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Chat With Brian Reynolds; April 1st, 1999 [MarkG] On the modification subject, do we have a chance with the units? [MarkG] what happened to 2d graphics? [Brian_] Well, that's an interesting question... [Brian_] Basically my thinking all along has been that since you can design many zillions of kinds of units... [Brian_] -in- the game, you didn't need much else for -outside- the game... [Brian_] Probably 2d graphics would end up taking too much time at this point... [Brian_] away from other projects, I mean... [Brian_] So we're more likely to concentrate on those other things... [MarkG] Oh well... some people would like to do a "civ modpack"... [Brian_] True. It would just have to be a sci-fi modpack... [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] From JasHawk: [DanQ] "How does path finding system work? Do you use Djikstra's algorithm?" [Brian_] Well, I don't know the algorithms by name (that's what happens when you get a... [Brian_] degree in Philosophy and History instead of CS)... [Brian_] Basically it's a reverse search... pretty standard... [Brian_] But with a -lot- of fine tuning... [Brian_] As you may or may not know, it's mathematically impossible to come up with a truly... [Brian_] -perfect- best-path algorithm (# of possibilities that would have to be searched... [Brian_] in a SMAC game is typically more than the # of atoms in the univers, etc)... [Brian_] But we've gotten it pretty tight for SMAC. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] David writes: [DanQ] "Is the stuttering under NT going to be fixed anytime soon?" [Brian_] That's more a question for our sound engineer, I'm afraid, and pretty much I have no idea... [Brian_] I can tell you the reason he gave me that it does that... [Brian_] Which is that under NT we have to used "emulated drivers" for certain functions... [Brian_] And those drivers slow it down enough to make it do that... [Brian_] Basically the music in SMAC is handled by a pretty sophisticated system, so that it can... [Brian_] dynamically interact with the course of events in the game... [Brian_] And since the sound effects are mixed in with the same drivers... [Brian_] They're subject to the same issue... [Brian_] It's not just a matter of "playing a WAV file" (unfortunately)... [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Speaking of fixes, here's a question from CaptComal: [DanQ] "Granted, SMAC is the best game of all time, but I heard that a 4.0 patch was not planned for sure. I think there are plenty of show stopper bugs left. [DanQ] Would it help if we created a webpage listing each bug in 3.0 along with a SAVE GAME file? [DanQ] Others could download the save game and then CONFIRM that the bug also exists on their system. [DanQ] This way we can provide bugs that can be recreated and thus fixed. [Brian_] Since I'm sure there will be at least one more set of enhancements, it seems like there... [Brian_] will certainly be another fix opportunity... [Brian_] Not sure exactly when that will be (maybe not as soon as recent patch)... [Brian_] Saved games that reproduce problems are -definitely- welcome... [Brian_] Best place to send them is to Jeff Morris (jmorris@firaxis.com)... [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] From Ken Dorfman: [DanQ] "Why omit default user build queues, similar to Civ2?" [Brian_] ... [Brian_] Basically, one issue w/ designing an interface... [Brian_] Is not putting in -so- many options that it's more confusing than if you'd left stuff out... [Brian_] We definitely wanted a configurable/insertable/saveable/restorable/etc build queue... [Brian_] Didn't really occur to us to add a "default" version... [Brian_] But anyway I'd have probably been worried about how to avoid having the interface... [Brian_] get too complicated. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] {nod} [DanQ] From Guaire: [DanQ] "About the new factions, will they be available for normal SMAC or will there be an expansion pack or the like?" [Brian_] I think there will be some factions for free download... [Brian_] And others for expansion pack. [Brian_] (done) [MarkG] .. [DanQ] Can you tell us anything else about the expansion pack? [Brian_] Not really :-) [DanQ] It's a popular inquiry this evening. [DanQ] Onto fungus. [DanQ] The kind in SMAC, that is. [DanQ] :) [Brian_] Heh heh. [DanQ] From CoDe|ZeRo: [DanQ] " overall is removing fungus a good thing to do? does fungus help the environment and make planet easier to deal with or does it make planet more hostile?" [Brian_] Fungus has a pacifying effect... [Brian_] On the environment local to a base... [Brian_] So removing fungus makes the base more ecologically damaging... [Brian_] On the other hand, if you incur environmental damage... [Brian_] (anyway) in an area with a lot of fungus... [Brian_] You may get a sterner response in terms of # of mind worms. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] From Daniel007: [DanQ] It is regarding a topic we discussed earlier. [DanQ] "On the subject of special parts, perhaps diffrent themes with diffrent settings for planet would be a good idea( eg. Alien planet, mariner planet)" [Brian_] Good idea. I'd be interested in doing something along a "water scenario" line. [Brian_] (done) [MarkG] Change of topic... [MarkG] C:CTP is out for two days now... [MarkG] Did youhad a chance to see it? YOur view of it? [Brian_] Someone did bring me a copy when it came out at EB here... [Brian_] Unfortunately it won't run on my system (really, I'm not kidding)... [Brian_] It keeps saying "please make sure CD is in drive" and I retry and retry to no avail... [Brian_] So I guess some kind of copy protection issue... Believe me I've been there myself... [MarkG] I think there is something in the readme about it :) [Brian_] Anyway, I did have someone else boot it up on their system for a few minutes... [Brian_] And played a little while. First impression was graphics were beautiful, interface was clunky, couldn't tell about gameplay. