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Interview The Fall interview at GameBanshee

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,044
Tags: Fall: Last Days of Gaia; Silver Style

<b>Carsten Strehse</b> was spotted <a href=http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/thefall1.php>chatting</a> with <a href=http://www.gamebanshee.com>GameBanshee</a> about <a href=http://www.the-fall.com>The Fall</a>. Believe it or not, <b>Carsten</b> didn't mention <b>Fallout</b> at all. Weird.
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<blockquote><b>Other than the setting, what do you feel will set The Fall apart from other RPGs available to gamers? </b>
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Well, on the technical side of things there surely are a few ideas and techniques that are rather uncommon for RPGs. I already mentioned the vehicle physics, but there's also the character motion/animation which is realized through so called Inverse Kinematics. Ensuring that the limbs are positioned correctly, characters can turn there head into a specific direction and that they're aiming their weapons precisely at their targets instead of having premade but limited poses.
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Our approach for scripting and NPC simulation, called Living World Architecture (LWA), also goes beyond what current genre representatives feature. Every single NPC has different activities he can and will follow depending on the circumstances. We're also trying to make sure that what is supposed to be a community will also look and feel like In casea community to the player.
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You'll also face some large scale battles that might take place on the whole map. Combat isn't limited to a range of let's say 40 yards. Don't get me wrong though, it's still an RPG and you won't spend most of the time on the battlefield. And, of course, often enough there's an option to avoid battles by being diplomatic or sneaking your way around the enemies.
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Other than that there also are the Survival, Driving and Speech skills. And we're trying there's content for players that beat the main story line. You'll run across some new characters, quests and other 'nuggets' afterwards.</blockquote>In case, somebody is too lazy to read all this stuff, here is a brief overview:
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Q: What sets The Fall apart from other RPG?
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A: First of all, we have cool but crappy looking characters animation, a very important RPG feature. Second, our NPCs follow daily schedule - a never seen before feature. Last but not the least, we have a Speech skill. No other game has that.
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What I really like is that there is a Driving skill. I hope that there is a Cellphone skill too, and together with a Speech skill, you can drive around, while talking on your cellphone, annoying the fuck out of people. That would be very cool, realistic, and innovative.
 

The Pope

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Joined
Jan 23, 2004
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Vault Dweller said:
Q: What sets The Fall apart from other RPG?
A: First of all, we have cool but crappy looking characters animation, a very important RPG feature. Second, our NPCs follow daily schedule - a never seen before feature. Last but not the least, we have a Speech skill. No other game has that.

What I really like is that there is a Driving skill. I hope that there is a Cellphone skill too, and together with a Speech skill, you can drive around, while talking on your cellphone, annoying the fuck out of people. That would be very cool, realistic, and innovative.
omg your sarcasm skills r teh leet!

...
 

Anonymous

Guest
They cant put that in, VD, that'd be silly.

Because Fallout 3 didnt have it.
 

Psilon

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Messages
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Even though Carsten's full of shit regarding daily schedules being innovative, they are pretty damn rare. I think Arcanum's the last game I played which featured them. NWN, Morrowind, Arx Fatalis, and Wizardry 8 all had NPCs which basically stood around and waited for you to talk to them, no matter what hour of day or night.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
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Messages
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Psilon said:
...all had NPCs which basically stood around and waited for you to talk to them, no matter what hour of day or night.
Now, that's what I call a good customer service
 

Stark

Liturgist
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Messages
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Even though Carsten's full of shit regarding daily schedules being innovative, they are pretty damn rare. I think Arcanum's the last game I played which featured them. NWN, Morrowind, Arx Fatalis, and Wizardry 8 all had NPCs which basically stood around and waited for you to talk to them, no matter what hour of day or night.

Ultima 7 had it. so did Gothic 1 and 2. Hardly rare.
 

Psilon

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I should clarify: schedules are rare among recent games. Didn't play Gothic, but I didn't list Ultima VII or Daggerfall for this reason.
 

Anonymous

Guest
Morrowind and NWN are shit, what do you expect? Static NPCs standing in the same spot for 24 hours.
 

Greenskin13

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I'm a big fan of daily schedules. I really liked those old adventure games with the Virtual Theater engine, like Beneath a Steel Sky, where the NPCs walked out and about. But I'm hoping to see that the time changes more than just where the NPC is standing.
 

Major_Blackhart

Codexia Lord Sodom
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It would be cool also if the environment changed as time went on as well, like a shopowner gets killed and no one takes over his shop, and as time goes on the place gets more and more run down and dirty etc.
 

Anonymous

Guest
I liked the stuff in Avernum 3, where things would get taken over and all that as time went on.
 

Stark

Liturgist
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Messages
770
Major_Blackhart said:
It would be cool also if the environment changed as time went on as well, like a shopowner gets killed and no one takes over his shop, and as time goes on the place gets more and more run down and dirty etc.

dun think it's technologically possible right now, unless it's scripted events.

anyone here who's into AI or taking AI modules? I've taken some during my graduate days but those were pretty rudimentory. took neural network in my master course but again it's pretty broad based so not much idea how close to true AI we are.

anyone who care to comment on the current state of AI and the type of true AI we can expect in a few years?
 

Stark

Liturgist
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Messages
770
btw i dun consider scripted events that yield a fake sense of AI as true AI.

However well scripted events such as those daily schedules exhibited in Gothic and Gothic 2 never the less yield a sense of immersion that's not possible in NWN nor MW.
 

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