Article Type: Interview
Article Date: October 09, 2001
Barking Dog Studio’s Global Operations (GO), to be published by Crave Entertainment, sets out to take on Team Fortress head-to-head. Interestingly, Barking Dog had a hand in creating Team Fortress, so hopes are high for Global Operations.
Featuring real-world locations and organizations, up to 24 players can slug it out with 32 different weapons in scenarios pitting government forces against terrorists and other heavily-armed criminals. There are two other noteworthy twists. All players enter or re-enter a scenario through a “Troop Transport Device”, the exact nature of which depends on the scenario—APC, helicopter, city bus, or the like.
Second, similar to the Counter-Strike mod for Half-Life, players have a bank account which is used to purchase weapons. Die a lot, and you may run out of cash for toys. Survive and make money and you can afford nifty kit. Exactly how that will balance, both to avoid frustrating newbies and to prevent rampant cheating, isn’t certain. Crave Entertainment's Executive Producer of GO, Mike Arkin, assures us, however, that they take cheating and other gameplay issues very seriously.
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A player surveys a snowy barnyard, yesterday  |
J.S. Is GO still set for a Q3 2001 release? Is there a more specific date yet?
M.A. We plan to finish the game in late November. Based on that, it looks like the game will be released in early 2002.
J.S. What styles of play are available - CTF, domination, hostage rescue, assault, escort...?
M.A. Each mission in a way is its own style of play. There are missions where you have to protect a VIP, there is a mission where you have to rescue hostages and there are missions with multiple goals.
J.S. What are the minimum and recommended system requirements expected to be?
M.A. The minimum is a P2/450 and a 16MB 3d card (GForce 1). The recommended spec is a P3/600 and a 32MB video card. In a few weeks we will probably evaluate these specs again in order to make sure that we can get a good frame rate on these machines.
J.S. What advantages does the LithTech engine offer Global Operations?
M.A. Lithtech is a very flexible engine and allowed the team to concentrate on content creation and not have to worry so much about building technology and tools.
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| British Paratroopers |
J.S. Will there be bots shipped with the game? Can the bots engage in effective teamwork as an opposing force to a human team?
M.A. Yes. The single player missions are you and a team of bots against another team of bots. They will definitely be programmed to work together as a team. As for their effectiveness relative to a human player, we will have to wait and see how good the humans are! 8-)
J.S. You're probably tired of this question, but…could you explain the main reasons Global Operations is different from, and thus presumably better than, Counter-Strike? What lead you to decide to go into head-to-head competition with a franchise that is, in part, of your own making?
M.A. What we set out to do with GO was to raise the bar for this type of FPS. To do that, we developed a game with an unprecedented level of realism and teamwork. For example, we have a ballistics system that calculates the penetration of eighteen different power bullets through many different materials.
Also, we have a Specialty system that allows players to reinforce their role on the team. There are six different specialties: demo man, heavy gunner, commando, medic, sniper and recon. Each specially has the ability to buy different categories of weapons and each has a different effectiveness with each of the different class of weapons.
In addition each specialty has some unique attributes or equipment. For example, the demo man is the only specialty that can buy a grenade launcher, the medic has a med pack, the commando can buy a LAW (single shot rocket launcher), and the recon has a special radar.
We also have a non-combatant called the Intelligence Officer who is a special mode where one player can see the entire battlefield and coordinate the actions of all of his team members, which is a great way for a new player to get into the game and is also a way for an advanced group of players to seriously increase their combat effectiveness.
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| This balaclava is itchy! |
J.S. What's your philosophy of balancing realism and gameplay in Global Operations? Could you provide some examples of how this affects specific aspects of gameplay?
M.A. Realism is very cool and this game is definitely about realism. From thirteen realworld locations to the thirty-two real weapons. On the other hand, all games need to be fun, or else the realism is a waste of time. So we look for the appearance of realism on top of a fun game. Guns, players and maps all look real, but each of those things is tuned for a fun game experience.
A great example of realism versus fun is the cash system. In the real world, you don't have delta force soldiers buying weapons for each mission, but the cash system gives players a reason to want to fight better and to protect their lives more. If you die you lose your gun so you have to buy another. So in the long run the cash system is an example of an unrealistic element that seriously enhances the gameplay.
J.S. What locations will be in Global Operations? Can all styles of play be played on each map?
M.A. There are thirteen locations, but each location is a unique game style. So, you don't pick a map and then pick a game style. You pick a map and the game style is inherent to the map. For example the Uganda mission has one team trying to rescue a group of hostages and destroying a group of fighter planes while the other team is trying to hold the hostages and protect the fighters. In the Mexico level one team is trying to plant a bomb in a specific area while the other team is trying to protect the area.
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| Two snipers overlooking their objectives |
J.S. Will there be a single-player mode? Can you give the bots orders? Could you play Global Ops as a wargame, with two human players acting as the Commanders for a force of bots on each side?
M.A. There is a single player mode. It is intended to be training for the multiplayer mode and thus the single player mode is played on the same maps as the multiplayer mode against bots. The bots will not follow your instructions unless you are the Intelligence Officer, but they will respond to some radio messages.
J.S. Using real incidents as your inspiration has caused some distinct problems, leading to the scrapping of a Belfast mission. Why did you decide to use real incidents? In light of the reaction you met, would you do this again?
M.A. We always wanted to use real locations because the realism factor makes the game more fun. I still agree that using real locations is a great idea and will make the game stand out. Of course we would do this again.
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| Teamwork is essential |
J.S. What are the objectives for the various missions?
M.A. Each of the thirteen missions has different objectives including secondary objectives. Completing the objectives and secondary objectives provides a cash bonus for the entire team and injuring hostages or civilians will cause you to lose cash.
J.S. Could you discuss a sample mission in some detail, explaining the objectives for each side and how it might typically play out?
M.A. One of my favorites is the Mexico mission. The two teams are the Mexican Army and a drug cartel. The cartel has a villa as their base of operations and today there is a big drug shipment leaving from the villa. The special forces of the Mexican Army must get into the villa and plant an explosive charge on the truck with the drug shipment to take it out and the cartel forces need to defend the shipment.
The level takes place in a very typical Mexican villa with a large courtyard in the middle. While the special forces come in the front door and walks through the courtyard, they are very exposed to sniper fire from the balconies all around the courtyard. See the screenshot. The special forces need to get through this and get to the back yard and plant the bomb in the truck. If the special forces plant the bomb, then of course the druggies still have one more chance, they can get to the bomb and defuse it which allows them to win the mission.
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| The Mexican Villa's courtyard |
J.S. Players earn money in the game, which can be spent on equipment and character upgrades. How do you balance players who have invested a lot of time into their characters with newbies, such that newbies are not discouraged from bothering to play, yet the die-hards feel their efforts are rewarded?
M.A. This is a very good question and it is one that we spend a great deal of time discussing. You will just have to trust that we will do a good job working this out. 8-)
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| Hmmm? Empty! |
