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Introduction
Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix is currently scheduled for an early May release by Activision. This means that the development team is spending their final days getting the last kinks worked out of the game. We spoke with Project Lead Jon Zuk, who was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule. Keep checking back here at SLCentral where we will have continuing coverage on one of the most anticipated first-person shooters of the year.
When the original Soldier of Fortune was brought to gamers, they were blown away by the intense action and realism. Fortunately, Soldier of Fortune II is expected to set entirely new standards for action and realism, making you forget what you thought a couple of years ago.
With the second rendition, Raven Software is building the game around the Quake III Arena engine that they also used for the development of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Because of this, and a much more advanced AI and sound, Soldier of Fortune II will technically take leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor. Beyond this, they are implementing their new GHOUL 2 rendering technology, ARIOCHE terrain system, LICH AI system, and brand new character models. A random mission generator and the newly announced multiplayer will help extend the gameplay.
Both games in the series have been based on the experiences of former Special Forces officer, John Mullins, who bears a striking resemblance to the in-game character, John Mullins. That's not a coincidence. And if the action gets a little too thick for your tastes, controls ship with the title to tone down the violence.
Your new partner in the game will be known as Madeline Taylor as you battle against terrorism. Locations to which you will travel during the course of your missions include Prague, Colombia, Hong Kong, and Kamchatka. Continue on to see what Jon had to say about the beauty of Soldier of Fortune II. We think that you'll find what he had to say quite interesting.
The Interview
Well, here we go. Thanks for taking some time out of your busy schedule to answer these questions for us.
SL: Could you please tell us a little bit about your history working in game development and how has this experience helped you during the development of SoF2?
Jon Zuk: I've been in the game industry and with Raven since 1996. The only game I've ever worked on that wasn't a Quake engine game was Take No Prisoners, back in 96-97. Since then, I've worked on the Hexen II Mission Pack, Heretic II, Soldier of Fortune, Elite Force, and SoF Gold. By now, I am very familiar with the Quake engine, and although details change between technologies, the mindset is always the same. I also have worked my way up from Designer, to Lead Designer, to Project Lead, and I'll tell you, nothing prepares you for that!
SL: What resulted in your becoming Project Lead for SoF2?
Jon Zuk: After Heretic II, I was on a mysterious '3rd project' that never materialized and I was supposed to the Lead Designer. Since things weren't coming to pass, I moved to SoF and EF to help them out in a design capacity. I was then going to be Lead Design again on the '3rd project' which was finally going to get underway. Then Quake 4 came along. The SoF leads moved over to that allowing me to move up to Project Lead and others to move up to lead positions.
SL: How much have you enjoyed working with your development team?
Jon Zuk: Are you trying to get me in trouble? Seriously, we have a lot of very talented people at Raven. We all are trying to accomplish the same thing and it gets difficult at times, especially here towards the end. But I do enjoy working with so many creative people even though they all have their own unique opinion on what the game should be.
SL: Would you care to argue about the importance of single player in first-person shooters, when so much is going towards multiplayer?
Jon Zuk: Single player still has a lot to offer. We are just now getting to the point now where we can concentrate on story and character as the driving force rather than the technology. In the future, we'll see games move towards a movie type experience. First person tends to offer an immersion factor that other perspectives don't match. Multiplayer is becoming more about community and teamwork, where as single player is more about story and sheer amount of features.
SL: Are you pleased with your decision to include multiplayer in the game?
Jon Zuk: Not at first I wasn't. Our schedule at the time was very tight and we weren't being given extra time to 'shoehorn' it in. But it has evolved quickly and nicely. Playing a CTF game in a randomly generated map with 32 players is probably the funnest thing I've played in a long time. We've done a lot in a little time.
SL: What are the multiplayer maps like and how to they differ from those in the single player?
Jon Zuk: We have some standard deathmatch and CTF maps, but we also have the RMG in multiplayer. As I said above, this is amazing. Having a map that no one knows is really unique, and it sort of equalizes the players out a bit. It becomes more about the raw skill of the player and less about their ability to memorize maps, pickups, spawn spots, and camping spots.
SL: What steps were taken and how much effort went into staying true-to-life with the weapons?
Jon Zuk: That's an interesting question because we're balancing them out right now. Visually, they are all very accurate. We built them straight off of reference photos our Associate Producer took at a shop in California. The OICW was challenging because there isn't really one available yet. Our rate of fires are pretty accurate as are the features of the weapons. Of course, they have to be customized or "game-ized" to make them interesting, useful, and fun. In the end, we really have a caricature of what the weapon is. As close to real life as possible while keeping it interesting for the player.
SL: What do all of the different locations bring to SoF2?
Jon Zuk: They bring variety of course. You can have a lot of variety in one square mile, but not nearly as much as having different world locales. We have jungles, snowy regions, cities, buildings, an ocean liner, an airport, etc. You don't want to bore the player with 37 factory levels. Of course, it all fits in with the story too. It shows the bad guys to be a world wide threat.
SL: How has the AI improved since the original game and how does it handle the new random mission generator?
