doffelicious.com

I en artikel hos TheSixthAxis har gästskribent haz360 skrivit en lång och utförlig förhandstitt om Brink efter sitt besök på Eurogamer Expo som hölls tidigare i veckan. Intressant och mycket mycket trevlig läsning.

"When I entered the room, the first thing I noticed was, of course, the massive screen displaying the main menu of the game. I was pretty impressed straight away. The menu showed a topless, muscular character, with his back to us, staring out to sea. The whole scene was moving. Birds flew past, the character breathed in and out, waves crashed. It was very atmospheric, and this was only the menu!

After everyone was seated, Paul Wedgwood took the stage and after introducing himself, his company Splash Damage and bigging up publishers Bethesda, he got straight to the good stuff. Brink was being shown to the UK public for the first time at the Eurogamer Expo, it’s currently in a pre-alpha state, but is scheduled to be released for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC in “Spring 2010”. Not too long to wait then?

Paul then went on to give some background information on the game and the basic narrative. Brink is a First Person Shooter, set in the year 2045, in a place called The Ark. The Ark is a purpose built city constructed on the ocean which, by the year 2045, has lost contact with the mainland and the two opposing factions within The Ark, The Resistance and The Security, are on the brink of a civil war (hence the name).

The first thing that Paul did when controlling the game, was jump into an enemy-free map set inside The Ark’s Airport. He explained that, when The Ark was in its prime, the Airport was the place to be. A spot often frequented by celebrities and The Ark elite, it is now a very dangerous place to be.

Paul used the time in the airport to show off the game’s “S.M.A.R.T” gameplay mechanic. S.M.A.R.T, which stands for Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain, is basically a new form of free running in video games. You simply hold the S.M.A.R.T button (which doubles up as the sprint button) and run at any object you wish to get around. Your character will then vault over/slide under/run up the object and new routes, and more importantly, new tactics will be available to you. The way the character moved, the animations and such, remind me of Mirror’s Edge, with a very realistic and kinetic sense of movement at all times. The S.M.A.R.T system doesn’t just consist of you running at a wall and watching a pre-rendered animation however. You keep full control of the character at all times so, the example given was, if your character runs at a high wall, he’ll push back off it. But instead of waiting for an animation to end before you can continue to play, as soon as your character’s right hand is free you can shoot and as soon as the left hand is free, you can reload. It’s a cool feature which could lead to some interesting gameplay and provides multiple routes and strategies in any given situation.

Next up, Paul went on to describe how character progression and customisation will work in the game. There’s tons of character customisation in Brink, including a pretty deep looking character creator, which allows you to change everything from your player’s weight to how many scars they have on their face, to the colour of their body armour. As you progress in the game you can unlock more and more things to adorn your character which you can mix and match at will, making sure that no two player’s characters will look the same. After creating a pretty tough looking guy, Paul exited the character creation lobby back to the main menu, which now contained his newly created character staring out to sea! I found this extremely cool, but had little time to reflect on the excellent main menu (again) as Paul began to explain the progression system found within the game and went into more detail on the narrative aspects.

He first mentioned that the entire game can be played from two separate perspectives, either from the Resistance side or the Security side. Playing as either side not only changes the look of your character (the Security for example have riot gear, whereas the Resistance have makeshift belts created from car tyres), it also gives you totally different mission objectives and separate narratives. Character progression is also handled well in Brink, as no matter whether you’re playing offline or online, you continue to level up the exact same character. Anything you do while playing offline, earning XP and upgrades for example, is carried over as soon as you connect to the online world. That leads me nicely onto XP gathering…

You gain XP for doing pretty much anything in Brink, from killing enemies, to completing mission objectives, to healing squad mates. This XP not only counts towards your overall rank, but can be used as “credit” to buy new upgrades and attributes for your character. So basically, the better you play, the more cool stuff you can unlock.
After talking about XP, Paul played through a mission as a Security character, set in a place called Container City. This abandoned dock area is now a city inhabited by some of the Resistance fighters and the mission made for an explosive example of Brink’s core gameplay. Before Paul even got to the shooting though, I got my first real chance to absorb the visuals. Even in its pre-alpha state, the game looked amazing in motion. The highly stylised and exaggerated character models complimented a gritty yet almost painted looking backdrop. If Killzone 2 and Team Fortress 2 got together one night, had a few drinks and did something they both regretted in the morning, Brink would be the end result. It really was beautiful and rather than being unlike anything else I’ve ever seen, it was more like all of the best bits from everything I’ve ever seen, all put together in a pretty little package. Other visual effects impressed me as Paul played, such as the animations when arming bombs or equipping new items. All in all, a really good looking game, even in these early stages.

The gameplay was the strong point of the game however. Heading to a computer terminal, which act as checkpoints throughout the levels, you can change your class (the usual soldier, medic, scout etc) and your weapon loadout to suit your play style or to best fit the situation. One of the cool things about Brink however is how the game generates mission objectives on the fly depending on which class you’ve chosen. A mission objectives wheel shows several mission objectives at a time, with an XP rating next to it. Some were simple, such as covering a team mate and offered a small amount of XP, whereas some were more complex, such as destroying a blockage so your team could move around it, but these offered more XP. The whole of Brink seems to be based around a risk versus reward system, where more involved objectives offer higher XP rewards.
As Brink is a shooter, the weapons should be pretty important, and the few that were on show certainly didn’t disappoint. They consisted of your usual pistol/shotgun/assault rifle/grenade launcher varieties, based on real weapons but created just for the game, but every shot fired packed a punch. This was due mainly to the sound design, with every bass-heavy explosion shaking me in my seat, and every near-miss ringing through my ears. The sound really was atmospheric and dramatic, adding a sense of realism and tension to proceedings. Without going hands-on with the game, it was hard to tell how the game felt to play, but it certainly seemed to have a heavy, yet somehow fluid feel to it, making it as realistic as possible. While Paul played through the level, there were several other gameplay features and weapons that were quickly utilised, such as remote explosive charges, tazers for interrogating the enemy, and a particularly bad-ass deployable turret!

As Paul came closer to the end of the mission, it became a lot clearer as to what Brink is aiming to be. There are no “classic” multiplayer modes, like deathmatch or capture the flag, just the campaign mode, which can be played solo, or with up to 15 other people, 8 playing as the Security and 8 as the Resistance. Imagine Killzone 2’s Warzone mode, where objectives and game modes are brought up randomly, and then imagine it all linked together with a narrative which gives you a reason to be fighting and you’re half way there.

The game features full drop in and out support, so you could be playing offline, invite a friend and then the two of you be playing without a menu in sight. The game even generates objectives for your new team mate depending on what you’re doing in game and also encourages you to play co-op online by “bribing” you with a massive XP reward. Splash Damage wanted to focus on catering for hardcore FPS players and newbies alike, and Brink certainly seems to achieve that.

Paul had a few points to finish off with, mainly regarding how the game will be supported by the developers and some technical specifications. On consoles, the game will be peer to peer hosted, complete with host migration, and the PC version will feature dedicated servers (take that Modern Warfare 2!). There will be no cross platform play, the PC version could possibly contain the ability to create mods but nothing was confirmed, and the same was said for post-launch DLC.

I went in to the Brink developer session not really knowing what to expect, but left the theatre with a big smile on my face and another game to add to my pre-order list. It’s hard to say how the game will fare without any traditional multiplayer modes, and obviously the story has to be of a certain quality to make it worth while, but for the game to be in such an early state and still look so polished is enough to get me excited. I’ll definitely be looking forward to it when it’s released in Spring 2010."

Källa:
TheSixthAxis

Splash Damage är just nu i Leeds och visar Brink på Eurogamer Expo 2009. Dag 1 är över och Eurogamer har nu själva sammanfattat vad som hänt i Brink-båset. Tyvärr är det dåligt med ny information, förrutom det faktum vi redan konstaterat (att Brink kommer ha dedikerade servrar).

Nu hoppas vi på mer nyheter tycker jag.

Läs vidare:
Eurogamer.net

Efter uppståndelsen av att MW2 inte kommer ha några dedikerade servrar är det allt fler som oroar sig för att det ska vara framtiden och att så även kan bli fallet för andra spel. Nu har i alla fall Splash Damage lugnat ner sin publik och man har garanterat att det kommer finnas dedikerade servrar till Brink.

Det tackar vi för Splash Damage!

Äntligen lite nytt! 3 nya screenshots från Brink, inte mycket men man får vara tacksam för allt just nu. Och visst kliar det i fingrarna för att få testa det själv?


Bilderna är hämtade från GamesRadar.com där det förövrigt även finns en "uppdaterat Brink preview". Många trevliga saker på en gång med andra ord.

"Compare this to the similarly co-op driven Borderlands, in which every player must choose from only four player models, and you'll begin to understand why Splash Damage are working hard to get Brink's customisation engine right. Stand it next to something like Team Fortress 2 though, with its meticulously designed and highly identifiable characters, and you might wonder if the ability to give everybody afros might affect gameplay.

“It's actually a lot of data to send over a network,” says Stern, “and with consoles there's no server, it's all peer-to-peer. We spent a long time getting the technology together to make that work well. With some other, very good games you've got to choose one of four player models, but with Brink it's your guy, and everybody gets to see what you've done and what you've chosen. We still make it plain who's on whose team and what class they are, stuff like silhouettes and backpacks and belts – even with the customisation, the belt and the back are left relatively bare, so we can put stuff on there to change your silhouette - there'll be something poking out somewhere to make you identifiable.”"

Läs vidare:
GamesRadar.com

Att Brink har skrivits om även i icke engelska magasin var väl ändå ganska självklart. Det har dock varit svårare att hitta dem. badman från Splash Damage har letat fram ett par sidor för extra läsning inför helgen och när det är brist på annat, vad gör man? Jo, man använder Google-translator och börjar läsa.

Relaterat:
Eurogamer.de
GamingCore.de
Gamer.nl
GameParty.net
Vandal.net

Brink kommer att visas på Eurogamer Expo 2009 som tar plats i London och Leeds i England. Nu kanske man kan tycka att det är tråkigt att det är i England och inte någonstans i Skandinavien men vi får väl trots allt vara glada åt det faktumet att efter (och under tiden) Eurogamer Expo kommer vi förhoppningsvis bjudas på ett lass intervjuer och kanske kanske kanske lite gameplay footage? Återstår att se. Det hela går alltså av stapeln i Leeds (27 oktober) och London (28 oktober) vilket innebär om exakt 2 veckor. Splash Damage och Brink kommer att representeras av CEO och Game Director Paul "Locki" Wedgwood.

Om man skulle befinna sig på plats hör gärna av er till doffe[at]doffelicious[dot]com.

