After trekking through a dense jungle and hiding from enemy soldiers buzzin' around on Scooters. I finally had a chance to have a little chat with AJ Marini, Leader Designer in charge of Battlefield: Vietnam. You know, the guy that has one of the coolest jobs around.The guy who can shed some light on much needed Intel. Well, he was generous enough to allow me to drill him with a bunch of questions. The kinds of questions that the community was wondering about. He is a really great and hard working guy, so lets all give him some props and see what he has to share, shall we!
PBF: What are the minimum requirements for a computer to run Battlefield: Vietnam?
AJ:: The minimum specs are Pentium III/933Mhz, 64meg Geforce 3 (or comparable), with 256 megs of RAM.
PBF: Do you plan on supporting the modding community with any tools or map editor?
AJ: From the early stages of development we spoke about the potential we had. We saw a vibrant mod community and knew that once they saw BFV, they be clamoring for tools. We hope to oblige them as much as possible and hopefully in a more timely manner than we did with the original game.
PBF :Will the game use the same .RFA & .CON style file types like Battlefield 1942?
AJ: Yes, definitely. Considering our development cycle and the familiarity we had with the BF1942 systems, using those systems again in BFV made the most sense.
PBF: Will Battlefield 1942 mods still work within Battlefield Vietnam? If not, what insight can you give about the conversion to the new game?
AJ: Unfortunately no current mod will work with BFV. The rendering engine precludes the use of any art create for the old system. The 3d meshes can still be used as a basis, but from their up it?s a different process. For most of our models, we created high poly versions in order to generate the normal maps, which are on almost every object in the game. For the terrain, the map builders will have to deal with the undergrowth (grasses, etc) and the overgrowth (trees, tables and chairs, etc). These three systems are the biggest changes. In addition to that, there have been numerous alterations to other systems in the game, such as the way parameters are defined, etc. The mod community will be able to figure it out easily enough.
PBF: Do you have a set date for release yet?
AJ: We don?t have an exact day set, but we are going to ship in March.
PBF: What sort of booby traps can we expect in Battlefield Vietnam?
AJ: We added pungi sticks and bouncing betty mines to the game. They?re really devious little things, especially since they can be so well concealed. The enjoyment level of using these traps is akin to pulling a practical joke on someone. You set the trap then sit back and watch the fun
PBF:Will the NVA have any boat transports or rafts of some sort?
AJ: Oh most definitely. We created sampans for the N.V.A. teams. With the ability to fire from passenger positions, you never really know what you?re going to expect when you see one.
PBF: Are there any AI improvements in Battlefield Vietnam?
AJ: We wanted two things from the A.I. The first was to give the player more control over his teammate?s actions, so now the bots will follow orders that you give them. You can command them to follow, or defend a position, etc. We also wanted to better blur the line between the human and A.I. players. As it stands now the name tags tend to give them away, since we?ve retained the idea of giving them real names. Players will definitely enjoy themselves a lot more when it comes to playing with the bots.
PBF: Will there be blood effects added for this game?
AJ: Yes, there is a blood effect in the game. It isn?t gory or anything like that but it is there. We felt it was good feedback fort he player when looking for indication of hitting a target.
PBF: What type of Server Admin tools can we expect in Battlefield Vietnam compared to Battlefield 1942?
AJ: We?ve got a server manager on the way that will provide the same functionality that exists for BF1942.
PBF: How many maps will be included in the shipping version of the game? Can you give our readers the full list?
AJ: The game is shipping with 14 maps. I was hoping to keep them as a surprise, but I guess I can give you guys the list.
We have them listed in chronological order because we tried to put more emphasis on the historical aspects of the game. All the maps, in some manner have been created using an aerial photograph or an authentic strategic map as a basis. Obviously we needed to take some liberties in order to make the game fun, but the authentic aspects of the maps add a lot to the immersion. Anyway, here?s the list.
