Posted: 02-06-05 In: Interviews By: Munro2 |


One of the most interesting of the coming horde of Half-Life 2 mods is undoubtedly the Jurassic Rage mod. It pits two teams of human commandos against each other in various tropical paradises, competing for command points and completing objectives. But the big twist is that these maps are populated by an entire zoo’s-worth of prehistoric monsters. Various dinosaurs, predatory or otherwise, will prowl the maps, causing the best-laid plans of both teams to go very wrong, very quickly.

On a remote island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, scientists have ignored the numerous films, books and games that warn against meddling with weird science and have done it anyway, creating and cloning dinosaurs. Another team, the mysterious Cell, deploy to the island with all manner of military equipment in order to capture research materials and grab the secret of dinosaur creation for their own gains. The battles between the Cell and the island’s security forces will form the backbone of a wide array of multiplayer maps.

Taking the powerful and versatile Source engine and using it to shape a dinosaur-infested labyrinth of verdant jungles and high-tech facilities is no easy task, which was why I dodged the patrols around the team’s IRC channel to sneak an interview with several members of the mod team...

Halflife2.net: So, who is everybody, and what are your jobs on the mod?

Splaty: I'm Splaty and I'm the lead mapper.

Mitlancer: I'm Mitlancer, I am a modeller.

d0cd: I'm d0cd, modeller and I'm the project leader.

Halflife2.net: Nice to meet you all. Okay, describe your mod in a nutshell.

d0cd: Well basically 3 way Team Co-op. Two human controlled teams playing against each other to complete objectives, whilst a third team of AI controlled dinosaurs "hinder" the teams. There are also plans of a deathmatch mode being produced as well.

Halflife2.net: So describe to me the team-based dynamic. You're going for complex objective-based assault-style games?

Splaty: That's right. The two teams each have individual objectives which they will attempt to complete, whilst simultaneously stopping the enemy team from completing their objectives.

Halflife2.net: What kind of objectives?

Splaty: There'll be a reasonable variety, ranging from the standard 'reach this point' to the more complex 'destroy this, and then weld this entrance shut', etc.

Halflife2.net: How are you going about character classes, weapons and equipment, that kind of thing?

Splaty: The character classes will be pretty standard, such as marksman, scout, etc, though they'll be a few classes relevant to the JR style. We're still considering the best way to implement weapons and equipment, although we'll most likely be going with a normal approach where the class is given relevant weapons, and can then swap them with those they find on the battlefield.

d0cd: The systems side to JR is still under decision. As we are not too sure how the best system would work to provide the best experience possible. More recently we have been discussing things and have decided to base the weapons selection as being able to choose any weapon for that given slot, ie. The primary slot will hold the main weapons, rifles, sub-machine guns etc…, secondary slot for pistols and so forth, and then there is a 3rd slot for the melee weapons and what not. However these weapons will severely hinder certain classes and others will help them. It will be complicated, there is no purchase system planned. No CS here I am afraid. We are looking for realism. We may make it so that there are only a certain number of weapons of available for the whole team, and its down to the team to decide what weapons that each class chooses, so team co-operation will play a very important role.

Mitlancer: The weapons themselves will range from the common modern day arsenals from around the globe. They all fit in with the modern time period and each have a great functionality towards the gameplay.

Halflife2.net: Tell me about vehicles…

d0cd: Well vehicles, we will be adding different vehicles to different maps depending on whether the objectives require so. The vehicles will be as balanced as possible so that if you do have a vehicle you don't have a massive advantage over everyone else out there.

Splaty: The vehicles will range from the usual assortment of Jeeps and trucks to, hopefully at least, boats and maybe even hovercraft.

Halflife2.net: I’m imagining a load of gamers jam-packed into a speeding jeep just ignoring the game objectives and tearing around the place, hunting dinosaurs like high-tech cowboys. Anyway, what really interests me is the idea of this enormous living ecosystem that will affect how both teams play. Tell me more about this ecosystem... i.e. the third AI dinosaur team.

d0cd: This is our MAJOR goal with JR, to produce as real an environment as possible. Dinosaurs that feel like they're actually other players on the Internet, counter-acting your moves. Using intelligence to navigate to the weakest prey, etc... We will spend an enormous amount of time playtesting the dinosaur AI and behaviour to ensure as realistic as experience as possible.

Splaty: Obviously the network requirements to throw down a full-scale Dinosaur AI that walks around and decides who to hunt, where and when would be unrealistic. But Dinosaurs will react to human presence [realistically] and will decide what to do, be it ignore them or take them down.

d0cd: Yes, depending on their species. This is down to a mixture of behaviour and resource limitations. Even on a standalone machine to be able to calculate an island full of creatures all fully interacting and making their own decisions requires an immense amount of processing power.