Ytterligare information:
expo.Eurogamer.net
Eurogamer.net
Splashdamage.com

Då det för stunden råder nyhetstorka i väntan på att Bethesda Softworks ska bestämma sig för att släppa gameplay footage från Brink har doffelicious.com grävt i trådarna på Splash Damage officiella forum för Brink. För den som inte följer forumet dagligen kan detta vara ett snabbt sätt att uppdatera sig lite om vad som har sagts på deras forum.

Notera att frågorna eller kommentarerna (markerade med "Q") är i vissa fall omformulerade och är skrivna av olika medlemmar på officiella forumet. Svaren (markerade med "A") är alla från Splash Damage, men olika personer. Samtliga "frågor" med "svar" är hämtade från SplashDamage.com. Kom även ihåg att detta inte är någon intervju utan ska snarare ses som en sammanfattning av den senaste månadens aktivitet från Splash Damages forum.

Q: I wonder how different the teams will look, with everyone looking so unique in a fast paced shooter this could be a tricky part to sort out.
A: Yes, that's a real challenge but on top of the color restrictions in the palettes we're using for each faction, a number of HUD elements will show you who you're aiming at. So no teamkilling you lot! :)

Q: Please don't tell me "HUD elements" mean "red arrows" (or maybe only show the arrow when you have your crosshair on the person).
Q: Exactly my concern. Even a cross-hair slightly colour if aimed in the direction of an enemy is in effect, a red arrow. RS has it that the crosshair only turns green if a friendly player walks into your spread circle (and displays the name of that player) at all other times it stays red (and doesn't show the opponent's nick either). There are other ways around this than having to resort to hud elements. In the end having as little artificial crutches in your screen is always better.
A: Here's the thing about Brink... you've got to remember there's all these class abilities & upgrades and stuff that can radically change things up... a little small body type enemy who you would expect to die really fast may have been temporarily buffed up to be the equal of a big heavy guy in terms of hitpoints (if he's been helped out by his teammates, for example). And then you'd be shooting at him, you expect him to die very quickly, but he takes a licking and keeps on ticking, and you're left wondering "wha? whas i not hitting him?". Because of situations like that, I think it's VERY impotant to give player's feedback about exactly what they're up against when they're aiming at a bad guy. Which is very different that simply putting a GUI thing over everyone's head before you've even seen them. This is a case of "you've already spotted him, and by looking at him, we're giving you the additional 'bonus' information you need to know to make informed decisions" Am I crazy? :-)

Q: Hmmm, I'd say that that sort of thing is all in the implementation. Too much info in too garish a fashion simply increases screen clutter until it is no longer useful. On the other hand, too little info given too subtley and the HUD element might as well not be there at all.
A: Most def. And I'll be honest, if you guys could see the game today, we're a little too much in the former state, but that's largely because we've been having to make due with programmer art for all our HUD for over a year now :( That's why I so happy that we've FINALLY got a full time devoted GUI coder (just started last week, hey Russ!) and GUI artist (really talented guy who starts in a few weeks), so they can start working on iterating on exactly this problem. I'd say it's be FAR the single biggest challenge for the HUD and GUI design. But I've now got high hopes!

Q: Of course it's important to give the player all the information he needs, otherwise it would be a game of chance. But the GUI should be the last resort in these manners, the information should come from the battlefield itself. If a player is buffed, debuffed, wounded, full health, charging, whatever it should be visible on the model itself and not trough a bar a meter or number flashing in your screen. Look at TF2, there's no doubt about whether that heavy is übercharged or not, you can see him coming from miles away. You can see when a player is in a critting state (his weapon has lightening around it and he has temporarily double damage), and you can see to what degree a player is wounded, or when has a jar of urine thrown over him (making him more vulnerable). In fact, TF2 makes no use of the interface at all here it's all in-world stuff. The only exception is team-mates, then it suddenly makes plenty of use of the GUI with little exclamation marks, and all that. I think that's the right direction to take. Use the GUI however you like in order to make the interaction inside a team as smooth as possible, but keep it out of the fight against opponents itself, then it should be the player who judges the world instead of doing what his GUI tells him to do.
A: And yet, in TF2, when playing a medic, they have to use traditional HUD stuff to let a medic do his job effectively. And they're right to do so, because it's not a binary on/off situation like most of the examples you suggest (either they're supercharged or not, either they're urined or not, etc.). There's a lot more incremental information in Brink about both your team and the enemy than in TF2. There's a lot more going on in general because of all the myriad of class abilities and weapons that players may or may not bring into a match. And then you add the additional complexity of character customization to boot! It all makes for a very rich and tasty soup of gameplay possibilities, and the danger is in it getting too soupy :) So when the player's got situations where they're making life or death decisions in literally split seconds, I think they need information is the fastest, easiest to read, most effecient means possible. Much like a medic does in TF2.. I should add, that as much as possible, i do want to represent this stuff in game... an upgraded gun has a deeper bass than normal, whereas upgraded ammunition has more intense tracer fire, for instance. i just worry that subtle stuff like that alone might not be enough in all cases, with so much dynamic ebb and flow in the game...

Q: Talking about upgrades. Will you be able to turn off such upgrades (or, a few selected ones) on "non ranked" servers? If it proves to be unsuitable for competitive game? (like in CoD4 when some of the upgrades are just.. "too good").
Q: I'm more interested in knowing whether we can turn them all on by default (ehh, I mean, allow players to customize their character with unlockables they have not achieved yet). That might make matches a lot more interesting while still not destroying the balance. And I think it will help blur the lines between casual and online competitive play. I'm not sure if SD is interested in blurring that line though, considering competitive players like me (or at least like I used to be when I still had time to play several hours a day) are in general far from the easiest customers to please.
A: To both those questions, what I *want* to do is give as much flexibility for players to make their own preferred server settings, allowing/disallowing weapons/abilities/game features etc. as they see fit. When we get to the point where we're actively working on setting up the interface for these things, I actually intend to start asking on the boards about what kinds of choices players really want in detail (hopefully being able to talk openly by that point about the kinds of things that are on the table). So there's your vague non-committal answer for the evening :s

Q: Someone hiding behind a table or wall or in a dark place shouldn't be given away by GUI features on your screen. The point is, elaborate GUI features to help in enemy engagement can quickly turn a shooter into a semi-turnbased RPG. That's just my concern.
A: Completely agreed! Both of these are bad outcomes that I intend to avoid!

Q: You could use one single indicator that indicates how the opponent player matches up to you. In a similar way like WoW displays colours in the enemy player's name.
A: That's a VERY interesting idea which I hadn't considered (and I should have... I played enough WoW). Thanks for the idea! Don't sue me if we use it :)

Q: About escort missions and NPC's in Brink. Oh dear, NPC's on the battlefield? Objectives revolving around them? Please don't make me do escort missions with useless twat AI npcs. They rarely ever work in singleplayer and in multiplayer I can envisage it being a nightmare.
A: I was a bit skeptical as well at first, but the implementation we've ended up with is actually lots of fun. Can't give away too much at this stage, but I can't think immediately of any real similarities to the way other games have used NPCs. You'll of course be able to decide for yourself, though :)

Q: Ok, I've just never had any good experiences with npc escorts in the past. Most of the time its the gaming equivalent of pulling teeth.
A: I think some of the escort missions we did on Syphon Filter 1 and 2 back in the day were fantastic (getting Lian out of the catacombs below the church, or breaking Gregorov out of the russian Gulag). the secret to it working well is ensuring the escortee doesn't screw around, get stuck, or do dumb crap. Our civilians basically have fixed paths they'll move on while the team protects them with their guns and abilities, and medics keep them alive if they go down. They're like faster, weaker versions of the normal 'tank' style escorts, with medics keeping them moving instead of engineers.

Q: Can we get a time estimate on the release of some official gameplay footage?
A: Wish I could give one, but it's all up to Bethesda PR...

Q: Will the console version allow multiplayer split screen? If so can you allow a left to right split as well as top bottom split? much prefer left to right when playing on a large widescreen TV.
A: Hard to say. I *really* hope we can pull it off technically, but it is a very hard nut to crack. Still to far out to say one way or the other at this point...

Q: Will Brink allow for custom client side sound packs that won't make it fail a "pure" validation? If not for all sounds, more specifically will custom hitsounds be allowed?
A: Request noted! :)

Q: Is movement speed a determining factor in accuracy and does crouching improve accuracy?
A: There are several different accuracy states based on your current movement state. Crouching does indeed improve accuracy, as does standing still. SMART moves tend to kick up inaccuracy, though some weapons feel more penalty than others (i.e. assault rifles are really rather accurate while slow. Pistols don't have great accuracy at the best of times, but they don't really lose much accuracy while you're sprinting around - excellent for closing on enemies).

Q: Will spread change instantly for stances or will it take a short while (maybe even dependant on weapon, I can imagine a pistol to stabilize faster than a machine gun)? Obviously both ways have their pros and cons, but which direction will Brink be taking?
A: There is some tweening over time in Brink.

Q: Can you hang off a ledge and then drop/climb as a separate movement. Someone said that if you make a jump can you grab the ledge with your hands and pull yourself up (in one fluid motion). This seems totally in keeping with the movement philosophy in Brink so I hope it's in there.
A: Yep. The point of the movement is to keep you involved in the game, not involved with the movement. It's a means to an end. The modal approach of grabbing and shimmying was one of the first things we experimented with, but found that it'd be a lot of work, and not intrinsically enjoyable - sudden change in core controls, slowed, non analogue speeds, unnecessarily complex control issues (Do you fall off the ledge if you try to reload? can you only use pistols? Or no weapons at all?), way too much susceptibility requiring massive baiting of the player to ever get them to use it. In level design terms, to make shimmying useful and worthwhile, you'd have to really contrive some geometry - like a ledge you can only shimmy under to get to some massive reward (i.e. good vantage point, control panels etc.). But if you're only shimmying due to that reward... that's not really particularly enjoyable or in keeping with the philosophy of the movement system.

Q: Sorry. I'm at a loss with my basic english skills and don't really understand your answer. Can you hang at ledges or not?
A: Oh sorry. You can mantle up and over things, yes, but you can't "hang" and stay there. You'll just get up and over swiftly, (you can also cancel the move and drop back down if you fight the direction, and you can also jump back away if you want to be Pro).

Q: I was more querying the falling short but grabbing the ledge and pulling yourself up motion without actually hanging. More so for smart button move cos that would indicate i definitely wanted to go to that ledge, else i could just fall without grabbing the ledge.
A: Ah, okay then! Yes, you can jump/fall into a ledge grab in the way you are describing.

Q: So I could attempt a jump towards a platform, fall short of a foot landing and instead SMART to grab onto the edge of the platform and start climbing back up, then jump out of that mid-climb, potentially SMART grabbing onto another platform?
A: Yes.

Q: Are there limits to the chaining I can do between those kinds of moves? I'm thinking back to the kind of movement on Jedi Knight 2/3 where it was possible to do stuff like force speed > jump for a long jump, chain into a wall stick thingy when you hit a wall, then jump off upwards again to some higher platform. Or wall stick > jump > wall stick > jump to climb corners of rooms. That movement was slightly clunky but also ace.
A: On wall hops, there are diminishing returns on the velocity for for each wall jump you use and you can't wall jump twice on the same surface without touching the floor once to reset.

