LucasArts Shara Miller shares insights into the upcoming release of RTX Red Rock
By Michael Lafferty

"Sir … We’ve lost contact with the Mars colony. We received the last radio transmission 12 minutes ago. …"

"Those damn aliens have probably landed on Mars. Someone needs to get us intel. … I.R.I.S. I want a list of all available Radical Tactical Experts who’ve had space flight time, combat duty against the L.E.D.s, full security clearance, and no personal ties to Earth."

"Only one RADTEC fits your criteria — Major Eugene Zeno Wheeler."

"Wheeler? I thought he was dead."

"Not quite … The Army offered him a radical tactics slot and now he’s a one-man strike team."

"Let General Stark know we have a situation on Mars. Then recall Wheeler. Tell him it’s time to serve his country."

RTX Red Rock, a PlayStation2 release from LucasArts slated for a May release, is the kind of game that will have players marveling at the graphical technology utilized, as well as being challenged by the evolving gameplay. There will be a sense of the familiar in the game ­ in the landscapes detailed by the exceptional designers are LucasArts ­ as well as a trip into the fantastic with special environments, bionics and aliens. Add in the range of vehicles and weaponry at the disposal of RADTAC E.Z. Wheeler, and you have a game that won’t exclusively tread a linear path through the storyline.

Shara Miller, LucasArts assistant producer, took time to talk with GameZone about RTX Red Rock.

Question: RTX Red Rock seems to be a wonderful blend of adventure and shooter game, with some puzzles thrown into the mix. What do you think are the strongest elements of the game and the ones that will likely draw players to the game?

Shara: "You’re right — RTX was designed to offer a rich and varied gameplay experience, and to try to choose one element that will draw players is a little like asking which sundae topping will make people want to eat a banana split Personally, I like the variety of ways in which I can kill LEDs (these are our alien enemies, called ‘Light Emitting Demons’). Whether I detonate a butane tank, use my Thermoscan eye mode (one of four at my disposal) to plan a surprise attack, or stun them with my taser and capture alien weapons such as laser pistols or sniper rifles, I’m guaranteed a chance to exercise my own radical tactics in battle. Other more cerebral types are drawn to the fact that they can commandeer robots and heavy machinery to solve puzzles and scout out areas our hero can’t get to. There’s a little something for everyone here."

Q: E.Z. Wheeler seems to have an active fantasy life, and is more or less a loose cannon combined with a wrecking crew. How much does his personality figure into the game strategy? Can you tell us a little bit about I.R.I.S., and is 'she' more than an information link for Wheeler?

Shara: "E.Z. Wheeler is a Radical Tactics Expert with a bit of a reckless streak. RTX’s —- "RADTACs," as they’re called — are trained lone operatives hand-picked from the toughest and smartest of the military’s fighting forces. So as you might expect, the gameplay of RTX encourages a mixture of bravery, skill, and intelligence. IRIS, which stands for ‘Independent Removable Information System,’ is Wheeler’s digital companion, and comic relief at times. IRIS not only provides information and hints, but gets Wheeler out of a jam when he really needs it. You, the player, even get take part in IRIS’s electronic world in order to solve some puzzles along the way. As for IRIS’s persona and appearance, well, sometimes it’s lonely being a one-man fighting force. You do the math."

Q: Some might well compare RTX Red Rock to Star Wars games that involve Jedi Knights. While this game takes place in a vastly different universe, how does the core game differ?

Shara: "The most obvious difference is that there’s no hand-to-hand combat in our game. With the possible exception of the taser, all of Wheeler’s weapons are range weapons. And to put all the speculation to rest: there is not now, nor will there ever be, a light saber power-up for Wheeler’s mechanical arm. RTX Red Rock is much more closely aligned with the original adventure game heritage of LucasArts than the Star Wars legacy."

Q: What modes of transportation will be made available to Wheeler, and how do this affect his fighting mode? Tell us a little bit about the targeting and combat systems used by the game?

Shara: "Aside from using robots for scouting and puzzle solving, Wheeler uses an exciting range of vehicles to explore the surface of Mars. Although the primary purpose of vehicles is to get Wheeler to places that he couldn’t travel on foot, either because of distance or altitude, there’s nothing like mowing down a bunch of aliens when you’re blazing along a Martian canyon in your rover. There’s also a ‘spider rover,’ which is sort of a cross between a motorcycle and a pogo stick, that allows you to scramble up rocky cliffs. Finally, players can exercise their flight combat skills when taking control of an LED Scout Ship in Level 9. In all combat, we use an auto-targeting system based on angle and distance."