Halflife2.net: Could provide some very interesting battles. About the dinosaurs themselves…you've got a very wide range of species in there, including some really obscure ones like Therizinosaurus - a dinosaur which no-one knows really much about. I’m a dinosaur nut so I’m interested to know whether it'll be a carnivore or herbivore seeing as there is some debate over the matter.

Splaty: We do have quite a few dinosaur 'experts' on the team, including at least one who studies palaeontology at university. I myself don't know much about it, so I can't answer your question.

d0cd: Hmm there are many theories surrounding this dinosaur. I only know about the thoughts behind this dinosaur because of a Walking with Dinosaurs special on it. Though I can’t remember what the conclusion was as to whether it was herbivore or carnivore. I’m sure it was herbivore that it used its enormous claws for grabbing at branches.

Halflife2.net: I always thought it probably used the claws to open termite mounds and eat all the termites. Anyway...for the benefit of people who haven't looked on your website, could you tell me about some of the dinosaurs’ species that you're putting in and what are your individual favourite dinosaurs in there?

d0cd: Hmm species names I'm not too good on. But I can give you dinosaur names, hell I've modelled pretty much all them. We have the well know herbivores like Brachiosaurus, Gallimimus, Triceratops, and the carnivores, Velociraptor, T-Rex, Compsognathus. We have a few obscure ones like Elasmosaurus, which is a water creature, and Carnotaurus.

Halflife2.net: Can you tell me about the kind of maps you’ve got? Just how free roaming will it be? Will there be secret or hidden areas? It’d be cool to find some abandoned building you never knew was there…also, how many players per map?

Splaty: We'll be taking the large map size limits into consideration as we design them. We're planning on having a variety, including outside and internal areas. For the most part, the outside areas will be pretty free roaming. You could easily wander off from your squad, get lost in the jungle and fog and end up getting munched on by a pack of dinosaurs. As for hidden areas, you'll have to wait and see!

Halflife2.net: How do you go about doing jungles in Valve's Hammer editor?

Splaty: Our modellers create the bulk of the jungle, and an intuitive use of fog and model-fadeouts mean that we can create a realistic jungle without having to render too much at one time.

Halflife2.net: Many people would ask you why you chose the HL2 engine. UT is more multiplayer orientated, and Far Cry has better jungles, so why the choice of engine?

Splaty: Yes, we were at a time going to create the mod for both the CryTek and Source engine, but decided to stick with HL2. While Far Cry does have large, immense jungles, we felt that if we used Far Cry, our mod would just look the same as any other mod on that engine. I haven't used the Far Cry editor myself, but I've heard that it's not particularly difficult to create realistic jungles. While in HL2 it's more difficult, it will also be more diverse and look unique to JR.

Halflife2.net: Good point. How do you plan to exploit HL2’s incredible physics engine?

Mitlancer: I've answered this question a thousand times from a modellers point of view, the engine is far superior to any other engine currently available because of the sheer power it holds, the engine itself is capable of doing a lot more than people give it credit for.

Splaty: Oh yes indeed. We plan on having a variety of natural and man-made traps littered about the maps

Halflife2.net: Rolling boulders!

Anyway, I gather your mod was originally a Jurassic Park one. Did you change to Rage because it gave you more creative freedom or because legal action was threatened - or because you thought it might be threatened?

Splaty: The former.

d0cd: Basically because of possible legal action. We didn't love the idea of getting half way through production and then being told to shut down.

Splaty: We were never threatened with legal action, but we never received any form of written reply from them either. So we just played it safe.

d0cd: Plus our own design provides us with a lot more creative freedom Mitlancer: When a modification is restricted to a license, it can be held back at every point. Not to mention the problems with actually obtaining the rights to work from that base.

Halflife2.net: One last question: Fast-paced arcade antics or more stealthy realistic style gameplay?

Mitlancer: A little from column A, a little from column B.

Splaty: We're catering for both styles. If you want to run in without your team you can, although you might get jumped on by a dinosaur. Alternatively you can take it slow, watch your squad-members backs, etc.

Halflife2.net: Sounds good. Well, it’s been very nice talking to you guys and good luck with your mod.

Splaty: Thanks very much and thanks for the interview!

Halflife2.net: Thank you. Currently the Jurassic Rage team are looking for programmers, mappers and positions in other areas, so if you're interested in working for them then get yourself to their website and sign up!