Tribes 2 Preview

As a follow up to our first look at Dynamix's Tribes 2, we've slapped up an interview with the game's producer, Dave Georgeson. Time to brush up on your Tribes 2 knowledge and get some fresh info on the current state of development. If you scroll down a bit, you'll find our aforementioned first look that should explain Tribes 2 gameplay basics, and eye-candy features... You know, get you up to speed...

Oh yeah, did I mention the interview contains 4 brand spanking new, exclusive screenshots from the game (some mighty fine ground textures)... Hell yeah! We can't wait to get our hands on this sucker!

Explode!

Inner Structure...

Action Trip: Short overview of some of the new features in Tribes 2?

Dave Georgeson: We've added ground vehicles to the game. Scouts, Assault Tanks, and Mobile Point Bases are all facets designed to give the armored suits that we all know and love new strategic points to rally around, as well as quick ways to transport across a battlefield. Also, we're focusing on creating a web community that lets players easily find and create Tribes, as well as facilitating communication with one another, in-game and out-of-game.

AT: Name some neat eye-candy features of the new engine, some aspects of the 3D engine that will enhance gameplay. Any changes in physics?

DG: Physics is quite a bit different, especially for vehicles. The new aerial vehicles are quite nimble compared to T1 vehicles, including the ability to loop and fly inverted. We're still intending to include surface qualities on the various textures also (like heat damage from lava, and slippery ice). We'll see how that goes.

AT: Thought about any new weapon concepts recently?

DG: Sure. We're adding the point-blank weapon called the Shock Lance which does terrible things up close and personal. We're also adding a number of grenades and mines including timed mines, sticky mines, flash grenades, and concussion grenades.

AT: What about vehicles, gameplay modes?

DG: You're familiar with most of our gameplay modes, although a couple are relatively new like Siege and Team Rabbit. Team Rabbit is like a team-based game of tag. One person is "it" at any given time. (We then call him the Rabbit.) The rabbit is protected by his team, while the other team all tries to kill the rabbit. The objective of the game is to be the first team to accumulate a specific amount of time with the Rabbit surviving on their team.

AT: The single most important improvement over Tribes?

DG: That's tough to pin down, actually. It's probably going to end up being the web community that we're assembling, but that's hard to describe, so I'll just stick with the gameplay balance changes we've made. Probably the single biggest improvement is how much more improved the Command Map is in its ease-of-use. You'll find it much easier to coordinate team efforts now.

AT: Any new gameplay balancing decisions that you haven't talked about yet?

DG: Not really. We've been pretty open about beefing up the Medium armor and changing weapon balances. Most of our major changes have been tested in the BasePlus mod we released. Those changes aren't exactly the way they'll be in T2, but they're indicative of our train of thought.

AT: Locations specific communication system sounds like an excellent way of improving team communication. You guys have any other neat tricks, besides voice over net?

DG: We improved the voice bind mnemonics and made it a much more robust system. We've also made it very easy to give commands by simple mouse clicking on the Command Map. Those commands get broadcast to your team via text and voice, so they'll be quite effective.

AT: What will be the average poly count, per model in Tribes 2?

DG: I think it's about 1500.

AT: Mark Frohnmayer said that "In Tribes you needed a webpage, an email list, ICQ, and all of this other stuff just to keep your tribe organized, and now we're putting everything you need to coordinate your tribe in the game." Can you elaborate a bit more on that?

DG: Well...all that stuff that Mark mentioned is in our web community section now. When you want to create a tribe, you just hit the "Create Tribe" option and it automatically generates a custom web page for you which you can add information to (and use as an index page to your personal tribe page, if you desire). If you're interested in joining a tribe, you can peruse their Tribe pages within the game, and even ask to join. If you want to invite members to your tribe, you can send e-mail to them. You can instant message other players...even when those players are already playing in a game. We'll keep player statistics, forums, news pages, etc. in the community area. And it's all inside the game. We think this is something that other games will have to emulate in the future.