Q: Will there be G15 keyboard support similar to what ETQW had? (the awesome red one, forget that blue crap one).
A: Good question, and I have to say I'm not sure. If the code for it is still rattling around in there, I wouldn't rule it out. Not making any promises though :)

Q: Do all classes have their own voicesound/pitch? Can you regocnize which class spoke by the sound of their voice?
A: No plans for that at the mo'. But in most cases you can tell which class it was from the dialog spoken: medics don't often say "c4 charge planted", for instance...

Q: Will there be in-game advertising?
A: No one's talked about it so far, afaik...

Q: Will there be different weapons for Security and Resistance? It would make sense to see the Security with a well equipped modern armory and the Resistance rely on weapons from the black market.
A: Same weapons, symetry is maintained. But each side's weapons hopefully will look and sound different (security new and well maintained, resistance beat up) so there's aesthetic differences. But stats and function identical.

Q: Bullet penetration, is it in Brink?
A: There's very little "soft" building materials in the Ark (no wood or stucco etc), and so no terrain penetration for Brink.

Q: Are there melee attacks using the weapon Halo/CoD style? It's a very satisfying and dangerous attack... great when it lands but life threatening if you miss which I think is a great tradeoff.
A: Yes there are weapon melee attacks, and also other more acrobatic stuff.

Q: Are body graphics permanent?
A: The intent right now (and bear in mind, this isn't final) is that for every one of the characters you create, you've got a "permanent" layer and a "temporary" layer. The permanent stuff is basically scars and tattoos. Once you put on on, that's it. It's a permanent thing, like in real life. Doesn't matter if you switch sides or body types (which you can change but not during matches, and not without an XP cost), it's a part of you. The temporary layer is stuff like warpaint and camouflage and whatnot. Those things can change any time (between matches, anyway).

Q: Would be interesting to know what (if) you guys got planned for common things, ie stuff that all players of a single clan can wear together. I hope the grouping of people goes beyond having the clan tag in front of the name.
A: Yeah, basically the intent is for clans to be able to define a "clan uniform", and when you're representing your clan, you'll be wearing that instead of your own customized outfit combinations. That's the intent, anyway :-)

Q: Will there be any avatar exclusive clothing for xbox version?
A: At this point, all I can say is these are very cool and we're big fans of the feature...

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Allt hämtat från:
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För snart 2 månader sedan släpptes den första delen av Brink Developer Diary på Bethesda Blog, BethBlog.com, den skrevs av CEO Paul Wedgwood dagarna innan QuakeCon (läs mer). Nu är det dags för del 2 och denna gången är det franske Art Director Oliver "nosebone" Leonardi på Splash Damage som dammat av dagboken under sängen.

Dagboken tar upp en del nytt, lite nya bilder och lite ny info. Du gör rätt i att läsa vidare med andra ord..

"What do you mean, they’re building it?” That was my first reaction when Richard Jolly, our Media Director, told me about the Brink stand at Gamescom 2009. Even though he pulled out the plans, I still couldn’t believe him: “They’re building a life size Container City?! Surrounded by water? And an 8-metre replica Founder’s Tower sitting in the middle of it all??”


We jumped in my car and drove to the workshops in Woolwich where the stand components were being prepared for the show. Just like in the game, the outside walls of the stand were made up of rusty shipping containers that had been hastily converted into makeshift homes.

Actually seeing our art team’s in-game designs come to life was an amazing experience. Everything from scavenged ship parts and makeshift wind turbines, to small details like Resistance graffiti art was right there in front of us.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s rewind a few months.

“Style is the answer to everything”
We first unveiled Brink at E3 in June 2009 and at the time, we weren’t sure what to expect.  Fortunately, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Yet, reading previews and comments on the web, people seem to have a hard time describing Brink’s visual style.

From the moment I first learned about Brink during my initial job interview at Splash Damage, I knew we should go for a stylised look. I didn’t really need to think too long about it; the back-story and setting were so inspiring that the environments, characters, and general atmosphere were already in my head and I just had to refine their style.

I originally defined Brink’s visual style as being an exaggerated reality, but it’s not too dissimilar from what Hyperrealism artists started pursuing at the beginning of the 1970’s. It resembles Photorealism in terms of quality and attention to detail, but in addition, Hyperrealism plays around with the scale of certain features (gigantic scale) and enhances particular details (sharp focus) in order to create the illusion of a reality that doesn’t actually exist.


“I can see you”
When I first sat down with our lead character artist, Tim Appleby, we went through some of my research and settled on an initial style for our character. Keeping with the overall theme of exaggerating human body proportions, we drew upon the influences of artists like Ron Mueck, Jon Foster, Phil Hale, Sebastian Krüger and a few others.

Tim and his team then started working on a prototype character based on the following guidelines:
1. Exaggerate body proportions
2. Simplify the shape of the character while emphasizing key creases in his clothing
3. Exaggerate clothing details like zippers, buckles, pockets, and stitching
4. Achieve a recognisable, dynamic overall silhouette

The resulting style would allow the player to recognize any of our characters, even at a distance. We would also be able to visually communicate essential information like character class, body type, and equipment, without everything becoming too busy - a considerable advantage in a fast-paced shooter game.

With our first character model, we fulfilled all of those requirements, but we had another challenge ahead — maintaining our unique style within the extensive character customisation system. We would need to be able to mix and match any and all pieces of clothing and headgear without the result looking odd or out of place. After several iterations and thanks to a very clever system created by Tim and technical artist, Paul Greveson, we finally reached a balance that allows for really unique outfits no matter which combinations are selected.


We also wanted to have very different visual styles for Security and Resistance, the two factions in the game. The Security is a private police force now desperately trying to maintain law and order while the Resistance are civilians that have been pushed over the edge by intolerable living conditions. We wanted their ’story’ to come across in the way they’re dressed. While the Security forces are equipped with more traditional combat gear, the Resistance fighters scavenge makeshift armour from things like tyres, number plates, and protective safety gear. If they can get a hold of it, they’re probably using it.


A Contrasting Reality
As the game takes place in the near future, we went through an extensive conceptual phase. We wanted to stay away from pure science fiction and instead, ground everything in reality. We drew a lot of inspiration from contemporary architects with an organic approach to architecture, most notably Santiago Calatrava and Zaha Hadid. Additionally, we spent a lot of time researching contemporary design, eco-design, and self-sustaining engineering principles. Other elements in the world of Brink are based on actual science and engineering projects, such as Seasteading, algae biomass reactors, and hydroponic agriculture.


The players’ experience on the Ark begins 20 years after its founding, so we had to ask ourselves what would be left from this engineering and architecture utopia… Where do we put rust? Has the paint started flaking? How does the inside of a building look if it has been disused for decades? What would be used to build shelters if space and resources are at a premium? We progressively answer all those questions as we build the different maps of the game and we try to include as much information as possible in the environment itself to tell the story of the Ark. Internally we refer to this as Instant Deep Context. In other words, show, don’t tell.

Environment art in Brink is all about contrast. The Ark is a place where worlds collide — the disdainful wealth of the Founders is opposed to the ever-growing refugee population’s extreme poverty, and the clean architectural lines of Founder’s Island contrasts with the inextricable chaos of the slums. Due to decades of massive overpopulation and the resulting resource shortages, even the nicer parts of the Ark have begun falling into disrepair. We’ve really tried to communicate a lot of background information purely through the player’s surroundings.

Life in colour
There has been a big trend in recent games to push for an overly desaturated look, for Brink we wanted ‘colour’ back. I really like using colour, and the work of painters like Edward Hopper (with his fantastic way of using light), David Hockney (his work on the ’swimming pool’ series in the ’60s and ’70s especially), and impressionist painters inspire me every day.

Brink’s environments are similarly colourful and the reason for this is really quite simple: we’re out at sea, and all the open water acts like a giant mirror. As a result, there’s a lot of light bouncing everywhere, which yields more vivid colours. The rusty reds of Container City provide a great contrast to the bright blue sky above.

We also “paint” the story of the Ark as you progress through Brink. Each time you discover a new environment, its atmosphere, colour palette, and lighting conditions will underscore what’s happening in the game and help to trigger different types of emotions.

Colour also plays a large role in helping to separate the two factions of Brink. So for the Security we’ve gone for largely greyscale tones that are clean and readable, accented with small hints of saturated colour. While for the Resistance there are much larger areas of colour, often quite loud and without any coordination, a distinction we hope to refine to truly separate the look of the two teams.

Läs vidare:
Brink Developer Diary #2
Brink Developer Diary #1
Oliver "nosebone" Leonardi

Ofta är det CEO eller Creative Director på Splash Damage som fått stå i strålkastaren så fort det vankats intervjuer eller artiklar. Därför är det extra kul att det är någon annan som har fått lite plats i rampljuset. Richard "Fluffy_gIMp" Jolly, till vardags Media Director på Splash Damage har ställts mot väggen av turkiska spelmagasinet merlininkazani.com.

Q: What is your role in team?
A: I am Richard Jolly, Media Director here at Splash Damage. When we started Splash Damage over 8 years ago my role was Artist/Game Designer and I served as Art Director on Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. Now working on Brink, I'm in charge of our Media Team, which is responsible for the external perception of both Brink and Splash Damage as a whole.

Q: What is the story of BRINK?
A: Brink takes place on the Ark, an artificial floating city at sea, which was initially built as part of a contemporary "green" vision. The Ark has since lost contact with the outside world and the reported rise of the world's sea levels has driven tens of thousands of refugees there. The resulting massive overpopulation and ever-increasing resource shortages have literally pushed the Ark to the brink of an all-out civil war between the island's Security forces and the civilian Resistance movement. That's when you, as a player, come in and play through the story as a member of either side.

Q: What is the most important feature of BRINK?
A: Even though we're only pre-Alpha at the moment, there's already a lot about the game we're pretty happy with. We've got a setting that people haven't really seen before along with a unique and very memorable look for our player characters. Our SMART movement system is already working really well and with our automated Squad Commander, you always know how to best help your team, no matter what class you're playing as or where you are on the battlefield. But probably the thing we're most proud of is just how solidly Brink performs as a shooter. Whatever else we're trying to achieve in terms of redefining single/multiplayer and online/offline, or introducing people to team-based gameplay, Brink first and foremost has to deliver as a fun shooter, and right now every weapon is fun to shoot and we think the game feels really immersive and solid.

