Aliens vs. Predator 2 Interview

William Westwater (Ww) - Aliens vs. Predator 2 (AVP2) is a first person action game (a shooter) set in the Aliens and Predator universe. In style and atmosphere, AVP2 picks up from its predecessor, Aliens versus Predator, with intense, scary environments and enemies. However, the stories and characters of the two games are separate aside from the shared universe.

What was the biggest complaint of the first game? How has this issue been addressed?

Ww -The first game was brilliant and unique at the time. The game captured the atmosphere of the Alien films and brought them to your computer. However, the story was hard to follow. 

Have there been any fundamental changes to gameplay over the original?

Ww - The gameplay has evolved from the first game to AVP2. For example, in the first game, it was very hard to drop down onto your enemies from above. You could let go of the wall and fall, but then you'd often lose track of your target. In AVP2, you can pounce at a target, by looking at the target and pressing a key. 

With a pounce, you leap directly in the directly that you are looking, and if you hit your target, you tear at it with your claws. With a very simple interface, the pounce combines jumping and attacking - and makes you feel more like an Alien - all at once.

Ww - This not only makes it easier to ambush from above, but the pounce also lets you cross open spaces quickly. For example, the other day I was a Marine with a sniper rifle. I was on top of a tower when I spotted an Alien below. Forgetting about the pounce, I leisurely zoomed my scope in on the Alien. Just then, the Alien looked up at me (you can actually see which direction the Aliens are looking). I paused for a fraction of a second, toying with the bug, when suddenly it pounced straight at me, vanishing from the scope. Next thing I knew, I'd been torn to pieces and I could hear someone laughing in the office down the hall.

What was the biggest lesson learned from the first game?

Ww - For new users, the first game either grabbed players completely or frustrated them. Sometimes, it did both. The learning curve was very steep so that even in the first levels, you could transition from feeling competent to incompetent just by entering a new room. For the Alien especially, we made sure that players learn how to maneuver as a wall-walking creature before throwing you into heavy combat. The story helped a lot here. I won't ruin the surprise, but by giving players more of the Alien lifecycle, we made it natural that you aren't attacking the first human that you see.

How long was the development cycle?

Ww - About twenty (20) months for the core team, and a bit more than a year for everyone else.

Describe the basic steps of the development process on AvP 2.

Ww - Brainstorm. Prototype. Schedule. Polish. Work you tail off. Not always in that order.

What kind of support will you lend to the mod community?

ww - We plan to release the tools soon We're looking into releasing the source as well. We also have improvements to mulitplayer in the works.

Why can't I be a face hugger?

ww - You can be a face hugger;)

With so many games supporting online multiplay, how will AvP 2 get the attention of gamers?

ww - Aliens. Predators. Eating people alive. Stalking humans from above.

Considering the almost cultish following the Alien and Predator franchises, did you feel any pressure to make sure every detail was accurate, no matter how mundane?

ww - Our Art Lead is a huge Alien fan. You may know the type: builds the models, paints Aliens for enjoyment. Our Lead Level Designer once wrote an Alien 3 script (before Alien 3 of course). Our environmental concept artist is a Dark Horse nut. I could go on and on. This was a dream job for all of us, and we wanted to keep things true to the universe.

The bigger pressure is the demand for more, more and more. For every feature that we created, we could think of ten things that'd make the feature even cooler. That's just from the team. When the fans heard about something, they would write even more cool ideas in the forums. If we did it all though, we'd never get done, and the game would suffer. The trick was listening to new ideas without losing track of where we needed to go. It's like like reading a map while juggling on a unicycle, right down to the extreme pain when you screw up.

How much time was spent refining the controls for each species?

ww - We spent about six months tweaking the functionality and the key configurations for the species. The trickest was the Alien headbite and pounce. The headbite was alternatively too easy to use and then too hard. We wanted you to successfully bite off a head any time that you saw your Alien teeth appear. In multiplayer, however, your machine is always a frame or two behind the server. To overcome this, we played with a number of systems before settling on client-side hit detection with server-side confirmation. Even with all that, if someone is cheating or if you play with very high lag conditions, you can miss.

The pounce went through a more dramatic shift. Originally, we designed it with separate jump and attack abilities. The pounce jump required a single key while the pounce attack was automatically enabled - just like a headbite. We tried numerous ranges and sensitivity settings for the automatic system, but in the end, everything felt forced. Then we combined the two - and viola - the pounce attack was born. Not to say that it was ready for primetime. We tweaked the speed of pouncing - especially in multiplayer - right up until we shipped.

Are there any Easter Eggs we should keep our eyes peeled for?

Ww - We're remarkably Easter Egg free. We had some once when Our Art Lead got some pictures of the team and combined them with screenshots from Alien and Aliens. Our lead level designer as Ash was particularly amusing. These were in the game until legal found them and asked for consent forms from anyone in the photos. The guys said that they weren't comfortable signing them - nothing to do with looking silly.

What aspect of AvP 2 turned out exactly the way you wanted?

ww - The story structure turned out just the way we had hoped.

Is there life on other planets?

ww - Yes. It's just waiting for us to come and find it so that it can eat us alive. Just think of astronauts as really well trained entrees.

What are the chances of a Terminator vs. Aliens vs. Predator game?

WW - How about Aliens versus Predator versus Kate Archer?