>>1. How great will the AI, both single-player and bots be when DNF is finally released?
Everyone overhypes AI, ya know? All we want to do is provide bad guys that are interesting to fight, and that's don't do dumb things (run into walls, or other glaring errors). In this day and age, flocking, squad behavior and the rest, are all pretty common place.
>>2. How much effort will there be on beta-testing to ensure as bug-free a release as possible?
A lot. Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior (and Max Payne) all shipped very solidly and only needed one patch. DNF is more complex and in this day and age of games, more than one patch may be necessary, but we want to ship the game in a very stable state. In fact, we reguarly do things like let the game run over night, or for days at a time, to test for memory leaks and things like that.
But again, everyone says this, so...
>>3. One area often neglected in games is the sound technology. Will DNF's sound allow a host of decent sound effects (unlike say UT2003's horrible use of stereo)
We support full 5.1 surround sound. Getting THX or Dolby certified is something we want to do.
>>and maybe even propagation levels differing for different materials, like other games claim they will have?
I think this is another over hyped feature, but it's relatively easy to do and we may do that as a polishing touch. We already have a material set per surface in the game and it's not too difficult to bounce sounds around.
I think most games today sound great. Call of Duty is a great example. The playing field is really pretty level on things like sound and even rendering technology today. It's all a matter of what you do with it, and the quality of your game assets.
Warmaster,
>>1.On a scale of 1 to 10, how much modding ease will we see? 1 being GTA3 (having to replace game files to get the mods to work, mods many times crashing games) 10 being Half-Life (in-menu mod selection, wide variety of stuff you can do, mods encouraged and retailed by Valve, Sven Co-op).
It's the Unreal engine, so overall I suppose expect similar experiences with modding any other Unreal game.
>>2.What resolutions will be supported? How wide can the graphics options be changed from crappy to awesome?
All resolutions, but I doubt you will be playing in 1600x1200. The graphics are pretty high end and machines don't exist yet to run at those resolutions at playable framerates. You will be able to turn graphics features on/off in the menus and trade framerate for visual quality.
>>3.Do you have many pre-done effects for doing levels? i.e. fountains and etc. (Half-Life did this with beams and glows and particle-glowy things)
We've actually been working in and finalizing lots of particle and effects systems lately. Anything from guns or wall and blood effects, to toilets. Typically, at this point, we try to finalize every asset that goes into the game now so it's not something to do, later.
>>4.This one has probably already been done sort of and it's sort of content related so don't answer it if you don't feel like it, but how much humor oriented will the game be? Darkish with sporadic humor, i.e. MP2 and Splinter Cell?
We won't really be sure until later.
>>5.How far will you go with multiplayer modes? Basic DM, CTF, etc., or a range similar to UT2K4? (Not what modes there will be, but how creative you want to get with them)
UT2K4 took a full team a year and a half to develop. I think it's fair and safe to say that we won't go as far as they did in multiplayer. We just don't have the time or team size to do that.
dark_angel,
>>1. Wil Physics in DNF be an Important Factor in creating an Interactive World?
Yes. Physics and interactivity are very important to us. But every game is doing physics today, so I suspect their wow factor will have diminished by the time we ship.
>>2. Will DNF Gameplay Feel different from current FPS games, I mean What is the FEEL while Playing DNF?
Won't know until we're done.
Simon,
>>Does this mean the game recognizes wood from metal and will play different impact sounds depending what the bullets hit?
Yes, of course. Don't most games do this, these days?
>>1) You always say you're not UT tech anymore. Does this apply to the netcode? How is that? Will we have to lead targets like crazy like in Halo? I know shooting ahead and lag are unavoidable over the net but I was just wondering if we can expect solid connection, stable servers...?
The netcode is still all Unreal.
>>2) I remember at some points in 2001, you said "IF DNF ships...". Is there still a chance you won't release the game or are you confident you will definately ship it one day?
I think those "if" comments were jokes I've never once doubted we would ship. Only a matter of time.
>>3) Many people were dissapointed with Halo PC or more recently with Deus Ex 2. Bad controls, interface... there's always something someone won't like. Will DNF be equally polished everywhere or can the rough edges and small details wait for a patch / expansion pack?
PC Halo was great. I don't know what people expect. In the end, all we can do it try our best, then patch like mad if we have to, to smooth things out. But I think after all this time we will strive very hard to make it as polished as smooth as possible. But again, everyone says that, right? These are fairly general questions with little room to answer
>>4) I'm sure the modding community is eager to get its hands on Duke's Enormous Tool. How is 3DR about that? Will the game accept mods easily?
Same as any other Unreal game I suppose.
>>Will you ship the tools and let people build on their own, or will there be more active support of the community for addons?
Just like Duke 3D we will ship the tools on the CD. I believe we were the first people to do that with a major FPS. We will clearly try to support the game as much as possible after release. We want people modding it and having fun with the tools.
>>5) Does the ragdoll Octabrain still own everything?
No, I'm bored of it now
>>6) Does the water still do "stuff"?
Yes, it does quite a lot of stuff. But most games today have great looking water, so ...
>>7) Finally, is Duke in good shape and eager to kick ass once again?
Yes he is. He reminds us every time he looks in the mirror.
dark_angel,
>>1. You have said that DNF Hype will begin 6 monthes prior to the release date.
so What is the best choice for you to start the Hype with
No idea what we'll do yet.
>>Beleive me GB, MaxPayne2 Hype was really a MESS !
Rockstar handled all that. What did you think was wrong with it?
>>2. Will there be an option in the Graphics Menu were you can select Not only very High Details but also INSANE Details?
The game will default to max details. That's why our recommended specs are so high. Really, with what we're doing, there is max detail, and as you drop things out you lose a lot of visual quality, so I kind of see it as all or nothing.
>>3. What was the reactions of the new Hired developers when they saw DNF in action? Amazed huh ?
I never speak for other people. I suspect they thought we would be farther along than we were at the time. But things are going very well now.
>>4. Is it safe to say that DNF will be released before 2006?
"When it's done". We're past any estimates or guesses, no matter how safe they may be.