Q: Can we improve our character, if so how?
A: Character advancement in Brink is persistent across all modes; you advance the same in-game character regardless of whether you play offline on your own, co-op with friends or in full-blown multiplayer online. You earn experience points all the time, from actions performed as any player class or in either faction. Every time you level up in the game, you can "purchase" a new ability for your character. Some abilities are fairly traditional character improvements while others are completely new items and actions you can perform. Additionally, you'll also unlock cool new outfits, hairstyles, tattoos, etc. Which you can use to customise the look of your character and show off your achievements to other players. We've calculated that there are around 19.2 billion different combinations of assets there, so the chances of seeing another player online who looks exactly like you are pretty low.

Q: Will we obtain experience points in single player game, that we could also be used in multiplayer?
A: Yes, you always play with the same character, no matter what mode you're in.

Q: How many hours can be finished in scenario mode?
A: Right now we're still pre-Alpha so it's hard to give definite numbers at this stage, but we expect single player gameplay length to be comparable to what players have come to expect from other FPS titles. Add to this the ability to play co-op or online as each of our four classes, from both factions; perspective, across all districts of the Ark and you've amassed a large play time indeed.

Q: Is Co-op supported in BRINK?
A: Yes, we have drop-in and out co-op support, for you and up to seven friends.

Q: S.M.A.R.T. What is it? Would you please explain?
A: We knew we wanted players to be much more mobile than in previous games. It just made no sense that they couldn't get over shoulder-high walls, or they could get over waist-high walls but not waist-height-plus-one-pixel-high walls. So we let the lighter body types get over them, and perform other manoeuvres they'd be able to do in real life. Aubrey Hesselgren, one of our Technical Designers, was a Parkour runner in a previous, less-production-crunch-pizza-afflicted life, and appeared (fleetingly) in the Jump Britain movie. He was delighted to strap a video camera to his head and plunge and bound about to examine how first person agility can and can't be visually communicated. The result is the SMART system. The aim of SMART is to get players good at playing the game, without having to get good at using our interface. If you're running towards an obstacle, you can just hold down the SMART button and it will automatically mantle over or slide under it as appropriate. This lets players get into the game fast and without frustration so they can concentrate on making smart tactical choices rather than sweating about button presses.

Q: Will vehicles be used in the game?
A: Players will not be able to control vehicles in Brink. They will appear as part of certain missions similar to those we had in Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. However, players will not be able to control them directly. We wanted to return to more up close and personal infantry-focused gameplay (which coincidentally also helps show off your customized character much better), so we decided very early on that Brink wouldn't have player-controlled vehicles.

Q: BRINK, uses the id tech 4 engine. There was a misconception that the engine did not work well outdoors, until proved otherwise with Quake Wars through the successful use of the Megatexture. What improvements have you made to the engine for BRINK?
A: Brink's technology started out as the version of id Tech 4 developed by us for Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. We've since upgraded major parts of the technology and it now runs on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 from the same codebase and tries to share as many assets as possible between those platforms. As part of this process, the renderer has been revamped to be friendlier for consoles and modern graphics cards. Multi-threading is also more important, both for the asymmetric architecture of the PS3 as well as for the more symmetrical PC and Xbox 360. We are parallelising more and more areas of our code to try and utilise all the available hardware resources. Aside from the core technology, an entirely new toolset with tighter integration into the engine was written to aid development. It contains heavily updated versions of tools people might be familiar with, such as our level editor EditWorld, as well as entirely new animation and scripting functionality. There are many benefits on staying with already familiar technology. Being able to start on day one without re-training people is a big plus. The engine has also proven itself by being used in several shipped games, with the added bonus of us knowing exactly what its strengths and weaknesses are.

Q: How will multiplayer work?
A: One of the high-level design goals of Brink is the blurring of the lines between what was traditionally considered either a single or multiplayer game. As a result of this, you'll be able to play all of our levels either by yourself, cooperatively with your friends, or competitively against other people online, and you can transition between these modes at any time you like without, say, having to go all the way back to the main menu and selecting a different mode.

Q: What is the main platform of the game?
A: There is no lead development platform - Brink is being developed as a true multi-platform game. We try to share as much code and as many assets as possible between the platforms. During work on our previous games we already had a solid understanding of doing cross-OS development and this experience partially translated over to working with multiple hardware platforms in writing portable code. We also know what the strengths of each of the platforms are and we make sure that all of them receive the attention they need in order to fully utilise them. We don't want any of them to feel like they are "just a port".

Q: Is PS3 difficult platform to develop for?
A: Knowing that Brink would be our first multi-platform game at Splash Damage, we made a concerted effort to grow our team specifically with experienced members that had shipped multi-platform games. In the case of the PS3, we went out and hired talented people like Dean Calver (previously lead programmer on Heavenly Sword), and Neil Alphonso (Killzone 2's lead level designer), and they brought with them the required know-how for successful production on that platform.

Q: The id tech 4 engine supported game mods. Do you plan to prepare modtools for BRINK?
A: There's a very vibrant community of modders for our previous Enemy Territory games and growing from the mod community ourselves, we've always made sure to provide the editing community with tools and documentation. We expect to do the same for BRINK.

Q: Do you think a demo for the game?
A: Right now our focus is on finishing the game and making it as good as it can be. We have no announced plans beyond that at this time.

Relaterat:
merlininkazani.com

Bethesda Softworks producerar som bekant Brink. När Game Developer presenterade "Top Publishers of 2009" slutade Bethesda på plats nummer 7, välförtjänt efter ett framgångsrikt 2009 med Fallout 3 i spetsen. Bethesda må vara lucky number seven 2009. Men visst hoppas vi på ett än starkare 2010, men då med titeln Brink i spetsen, år 2010 stora succé?

Top Publishers 2009 - Top 10:
01. Nintendo
02. Electronic Arts
03. Activision Blizzard
04. Ubisoft
05. Take-Two
06. Sony Computer Entertainment
07. Bethesda Softworks
08. THQ
09. Square Enix
10. Microsoft

Relaterat:
GamesUltra.com
Bethesda Blog

En annorlunda och klart intressant intervju med Ed Stern, Senior Game Designer på Splash Danage, har dykt upp. Denna intervju handlar kanske mer om "spelet bakom" Brink och livet som game designer snarare än det vanliga vi börjat bli vana att läsa. Intervjun, som är gjord av EDGE, är uppdelad i två delar, båda klart läsvärda. Läs bland annat om hur man på Splash Damage höll för andan när bland annat Mirrors Edge presenterade sin freerunning.

"Q: Did you have a few scares when games like Mirror’s Edge and BioShock came out?
A: Certainly when Mirror’s Edge came out, we were kind of thinking, ‘Oh God, everyone’s going to think we’ve ripped that off.’ We were already doing all of that. I guess we were kind of relieved because [Brink’s] not just an all-white game in terms of the visuals, and the free running stuff is an element of the gameplay but it’s not the main thrust. Of course it’s annoying when you go on the fanboy forums and they’re going, ‘Oh look at them ripping this off’. And as soon as you sit down and think of it in any sort of systematic way, there really are only so many ways of making a game, so many settings you can make that will be in any way good or fun. That’s always going to be self-evident if you’re in the industry, but for gamers it’s all: ‘What? This is impinging upon my...!’ They have such an emotional connect with everything.

It’s really odd talking to design students who come up with this really dogmatic kind of, ‘Yeah, well it’s definitely a fact that this thing never works’. Well, not necessarily. The longer I do this the less doctrinaire and dogmatic I get. I honestly thing there are no rules at all; anything could be fun, we just haven’t worked out a way of doing it yet. It’s all execution."

Läs mer:
Writing Brink - del 1
Writing Brink - del 2

En färsk intervju har dykt upp. Det är HookedGamers.com som står för frågorna och huvudmannen på Splash Damage Paul Wedgwood för svaren. Trevlig läsning!

"Hooked Gamers: How will this game differentiate itself from other FPS currently on the market? Or will it just be another FPS with slightly different weapons at your disposal?

Paul Wedgwood: We started out with a few simple goals, and while they have been a real challenge to implement, we think they do a great job of advancing the shooter genre ahead of our past work.

Certainly the universe itself is the first and most noticeable aspect - Brink takes place on an immense artificial floating city called the Ark, which was built at sea as part of a contemporary green vision, but now exists around the mid 2040s. Having lost contact with the rest of the world, the Ark has degenerated into an isolated and horrific conflict - it's essentially on the brink of civil war. We think the combination of this unique setting, allied with superb art direction by Olivier Leonardi who has realised a distinct look, has definitely achieved that goal in creating a world you've never seen before.

We also wanted a greater sense of persistence when playing. In our past games, any experience points that you'd earned were lost at the end of a campaign as we needed to level the playing field. We've solved that problem now, so we're able to give you persistent experience points, that lead to permanent weapon upgrades, unlocks, new abilities, tools, items and gadgets, and then as you level up, you also earn cool bad-ass outfits that reflect your status to other players. You can then combine and customise these outfits to create a unique identity for yourself.

Of course this wouldn't be much use if nobody else got to see your character, so we've also taken the step to blur the lines between offline and online gaming. Irrespective of whether you play online or offline, perhaps treating the game as a traditional single player shooter, playing cooperatively with up to seven friends, on online where everyone playing is a real human, you advance your same in-game character.

We've also made some significant advances in movement, with the addition of proprietary technology that we're calling SMART. It stands for Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain, and we think it equally benefits newbies and advanced players, alike."

Läs vidare:
HookedGamers.com

xbox360achivements.org har precis släppt ytterligare en del av sin "The BRINK Mega Interview" (på YouTube, ännu inte på deras hemsida), detta skulle vara del 4 _men_ även denna bär titeln "part 3", kommer det mer eller är detta egentligen del 4? Del 3+1 handlar om achivements, achivements, achivements.. Att ha i åtanke är att hela intervju-serien är "sedd" från konsoll-perspektiv, även om en hel del saker även lär återfinnas på PC:n.

* Uppdatering
Man har nu bytt namn på klippet och det var del 4 som gällde och inte något annat. Tryckfel från xbox360achivements.org helt enkelt.



Se även:
Brink - den stora intervjun, del 1 - bakgrunden
Brink - den stora intervjun, del 2 - game mechanics
Brink - den stora intervjun, del 3 - resten

Då var det dags för del 3 ur "The MEGA Brink Interview". Denna gång tar xbox360achivements.org upp "resten" som man själva säger, vilket då blir lite halvmystiskt. Vad kommer det egentligen komma i sista delen, del 4?


Se även:
Brink - den stora intervjun, del 1 - bakgrunden
Brink - den stora intervjun, del 2 - game mechanics

När Creative Director på Splash Damage Richard "Rahdo" Ham registrerade sig på gaming-communityn Crossfire.nu och gjorde sin första post på forumet anade han nog inte vart det hela skulle sluta med. Dagar senare hade fråga på fråga om Brink besvarats på en av sidans mest kommenterade tråd. Frågorna tar upp mycket av det som kanske inte talas om vanligtvis, även om "det vanliga" också finns med hamnar mycket fokus på Brink som eSport. Eftersom det inte var helt lätt att finna alla svar bestämde jag mig för att plocka ner frågorna och samla allt på ett och samma ställe, och med någorlunda relevans till varandra.

