So, hi! My name is Kelley Frisby, and I’m an unsuspecting victim in the indie game process (LOL). Truthfully, I’m a traditional artist who saw a unique and interesting challenge in front of her and jumped head first without thinking of all the obstacles I was about to come into contact with. When initially approached to join with Ugly Baby Studios and their premier game, Exhumed, I thought to myself, “Oh, no. I can’t do that. I draw cute things, girly things, things that parents read to their children before bed.” What do I know about zombies and video games? Not that much apparently, but it turns out I am a quick learner. I took my ridiculously expensive art school education and did some research.
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FPS games try to create “Artificial Intelligence” but, in general, do a very lousy job of faking the experience. Although F.E.A.R. goes farther than most, the main concept is still “creating the illusion of intelligence” (via sound cues) not by actually making an intelligence simulation.
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A moderate review of Bad Company, and critique of current FPS’s.
When I first started playing single player Bad Company, I suppose I was really looking for something a bit more… innovative, which it is not. It offers modern physics and real world destruction, but the plot remains not too different from an old Soldier of Fortune (+ 5 other games, & stir) rehash with some buddies (COD2, anyone?). About 1/2 the game is fighting in small towns, with some forays using vehicles, like a boat. Then come obligatory ‘change it up because it’s getting boring’ tank level, ‘helicopter level’, ‘no buddies level, etc.
Lets not forget the oh-so-typical boss battle at the end, which in my opinion IS a direct rip from Soldier of Fortune Double Helix.
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I spent a short time talking with James Brown, Lead level designer for Epic Games about MOD’ing using the Unreal Engine 3.0. The main question on my mind was how easy it will be to convert a UT2004 MOD to the UT2007 Framework. His response was that it is very difficult because they have changed the core of the engine, but it still can be done. On the bright side, the engine supports weapon models with 1000 to 3000 polygons, an incredible increase from Unreal engine 2.0′s support for weapons with only 300 to 600 polygons.More information will be forthcoming as I continue to talk with Mr. Brown in the near future.
