 Alien
Legion
Developed
By: NeXS Interactive
Published by: TBA
Genre: 3D Action
Expected Release: TBA
NeXS Interactive, a small startup company is working
on a game called Alien Legion. The game is an ambitious
total conversion of Unreal. NeXS has not yet landed
a publisher, but are aiming to combine fast action,
the strategy features of Rainbow Six and what they
are calling, "the most interactive story in any FPS
shooter to date." In addition to a fully interactive
story, Alien Legion features the "M21 advanced tactical
combat system," which allows the player to order computer
controlled allies to fulfill specific duties in the
player's 'squad', similar to Rainbow Six.
Rather than trying to explain the project, we will
let Jonathan 'Strife' Navia CEO, NeXS Interactive
explain it for us, through a question and answer series.
If
you still have questions, you can check their website
at: http://actionxtreme.com/alien_legion/
EP:
What was it about Unreal that inspired you to attempt
a commercial total conversion?
A: The Unreal engine is easily the most advanced platform
available for licensing today, hands down. The Quake
3 engine may be graphically sharp and do curves and
stuff, but in many people's opinion, curves are something
that id is over hyping and are little more than polar
tricks. Unreal can do curves, and we are making them
in Alien Legion, however, it is by a far different
method than Quake 3's. We were inspired that we could
take this little base and make anything we want out
of it. Some of us tried Alien Legion for Quake II.
It didn't work. The Unreal community is unique and
I feel needs a game like Alien Legion. The tools,
UnrealED are great and the net code, now at least
is spectacular.
EP:
How difficult is it to license a game engine? In this
case, is it just a matter of showing up with the licensing
fee or is there more to it?
A: This is where people get confused. You can make
a game for Unreal and make most, if not all of the
additions that you need just with the shipping version.
However, you still have to buy a license in order
to sell it as a game. The first step is to talk, and
get friendly with the Epic guys and keep them on top
of what you are doing and ask for their advice. Do
that and you're half way there. It is more complicated
than just showing up with a licensing fee since Epic
won't want to put their logo on an inferior product.
They ask that we send down the game on a CD for review
and if it is a plus, they will suggest us to publishers.
If it is a down, they will tell us how to fix it,
then ask us to resubmit it. All in all, our licensing
path is very different than that of say, the Collective
or ASC games because unlike them, we don't have a
name for ourselves already.
EP:
Does this game continue in the Unreal universe or
is the Alien Legion universe unique?
A:
Alien Legion is best described as a distant offspring
of Unreal, however, its 'storyline' does not recognize
the events in Return to Na Pali, Unreal Tournament,
Unreal 2, Unreal 3, etc. After Unreal, the two histories
branch off. In ours, The United Earth Confederacy
and the Skaarj Union go to war, resulting in the death
of the last queen and the virtual defeat of the Skaarj
who survive through cloning. The Skaarj and humans
go into a cold war for the next 500 years. Eventually,
a super alien empire, the Scorpions, arrive. All hell
breaks loose and Alien Legion begins. Alien Legion
makes no references to Unreal or the ship or even
the Nali. We just use the Skaarj Trooper as the only
returning enemy for Unreal as a background story.
Q: The press release touts the "use key," how is this
going to be implemented and what does it add to the
first person action genre? A: The use key is nothing
new to first person shooters, however, it has been
ignored since DooM after it phased out in Quake. We're
bringing it back. The use key will let you pull things,
activate consoles, open doors and the usual 'use functions'.
It adds nothing revolutionary but it adds a level
of interactivity to the game that it would otherwise
lack.
EP:
Computer controlled squadmates are notoriously irritating.
Rainbow Six, for example suffered from poor pathfinding
and problems like AI squadmates blowing themselves
up with grenades. Other games suffer from poor target
acquisition and other problems. How has NeXS been
able to overcome some of these difficulties for Alien
Legion?
A:
VERY GOOD QUESTION!. First of all control. The use
of pathnodes essentially dictates, in Unreal, how
smart the bots move around and how human they act.
The general rule is one path node must always see
the other. The new rule that we are enforcing is that
one pathnode must be able to see at least 4 other
pathnodes. This enables much more intelligent bot
movements. In addition, the bots are not completely
computer controlled like in Rainbow Six. We have added
a new little console and binded hotkeys that activate
certain commands like 'fall back' or 'attack from
behind' or 'seek cover' or 'stay here until I issue
further orders' or 'free for all', etc. Commands like
these give you a more 'hands on' feeling that you
control your team. Targeting is a very complex issue.
When we first programmed M21, it didn't work because
the Skaarj would not identify the bot as a target
and the bot would not identify the Skaarj as a target.
We added several lines of code to the Skaarj so they
identified the bot and we doubled the number of lines
of code for the bot so they would work in singleplayer
and act like allies. The bots will only hit you and
each other if you do something stupid like strafe
in their line of fire, there is nothing we can do
about that.
EP:
Your press release and website speak very often of
the complex and interactive story. Why is that important
to the first person shooter genre and what does it
add to the gaming experience?
A:
Since Quake 1, a lot of FPS games have come out, very
few of them having a complex and concrete story. I
don't think mindless shooters like DooM or Quake will
work anymore. If your going to be fighting aliens
there might as well be a good story and moral behind
it. In Alien Legion, it is tolerating differences
(in this case between species) and forgiveness. That's
the ultimate goal to the game... to explain why the
events that transpire happen. We are going to see
first person gaming going into separate paths- exclusively
multiplayer, where story does not matter and single
player with less emphasis on multiplayer. In those
games, since they lack multiplayer, a complex, edgy,
multipath story will become more important so the
gamer keeps playing and that side of FPS games survive.
EP:
How much and what sort of alteration is the team making
to the Unreal engine? Why?
A:
We're adding a bone/skeletal based animation system.
This is more for realistic movement and ease of modeling
than anything else, as manipulating vertices just
doesn't cut it any more. Also, a radio communication
system for bots. As explained we added a lot of AI
to the enemy bot code, 15 new enemies, 3 new bosses,
10 new weapons, 25 or so new levels and new deathmatch
modes and 1000 odd new textures. We are tweaking netcode
too so the increased detail can be handled
EP:
The Flag Tag multiplayer mode [free for all, whoever
holds the flag longest wins] sounds like fun. Whose
idea was it?
A:
Some of us commented that N64 shooters like Quake,
Doom 64 and Goldeneye have pathetic capture the flag
games (2 on 2?!?) so we decided that we would create
a variation of CTF for Alien Legion that would sort
of serve as an example for other game companies and
be fun at the same time.
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