Spanish Interview Translation

[ooda]

Many thanks go to Kiwi, for his translation of a Spanish Interview. After reading this interview, it can be seen that this provides a great deal of new information about UFO:A. This interview took place between Jiri Rydl and J de Juegos. The interview can be found in the following post.

 

Enjoy the interview, and once again, many thanks to Kiwi .

[ooda]

Translation by Kiwi

 

Start of interview

 

Interview 10th June 2002

 

After reading all the information available about the game in the website & press releases, it was noted that more than a few details were missing or it wasn't complete, to which the head of PR for Altar Interactive, Jiri Rydl, responded in this interview, with the support of the whole development team for the game. The interview turned out a little bit longer but also presented many interesting things not detailed before, the redundant questions/answers were removed, and some related questions have been amalgamated. (Translated from the original English)

 

About the Graphics Engine

 

J de Juegos: Will the engine have climate effects? Daytime and nighttime?

 

Jiri Rydl: Yes. The engine will support climate effects like snow and rain, and equally it will depict the location with the appropriate lighting if it is a night or day mission.

 

JdJ: Can the player move/destroy objects and structures in the scenery?

 

JR: Yes, the environment is changeable (destructible): walls, fences, boxes, etc can be destroyed piece by piece. Any structure with a roof will collapse as a whole. What happens to an alien trapped inside is easy to imagine.

 

JdJ: Will the weapons be affected by the material which they shoot through? Like for example they can pass through wood but not concrete walls?

 

JR: Each material has a value which we call "bulletproofness". So it might be 100% for 5 inch (12.5cm) armour, and a piece of wood might be 10%. When shooting at something, or someone, the combined value of all the obstacles is taken into account.

 

JdJ: Will it have gamma correction?

 

JR: Yes, the game will have gamma correction (brightness, clarity)

 

JdJ: What can you tell us about the sound system, will it have something special?

 

JR: We are using dynamic sound with 3D positioning, although I guess that is considered as standard in games currently.

 

JdJ: What special visual effects can we expect in the game? (Apart from explosions)

 

JR: Apart from explosions, we'll have special attacks from the mutants, light effects in the dark areas or night missions, death animations, and much more. Without doubt, the biggest, and most attractive visual effect will be the Director's Cut - a replay mode which will allow you to view the most interesting moments through a camera - with different angles - like a movie.

 

JdJ: Is the camera angle fixed or is it free, will we be able to rotate it, zoom in/out, change the viewing angle?

 

JR: Yes, all of the above. That is to say, you can move, rotate, zoom and slant the camera. Although zoom & slant are combined, through this system you can get closer/distance yourself by changing the camera angle and viceversa. There is also a defined limit for the min/max angle you can take.

 

JdJ: Will it have software rendering?

 

JR: Software rendering? Like in Quake? I'm afraid not. The minimum requirement will be a GeForce 1 with 16Mb of memory, or equivalent.

 

About the playability

 

JdJ: Can we use any soldier for any mission or will there be some restriction, like they are tied to their base, for example?

 

JR: It's possible to choose which soldiers go on a mission without major restrictions.

 

JdJ: How dynamic is the strategic mode? How much of a change is there after completing a mission? (Or during it?)

 

JR: A successful interception will generate a possible tactical mission. There will always be various tactical missions of different types at any moment - UFO recovery, stopping enemy incursions, attacking enemy territory, base protection etc - all in different places. The strategic part consists of choosing the mission that is going to put us in a better position. The unselected missions will remain available for a time, then auto-determine the result after a while - this isn't to say that we're going to lose all of them. During the tactical missions the time stops on the strategic map.

 

JdJ: How much time - gametime - will the missions take?

 

JR: See the previous answer. We consider that the tactical missions will take an "irrelevant" amount of time.

 

JdJ: What happens if the player loses a mission?

 

JR: It depends on the mission objective. You can lose your troops, or even the base, or simply lose the opportunity to acquire a considerable advantage thanks to the mission.

 

JdJ: Are there going to be secondary objectives, or bonus objectives during the missions?

 

JR: Yes. You can, for instance , have special hidden items in a mission, and there can be various endings (each of which has a different result at strategic map level).

 

JdJ: Will the alien voices sound like noises at the start, and once a translator is discovered change to understandable sounds?

 

JR: We're required to research the alien languages before we're able to communicate with them, so the answer is partially yes. At the start we can't understand them. We haven't considered the alternative of being able to listen (spy) on the aliens during a mission, however, it's an interesting suggestion.

 

JdJ: Can we restart a mission, changing the scenery but not the objectives?

 

JR: No. It's not possible to restart a mission, obviously to lose one mission doesn't mean losing the whole game.

 

 

JdJ: Will there be vehicles or special large weapons like a machine-gun nest?

 

JR: No. There won't be vehicles. Yes there will be large weapons like rocket-launchers, or heavy machine-guns but they will still be small enough for a single soldier to carry/use.

 

JdJ: Will the weapons require ammunition? Can we heal wounds during a mission?

 

JR: Yes, the weapons need ammunition, with the exception of some alien/human hybrid mechanisms. Yes, the soldiers can be healed during the mission using a first-aid kit. The greater the amount of experience the soldier has for his medical skill, the greater the amount of health points recovered by the wounded soldier.

 

JdJ: Can we send a soldier back to base and a new one come to take his place, or do we have to persevere with those chosen in the first place?

