Posted: 01-06-05 In: Interviews By: Munro2 |


Halflife2.net: First off, could you give a brief description of Spatial Fear for those who aren't familiar with the mod?

Ryan Daly: Spatial Fear is a first-person game that takes players to all sorts of outlandish sci-fi environments, all the while weaving an entertaining story that will suck players in and spit them back out breathless.

Halflife2.net: Since Half-Life 2's announcement, there have been countless mods announced, as well as those that have died off due to various reasons. What makes your mod special? Why should players choose your mod over others?

Ryan Daly: Well, people know us and have recognized how well the original Spatial Fear: Prologue was produced. We've got some of the best art around and we want to maintain that level of quality throughout the mod's production.

Mod-making isn't our hobby, it's our life; we're serious about this work, like every other modder should be. I'm confident this team can produce a quality gaming experience by the time this is all said and done.

Halflife2.net: You seem to already have some experience with the Unreal engine when you created Spatial Fear: Prologue. Why did you choose to use the Source engine instead for the sequel?

Ryan Daly: The latest rendition of the Unreal engine was great for multiplayer gameplay, where story-telling wasn't the goal/focus of the developers making the engine. We're not here to deliver multiplayer gameplay, (although we will have a small multiplayer component), we're here to tell a story. I think we can all agree that Gabe Newell and the guys over at Valve have created an entertaining, intelligent, and outright beautiful game for the public to play and enjoy, and that has a lot to do with how they run their studio. The same principles are in place on our development team, and we're lucky to have the people and art that we have.

I think when any developer is deciding on an engine to create their game with, there's a bit of thought put into the technological resources and restrictions that come with this decision. But there's also something else, something not quite so definable. I think the closest analogy I can make is when a movie director is trying to find the right cinematographer.

What I'm trying to get at is there's a certain style to every engine. The Crytek engine has that cheesy yet entertaining popcorn-movie-esque style, the Unreal engine has a cartoonish sci-fi feel to it, and Source has a realistic sci-fi feel, while still managing to maintain a level of out of this world flavour. That's the concept we're aiming for here, a believable space drama.

Halflife2.net: Speaking of which, what was Spatial Fear: Prologue? Is it necessary to play to understand the story or game-world of the sequel?

Ryan Daly: The prologue released for the Unreal engine is a great example of a successful mod, in terms of design and execution. In our first release, we intend to do a sort of "re-envisioning" of the prologue, and label it the first chapter in a series of releases to the community. This way we won't have to tell our audience to go dig up an old copy of Unreal Tournament in order to understand just what's going on in a second chapter.

Halflife2.net: From reading the information on your mod's website, you seem to have created quite an involving universe. Could you shed some light on the game-world you have created?

Ryan Daly: It's really not that complicated fortunately. Mankind has made its way into space and has found and inhabited many planets in different galaxies. However, a rebellion has broken out on several planets, and Jael is headed towards one of those wayward planets on a military ship when an alien species boards her ship, kills the crew and thus, the start of the player's journey. The player will subsequently travel down to the planet to rescue the survivors of the AD who actually made it off the ship and are now running from the alien hunters. There's a lot more to the story, and soon Jael and the survivors find themselves embroiled in a war between alien species and are forced to settle a millennia old vendetta.

Other than this simple explanation of where things are at, the player isn't bombarded with information concerning the Spatial Fear universe's current events.

Halflife2.net: One of Half-Life 2's (and by extension the Source engine's) best capabilities, is its ability to create not only diverse and believable worlds, but also characters. We already know that the player plays Deployment Officer Jael Kenos, a newly graduated "deployment technician". What other characters can the player expect to encounter during the game?

Ryan Daly: There's a cast of human supporting roles that ranges from an uppity (yet comedic) British A.I., to Tarth Hollens, another deployment officer aboard the Antimatter Discharge. The first chapter will keep it quite simple when it comes to human contact. That being said, most of the NPC contact is limited to killing aliens, and rescuing the survivors of the Antimatter Discharge.

However, the first scene constitutes Jael actually boarding the AD. She meets Tarth and they travel through a large Star port, where many people can be found browsing items and ordering fast-food. All the while Tarth talks about life aboard the AD. We have voice actors lined up (theatre majors.) We intend to fully use the lip-synching technology Valve has created, and the FacePoser application used to construct and choreograph intense scenes.

I would tell you more about later chapters, but perhaps that info is best left for later interviews.

Halflife2.net: From the description on your website, the mod seems to share a similar atmosphere to games like the original Unreal and System Shock 2. Are these possible influences during the creation process? What other influences would you cite?

Ryan Daly: Actually, the influences come more from Half-Life 2 and Bungie's Halo 2 than anything. We've constructed an epic story where eventually Jael will end up saving humankind from two alien races, the Kreen and the Skav. Atmospherically, in the first chapter you'll be scared a couple of times, but afterwards the ball is in Jael's court in terms of the story. She's the one that's chasing the aliens. That's not to say that there won't be other frightening scenarios in the game, but the majority will be spent in highly intensive combat scenes.

Halflife2.net: In terms of new specific gameplay features, not much has been revealed. Are you willing to comment on any of these, or will the gameplay stay similar to Half-Life 2?

Ryan Daly: The gameplay will remain vastly similar to Half-Life 2, though we do intend on changing the way combat situations play out. Squads will be more effective in Spatial Fear than they were in HL2, and there will also be other changes relating to the way aiming plays out, though we can't talk about that just yet.

The environment will have plenty of physics objects and such for the player to interact with, as well as smart screens a la Prologue.

Halflife2.net: Finally, are there any final comments you'd wish to say before we end this interview?

Ryan Daly: We'd just like to thank Valve for giving us the best mod-making support a company has given, regardless of what a lot of people have been saying. We are always on the lookout for new team members, specifically character modellers/animators and texture artists, so post on our forums at www.spatial-fear.com if you want in, pending a portfolio review.