· Operation Game Warden
· Operation Flaming Dart
· The Ia Drang Valley
· Landing Zone Albany
· Operation Hastings
· Operation Irving
· Hue-1968
· Quang Tri-1968
· Fall of Lang Vei
· Reclaiming Hue
· The Siege of Khe Sahn
· The Ho Chi Minh Trail
· Cambodian Incursion
· Quang Tri-1972
PBF: Are there any night levels included?
AJ: Yes, we have a couple of levels that can be considered night levels. We approached the look and feel of the level not so much as strictly day or night. We were really going for an emotional response. For instance we have levels that are hot and sticky, levels and are damp, levels that are dusty, and levels that are creepy and eerie. It may have been a more esoteric approach but the results speak for themselves.
PBF: Are the maps any bigger then Battlefield 1942?
AJ: The Vietnam War was a much more close-combat war than WW2. The average distance to your enemy was 20 meters. Because of this, we didn?t se a lot of reason to make massive maps. We wanted the battles to be tighter and closer knit. There is still plenty of space to move around, but there is less likelihood of being off by yourself in a far corner of the map.
PBF: Are there any Navel aspects to Battlefield Vietnam?
AJ:: There isn?t a naval aspect as in bf1942. The ?naval? aspect is more confined to river systems and such with amphibious vehicles, sampans, and PBRs.
PBF: How long has Battlefield Vietnam been in development?
AJ: The game has been in development for quite some time now. We?re just happy its almost done.
PBF: How does the new game engine compare to the ReFractor2? Are there any substantial improvements to the graphics or physics?
AJ: The physics system was already very robust and capable of a lot so we didn?t see much gained by redoing it. The graphics engine on the other hand was completely yanked out in favor of a completely new one. As I mentioned earlier, we have normal mapping, bump mapping, specular lighting, basically all the bells and whistle expected from a DX9 game. This new engine also gave us the freedom to add the dense vegetation that we needed to convey a convincing representation of sixties era Vietnam. When I say dense, I mean dense. There are map where you?re in the middle of the jungle and there?s nothing but trees as far as the eye can see. Thick grasses help as well. Its quite spectacular.
PBF :Will you be able to use your weapons while in water or in vehicles??
AJ: Yes sir. It was a something that everyone wanted and one of our primary additions.
PBF :Will there be any improvements on the Netcode for smoother game play?
AJ: The network code is very good. As long as the game is being run on a capable server, there isn?t any lag. We can?t guarantee that all the servers out there will be capable; someone might try to run a dedicated server on a P90. We face different hurdles however. In BF1942, the likelihood of having a lot of people in the same place at the same time was much lower than with BFV. With the helicopters loaded up with guys, it?s not uncommon to have larger congregations of men and machines in one place. We?re focusing our attention on making sure there aren?t any issues when that happens.
PBF: Have you tweaked any of the weapon damage systems to be more accurate?
AJ: We tried to maintain integrity in the function of the various weapon systems, but you have to realize that real world weapons are designed to kill as efficiently as possible. They aren?t made for fun game play. When it came to damage, our focus has always been on balance. We want to the game to be a game of skill, not a game of who has the biggest weapon.
PBF: With Battlefield 1942 we are fortunate enough to get patched every few months, will this be the case with Battlefield Vietnam?
AJ: It hasn?t been completely confirmed that this will be the case, but I?m very optimistic that we will keep that program going. The free content team delivered, and continues to deliver very high quality content for BF1942. It keeps the game fresh and rewarding for the community. It?s a way we can show that we appreciate what they?ve done for us.
PBF: What is your favorite aspect of Battlefield Vietnam?
AJ: Throughout the course of development, I?ve been asked this question and my answer tends to change a little. Now that the game is nearing completion, I?d have to say that it?s the overall immersive aspect of the game. It?s almost a shock when a game ends because I get completely lost in the game play. I?m become completely immersed in all the aspects of battle. With BFV even to the last days of development; we all yearn to get in on a game play session.
Topic: Whoo! 1 Month to go before Battlefield Vietnam hits the shelfs (Read 6634 times)