Jon Zuk: The AI is completely new in SoF2, and has nothing close to the first game. The tricky thing now is that we can do so much stuff, that if a guy looks 'dumb', there could be dozens of reasons why. AI can take cover, lean around corners, crouch, rappel, jump, work in pairs, work in squads, leap over objects, etc. As you can see, they do a lot! We've had some issues with the RMG because it's very open and it's random. We've been working on how AI can handle the player at a distance, since you'll encounter them that way quite a bit. Indoors though, they work pretty much the same, although our buildings are a little more simple and generic in the RMG.
SL: Who, in your opinion, got the better workout on this game, the programmers or the artists? You have made so many graphical, audio, AI, and other technical advances, yet you are also exploring new locations and models.
Jon Zuk: I'd say that we had to push every department pretty hard on this game. For animation, we have 20 weapons, and 10 3000 poly character types as well as 16000 frames of animation (just in the male). For art, we have 100 characters, 9 locations, 1024x1024 textures, and a new effects system. For programmers, we have Ghoul2, ConfusEd, a new weapon system, a new AI system, and much more. Then, the designers have to take all of this new stuff, and make fun and engaging levels.
SL: How has Raven Software's previous experience with the Quake III Engine helped you push the limits with SoF2?
Jon Zuk: From Elite Force, we pretty much knew what Quake III could do, but we didn't push the technology much further because we were making the game while the engine was still being written. After finishing EF, we looked at all it had to offer, then decided what would need to be different to make SoF2 work. To say we pushed the limits is putting it mildly. We've pretty much taken those limits, threw them over our shoulder, and kept moving forward. There is much more new code in there now than original Q3 code.
SL: Could you please describe how the dynamic music is used to contribute to the game's atmosphere?
Jon Zuk: The main thing it does is let you know that you're now in combat. Depending on the area, the change is sometimes subtle. But it kind of pumps up the feeling of danger when in combat, and feels more expository when you are just looking around. I think we'll do much more with dynamic music in the future.
SL: What kind of resolutions and detail levels are we looking at for standard P3/Athlon 700 system with 128 MB of RAM and a GeForce2?
Jon Zuk: That's still in the works as we tweak performance. I think that kind of setup is going to be just around mid-range. We have a range from a P2-450, TNT2, 128MB of RAM to P4-2Ghz, GeForce 4Ti, 512MB of RAM. Since we have so much range to work in, we have to work very hard on scalability per system. The game is only going to be able to look its best on a fairly high end machine and we have to sometimes spare visual quality for performance. We can make the game look great on any system, it just won't run!
SL: How has the ARIOCHE terrain system allowed you to do greater things with maps in the game?
Jon Zuk: In single player, we didn't do too much with it, although there are a couple of levels. We utilize it most heavily in RMG maps. We have some ideas for greater utilization in the future, but the main plus behind it is the size of level we can do.
SL: Do you think that parental controls in SoF2 will bring the game to a much younger audience?
Jon Zuk: We're not trying to do that. This game is meant for mature audiences. However, there are parents who will just buy the game for their child no matter what. We are hoping that they will act responsibly and lock out content that is not appropriate for them. With that said though, if I had a 15 year old, I wouldn't let them play it. It is an adult game for adults.
SL: Are there other games that inspired you during the development of SoF2?
Jon Zuk: Everyone on the team plays games, so inspiration is drawn from everything. We look at all the current FPS games, but we use adventure games, RPGs, and even sports games. We have moving eyes, which were first seen in Madden 2001!
SL: Well, it's getting down to the wire. Do you wish that you had more time or are you glad that it's going out to the public to be seen?
Jon Zuk: Any developer that tells you he doesn't want more time is lying. There is always something that can be changed or improved upon as the technology for the game finishes. But this is a business and we have to put it out there sometime so we can make some money. Overall though, we're really proud of all the stuff we've accomplished. We actually have 3 separate games, SP, MP, and RMG, all in one box.
SL: Would SoF2 have been created without the continuing relationship with John Mullins?
Jon Zuk: I can't really answer that. If John had decided he didn't want to be involved, there would probably have still been a sequel, but I don't know for sure. However, he is involved, he's been a great help, and we hope to work with him more in the future.
SL: Do you ever just sit around and listen to his stories as if it were a campfire?
Jon Zuk: You bet we do. Last time he came out, everytime we went out to lunch or dinner, he had a story to tell. This was also after the whole September 11th tragedy so he was able to share some insight about Afghanistan, having been there before.
SL: What have you done to make SoF2 appeal to those wanting to make mods?
Jon Zuk: We worked very hard to externalize many parts of the game. This was done with the intent of making the art and design work flow easier, and making it open to mods. Even if we never release one bit of documentation, experienced modders should be able delve in and mod weapons, characters, skins, ammo, RMG missions, MP game types, scripting, models, and probably some more stuff I'm forgetting about.
SL: Once again, thank you very much for your time and good luck during the rest of development. We can't wait!
Jon Zuk: Thanks for the great questions!
Screenshots