Att ha i åtanke är att en stor majoritet av medlemmarna på Crossfire.nu har bakgrund i Wolfenstein:ET-scenen, alternativt RtCW samt i några fall även ET:QW. Detta gör att frågorna, som sagt, många gånger är vinklade och handlar om eSport-element som vapen, gameplay, systemkrav, eventuella demon, grafik etc..

Q: = medlem på Crossfire.nu
A: = Richard Ham

Frågorna är i viss mån nerkortade och omformulerade.

Q: Will there be a leaked beta?
A: These days it seems inevitable... but I can always dream. Hell, I've got a wife and two beagles to feed! If you like it, buy it! :-)

Q: I have to say that I dont like Wolfenstein, so I thought I jump in to tell you this.
A: No problem, I didn't work on it. Now, if you said you didn't like Syphon Filter 1 or 2 or any of the games I have done, well, then we'd have to step outside and settle this like men :-)

Q: OMG, Syphon Filter was like the best game ever, can you send me the Brink beta now?
A: We're pre-alpha at the moment, so beta builds are quite a ways away... :-)

Q: Are you going to release any beta?
A: Too early to say.

Q: Syphon Filter was good games back in the days, but you realy should be able to sprint and shoot and the spread shouldnt be crazy high like in alot of recent games.
A: But there should still be spread, right?

Q: Where working with Splash Damage when they made W:ET?
A: That was way before my time. When Splash was working on that, I was working on Sims for PS2, Xbox and Gamecube (I've done a lot of different types of games... my most recent one was Fable 2).

Q: Are there still members in your team left that developed ET:QW?
A: I only joined Splash Damage about a year ago. But the majority of the guys who did etqw are here, and the same is true for the guys who did wolf:et. a small group of guys split off to form endrant, but mostly the gang's all here. but in the last year, the team has more than doubled in size, with a lot of new people with a lot of experience, so things are looking good.

Q: Nice that actually some developers care about us. Is Brink competition able?
A: You bet I care! Now, I'll be honest. We won't always be able to cater to what you guys want, because we are trying to make a game with the broadest appeal possible (because when you're wagering millions of dollars in development, you can't always take all the chances and choices you'd like to). BUT, competitive play is what keeps ET alive today, so to ignore it would be a big mistake, I think. Plus, a lot of guys at Splash come from that kind of hardcore background, including the founders of our company. So making something that can stand the test of time is very important to us for that reason too. Fingers crossed we pull it off! ;-)  

Q: It is nice to see that you actually care about us (the community). Why did the Wolfenstein team not talk with us? ;( I hope Brink will be as good as I think. Will there be some kind of "anti-lag" feature as in W:ET? I have got a pretty slow connection and therefore need something like that in order to hit (perfectly).
A: I can't speak for the wolf guys, but I will say that they worked their asses off making the best game they could, and I have nothing but respect for guys who risk literally everything to start up a company and follow their passion. So I wish them the very best. As for lag, all I can say is that i'm a simple caveman and stuff like that is beyond my primitive brain. but i do know that our guys are doing the best netcode they can :-)

Q: Is Brink based on the idtech 4 engine?
A: Yup, heavily modified with tons of new tech and optimizations. Hardly recognizable as idTech 4 anymore, on the lower levels of code :-)

Q: Will you specifically look at the shortcomings of previous games released on the idTech 4 engine, and attempt to avoid similar mistakes in Brink?
A: I think the answer is a big fat yes. in fact, if you go to splashdamage's board, there's a thread there called idtech5 where some of the coders (arnout/rr2d02 and gordon/digibob) talk about specific things they've already fixed, that have been problems for a long time...

Q: Do you get the full idTech4 support by iD software or did you get the 8 hours walktrough and you're on your own kind of support?
A: I know Splash Damage got a lot of support from iD (and Raven, I believe) during the quakewars days, including guys being on site for days/weeks at a time. But they know their way around the engine now and so it's pretty much all our stuff now with Brink.

Q: You said that you will use the idTECH4 engine and that it will be highly optimized. Does that mean that people with 3 year old PCs will be able to play it with acceptable FPS?
A: I wish i could say, but it's too early. i can say that it's definitely my goal that you don't need a really top end uber machine to play competitively...

Q: What are the minimum system requirments?
A: Dunno yet. We've still got a lot of optimizing to do...

Q: I assume you know Punkbuster and it's effects on W:ET (since quite some time a lot of lags). Will there be some ultra performance consuming anti-cheat software? Please consider to choose a good anti-cheat software, which might not make the game laggy, because it is a real fun killer.
A: Yup, we're well aware of the problems, and are taking steps. That's all I can say right now though :-)

Q: How many bullets to kill someone?
A: Not very many, though it varies with guns and upgrades and body types and all that. But people have a tendency to go down fast unless they're playing smart.

Q: Is there a posibility to heal and revive?
A: It wouldn't be a Splash Damage game without it.

Q: Are there med- and ammo packs? (if so, make themem instantly healing please - and include an extra explosive into it - yet again next point)
A: We're doing medic medpacks and ammo packs as you would expect, and our life meter system is like the one in Farcry 2, where there's auto-heal, but only a little ways.

Q: Please make the medic do fast revives like in RTCW and W:ET.. it is so crucial for a team and the gameplay. Imo this is what makes the difference with other fps games.
A: They're fast, in fact, they're kind of unique the way they work, and i'm pretty pleased with it. would love to say more, but we're supposed to not talk about unique abilities until more press is done. but i can say there's more than one way to revive a teammate :-)

Q: Will there be airstrike/support fire, panzerfaust etc... like in f.e. W:ET?
A: we've got some nice high explosive weapons and items, but no airstrikes... doesn't fit the fiction of the world, and it wouldn't work well on a lot of our indoor environments (some levels are 100% indoors).

Q: What kind of explosives and weapons are there going to be? (And if different explosives other than grenades - will you have to select what kind of explosive you take with you, or could you even to a 'bomber'-class on your own, with a pistol and grenades, mines, satchel, etc.)
A: There's a bunch of explosive options, and you can customize what you bring in to make yourself unique. But we haven't announced the full range yet. Soon, hopefully (once we confirm internally that we can get them all in :-)

Q: Will there be smaller deployments? (as in TF2)
A: Yeah, no big deployables the size of buildings :-) You can see what our turrets look like in some of the screenshots out there.

Q: Can we shoot while we sprint?
A: We're still working out the balance of all that stuff right now. Too early to say, but I'm definitely not ruling it out (and that goes for reloading, grenades, etc.), though *if* it goes in, it would likely be a character ability upgrade you have to buy with XP for balancing purposes. Still too far out yet for a final answer on stuff like this though...

Q: Will we be shooting laser beams or bullets in Brink?
A: No lasers. We're not really a science fiction game at all. very much grounded in the real world, in a 'day after tomorrow' kind of way.

Q: Is there recoil on weapons?
A: Just spread, no muzzle climbing, and i don't expect any to go in. we'll see if we need it for extra balance on some weapon or other, but my gut feeling is we won't... :-)

Q: Does brink have weapons with Splash Damage?
A: How could a game from Splash Damage not feature splash damage??? :-)

Q: Will you be able to drop your weapon to another player?
A: Are you asking if players can choose to drop their own weapons on purpose? No plans for that at the moment.

Q: Will you just have one shot left while reloading or nothing - or will you even be able to just shoot again with slight delay using the same clip? or will you at least be able to change the weapon while doing so - with accessing that weapon again having 0 shots in it?
A: No bottomless magazines. Once you're dry, you'd better find a soldier to resupply you, or head to a command post to restock yourself.

Q: Will the Hud somewhat be adjustable as in ET or will there only be a default HUD arrangement?
A: I hope to make the hud adjustable, but first we've got to get a GUI coder! Know anyone? We're hiring! :-)

Q: What kind of crosshair will the game have?
A: Right now we've got a very simple translucent circle (which shrinks/grows) and a small dot in the center of it.

Q: Will it be possible to change the crosshair to only a dot?
A: Definitely possible. But first we've got to get a GUI coder and artist on board.

Q: How will the headshots be and how meny do you need to make for a kill?
A: We're not an insta-kill game like counterstrike or rainbow six. it's usually a few bullets to the cranium at least before anyone will go down, and there's of course extra complexity based on what weapon you have, what body type the other guys is, etc. Everyone's not a big meat bag that takes forever to put down. I think we're at a good compromise between the two extremes.

Q: Will the main gunplay be like ET (hitscan tracking weapons) or will there be more of a mix of guntypes, like point and click shotguns or rifles?
A: As for the guns, there's a mix of gun types, but i'll admit my ignorance and say i'm not sure what you mean by hitscan. do you mean moddeling the actual existence of bullets? we're not doing that. there's a wide variety of guns though, more than in either ET game.

Q: Hitscan means if you aim at the target it hits immediatly. Rocketslaunchers, riflenades, nades are the opposite of hitscan, as they have an inbuilt 'delay' while the projectile travels along its path.
A: Ahha! so I guessed correctly! Yup, the majority of the weapons fire that way (instant impact). there are a couple of grenade launchers though (one is shown as part of the demo we've been showing).

Q: Is there any iron sight in Brink?
A: Yes. In the same way that in W:ET you would crouch to slow yourself down and get better aim, in Brink, you ironsight to slow yourself down and get better aim. Same basic mechanics.

Q: Don't put iron-sights in it and also don't make shoot-while-running an upgrade but a permanent feature. Believe us ET players! (Although Brink won't be ET, we know at least what makes a game outstanding. And I bet you don't want to create yet another CS / CoD / whatever clone.)
A: The whole "holding a button to slow down and eliminate spread via ironsighting is no different, functionally than holding a button to slow down and eleminate spread via crouching"? what's the diff, functionally?

Q: In my eyes ironsight could be a nice extra, but just an extra! to shoot more accurate from longer distances, just like a sniper but then without zoom but let's say a fov around 65-70.
A: I think that's a fair way to look at it, that's kind of how it's playing right now in our internal playtests :-)

Q: Players don't want to play a game that is for everyone, i.e. with parts they like and parts they don't like. They want to feel that you intended exactly THIS type of gameplay and that every other aspect of the game design had been decided in favor of your vision. Players do not want options that influence the whole gameplay. They want options that support ONE style of game.
A: I'm primarily trying to make a game that can appeal to the broadest base possible, and by and large, the wider audience has spoken and likes ironsighting. Arguably, they only like it because it's what they're used to, but it doesn't change the fact that they do like it and it adds to the experience for them (one of the biggest thing it adds to the 'feel' of a game is enhancing the sense of "really firing a gun", which is not to be discounted).

