Interviews
Bet On Soldier offers a new twist to the shooter format
In a multiplayer battle, all players will start with ground-zero equipment; it is up to them to build up their fame and equipment during the battle
Elite warriors going toe-to-toe … it was bound to happen that the lines between warfare and sports would blur slightly. And, of course, big business has to stick its nose into the chaos to realize a profit.
Eighty years before, a war was begun. Two federations have it down to a business and economic model. The armies are mercenaries, paid per kill and are stock market commodities. The success of the individual mercenary is reflected in the value of the stock.
Somewhere along the line, a new wrinkle was put into place, that of allowing wagering on the fight, treating it as an entertainment spectacle. But those who lose do not fight another day. For the soldiers in the combat zone, the outcome is akin to dancing on the edge of a razor – an errant move and the thread of life is sliced.
Bet On Soldier is the Digital Jester PC title (http://www.betonsoldier.com/) slated for release early this summer. The game promises a twist on the conventional shooter format and likely the big draw will have to do with the multiplayer online treatment. GameZone was able to speak with the folks on the BOS development team about what this title will bring to the genre.
Question: Bet On Soldier uses a new engine. Tell us a little bit about it and what it is capable of allowing you to do to bring this game to life.
BOS Team: The KT engine has been evolving during several years and has gone through thorough core testing.
Like many new generation engines, it has chosen a DX9 and shader-oriented rendering. Shaders grant the power of flexibility in the rendering pipeline, and this flexibility is offered to the artwork team through an easy-to-use exporter directly plugged into their favorite 3D-creation software, matching their materials to our shaders. Some basic render techniques include normal mapped specular highlights, cubemap reflection or lightmapping.
Q: Are the levels in this game based on an arena format, with confined environmental areas for the combat?
BOS Team: Even if the game revolves around duel and challenge, levels are not confined to closed arenas. They could jump from outdoor exoskeleton-trekking to trench-crawling.
BOS are more likely to show up in arena-style areas whether natural or not, but that's up to their taste.
Q: From looking at the game, it appears that the format is one akin to gladiatorial combat (in ancient Rome) but ramped up to the future. How does the betting affect the game player? Can they wager on the outcome of the fight or is this one of those games where the betting is peripheral to the controllable action?
BOS Team: No, the betting is totally based on the player's actions. If the player can honorate his bets, all the cash earned is up to him for buying new weapons and equipment. In multiplayer BOS mode, the bet will even be crucial for your team to win.
Q: Can players just take on the role of the bettor and not a participant?
BOS Team: We are still working on some aspects of the BOS multiplayer rules, but player will only be able to assume the role of a bet-engaged champion.
Q: Is there a correlation between the amount of money one can earn and the training and armament of a combatant?
BOS Team: Absolutely, armors, weapons, ranking of both hunter and target are involved in the award computation.
Q: How many players can participate in the Team Deathmatch?
BOS Team: The multiplayer mode will accept up to 32 players.
Q: Is there a matching system for the game to take into account skill levels, or are the online battles a free-for-all in terms of skill levels?
BOS Team: In a multiplayer battle, all players will start with ground-zero equipment; it is up to them to build up their fame and equipment during the battle. We are trying to balance multiplayer BOS rules to avoid High-Skilled players engaging Beginners systematically in bets. Like experience in RPG, prize-money will fall rapidly if engaging a lower player, encouraging players to challenge equivalent ranked enemies to climb the ladder.
Q: Will the game have a ladder-ranking system?
BOS Team: We ‘re currently working on a way to make it possible so the game certainly deserves some kind of persistent ranking.
Q: Is this one of those games (speaking of the multiplayer element) where a faster connection or better processing speed with give one player an edge?
BOS Team: Well, only in turn-based games does connection speed and CPU power not give an edge ...
It is crystal-clear that a good latency in an online multiplayer game surely gives an advantage,
but as our combats involve destructible heavy armors and shield, a high-latency-lucky-headshot-through-wall kill is not likely to happen...
Q: How have you leveled that playing board?
BOS Team: As I was saying earlier, some multiplayer minor rules are still being discussed to achieve the most balance experience we can. Weapons and equipment balancing is sure to be tricky and to require nights of intense play, but can be performed directly by the game designers.
Q: Will players be able to build up characters in the single-player game and then roll them over into the multiplayer setting? In the single-player mode, is there an end game?
BOS Team: Solo and Multiplayer experiences will be different:
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Solo play is a mission-based game following a storyline thus with an end game, but with fast-paced arcade-oriented action.
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BOS Multiplayer mode is a unique team-domination and duels combination.
Q: What presented some of the biggest challenges you faced in creating this game?
BOS Team: One of the biggest challenges was to keep the game engine MOD-compliant, keeping in mind that this effort will be rewarded for our future titles, and for the BOS community itself if an SDK goes public. But the game is far from finished …
Q: And how does it distinguish itself from other arena-shooter style titles?
BOS Team: BOS is not exactly an arena-based game. We can say that the solo mode is not an arena-based game at all, but a story-driven campaign, benefiting from the originality of the bet mechanism originated from the multiplayer BOS mode.
In BOS, everything has a cost, and players are encouraged to use their money wisely when buying new equipment or ammo.
We hope that the multiplayer BOS mode mixing hardcore teamplay and duel confrontation will take the best out of existing and well-known multiplayer modes to create a new and exciting experience.
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