AT: Is there a story behind Bioderms? How will they differ from the other tribes?

DG: There isn't any difference gameplay-wise. We did that to keep the balancing rock solid. We may eventually introduce differences, but right now they are basically alternate skins with a background that allows us to enlarge our Tribes universe for future games.

The Bioderms were basically bio-engineered shock troops for the Imperium. They were the bulk of the fighting force, but without any rights. They had genetic restraints built into them for obedience. Unfortunately (for the Imperium), genetics is a chancy thing and eventually the restraint failed in a particularly bright Bioderm. He was able to eventually find a way to help other bioderms get around the restraint and he started a rebellion. When the restraint system broke down entirely, the Imperium found itself fighting its own military force. The Imperium and the Bioderm hordes are now at each other's throats in a war of hatred and genocide.

This has now spilt over into the Tribal space as the Bioderms look for anything that can give them an edge over the resource-heavy Imperium. In otherwords, there's nothing personal between the Hordes and the Tribes...it's mostly a war over resources. Of course...the loss of several planets has given the Tribes a reason to get personal over it...

Of course, the Tribes still struggle against one another while this new threat (or threats if the Imperium turns toward them) looms over them. Things could get real ugly, real quick.

Welcome to Tribes 2 people... The game caught the attentions of many gamers, press and hard-core fans alike. After the online turmoil known as "Quake III vs. Unreal Tournament battles" has partially settled, it is time for other projects to shine through and help the slow maturing of the online FPS sub-genre. And when you think about it really, Dynamix's Tribes was the first attempt to introduce some fresh ideas into the sub-genre (in fact it single handedly threaded some new ground in the market), that didn't do terribly well, partly due to the fact that it takes some time before people take to new concepts and embrace them as "necessary" or "fun".

You can't hide!

Dawn is Setting...

Tribes 2 is boldly heading forward, and in a couple of different directions... It is a new trendsetter in terms of online gameplay, as well as some built-from-scratch 3D graphics. People from Dynamix are bragging about the completely new graphics engine in Tribes 2 that adds so much more to the game's pivotal background settings --- the wide-open spaces. It does so by dishing massive mountain peaks, treacherous canyons, deep water, and realistic weather effects (including wind, rain, snow, fog and even lighting strikes) in all their 3D goodness. What also impressed me while watching the actual gameplay were the seeming less transitions between the outdoor and indoor environments, and the smooth physics models, so important to the overall feeling of the game.

Now, the usual eye-candy, and other 3D engine improvements are certainly welcomed, but the real cracker is the massive influx of neat enhancements specifically targeted to make our offline/online combating experience seem much more enjoyable and feature-rich than in the original.

Tribes 2 introduces all-new weapons, missions, play models and vehicles (even a whole new race of mean looking creatures --- BioDerm). The players will be able to compete with more than 50 others via the Internet or LAN alongside AI (as in friendly computer brains) or human teammates. And for all of you not ready to get serious straight away, the game will feature single player campaigns as well as training mission.

This is a bold move by Dynamix. It's always a gamble trying to make a great game that features both a captivating single player and multiplayer action, but we should have faith in Dynamix. The single player version of the original Tribes was cancelled obviously making way for the single player goodness of Tribes 2. In other words, Dynamix has concentrated on delivering a wholesome Tribes 2 gameplay, not wasting their energy on any other "side-project".

Finally, innovations, such as in game voice and text communication, web-based message forums, and automatic player and webpage hosting will be embedded in the Tribes 2 game, instantly creating bases for an on-fly player interaction, and community growth.

The game is scheduled for a Fall 2000 release date. There's so much more content to be added to Tribes 2, and it's a very ambitious project... So, we should expect some delays. The dev. team repeatedly stressed out that Tribes 2 is a "this year's game" though.

Let's see what happens... In the meantime, check out some lovely screenshots featured in the Sierra's E3 Tribes 2 press kit.