Q: Just to make it clear, I don't expect you to create ET2. I just want to have a fast-paced and smooth game experience. Free running as alternative to trickjumping? Damn, I'm fine with that as long as you implement it in the right way!
A: It seems perfectly reasonable to me to say that another one of those user-controlled 'hardcore match' settings could easily be 'disallow ironsights', along with user control over spread modifiers. it's options like that which make me (perhaps foolishly) believe we can make a game that crosses over between pub and pro play... :-)

Q: It would be the best if you would just include options for servers to tweak such settings, afterall it's all just variable-based and people here in ET are used to tweaking everything possible using configs etc. Leaving the game pub-friendly in default config wouldn't be a problem then, and I don't think there's much more options since obviously competetive gaming differs significantly from public use.
A: Yup, that's exactly the plan (the exposing of settings to end users that allow them to make the game more conducive to 'hardcore' play).

Q: Will freerunning be limited in any way (like by having something like stamina becoming lower and lower)?
A: Freerunning is predominately limited by the type of body you choose (small/medium/big).

Q: Is Wallrunning possible - like in Mirrors Edge?
A: We don't do as wide a range of parkour stuff as mirror's edge (they're a parkour game with a little bit of shooter. we're the opposite). But there's defintiely more than you're used to seeing in just about any other FPS.

Q: If a player reaches a certain height too high to climb but still too low to jump over an obstacle, will the player start climbing over a considerably small object, lets say 1m of height) or is there a tollerance putting the player up (just as in id3)?
A: We're still working out final run speeds/climb heights/etc.

Q: Logically it only really makes sense to go for the ironsight, because otherwise (in other games previously anyway) spread seems to be too much of an issue, and you'll find yourself dead if you dont. Going to try and address this in Brink?
A: On the spread issue. You can be very competitive without ironsights because we're generally going going for huge distances. i'm hoping when i get back into he office in a few weeks to maybe post some screenshots of sample spreads on various guns...

Q: I would really like for you to explain why you think ironsight makes a game more fun to play. What does that add to a game that makes the gameplay (read enjoyment of a game) go up.
A: I like ironsights particularity because they create a gameplay choice for players to make on a moment by moment basis: fire from the hip, which gives you more freedom of movement at the expense of accuracy. Fire down the sights and sacrifice movement for more accuracy. This creates a level of depth to the core gameplay by giving the player an interesting choice to make (which over times becomes instinctual choice) and allows them to have another tactic to master (when is it best to sacrifice one for the other). The reason all this is good is equally valid, to crouching in W:ET.

Q: You can't really compare ironsight with crouching that much in my opinion. Crouching does slow your movement down just as ironsight does, but the difference in spread between crouching and hipshooting in ET is not that high. Meanwhile in pretty much any game that has ironsight, the spread when shooting without it is immense. However, the most important factor is the delay that ironsight gives and the fact that it blocks your view massively.
A: Really? Seems pretty huge to me. One thing I can say on this topic is that there are several guys in the office who don't like ironsighting either, and they still do pretty well in our internal playtests, moving around much quicker and firing from the hip. So far the balance hasn't seemed that far off. You've got - firing from the hip, maximum movement, base accuracy. - firing from crouch, limited movement, better accuracy, smaller target to hit. - firing from crouch, limited moveemtn, pixel perfect accuracy, easiest target to hit. That feels like a good, balanced tradeoff for players which gives a nice set of choices to make on the fly.

Q: In fast paced games like RTCW/ET there is NO need for it, if it's there it forces players to use it and slows down the game. Because usually with ironsights there are huge accuracy penalty for not using it.
A: Like I said earlier, there are guys in the office who hate iron sighting with a passion, and they do fine firing from the hip in our playtests. You've to remember, most of our engagement distances in the game are fairly close (as you'll see if we ever release video :-)

Q: By adding things such as ironsights and tool tips are you really making it easy for everyone? or just catering for utter lazy fag retards who thing they know how to play a game? (Because the biggest drive for me playing a game is been good. Example: Quake 3 Rocket to rail shots, if i ever pull one of smoothly i will actually cream my pants. and Street Fighter 4 again if i ever was actually good enough to play at something like Evo i would cream my pants as soon as it says 'Fight!'. Yet when it comes to COD does it seem to be possible to be 'Skilled' a the game?)
A: "utter lazy fag retards" as you put it want to have fun too, and their money is just as good as yours :-) doesn't mean though, i hope, that we can't find a middle ground that works well for pubbers and pros.

Q: Is there going to be a zoom_sensitivity feature like in counterstrike for when you scope in(or ironsight in brink) that your sensitivity will be raised to make low sensitivity play possible?
A: Yeah we do have different sensitivity for when you're ironsighted. hadn't though about exposing it to players to tweak, but yeah, seems like that would be a good idea.

Q: Spread is arguably a random factor that in my opinion has too much of a negative impact on a players actual eye-hand coordination skills.
A: Yeah, spread is a powerful tool though to again give players more depth to their experience, since of course, spread is basically eliminated if you burst fire instead of spam bullets. so again, another skill (or tactic, really) for players to master.

Q: I think u really can and should find a good balance between noob friendliness and catering to the hardcore gamers.
A: We are trying! Time will tell if we pull it off :-)

Q: Will BRINK have a quake-live style business model to support competitive play: i.e. SD provides servers and clans/players can rent server time for games?
A: Good question about server rental and all that. way too early to say, unfortunately. still working this kind of stuff out right now :-)

Q: Will there be support for SDKs/Modding in the game?
A: We definitely plan to support users expanding the game, post release. Hopefully a full SDK (also post release) on PC..

Q: Can we expect similiar gameplay to ET and RTCW. Fast objective gameplay. Requires more tactics instead of aim.
A: Yes, but i'll have to say it now, Brink will not be as fast as W:ET (see my earlier comment about trying to make a game with as broad an appeal as possible). But faster than the norm, I'd say. And very deep :-)

Q: Will there be ET/RTCW spawntimers & selfkilling?
A: All the normal rules and tactics you've come to expect from ET will be in Brink

Q: Any vehicles in Brink?
A: Just automated ones you escort

Q: How big a part will the running system be in the MP. Can we compare it to mirror's edge?
A: Yes.

Q: Will there be a class system?
A: Yes, 4 classes - soldier, medic, engineer, operative.

Q: Does the light weighted class have more efficient close combat attacks than other classes? (e.g. like in the game "Guns")
A: Everyone has the same type of melee attacks, though the small guy is better at them because he's faster.

Q: Will the heavy class not only have stronger but also more weapons than other classes available at the same time?
A: Heavy guy gets more gunz available to him than anyone else.

Q: Will the heavy classes be better armored or just have more HP?
A: The differences in body types for healing and toughness and speed are all pretty much in line with what you'd expect, though there is at least one surprise in there as well which we haven't announced yet :-) Weapons aren't limited by class, but by body type. So an engineer, for example, can use any weapon he wants, provided he's strong enough to carry it.

Q: What teamsize are the maps scaled for (5v5, 8V8, 12v12)?
A: 8v8

Q: If you propose 8v8 players I assume the maps are far bigger than in W:ET or? Doesn't that alone slow down the game a lot?
A: Hmm, i've never gotten out a tape measure, but my gut feeling is that the average map is maybe 300m by 300m? (don't quote me on that! i really should fire up the level editor and check, but i'm at home). Suffice to say, you don't spend very much time far away from the enemy. if we ever release video of our demo we've been showing around, you'll get the idea.

Q: You really need to implement some way to accelerate (other than sprinting, with no limit contrary to etqw) properly in the game (especially on 8v8 maps, which I guess will be quite large and opened).
A: The distance to enemies is a lot shorter, we keep spawn points usually fairly close by in most level. out of curiosity, why do you feel the need to have more 'accelerated forward speed'... is it just to help ensure you get the action faster, in a skill based way? that's definitely in with the skill required to be a good parkour guy, plus the extra balancing factor of choosing which body type you're going to be..

Q: Please integrate the Wolfmap "Supply". Most awesome map ever!
A: You mean supplydepot? actually, we're taking a lot of inspiration from older popular W:ET maps, and in fact that we've got one map in Brink that follows the same basic flow of that one (at least, it does at the moment... things are still be playtested and balanced, and who knows how they might change as time goes on). but the kind of play you see there is definitely the type of play you get in Brink :-)

Q: Can you record demos i Brink?
A: We definitely have plans for demos, but are working out the specifics now.

Q: Will there be stopwatch game mode like in W:ET?
A: There'll totally be stopwatch. to not do that would be sacrilege! :-)

Q: What are the objectives like, with the BRINK movement, docrun objective could be very cool.
A: objectives very similar to what you're used to (vehicle escorts, demolition, doc runs, etc.) plus a couple of new types as well (for the first time, medics can actually get in on core objectives, instead of always being support).

Q: Will there be an online matchmaking services (for co-op, or even clanwars)?
A: Yes.

Q: Is there an buddylist like quakelive where you can keep track of your mates?
A: Yes.

Q: Will there be an ingame voicechat?
A: In game voice chat between friends in a 'standard' match, and fully open to all in a 'hardcore match' (or it can be set up how people like, anyway).

Q: Will BRINK support Linux or Mac OS?
A: Yes to Linux server support. not sure about Mac (will have to ask at work).

Q: So you've got Linux server support. But what about Linux client support?
A: Sorry, can't say for sure yet. still a lot of stuff to be worked out (i hate the cop out answer, but better than guessing or "hoping for the best" and turning out to be wrong...)

Q: Can you prone in Brink?
A: Sorry, actually our intention is to not have prone, to keep things moving more. We do have leaning though..

Q: With the lean can people see you doing the lean?
A: Yup, the leaner kind of half steps out of cover. kind of like what we did for deathmatch in syphon filter 2.

Q: Hmm just came to my mind, do you think you'll be able to include upside down leaning?
A: Something like that would be cool, though I think it'd have to wait for a sequel. plus, it seems more like it would be a 3rd person game mechanic.

Q: Will there be also strafejumps as in W:ET and RTCW?
A: There aren't strafejumps, per se, in the game (really, a lot of the levels wouldn't support it very well anyway, but there are movement elements that are very much skill based. you might have heard about the SMART button and how it automates climbing and whatnot, but it's important to realize you can do the jumps yourself manually, and with correct timing you'll get more effecient movement over terrain than players get who are relying on the smart button.

Q: That SMART button feature makes free running possible or am I wrong?
A: You can do the freerunning automatically with the smart button held, or you can do it quicker and more effeciently (changing a mantle into a vault, for example) if you use the jump/crouch/sprint buttons manually yourself in various combinations. Of course, you also need to be the right body type. big guy is slow and does almost none. little guy is fast and can do the more elaborate stuff (jumping off walls). medium guys is the standard in the middle type. I expect strafe runners will prefer to be little/acrobatic guys.

