July 7, 2008

Pre-E3: Alpha Protocol Roundtable Q&A
By Louis Bedigian

“I hope this is going to open the eyes of a lot of FPS fans and get them to play something they may not have played before – a story-driven role-playing game with these really cool action elements.”

In just eight days, the 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit will open its doors to thousands of journalists. Alpha Protocol, the hotly anticipated action/RPG from Sega and developer Obsidian Entertainment (makers of Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2), will be making an appearance. But before we’re shown the latest from what could be the greatest shooter/RPG combo since Mass Effect, Sega gathered the press for a roundtable discussion with key members of the development team. GameZone was on hand to hear what they had to say.

Chris Parker (Executive Producer) began by telling us about the formation of Alpha Protocol. “When we started making Alpha Protocol, we had just finished Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2,” he said. “Both of those are pretty traditional, very rule-based RPGs. We just wanted to do something that was more action-based, a little bit more accessible. We looked around and really liked the espionage genre, and nobody [in RPG development] was doing it. We thought it was a good opportunity to go from a green agent to a powerful hero. Alpha Protocol was born out of that.”

Having worked on RPGs for many years, Parker believes that Obsidian’s past experiences were integral to the development of Alpha Protocol. “We have a long history, so we borrowed stuff from all the role-playing games we’ve made. Specifically, role-playing games are pretty complicated, so we definitely have a lot of things behind us and really learned from that. One of the things you’re gonna see a lot of is the character development aspect where you have an input system and how you interact with the character over the course of the game, you influence how they respond. That’s really our third or fourth generation of trying to make that [kind of gameplay] really reactive and that’ll be a great example of something that’s built up from Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2.”

When it comes to gameplay, many developers have a hard time deciding the right balance between fun and realism. Nathan Davis (Design Producer) said they had to experiment to figure out what was right for this game. “We originally went for a more realistic version of gameplay and [the way] Michael Thornton interacted with the world. However, we decided it wasn’t as exciting as some sort of power/magical [element]. So we have added things that act like powers. For instance, we have an ability that allows you to stop time and line up your shots.”

But the realism-to-entertainment ratio is only part of this massive project. Parker notes that during the early stages of Alpha Protocol, they spent a great deal of time examining gameplay with a first-person perspective. “We looked at making it an FPS for a long time,” he said. “There are certainly inputs from other FPS games. Obviously Oblivion [was influential]. But we really thought it was important to see your character. There are a lot of action elements in the game like jumping, using cover, talking to people – we felt that seeing Mike do those things all the time was important to feel what it was he was doing and his interactions with the world. So ultimately we went with the third-person over-the-shoulder camera.”

“Alpha Protocol is what happens when an agent has to break his ties with the government and go rogue. This is basically to protect the government. However, things obviously go wrong…”—Nathan Davis, Design Producer

Mistaken Identity

Let’s face it: the first thing most people think of when they see Alpha Protocol is, “Hmm, another shooter.” The same can be said for Mass Effect. Further investigation of the latter game led many to a story-driven saga that, while similar to Gears of War in its gameplay presentation, is unlike most other RPGs on the market. Obsidian plans to push Alpha Protocol with its own unique distinctions.

Parker says that “if we get our message out and show what we’re doing with gameplay, I don’t think there’s a big risk” that people will mistake AP for another shooter. “The way that we’ve approached the shooter and RPG aspects and put them together… If people never play the game, they may get the idea that it’s just another generic shooter. But as soon as they pick it up and see what we’ve done with the RPG elements and shooter elements and how all of them work, they’re going to immediately understand that is not some run-of-the-mill [shooter], that it’s something really cool. I hope this is going to open the eyes of a lot of FPS fans and get them to play something they may not have played before – a story-driven role-playing game with these really cool action elements.”

While the game’s distinctions will help it succeed with end users, development limitations are another battle altogether. “It’s been tough for us,” Parker reveals. “Making sci-fi games, you can pretty much make what you want, and people will buy it so long as it looks cool. When we started making a bunch of realistic stuff, we realized that was not nearly as easy as making fantasy stuff. And when we make it really, really realistic people think it’s kind of boring. We tried to get away from that most of the time.”

