PlanetSide Preview

Finally, how far should the dev. team take the realism vs. gameplay issue? From what we know so far, you probably won't be able to monkey jump in PS, but you will be able to strafe and shoot like in any 'normal' FPS game. PS will also include friendly fire (pro realism I guess), but you won't be able to go prone. Now the decision to leave out this option unfortunately has to do with some technical difficulties - players "sinking into the ground" so to speak; nevertheless, it's definitely a important decision in regards to the controversial issue of 'gameplay realism.'

According to McCann, "the damage model definitely will not be realistic." The primary damage locations are the body and the head, but again, a shot to the head will inflict a damage bonus, but not necessarily kill the player outright. PS also includes different body armor types, which can provide more (or less, depending on the armor's role) protection as well. There will be some weapons that can kill a soldier in a single shot, but these are primarily heavy-caliber vehicular weapons.

And speaking of weapons, the weapon design was definitely influenced by the recent success of games featuring more conventional types of guns, like machineguns, shell-firing cannon, and missiles. Ugh, and let us not forget my favorite camping weapon, DA SNIPE! Still, since PS is a futuristic shooter many of these 'conventional weapons' are bound to have futuristic details, and I'm sure that the game will include some energy-based guns as well. The only type of weapons that won't find its way into PS are weapons of mass destruction. So, if you were thinking of scoring one massive thousand-player frag by nuking the freaking place, think again, because there's a fat chance of that happening in PlanetSide. Pity though, because that could be like the ultimate llama weapon... Some JeffKesque character would go: TEH FAGS DY! I M l33t ROCKET MEN!!! And then he would blow up the entire server or something, and repeat the process until he puts Verant out of business. OK, including a mass destruction arsenal probably wouldn't be the smartest move by Verant after all.

What about the engine, and will all this work on my 56k modem?

Ugh, that's a good question really, and a one I'd like to have a more specific answer to. Verant is building a proprietary 3D engine from scratch for PlanetSide, and from what I could gather this puppy is not only supposed to dish out a lot of eye candy, but also be scalable and 'easy on the hardware' enough to support a huge number of polys that might pop up in a high profile battle. Further more, the engine is supposed to handle the driving as well as FPS scenes, and it's also supposed to support smooth transitions between indoor and outdoor environments; AND no loading times when crossing vast distances... Good luck!

Visually, (or at least judging from the shots) PlanetSide reminds me a lot of HALO - the models, helmets, and suits look very similar. And what about them buggies? However, it's still very early to talk about the visuals, since we still haven't had a chance to get a little hands-on action with the game.

The primary concern regarding the engine is the network code -- its ability to handle such a multitude of information pockets without turning into a lag fest on 56k modems. I have my doubts about this. The programmers are basically counting on square feet to keep players from bumping into each other in higher numbers: "Well, on a very top level, there are quite a number of continents that will be available. And through these continents, separation of players will occur so that everyone is not fighting on the same piece of land." Hmm, I sure hope the designers have a few aces up their sleeve, and that they aren't counting solely on the law of statistics and basic math (walking speed/population density/square feet) to save the day. If we're to believe McCann, great network code is the team's paramount focus. PlanetSide will be using "next generation network coding," which comes as a result of a "collaborative effort across multiple internal projects."

Wrap this baby up!

I'm on my sixth page, and there are still so many details I had to leave out... Holy crap, there is so much PlanetSide info, and I blame it all on Verant's 15th level spell zombie-creation! Oh, just one more thing before I go; I'd like to offer some creative insight, and suggest a few fresh ideas to the PlanetSide design team. Place huge billboards all across the continents with flashing neon signs saying:

WHEN ON A FIRST DATE, PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE BITE YOUR LIP AND DON'T MENTION PLANETSIDE.

And...

IF ALL ELSE FAILS, BEG, PAY, OR BLACKMAIL!!! THAT'S WHAT AT EDITORS WOULD DO!!!