Could “The Precursors” be the First True Role-Playing First-Person Shooter?
by Louis Bedigian 

“Our game will be much more dynamic than a typical RPG.” 

The Precursors, an upcoming title for PC and Xbox 360, is another game hoping to successfully merge two existing genres for a new kind of gaming experience. The two genres in question: RPG and FPS. 

Role-playing games, known for their deep and involving worlds and plotlines, and first-person shooters, known for their intense and unrelenting combat, are not genres that can be easily matched. However, Sergey Zabaryansky (Director of The Precursors) believes it is possible. He says there are a lot of good shooters on the market, but they “don't give you a true freedom of actions.” The same goes for RPGs – there are good games available, but they are mostly set in fairy-tale worlds.  

“There are good space-sim games, but most of them are not giving you the feeling of journey,” he says, “where you can land on planets. Any sci-fi bestseller can show that good stories are always focusing on all these aspects in general, and not just one of them. So the idea is to re-create the feeling of a young pilot's adventure in a futuristic-looking universe.” 

Sergey believes that the game’s most important part is its RPG content. “Due to the size of the world, the number of missions you can take from NPC, the freedom of choices you have, the things that you'd be willing to accomplish, complex relations between factions and you, and system of perks that improves your hero, etc. Overall the RPG system looks somewhat close to GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System), but in fact we've made our own to use in the current projects. However, the game is much more dynamic than, let's say, Morrowind, and the combat part works as in any good FPS title.”  

  
The game is coming to Xbox 360 and PC. Are both versions being developed together with different development teams, or are you working on one version and will port it over when it's complete?  

Sergey Zabaryansky: We are developing one version for both platforms. To avoid the problem when PC gamers are disappointed with inconvenient console user interface we are developing two completely different user interfaces for PC and Xbox 360 versions. For example, PC version has trade window based on drag-&-drop principle, and meanwhile the console version of the interface is based on "two lists" principle. 

Did you have to develop a specific engine to accommodate The Precursors' needs, or was an existing engine able to get the job done? 

SZ: We are utilizing a proprietary engine called Vital Engine 3, developed by our company. This is due to the key feature of the game – huge seamless world where you can go wherever you want. The engine supports streaming, this helps us to create big but very detailed worlds. It supports shaders 3.0, all the modern post-effects, such as motion-blur, High Dynamic Range and others. Most of objects in the game are destroyable, moreover they usually have zonal damage system, where you can destroy or blow off single parts of an object, such as limbs or turrets. 

Is this strictly a single-player RPG/FPS experience?  

SZ: Yes, we are working on making the single player game really top-notch. We are thinking about the release of a multiplayer cooperative mode in subsequent add-ons.  

What makes this an RPG and not just an FPS?  

SZ: First of all, it is an open world game filled with NPCs with their own story. You can take objectives from these NPCs and accomplish missions for them. During game play you gain money and experience points. Money can be used for purchasing different kinds of weapons, bullets, upgrades, vehicles, medicine, food etc. Meanwhile experience points give you the opportunity to improve your character and add some perks. Say perk 'diver' will give you more time to be underwater. If you have a mission to take something from a deep lake or ocean, you are not able to accomplish it until you have this perk, because you won't have enough breath to dive to the target. 

What can you tell us about the story? 

SZ: The story of the game starts when a young pilot, who has just graduated from a Space Academy, arrives to his native planet Goldin. And there he is told that some strange and mysterious events had happened in the Galaxy during the time he was away training. Step by step, the main hero is getting involved into the vicious circle of events - as one of the few space pilots who are available and willing to take really arduous tasks, he's sent to search for the solution to the problems threatening his people's existence. He's working on this not alone, but together with a small party of "wandering heroes" who are doing the same. He has to visit a lot of planets and talk with different races to find out what has happened and how to rescue his native race and all Galaxy. 

Who do you control – who is the main hero, and who are the main villains?  

SZ: The main hero belongs to the race of Amarns (sort of nomadic humans). [Humans are still the] dominant race in the galaxy. There are four main factions of Humans: Amarns, Democratic Union, Empire and Pirates. The majority of representatives of Alien races are working and living on the planets where high tech is combined with nearly primitive lifestyle. But the Universe has many secrets and you can only imagine whom you will meet in your travels. We created a lot of different enemy types. You will fight against soldiers, robots and various monsters [that] are unique for each planet. 