 

JR: The latter would be correct. It's not possible to reinforce, or modify, the squad once in the mission.

 

JdJ: Can we abort a mission? In this way, how much would this affect the global strategy and other missions? (Can we return to play the mission later or will it disappear from the available list?)

 

JR: Aborting a mission is the same as surrendering. It's possible to have your troops retreat and escape but that would mean losing the battle. Then the aliens would occupy new territory or they will be closer to the base than before.

 

JdJ: Do the troops have some predefined behaviour; what about linked orders or in a queue?

 

JR: The soldiers don't perform any action without being instructed by the player. This means that they aren't going to shoot at an alien if they see/detect them, rather that the gameflow will stop to advise of the new discovery or wait for new orders. In that moment the player can tell the soldier to shoot, find cover or something else.

 

JdJ: Can you list the six role-playing attributes of the units?

 

JR: Every soldier has the following attributes: Strength, Agility, Skill, Morale, Intelligence and Perception.

 

JdJ: How does the development system for the soldiers work?

 

JR: The units gain experience points through combat and the use of their skills. When a certain limit is achieved one can increase some of the attributes in one area, which will modify the values of the various skills dependent on the skill in question.

 

JdJ: Is there a "fog of war" or will the units use "line of sight"?

 

JR: The units will use line of sight. The player can see the enemies that are visible or audible by one or more of the squad. If the enemy is audible, you can't see him, but his position is marked on the battlefield.

 

 

 

JdJ: The system takes into account the volume of the sounds?

 

JR: Like I indicated in the previous answer, yes.

 

JdJ: What other movements do the units have other than walking/running?

 

JR: The units that walk make less noise. Also it is more efficient to walk to detect the enemy. Or they can run which is faster, but causes a lot of noise and reduces the capacity to perceive their surroundings. They are also going to be able to kneel for greater accuracy.

 

JdJ: Can the units exchange equipment, find new equipment?

 

JR: The soldiers can exchange equipment amongst themselves and use a large amount of what they find on the battlefield. Nevertheless, they can only re-equip themselves in the base (Ed: that is to say, directly for another mission)

 

JdJ: Can any troop use any type of equipment or are there restrictions based on their attributes, for example?

 

JR: Originally we considered that there should be limits based on their attributes and/or skills. However, we are considering the possibility of leaving out those restrictions.

 

JdJ: What other equipment is there, apart from weapons?

 

JR: First-aid kits, grenades (although they are also a weapon), armour & much more.

 

JdJ: Does the external appearance of the units vary according to what they use, carry or have equipped?

 

JR: Yes, they change.

 

JdJ: What happens when a unit dies?

 

JR: When the hit points of a character reaches zero, he/she doesn't die instantly, rather the unit falls to the ground and begins to lose "death points". If a medic assists them, their state of health stabilises in such a way that they don't die, but they will have to spend time in the medical clinic at the base. (Ed: this probably implies that this won't be available to the soldier for a while)

 

JdJ: Can the enemy capture units? If yes, is a rescue mission obligatory or optional?

 

JR: This is a very interesting question. There are tranquillizer/stun weapons that are used to capture aliens, I assume that they can also use them to capture the player's units. In any case, the units can only be captured if you abort the mission and they are all put out of action. In which case that opens up the option of a rescue mission.

 

JdJ: Is each mission loaded once at the start, or is there more partial loading each time you change position or enter a house?

 

JR: Each mission (location) is generated only once by our engine, from there you can see the whole map, with the exception of the enemy, obviously. There are linked missions where a player will be accessing various areas sequentially, for example, when arriving at the alien mothership, - this (new) area will be loaded separately.

 

JdJ: Are the units going to have any kind of stealth attacks, like silently creeping up on the enemy from behind without being seen, then killing them?

 

JR: The aliens and mutants are very dangerous so I wouldn't recommend attacking them in this way with a knife, even if you manage to get near enough to them without them realising. In any case, the enemy uses the same mechanism of "line of sight" and "line of hearing" and the different weapons produce different sound levels, so in this way technically speaking, yes, what you ask is possible.

 

JdJ: Are there going to be missions outside of our planet, like a mothership or a moonbase?

 

JR: No comment. (Ed: this always implies that the option is being considered although not applied to the current version or maybe for an expansion pack.)

 

JdJ: Is it necessary to collect resources, or maintain control of mines, to obtain more things and pay for those that we have?

 

JR: No, because humanity has been practically annihilated. There is no-one with whom to exchange materials or objects. Nevertheless in some cases you will have to construct weapons and equipment for the troops, in particular after a successful investigation of new technologies or alien weapons.

 

JdJ: How do we get more and better equipment, completing missions or through investigation of new technologies?

 

JR: With both. After finding something unknown in the battlefield it's possible to investigate it and later use it directly or, in some cases, produce it.

 

Other points/themes

 

JdJ: Is it possible to save/load at any moment; will there be autosave, quick save / quick load?

 

JR: Yes, the player will be able to save/load at any time. We aren't sure yet about including the possibility of autosave and/or quick save/quick load.

 

JdJ: Are there any plans for a multi-player option? If yes, then in what sort of format?

 

JR: No, at this time we don't have any plans yet related to a multi-player option. Although we are thinking of making tools publicly available to create Mods once the game is on sale.

 

 

End of Interview.