Preview Bloodlines dev diary numero uno over at GameSpot

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Leonard Boyarsky; Troika Games; Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

There's a <A href="http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/vtmb/preview_6076954.html">dev diary</a> over on <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/">GameSpot</a> written by <b>Leon Boyarsky</b> of <a href="http://www.troikagames.com">Troika Games</a> talking about why they're making <a href="http://www.vampirebloodlines.com/">Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines</a>.
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<blockquote>When it came time to do our next game after Arcanum, we decided we wanted to challenge ourselves and move from our comfort zone of making isometric-view role-playing games to trying something completely new and challenging. To this end, we had been speaking with Scott Lynch of Valve about using the new Source technology (the same game technology used to power Half-Life 2) to create a brand-new, groundbreaking first-person RPG. When we brought this idea to Activision, they suggested we use the Vampire license for this new game. So we began to diligently research the World of Darkness and the Vampire system and agreed that it would be a great fit. Placing players face-to-face with the World of Darkness was just too good an idea to pass up. </blockquote>
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Comfort zones are lovely things. I've got to say I'd be a lot more interested in this if it weren't first person.
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Spotted this at <a href="http://www.shacknews.com">Shacknews</a>.
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[Psilon]

I'd be more interested in this if it weren't Vampire. The screenshots I've seen so far don't really look like my kind of setting.

FPRPGs can be quite fun despite their FPS ancestry; despite the simplifications, I'm optimistic towards Deus Ex 2. I won't rush out and buy it on day one like I did with ToEE, but I'll probably get it if the reviews are good. I'm even looking forward to Elder Scrolls IV, and will probably buy it if they merge in a few more (planned) features from Daggerfall.

 

[axel]

And if it gave free blowjobs with every purchase I'd be alot more interested in it too, but that's just not in the cards.

I'm convinced a good rpg could be done in the first person. And I also believe if anyone's to do it, Troika is.

I'm eagerly anticipating this title.
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[Seven]

And if it gave free blowjobs with every purchase I'd be alot more interested in it too, but that's just not in the cards.

I'm convinced a good rpg could be done in the first person. And I also believe if anyone's to do it, Troika is.

I'm eagerly anticipating this title.

If it's less buggy than TOEE I'll buy it. I think that this game'll be RPG of the year when it comes out, just watch and see.

 

[EEVIAC]

I'd be curious to know just how far Troika are into development of the game. There have been rumours for weeks that Valve's "Source" code is unfinished and that all of the neat AI that was seen in the trailers was actually scripted. If this is true, what exactly do Troika have to fiddle with? Are they just doing models, and writing story and dialogues? Or do they have the facility to actually put things into the game and see how it plays?

The original (speculative) release date for V:TM:B was Q1 2004, which is about the date they're saying that HL2 will now be released, because of that evil hacker of course. It could be a long wait.

<edit> Did Leon do work for ToEE? I thought only Tim was working on it. He's not mentioned in the credits.

 

[Spazmo]

Leon didn't work on ToEE. He was busy working on Bloodlines.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

From what I vaguely remember from readin somewhere, VtMB was actually in playable mode at some game convention thingy a while back. What I read was along the lines of "while everyone was queing up and drooling over HL2 videos, few realised they could actually see the engine in action with Troika's new game VtMB" etc...

So yeah, I think they're testing things. I'd say that what you're hearing are nasty rumours spread by evil corporate spies who are out to corrupt HL2.

EDIT: You know, that quote is the only good piece of material in that entire article.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I have yet to see a first person CRPG where the combat was interesting.. Especially when it comes to melee. Ever played a fighter type character in Morrowind? ZZZzzzz.

 

[Rayt]

I have yet to see a first person CRPG where the combat was interesting.. Especially when it comes to melee. Ever played a fighter type character in Morrowind? ZZZzzzz.

If you take the term crpg very loosely I'd say System Shock 2 has fun combat.

 

[Aelfina]

Vampire Demo

At E3 I saw a nice demo of the game, the character designer was there and I got to talk to him about the game. As far as I know (at least in what he showed me) you can switch between third and first person like in morrowind. I don't know if any of you have played the first one (it was really buggy, lots of crashes) but it was decent gameplay and story wise. The biggest improvment I saw in the game (besides the sexy sexy graphics and models) was the overwhelming attention to detail. They seem to have implemented all the rules of Vampire very well, being able to create your character is what the first game lacked. I did ask about the programming issues with the first one and if they were working on making it not crash so freaking much and the guy said they were, but sadly while he was showing me the demo it crashed and I was very sad. It looked SO good though! And all of the abilities are really cool. He showed me a malkavian character using one of his skills on a dumb fat security guard, he was able to make the guy almost suicidally depressed leaving the building unattended. The malkavian girls wear school girl uniforms (well more the britney spears version really) guys will be sure to get a kick out of that. And like HL2 they implemented interactive environments, he broke a wooden door and threw the pieces around for me. I'm going to buy it, I may even pre-order it.

 

[Aelfina]

oh yeah

and I'm pretty sure the game is very non-linear.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Re: Vampire Demo

The malkavian girls wear school girl uniforms (well more the britney spears version really) guys will be sure to get a kick out of that.

No. Seriously, no. I can get porn for free if I go to www.google.com and type "free porn". Also, what I get are real picture of real girls, they're not pixellated / computer generated models. If I want porn, I'll go looking for porn. The last thing I want is to be playing a computer game and have some chick flash her tits at me in a skimpy little skirt. There's nothing worse than playing one of those game because you can't brag about it (Hey, have you guys got that Vampire game? It's sweet) without being a total geek who people look at funny because they think he jacks off over computer generated models.

There's a reason BMX XXX didn't sell well, and it's not because of the BMX part... The point is, you just feel disgusting when you're looking at some computer models big tits and you're thinking "Gee, I hope my girlfriend/wife/brother/sister/mother/father doesn't walk in on me while I'm in this part of the game".