“We tried to grab the cinematic style from movies that we thought were cool.”—Chris Parker, Executive Producer

The Right Skills

When designing the skill upgrades for Alpha Protocol, Parker says that they “created a system that we hope is both simple to understand but still allows a lot of depth in your character’s customization.” Players will be able to upgrade their weapon skills and damage resistance, as well as their ability to hack and pick locks. Obsidian wasn’t ready to talk about any other possible upgrades at this time.

Parker continues: “The average FPS player who might not be familiar with RPGs or the idea of building up their character can really just pick a class, almost like a background, and that will sort of give them a number of stats that will auto level-up during the game and that will be very straightforward.

“However, if you’re more hardcore you can decide exactly what you want and where you want to spend those [stat] points and how you want to build your character. We hope that the balance of not having too many things to choose between and having them be fairly straightforward yet having a lot of depth in how they work – hopefully that’ll appeal to gamers. Thus far internally people are really excited for it.”

Over And Over Again

Why does Alpha Protocol follow today’s trend in first-person shooters by using an over-the-shoulder third-person view instead? Ryan Rucinski (Senior Producer) has the answer. “We were playing around with [different views] and found that the over-the-shoulder camera worked best,” he said. “Being able to see your character as he’s sneaking around, doing that sort of thing, feels like you’re getting into it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s becoming the trend because other games are using it. We went with it for our game ‘cause it [worked best].”

Alpha Answers

GameZone spoke to Chris Parker (Executive Producer) for further insights into the world of Alpha Protocol.

It's become a trend in gaming to try and brand the lead character (Shane Carpenter in Haze, Jet Brody in Fracture, etc.) before the game is even released. This has led to mixed results, as some of those pre-hyped characters turn out to be mindless duds. As such, what could you tell us about the lead character in Alpha Protocol (Michael Thornton) that would make us believe he differs from the norm?

Chris Parker: First off, we’re a role-playing game, so it almost goes against the goal of the game to try and define the character. We want the player to decide what kind of character Michael Thornton really is, in every way from his skills to how he feels about the world. There were some things we wanted him [to have] to look like an international secret agent. But the player is really the person who figures out everything else about the character. We’re not really trying to [sell] him as some great, big-league character.

What is the new dialogue system all about?

CP: The dialogue system is really an evolution of dialogue systems going way back on games that we have worked with and/or on. Everything from Icewind Dale to Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2. The dialogue system has always been about becoming more personal. The production value keeps improving. So we’re working to improve the system we used in Neverwinter Nights 2. We ended up with a system that does look very similar in appearance but ours is a little bit different. Our dialogue takes place in real-time. It’s a little bit more cinematic in its presentation. The basic idea of the system is that you’re picking from simple emotional stances, and then your character follows through. Our goal is really to have high production values, be very easy to use and keep with the intensity we’re trying to [convey] with the rest of the game.

Talk about the weapons of Alpha Protocol. Are they fictional or based on real weapons? Does the main character have any special abilities to enhance these weapons, or that can be used outside of these weapons?

CP: The weapons in Alpha Protocol are very important to us. They play a big role in the RPG system and play a big role in combat. You don’t have to use them but I think a lot of people will. They’re not based on real-world counterparts. They’re loosely based on them. I mean, we went out and got a visual reference and tried to understand what modern-day weapons are, how they work and things like that. But we’re not basing them on anything specific. That all ties into the role-playing system. You might have a skill for each type of shooting weapon. We also have close quarters hand-to-hand combat that you can use if you want to. And of course we have gadgets, which can be lethal as well.

I’m curious to know how you plan to immerse players into the experience. In TV, movies and video games, you have all this pressure put on the opening sequence alone. Even if you can’t tell us about what the intro scene will be like, what is it that’s going through your mind that can convey how you’re going to suck us into the game?

CP: I wish Chris Avellone was here. He’s the main writer for the game and is really good at pulling people into the story. What ends up happening is that in the beginning of the game there are several tragic events that really aren’t related to your character but that sends you on a mission that’s directly tied to it. We’re trying to emotionally involve the player right away by making them aware that their mission is important and is something that has value in the world. From that point, we sort of turn the world upside down on the player. You wind up being forced to go rogue in order to track down the bad things that are going on. We think [this is something] that’ll really pull the player in right away and get them excited about what’s going on.

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