Westwood Studios recently released this interview concerning its upcoming title Command & Conquer: Renegade 

Command & Conquer Renegade Interview with its producer, Mike Ward:

1. What's new in Renegade since everyone in the free world saw it at E3 last year?

What was shown last year was a demo level created specifically for E3. Since then, we've been working on expanding that and building the actual game levels. In addition, the AI in the E3 demo was only a representation of what we had planned -- in fact, we've now taken it way beyond that point. We've also done a lot to add C&C atmosphere to the game. For example, now you can see how Tiberium is processed inside the refinery. We've made significant improvements to our animation system, refined the real-world physics, improved the vehicle control and handling, and finalized our weapons and vehicles list. We've also finished up our character structure, where players will pick their character class from one of the Enlisted, Officer, Special Forces or Boss ranks.

A full sky and weather system has been added, complete with lightning, rain and snow effects. We've added a conversation system that provides greater interactivity between the player and other characters in the game. Co-op mode is up and running and we're fine-tuning that as well. Our base technology, which links enemy base buildings together by function, is now working. So, destroying the power plant actually affects the rest of the buildings on the base. All this only reflects a portion of what we've been working on -- we've been busy!

2. How have you taken the strategy elements of the C&C games and incorporated them into a first-person shooter?

Enemy bases function as they do in our C&C RTS games: harvesters gather tiberium, and destroying those will cripple NOD resources. Power plants generate power for the base, and taking that our will cause all the other buildings to work at a reduced capacity, or not at all. Also, the original C&C missions were designed to let the player decide how best to tackle each objective. Our missions follow that pattern, presenting the player with a few primary objectives and letting him choose the best method to accomplish each. We wanted the player to feel as if he's running around inside a big C&C game, a virtual war if you will.

3. What are some of the multiplayer features you've added so we can shame our buddies over the Internet?

We support all the standard modes of play: deathmatch, capture the flag, king of the hill, etc. Some of these modes will have a special C&C flavor to them. For example, we have a "capture the Mobius" mode where Dr. Mobius is used instead of a flag. In addition, the single player missions will have a co-op capability so a friend can help you complete your objectives. Lastly, we're working on a very special multiplayer mode that we're all really excited about. I can't tell you much here, but I will tell you that it is our special salute to C&C and we think everyone is going to be very excited about it. More to come on that later...

4. What are you working on right now?

Finishing the game! Seriously, by the end of this month we will hit "feature lock," which means that all the features we want in the game will be in the game. After that it's just bug-fixing and polishing. The game is very ambitious and we're doing everything at once -- lighting, landscaping, AI, you name it.

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