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Ok, now, another popular question. [DanQ] Will there be a Linux version? [Brian_] Certainly a Mac version; I'm assuming a Linux version too though that hasn't been finalized... [Brian_] Which is kind of our fault because we expressed some interest (to EA) in doing it ourselves... [Brian_] Worked on it for a while, then got swamped with other stuff... [Brian_] So we handed it back to EA, meaning some time was lost while we were fooling around with it... [Brian_] Anyway, my guess is they will probably do one now. Seems like it would be an easy port. [Brian_] Mostly it was the network code that was going to require some work... [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Will it be possible to play a game with all of the current factions plus downloadables at once (eg. 15 factions)? [DanQ] This is from Derek. [Brian_] Not in SMAC, probably in the next game I do. It's a matter of ... [Brian_] allocating enough space from the beginning (and trading off saved game size). [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] From War_: [DanQ] "Did you and Sid have any serious disagreements on the design decisions for SMAC? If so, how was these things resolved? Did you, as the lead for this game, have the final say?" [Brian_] No serious disagreements! [Brian_] I began my strategy-game-designing career as Sid's "apprentice", more or less... [Brian_] We did Colonization as kind of a 50/50 collaboration... [Brian_] (He did the good parts, I did the bad parts)... :-) [Brian_] These days we work as equal partners, and whoever's leading the project makes the creative decisions... [Brian_] A very important part of our... [Brian_] design process is having ONE person doing both the programming and game design for the... [Brian_] core of the game... [Brian_] It's the only way we've ever found to have enough time to really balance the gameplay... [Brian_] in a game this complex. [Brian_] (done) [Brian_] Well, I was working as a programmer in Microprose's adventure game group... [Brian_] which was not getting anywhere in the market... [Brian_] Anyway, several things happened at once... [Brian_] (a) Adventure game group was about to get laid off... [Brian_] (b) I'd always wanted to design strategy games [Brian_] (c) Microprose suddenly realized it ought to be doing more strategy games... [Brian_] (d) I had a little free time... [Brian_] (e) I just decided to start working on a prototype on my own time... [Brian_] (same way I got my job originally) [Brian_] (f) Basically wrote a quick prototype for what became Colonization, showed it to my friend Jeff Briggs... [Brian_] who happened to be Sid's new producer... [Brian_] And Jeff showed it to Sid and the rest is history... :-) [Brian_] (done) [Brian_] When I was 13 years old, my father used to drive me down to the Radio Shack at the... [Brian_] local mall every Saturday morning, and I'd say "pick me up in 7 hours"... [Brian_] In the meantime, I'd stand at the TRS-80 demo model and write graphics programs... [Brian_] The store people put up with me because I wrote demos they could use... [Brian_] Anyway, finally got a TRS-80 later that year, sold my first program "Quest 1" to ... [Brian_] Softside Magazine for $100. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Now, a multiplayer concern from sphinx_1981. [DanQ] "why is tcp/ip multiplayer so slow compared to games like starcraft and quake? will there be a patch to improve the speed? also, will there be a multiplayer ranking system set up?" [Brian_] It's the turn-based (and asynchronous) nature of the game which requires a lot more handshaking... [Brian_] To make it faster we'd have to significantly redesign the game... [Brian_] Imagine if you had to give all your orders to units, but then they didn't move until you clicked... [Brian_] "end of turn". [Brian_] Not sure about the ranking system... [Brian_] That's actually handled by other people... [Brian_] The overall system will not change for SMAC however. Possibly for next game, depending... [Brian_] I actually expected to hear more comments about speed issues, but most of the feedback we've gotten about... [Brian_] multiplayer has been very positive. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Ok then! [DanQ] What's the future hold for Firaxis? In other words, what's your next project? [Brian_] We've got a lot of really cool stuff planned! ... [Brian_] I think everyone will be REALLY excited to hear about our next games... [Brian_] Honestly we've got several really awesome game ideas, and we're trying to figure out... [MarkG] any idea of a timeframe? [Brian_] how to do them all at the same time. We're hiring, by the way... [Brian_] Timeframe not really determined yet, you know how that goes. [Brian_] (done) [Brian_] Well, the trick is usually to "get a foot in the door" first, then work your way up... [Brian_] For someone with entry level qualifications and a lot of interest in making games... [Brian_] One good way to get into the industry is to get a job as an in-house beta tester... [Brian_] That's a great launching point for a career in many directions... [Brian_] If you want to get right in making games from the start... [Brian_] Your best bet is if you have really really strong skills in either Programming or Art... [Brian_] And of course the people who have greatest success are those who have several different skills. [Brian_] (done) |
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