order to make her look more life-like / sexy?

David Longo, Art Director: Cate will be more fetching than ever in the sequel. Naturally, she will be all dolled up in a variety of outfits appropriate for some of the exotic locales that she will travel to throughout the game. However, this time around Cate will be curvier and more detailed than her previous incarnation with a full polygonal body/facelift in all the right places (heh, we like this - Ed).

It's the little details that make a huge difference, like seeing eyelashes when she blinks or noticing that her lips articulate every syllable and adding emotional emphasis on her facial expressions.

ActionTrip: Now in regards to the actual game; would you care to reveal the basic story? Does it have even more of that off-beat 60's spy comedy atmosphere than the original?

Craig Hubbard: I don't want to spoil any surprises, but the basic premise involves a mysterious Soviet project that threatens to incite WWIII. Sort of a repeat of the Cuban Missile Crisis as it might unfold in a Derek Flint movie with a dash of Dr. Strangelove and a sprinkle of Modesty Blaise.

The game preserves the spirit of NOLF, although we've added some darker, scarier moments to keep things interesting. I'd say the pacing is even more varied than it was in NOLF, and certainly more refined.

ActionTrip: What about the weapons. How have they changed over the original?

Craig Hubbard: There's a greater emphasis on stealth-oriented weaponry this time around. We've eliminated some of the less distinctive firearms from NOLF in order to make room for items that are more suitable for a '60s superspy.

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ActionTrip: I've heard that the design team is working on some rather advanced AI scripts... OOPS did I just say scripts? What's the deal with the goal-based system?

Jeff Orkin, AI Engineer: In a scripted system, designers try to anticipate the players' actions and force them into pre-planned scenarios. This can lead to repetitive gameplay that cannot handle unexpected events. AIs in a scripted system often end up in a seek-and-destroy behavior, as they run out of other options.

The goal system provides AIs with a palette of behaviors to choose from, depending on the situation they find themselves in. AIs constantly observe the world around them, and choose the right behavior for the current situation. For example, a relaxed AI may activate goals to take a nap, do some deskwork, or use the rest room. An AI that sees the player will choose more aggressive goals, like attacking and running for cover. Enabling AIs to choose their own actions creates emergent gameplay where the player has more freedom in how they play the game. The AI will react appropriately to players whether they run and gun, or play stealthier. The goal system also provides recoverability to the gameplay, meaning that once the AIs notice the player they are not locked into seek-and-destroy behavior. If the player runs and hides, the AIs will search the premises, and eventually give up and return to their relaxed behaviors.

ActionTrip: What's in store for the multiplayer?

Craig Hubbard: Cooperative play. The marketplace is glutted with competitive-style multiplayer titles, so it's difficult to compete in that arena, especially if you're concentrating on delivering a rich single player experience. Meanwhile, nobody has really done a cooperative espionage game. We felt it would be more rewarding to fill an obvious void than to rehash gameplay you can get in dozens of other products. Besides, cooperative gameplay capitalizes on the strengths of the singleplayer game, which is a definite bonus.

ActionTrip: Have any idea how much playing time will it take to beat NOLF2 in single-player? A ballpark estimate...

Craig Hubbard: We're shooting for 20 hours for the single player game, but play time is impossible to measure until the game is basically done. We were hoping for 20 hours in NOLF and ended up with more like 40. Then there's the cooperative experience...

ActionTrip: Care to reveal any new Bond-like gadgets? C'mon, one at least!

Craig Hubbard: One of the new gadgets is the Angry Kitty proximity mine. Once activated, the kitty will sit around looking cute until someone gets close enough to trigger it, at which point it will emit a gleeful meow, pounce at its victim, and explode. There are sleep gas, explosive, and other devious varieties.

ActionTrip: What about vehicles? Will there be vehicles in the sequel as well?

Craig Hubbard: Yes. We had vehicles in NOLF, so the expectation is naturally that there will be vehicles in the sequel.

ActionTrip: Finally, the release date; what are your current predictions? How finished is this game anyway?

Samantha Ryan, Producer: The game is currently planned for a Holiday 2002 release. We've just reached Alpha, so thus far we are on track to meet all our deadlines.

Thanks once again NOLF 2 team for a great interview.