There will be many vehicles: flyers, mechs, trucks, buggies, etc. As for battle AI - all enemy AI uses "virtual vision" and "virtual hearing" algorithms. The political system works so that when you accomplish missions for any faction, you increase your relation with it, but you inevitably spoil your relations with some other factions. There's no such entity as Absolute Evil in the game, and things are often looking deceptive. So the players have to shape the destiny of the world of "Precursors" themselves.  

  
Let's talk about the gameplay. Is this a fast and frantic FPS like Serious Sam ? Moderately fast (but very involved) like Halo? Is it closer to a fellow RPG/FPS, The Elder Scrolls? Or is it different from all of those?  

SZ: Overall, our game will be much more dynamic than a typical RPG. We are focusing on a creation of such a gameplay tempo during fighting as in Half Life 2. But, of course, there won't be so many scripts used during battles as in HL2, because the game will mostly take place on the open terrain, and not in the narrow corridors and confined rooms. In some battles there will be dozens of monsters that will attempt to surround you, in other ones you will be fighting against four or five soldiers and vehicles at the same time. We're still polishing the balance, but certainly the game won't spew hordes of monsters at you as "Serious Sam". More like, it will be similar to "The Elder Scrolls", but with "Halo" style combat. We've tried to show some glimpses of that in our trailer that was unveiled in late October. 

What sort of weapons and/or powers do the characters have? 

SZ: There are about 15 types of weapons that you can use during the game. But you can also upgrade your equipment. For instance, you can improve accuracy, clip size, and effective range for your weapon. Furthermore, you will have a lot of opportunities to control different types of vehicles; for example, when you start the game, after completing some missions you will receive your own space ship. You can fly on the flyer and drive the armored vehicle or battle mech and so on. One of the key features of "Precursors" are the organic weapons. These are living creatures which have such natural offensive abilities as, for example, acid spit. Adequate food is their "ammunition" of sorts. The owner feeds his "pet" himself; he knows all its vulnerable places, that's why it's not a problem for him to control it. Don't forget about the space battles. You can attack all ship, which you see; you can defend friendly ships, or escort the traders, or destroy the pirates.  

Are there any puzzles to solve? Any thought-provoking moments?
 
SZ: The sci-fi story will bring you a lot of mysterious tasks and some of them definitely will be not too easy to solve. You will have many opportunities to train your brain during some quests. Player can choose mission for his taste: he can attack escorts or defend ships, look for artifacts, destroy or steal enemy vehicles, infiltrate enemy bases… possibilities are boundless. Also player can choose more peaceful missions to trade and negotiate with the inhabitants of various planets. You will even get such tasks where you will have to hack computers and pick safe locks. Parcels, crates, shelves and different objects have to be explored by you; there can be various interesting and useful things hidden in there.  

Does the game take place entirely in space? Let's talk about that - the environments and locations. 

SZ: You will spend most of the time on the planetary surface. During your travel in the world of "Precursors" you will have to visit different planets. Some of them will be quite similar to Earth, but you will also visit the planets, which will capture your imagination with unusual locations and inhabitants, as well as dangerous and strange animals. Whenever you like, you can choose which planet you want to visit for your taste – the world of red sun, dune planet or desolate ruins of skyscrapers… or maybe you prefer lush tropic jungles? In the space you can dock at the space stations, have fun in asteroid fields, explore space ships of Alien races, but the game will go on in the meantime.  

Since the game is partially an FPS, do you think it's going to be hard for people to look at the game and see that it's also an RPG? Or is it being designed to make that point immediately clear?  

SZ: Yes, we have such doubts. But we hope that this will not become an obstacle for anybody to enjoy the game. Firstly, the project is developed in such a kind that you can try all aspects of the gameplay, from active combat to trade operations and completion of missions on different planets during the first hour. Secondly, there are many genre mixes nowadays. Such a great game as GTA3 also looks like a third person shooter in a big city if you don't get in the car, and then [if you do] it becomes racing more or less. As far as we know, it doesn't disturb anyone. It seems to me that the main factor [that] will influence the success of the game is the quality of the gameplay, technical performance, and richness of the world. 

Thank you for your time.

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