Q: Why does SD not come up with new and unique things anymore like you did with rtcw/et? maybe the games you make would be played competitively for more than one year then. or arent you passionately enough for your games and just aim for quick sells because of famous names?
A: Not sure what you mean. I can say that we love the kind of objective based competitive gameplay that was really invented with ET, and almost no one else is doing it, and we're constantly finding new ways to tweak and improve it. until it's perfect, i doubt you'd see us moving on to something completely different. we just love this kind of game too much! :-)

Q: What I mean is; why dont you go on with the RtCW/W:ET-gameplay and movement stuff. RtCW was very successful with its 1on1 game gameplay and movement. why dont you instead of copying cod games copy this style again? Fast obj based gameplay IS NOT possible with ironsight and all this stuff.
A: While that kind of gameplay is fantastic, it's genuinely too hard for the vast majority of players out there these days. You guys are literally too good! :-) If we make a game that caters to your strengths as players, we create a game that literally 90% of our potential audience wouldn't be able to play well, and as a result we'd screw ourselves and go out of business. That said, I do still think Brink is faster than what has kind of become standard in the last few years, especially when you consider our freedom of movement stuff, and our "small body type" which lets you move faster. And I know our gameplay is the most tactically deep out there, so we've got that gong for us too. Hopefully there's be some official video out soon so you can judge for yourself how we're shaping up.

Q: You seem to underrate the players then. its not like my parents or whoever would play the game, only people who play fps games will buy your game anyway and they dont need shit loads of tooltips and things like iron sight. look at the fps games that were made in the past. they were popular because they were so simply to play and i think that there is the problem of the games produced nowadays. you seem to think that making a game slower, adding tooltips and using iron sight make games easier to play but its exactly the opposite.
A: I think you underrate yourself. To play at the level that you play at, it's really beyond most players today. The audience has really expanded a lot in the last 10 years, and as well, Brink is trying to expand it even more by getting players who never try online to try us. So to make it a game where success is measured in hyper precision pinpoint actions and blisteringly fast gameplay would keep us too niche. A game could be successful catering to that audience, but it would have to be made for a fraction of the money a normal AAA blockbuster is made these days. Also, it wouldn't hurt it if was given away for free, like W:ET :-) But we'll try to expose as many variables to players so they can make their own competetive mods without requiring a degree in computer science! And, we've got the 'fast' body type for players who want to move fast. I don't think it would be crazy to expect that players would have the ability to set up servers where everyone is forced to be the small acrobatic body type, so everyone is moving around at full speed, scrambling up walls, for example.

Q: Well, but if the ironsight drawgun isnt forced it will be OK for me.
A: Is anti-ironsighting really just anti "gun covering the bottom 1/3rd of the screen"? cause if so, that sounds like a pretty simple things for player's to adjust when setting up their own pro-matches.

Q: Will ironsight change weapon stats other than accuracy? (asking because of fallout 3 felt like it did, actually I really like the idea one posted up, using ironsight for heavy class and for light class something like crouching or just increased accuracy since they move quite a lot and do less damage I assume).
A: Ironsights remove all spread, naturally, and bring the FOV in narrower to make targets bigger. Also, there's some other stuff we're wanting to do with ironsights that I think is kind of cool and unique, but i know you guys won't care about it (plus it's yet to make it in, so i can't guarantee it'll be there anyway).

Q: Well so "Brink" tries to appeal to majority of players, we aint the majority as you said.
A: I see no reason not to give you guys as much freedom and flexibility right out of the box to set up matches that scratch your competitive itches. In fact, it's in our best interest, because i want people playing brink for years, not months, and pros are the guys (and girls, I suppose :-) who can do that, if we get it right. Bear in mind, if you ever see me talking about brink in interviews, they're generally to mainstream magazines and websites, so i do tend to focus on the stuff that's in the game to appeal to a wider audience. it doesn't mean we're ignoring the pro scene.

Q: Do you emphasize long or short distance fighting?
A: There's a lot of variety amongst our levels, but our engagement distances are generally short to mid range.

Q: Don't put red arrows above your opponents' heads. And don't you even dare to think of health bars!
A: Yeah, no red arrows. Myself, I am a fan of letting someone see how close to death the enemy is when you mouse over him, but that's totally something that you can turn off when setting up hardcore matches.

Q: How good is the visibility? fog, smoke, blur/dof fx?
A: We're not doing a lot of foggy night levels or anything, so generally the atmosphere is pretty clear.

Q: Do you keep the contrast between playermodels and their background in mind when you decide the coloring of the levels?
A: Ensuring the player's pop is very important. We've experimented with a few different ways to ensure they stand out... stuff like rim lighting and the like. still working on a final solution, but this is important to us to get right.

Q: If I've understood things right, the shooting system is the same as in et + ironsights?
A: I'd say the movement stuff we have includes interesting way to 'mix it up' and keep the guy shooting at you on his toes. probably the most powerful tool along these lines is the ability to slide and time you want. another thing that's important to us too is to let players shoot as much as possible. we're trying to minimize the game actions that would prevent you from firing (so for instance, you can keep firing as you pull your self up a ledge, though this takes real skill to get good at it).

Q: I think you mentioned there are going to be some rpg elements in Brink. Will this include a monthly subscription similar to likes of WoW and co or will we just pay a one time fee like with more traditional FPS?
A: No extra fees. Just like a normal shooter :-)

Q: How will the casual gamer/noobie compete with dedicated players who have levelled their character or is there some sort of skill/xp matching setup in place? (see battlefield heroes for an example how NOT to do it).
A: I think Killzone 2 is a fairly good example of how to keep different level players in like leveled games. However, we also want to let players jump into higher level games, if they feel they're up for it.

Q: How many guys can play in co-op? And is it just the SP with more players?
A: Up to 8 guys can co-op, because they're all playing in a normal objective-based competetion 8v8 match against 100% bots.

Q: Will all platforms combine for the single/muliplayer co-op elements? I.e can John Smith on his PS3 play with Sally Hughes on her PC?
A: 'Fraid not :-(

Q: No offence here, but Brink seems like a fantasy - just purely because we haven't seen anything yet. I've seen some nice artistic pictures, big guns and explosions but this doesn't mean anything in the long run - what sort of time frame will we get some actual game play videos?
A: If we don't get some actual video out online within the next month, i'm gonna go crazy myself. I really want to hear what people think when they actually see it. fortunately, everyone who's seen the demo first hand has loved it. My hope is that soon a video of our full demo shown at E3, Quakecon, GamesCon, and PAX will be released so that EVERYONE can see it.

Q: How is it being in charge of Brink when you're not really a FPS player? Did you play W:ET? Did you play Q3?
A: Thank is an excellent question, actually. I do play shooter a lot, love 'em in fact. You can check my xbox live stats if you like :-) I used to play online shooters quite a bit years ago, back when I was working on the first and second Syphon Filter games. Mostly the original counter strike, and some Q3. Also SWAT3 and Rainbow Six. I did play some W:ET, but honestly, I wasn't good enough to compete, so I didn't stick with it. And I got out of the habit as I moved over to primarily console play (couldn't afford to keep upgrading my PC!) The reason I was hired by Splash, actually, is because of my experience making single player games, and console games. They had almost no in-house knowledge about that, so I was brought on to flesh that part out, since of course, the company is mostly comprised of old school PC clan players (Locki, Arnout, etc). But since I've been here, I've really been getting back into online play (I need to, or else I wouldn't be able to survive in our twice weekly internal playtests, since everyone else here is VERY good!).

Q: ..so by the time we see it, we will not have any influence on it? IE if something is very wrong with what people would normally want in an MP its basically too late to change?
A: Basically, right now, we've got a couple more milestones of just getting core functionality in the game (finishing all the class abilities primarily). after that, it's a few months of trying to polish everything as best we can, during which time user feedback will be awesome to have and can make a big impact. and the finally we start going through submission process (which can often take a few months on console) during which time we can still be tweaking and tuning gameplay for a day one patch. during this time, user feedback will still be very valuable, and as long as i'm in charge, there'll still be a 2 way line of communication :-)

Q: Will there be a Brink Demo?
A: Dunno if there's going to be a demo yet. They're great, but they also take a TON of resources to make, which cuts into the time we have to polish the game :-(

Q: If I were you I'd just make a training course - if it fits somehow into the beginning of the game - as some sort of tutorial - just because you were talking of also trying to reach players which so far havn't been players afterall - and release that as a demo (not much work to make a cap after it, is it?!)
A: Unfortunately, that's a great way to get a lot of players to never buy the game, because it's not an exciting, sexy demo. plus, even doing something like that is a lot of work, because there's this entire approval process you have to go through with the console manufacturers that can take weeks (and in some cases even months) of back and forth dev time.

Q: The real reason why you are making it slow is so that it can be played on consoles, like the COD series. COD-games are very succesful so obviuosly many players like slower games, but those people play COD and wont be so intersted in this new game Brink. So instead of reaching out to new playerbase (like ET:QW or Wolfenstein) you would better just focus on the existing playerbase and make a game that suits their needs: a fast paced tactical team game.
A: It's a fair point, but these days, there's a lot more console players buying games than there are PC. It's harder to make a living catering solely to PC gamers than it ever has been. And when you're making a game that costs millions of dollars to develop, you have to ensure your best chance at making all that money back. That said. We're definitely trying to make a game that works well for more top end competitive play as well. It's why I'm here talking to you guys, after all :-)

Q: I understand that you have to make a console version to make profit from the game, but I don't understand why it has to be the exact same game? Take a look at how NERVE software made RTCW for the PC, and RTCW: Tides of war for the original XBOX. 2 slightly differant games, each optimized for PC or Console with very little effort to make it 'console friendly' (talking about multiplayer only).
A: That's a fair point. The tricky part is, I'm sure you'll agree, that a lot of games don't even get one decent control setup going well. It's tough to fine tune and balance all this stuff, and for Splash (which is still a very small team by most modern development standards) to fully polish and nail two different control/movement schemes might be a recipe for disaster. We've already got the challenge of making 3 different body types (big&slow, normal, and fast&light) all work well and feel great. Which is why we want to expose as much as possible to players so you can set your own rules on the PC.

Q: It's really in the little things. I completely understand that todays focus is on consoles, but that doesn't change the fact that with a small amount of effort things like menus could be different on the PC. Menus are often based on a dumbed down controller. Just let us PC gamer's utilize our tools (keyboard with LOADS! of keys that we want to bind) and a mouse instead of working menus with a keyboard. One of the complaints with Wolfenstein was that alot of things were activated with the same damn key, which makes it easy for console gamers but really annoying on the PC when we accidently do something that we didn't want to do.
A: Good points about taking advantage of a given platform's abilities. And that exact example you're talking about it one we're taking into account. On console, your reload button doubles at interact (tap vs. hold), but on console, we make interact and reload completely different keys... :-)

Q: I'm rather concerned as to whether Brink will be developed for each platform individually, or are you just going to port it from consoles, like Raven did with Wolfenstein SP?
A: We're putting a ton of time into ensuring that all 3 platforms work "like they should".