Q: The game begins with Wheeler being tasked to counter an alien invasion of outposts on Mars. Are these the only threats he has to deal with? Without revealing too much, what can you tell us about what he is likely to go up against as the game progresses? Tell a little about the enemy and game AI?

Shara: "Mars is a scary place, even 100 years from now. Wheeler not only deals with the threat of alien attack but also with the perils of navigating through a colony which has been partially destroyed in the process. Players will find lots of obstacles along the way, and they’ll need to use every tool, item, and weapon in Wheeler’s arsenal to stay alive. On the AI side, the team has worked very hard to develop an AI system that’s as varied and surprising as the LEDs themselves. Aliens will react to the player with varying degrees of aggression or fear, and possibly self-destruct kamikaze-style if you take their weapons. And there’s nothing spookier than watching an LED Technician disappear before your very eyes and electrocute you before you even knew where it went — better use your eye modes!"

Q: The Martian landscape provides the backdrop (at least at the game's beginning) for the game. How much of actual Martian terrain is utilized? What special problems or aids will the Martian atmosphere present? Are there any other places Wheeler will travel to?

Shara: "Mars experts will smile at the fact that the gameplay locations in RTX Red Rock correspond to actual geographical regions on the planet. Hal Barwood, the director, even used Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data as reference to derive exact latitudes and longitudes where these fictional places would appear if they really existed on the planet. The artists used NASA imagery as inspiration for the terrain and captured as much detail as the as was feasible for the platform, with great success.  But this isn’t just a game that takes place on the dusty Martian landscape. E.Z. Wheeler finds himself in a wide range of compelling environments, from the icy-dark depths of a mine shaft to the top of a spinning radar dish, to the slightly labyrinthine sleekness of the main colony, and beyond."

Q: In the graphics department, what kind of engine does this game use, and what did it allow you to do that will set this game apart from other titles? Is the animation computer-generated or a combination of motion-capture and computer generation? What about source lighting in the game?

Shara: "The graphics engine is a new engine developed here at LucasArts, born out of some technology work our lead programmer Eric Johnston was doing for the company as a whole. When he heard about the game Hal wanted to create, he decided to shift his focus from the development of technology to the development of this game. Eric set an ambitious bar for our graphics from the beginning, and we were lucky enough to have a talented art team to take advantage of that.

"The first thing you’ll notice is the general complexity of the geometry in all the rooms. But the subtleties are even more interesting. For one thing, we use what Eric calls ‘9-to 1 curving,’ in which the engine looks at a given model and extrapolates what it would look like if it had 9 times as many polygons. This technique makes twelve-sided doorframes look perfectly round, for example. All of the animation was done in Maya, by a fabulously talented group of LucasArts’ finest. As for lighting, we’re using a combination of baked-in lights and dynamic lighting, all to accentuate the incredible modeling and texturing work that has gone into this game."

Q: What is there about the audio elements that will make this game stand out? Who composed the musical score? Was any major voice talent used for the game?

Shara: "The music of RTX Red Rock is among the coolest game music I have ever heard. It was composed by Dave Levison, who has worked on numerous LucasArts titles over the past seven years. The soundtrack has a techno-ambient feel, to underscore the contrast between the Mars exterior and the NASA-inspired environments, and it’s quite unlike anything else you’ve heard out of LucasArts in the past. The engine uses different music states for when the player is standing still, exploring/stunting, and engaged in combat. As far as voice talent goes, fans of the Monkey Island series should listen closely."

Q: Does the game have a linear, or non-linear storyline?

Shara: "RTX is really a linear, story-driven game. Along the way, though, players will find numerous opportunities to veer off the beaten path to find colony survivors and to explore the incredibly detailed environments."

Q: What have been the major challenges in bringing this title to life, and what do you consider to be the biggest success in doing that?

Shara: "The team has faced a couple of big challenges along the way, and they have done an outstanding job of facing those head-on. The first was in finding ways to create a wide diversity of environments, given the limitations of being on Mars and taking place in a pre-fab, space-station-like atmosphere. Without going into even MORE detail than I already have, I think that players will be extremely pleased by the variation represented in RTX Red Rock.

"The second biggest challenge has been to build awareness in the gaming community with a new franchise, at a time when sequels rule the marketplace. LucasArts has a history of creating excellent original titles, and with RTX Red Rock and Gladius both coming out this year, we believe that LucasArts fans — and gamers in general — won’t be disappointed."
 

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