Q: One thing that's always puzzled me is why developers seem to exclude competitive features that the mod makers seem to be able to add within the first few weeks. Mods such as ETPro, CPMA and Q4Max have introduced features we now consider standard - why have so few new releases attained these dizzy heights and does your team aspire to?
A: Well sometimes, that stuff is put in there by the original developer, but disabled either because of some design decision, or because leaving them in the game opens up a lot of potential bugs which would require too much time to fix. when you turn stuff like that one post release, by end users, it doesn't have to go through a bug submission process :-)

Q: What possible bugs could build in feature in engine give to you? You are just doing it wrong then. If a moder who's not been involved in making a game, can make these features in less than 2 weeks? Then, pardon me, what the fuck are developers doing?
A: All I can say is it's easier to edit than to write, easier to build on something once the foundation is already there. Beyond that, I can't say, because I'm not a programmer. Sorry if I've let you down with my answers. There's only so much I can do, without going back to college for 5 years! :-)

Q: As long as you believe your basic concept with Brink is sound, stick to it. ET:QW failed because the concept wasn't sound, you tried to mix ET with BF2 hoping to appeal to both sets of players, and ended up appealing to neither. Don't try to make a game for a specific player base, make a game that you think has a workable concept and develop it along those lines, because if you target a game at a specific player base, and it turns out not to be an exact blow by blow carbon copy of their favourite game, they'll hate you for it.
A: I've gone into some detail about what we're trying to do to make the game we think has the broadest appeal, but still has a lot of options that can be turned on/off or adjusted to make it more amenable to competitive play. But if you're playing like that, you've effectively "turned on the Brinkpro" mode. By default, when casual players play Brink, they'll just choose the mission they want to play, and we'll take care to put them into a match that has a standard set of rules and setting that cater to making the game as friendly and easy to pick up and play as possible. They'll be put into matches that are matched to their skill level (both their personal ability, and their character's in-game abilities), and about the only special stuff we'll do is ensure friends can play together no matter what. But the rules will always be the same, and i expect they'll be rules that a crossfire poster wouldn't like (like having bots automatically fill empty team slots, for instance). I expect no one on this board who plays Brink will take that choice. They'll all instead choose the "hardcore" (or whatever we call it) server mode, which will take them to something more like what they're used to where they've got a list of all the "hardcore" matches running, and they can sort and filter by what's important to them, regarding who matches are set up. Or they can set up their own with their own rules. I expect from that, standards will start to immerge that everyone prefers and considers "official". Hopefully we can figure out what those standards are before we ship (with the help of feedback from communities like this), so they can be kind of "built in". But it'll be about giving you guys flexibility. We'll see how it goes. I have no doubt that there will be plenty who are unhappy (you can't please all the people all of the time), but no one will ever be able to say I wasn't 100% honest with them up front :-)

Q: I think for Brink the difference between regular pub and hardcore pub might become the difference between playing SP and MP, making that difference is something ET:QW perhaps accidentally did as well (having ranked pubs and unranked private servers), maybe you guys could try to get the casual gamer to play the hardcore side as well so you don't divide the communities too much. Perhaps offer some achievements and unlocks which can only be gained in the hardcore mode. It doesn't have to be much, as long as it makes the player want to try the different side of the game.
A: I agree, and I do have a big concern that taking this approach will split the community, which is a real shame. but there doesn't seem to be any way around it. however, hopefully both communities will be big and rich enough to thrive on their own. Though just calling your community and matches the "hardcore" ones, or the "pro" ones (or whatever we'll call them), is going to entice curious casuals over, because who doesn't want to be l33t? :-)

Q: You should include a 'professional gamers'-config in the game. I'm talking about a local config here, not a serverside config. You guys at splash damage should know what the best settings are for most fps, best visibility and responsiveness. So it will be a lot easier for competitive players, from other games, to switch to Brink. But also when this config is easily available for starting or casual players, they dont have an extra handicap because of all the bloodsplatter, bobroll, low fps, s_mixahead 0.2, prerenderlimit 2, 60 hz refreshrates, pitch black parts of the map, crosshairpulse, drawgun 1, etc etc.
A: Not a bad idea. will put it on the wish list (no promises though :-) My worry is for something like this though that it might not be "quite right" in the eyes of a lot of gamers, and I'd hate for something that was put in to make the game more friendly became something for players to bicker over...

Q: Are you guys doing BRINK alone with SP? Or any other developer company help?
A: All Brink dev is being done by us. No farming out parts to other developers.

Q: I read that you have plans for Brink to become a Trilogy so I presume you guys will be using the Id Tech 5 engine for Brink 2?
A: Could be, if there's a Brink 2. That quote, though, got taken way out of context. All I meant was that if Brink is a big hit, we've got a lot of ideas for stuff we'd like to do in a sequel. What we haven't done is some big elaborate multi-part trilogy plan where every game ends with a cliffhanger or something like that. We're just trying to make Brink the best it can be. If it sells well, then we'll talk about sequels, and really start planning them... :-)

Q: Will this be a simultaneous release for all platforms or is my question slightly premature at this stage of development.
A: We're shooting for all 3 simultaneously.

Q: Obviously the three platforms will not be able to co-interact between themselves but has the option of allowing two platforms cross referencing each other while online or is that inviting trouble on a multiple level.
A: Well, I'm hopeful about stats on the game's community website being cross referential (so everyone can clearly see that PC players get more kills than console players, or PS3 players give more revives than 360, or whatever), but we'll see...

Q: If you say that you're more responsible for SP parts of that (blablabla) - how long will it take to fully finish SP part (playing alone or together with someone)?
A: Actually, there isn't a separate single player mode for the game. one of the new things we're trying to do is find ways to bring a sort of narrative experience that you normally get in a single player game, into multiplayer gameplay. There's lots of interviews about this online. To answer your question though, if players decide to play the game completely offline (like a singleplayer game), it is probably going to be something like 8-10 hours to experience the two "storyline campaigns".

Q: Will there be some easter eggs also in the BRINK from past SD games, like there are tapirs (which is kind of SD symbol already I guess) and few pictures representig something from W:ET in ET:QW? Or it will have no such small, but fun things to explore while playing?
A: There must always be tapirs!

Q: This might sound weird but if someone wants to +walk their speed should be scaled down in a curve and not just dropped immediately (or better just have 1 constant movement speed whilst standing/running and a slower one crouched).
A: Good suggestions about the walk speed. and i agree that giving players as much flexibility to customize the overall experience is worth pursuing. we'll see how much of it makes it in. i'd hate for you guys to have to wait 6 months for the pro-mod to get completely sorted out, for example...

Q: So Brink will be - if compared to SP games - like choosing your profile?! (something like in Overlord 2 for example?)
A: I'd say the best example would be an MMO (without the monthly charges!)... you've got one login, and X characters withing that login.

Q: Can you say that there is an equality in developer-spent-time between the multiplayer and the sigleplayer?
A: We're spending I'd say 85% of our dev muscle on multiplayer. Solo play really just our multiplayer game, with good bots, and a storyline that threads the whole thing together (though those elements can be present in online play as well).

Q: If you can jump into the campain of others; what do you tell the people having some of 'us hardcore' players in their campaign as defenders? or is skillmatching also enabled for the campaign?
A: Definitely. Also, if you've switched over to playing in a hardcore match, you've basically made the decision to ignore all the campaign storyline stuff, I think... :-)

Q: Well by restricting body type ingame you somewhat neglect your feature at the very beginning again imo. But by allowing to switch body type aswell as classes and weapons (I'd prefer a limbo in competitive matches over a cp - tried to point it out at the SD board). So far I think the heavy body type is mostly good for tanking and damage dealing, right? I think it's less capable of doing objectives since it's somewhat hindered in being as flexible as the light body type because of it's speed. But if the map would enter a state where your team doesn't need a soldier and longs for health support you should be able to switch to a fast medic imo or: you need another engineer but don't want to sacrifice a medic for this.
A: There are two interesting things about the way the system works though that I wish I could tell you about, but can't yet, that are really applicable to your observations. Well, one I can say, since it did get mentioned in an interview somewhere: bigger guys have more "power" (or "energy", or "mana" or whatever you want to call it). This means that while it takes them a bit longer to get to the action, once they're there, they're the ones who can hand out the most heals, or do the most buffs, or share the most ammo. Fast guys can get there quicker, but they've got a lot less power to use for abilities. So that's an extra wrinkle. The other thing, which i can't talk about, is a very huge and important feature. About all I can say on it right now is this: surfing. When you guys find out more in the coming months, I think you'll be quite surprised how it can add a new tactical level to different body types and how they get around :-)

Q: Will there be a possibility to just switch guns for next spawn (for competition at least) or next spawn have another char?
A: You can switch guns during a match at a command post, same way you can swtich classes. about switching to different characters, first of all, we're not sure we can technically do it (stuff about character customization compositiing), so until that's resolved, can't say if we'll allow it or not mid match.

Q: Will XP be permanent or just for a single game session?
A: Character advancement and XP is persistent, and you can buy (and sell back) abilities only between matches.

Q: Will there be other weapon modifications besides the ones you get access to via XP? (re-balancing it yourself, "less damage, higher rate of fire" etc.)
A: We haven't talked much about weapon modification yet, but there will be a good range of ways to trick out your guns for enhanced performance.

Q: From what I heard from your PAX interview 'covert ops's' will have the ability to reveal opponents for 30 seconds, could this be triggered server side?
A: Yeah, it's the 'reward' for successfully interrogating an enemy... enemy locations are revealed for X seconds (30, or maybe less as a balance thing) only on the radar, your enemies won't appear on radar unless you've already seen them, or via various other means related to teammate abilities, so not quite as poweful as a wall hack. One of the main things we'll have as a balancing factor on abilities, btw, will be a cooldown period before you can use them again. so if anything is too unbalancing, we'll have the option to only let players do it once every X minutes, for example. That'll also help with the rambo medic, i think, if self-buffs can't be done back to back to back... :)

Q: Is there even a main menu on pc?
A: Yeah, there'll be a front end screen where you choose which character you're going to play with, and once you've done that, you basically see a screen where you can choose which mission you want to go on. if you've got friends in that mission, it'll be co-op automatically. or you can specify if you want it to be competetive, etc. Alternately, after you've chosen your character, you can go to a server browser like where you can search for games with the parameters you like, do filters, sorts, etc.

Q: I already read you are planning to actively support the community after the release, but to what extend?
A: A lot depends on budgets and schedules and sequels and (probably most imporatntly) sales and all of that. but both splashdamage and bethesda have a reputation of supporting games post release, and i would hope that continues with Brink.

Fler frågor och svar lär tillkomma. Det är ovanligt att spelutvecklare faktiskt tar sig tid att svara på frågor från communityn, än ovanligare att man tar sig tid att svara på så många. Så all credit till Richard Ham som faktiskt gjorde detta. Om spelet bara är hälften så bra som han får det att låta känns Brink som 2010:s givna succétitel.

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