Producer Eric Riley discusses the making of Call of Duty 2
By Michael Lafferty

“Call of Duty 2’s goal has always been to immerse players in the most intense battles of World War II, and make them feel as though they are truly under fire”

In 2003, Call of Duty captured both the imagination and gaming fanaticism of the public and was a Game of the Year choice. It was not only intense but generally raised the bar for both shooters and World War II games.

But that was then …

Two years on, Infinity Ward and Activision are releasing Call of Duty 2, on both the PC and Xbox 360 platforms. (Full Call of Duty 2 review )

Intense? You bet, but the game also brings some new elements to the vaunted franchise. With the advent of smoke grenades, improved AI, and a graphics boost, this is a title that is certain to, once again, score big with game players.

Eric Riley, Producer of CoD 2, chatted with GameZone about the title.

Q: The next edition of Call of Duty will feature more realism than in the past, notably with the use of actual interactive/responsive phrases from the enemy. What determined taking such pains to add this aspect to an already robust and somewhat chaotic soundtrack?

Eric: “In speaking with our military advisors, one of their comments was that the battlefield in most games is unrealistically quiet. Once the first shot is fired the battle becomes very vocal on both sides. Squad mates will yell orders, give directions, point out enemy locations, etc. We took this information and created a context sensitive battle chatter system to simulate this and bring the player deeper into the battle. Call of Duty 2 now has over 10 times the amount of Voice Over content of the original. We recorded over 20,000 lines of dialogue for every solider. The player now gets orders, threats, requests and maneuvers from his squad mates, even more unnerving is that you can hear the enemy AI doing the same in their own language.”

Q: The game is also making much more use of smoke to obscure movement. What made you decide to create this element, and how prolific will the smoke effects be during a battle? Will there be the chance that a player may shoot an allied soldier obscured by smoke (friendly fire, so to speak)?

Eric: “The addition of portable concealment a.k.a. smoke grenades was another suggestion of our military advisors. Using smoke, to hide and obscure a location has been used by the military for hundreds of years. Now, with a new robust engine and graphic technology, we were able to create great volumetric smoke effects that are smooth and interactive with the game environment. The nature of war is chaotic and if a player doesn’t pay attention to battle, they could end up shooting allied players. However, the squad mate and enemy AI is so advanced they are aware of the chaos that can occur when your vision is obscured.”

Q: And speaking of smoke effects, the whole game seems more detailed graphically. Did you have to create a whole new engine to achieve the graphical level you wanted for this release? What does this mean in terms of system specs for the consumer?

Eric: “We built our engine from the ground up for Call of Duty 2, knowing that we were developing for the next generation of console technology.  Above and beyond what Call of Duty (1) had, we have normal and specular maps, feathered particles that allow us to get a real volumetric effect from our explosions and smoke grenades, soft shadows, heat shimmers, screen blur, dynamics for the gear on characters, improved facial animation and higher polygon counts all around.  Infinity Ward is always focused on gameplay though, so we’re always careful to maintain a great frame rate, and to make sure that we can still deliver huge, epic battles.”

Q: Some of the gameplay footage was surprising in terms of how realistically soldiers reacted to being shot, or blown up. Is this all computer-generated animation, or do you have stunt men in for motion-capture work?

Eric: “Infinity Ward has some of the best art talent in the industry. All the animation in the game was done by hand. Our animators researched hours of film, simulated stunts and action sequences to come up with animation that looks as good as or better then motion captured work.”

Q: How many missions will this game have, and how many player options - in terms of nationalities - will there be?

Eric: “Call of Duty 2 features three campaigns: the Russians fighting in the area around Moscow and Stalingrad, the British fighting in North Africa and Normandy, and the Americans fighting in Normandy and Germany. In these missions you get to play as four soldiers in WWII:

• Private Vasili Ivanovich Koslov, 13^th Guards Rifle Div., Soviet Red Army

• Corporal John Davis, 7^th Armoured Div., British Army

• Tank Commander David Welsh, 7^th Armoured Div., British Army

• Corporal Bill Taylor, 2^nd Ranger Bn., United States Army

“We always focus on making the best game and most immersive experience ever regardless of the length of gameplay. We increased the length and size of all the missions for Call of Duty 2. Plus, we added open-ended, non-linear game play elements to the levels to increase player replay and player driven completion tactics.”

Q: This has always been a game that has been supportive of the mod community. Will support of gamer mods still be in place? When you design the next iteration of a title, like this, how much does past gamer comment play into the creation process?

Eric: “Infinity Ward has always been and will always be very supportive of the fan base and the mod community. We keep an eye on the community and player responses when evaluating game play decisions. Infinity Wards is driven to make the most intense, fun and best possible game for everyone, including die-hard and new fans alike.  So our support is planned for Call of Duty 2, though at this time we’re still focused so heavily on wrapping development completion itself that it’s a little early for us to be able to specify any details.”

Q: Can you give us a quick overview of what was added to this game to really help it reset the bar that the original title set?

Eric: “Call of Duty 2’s goal has always been to immerse players in the most intense battles of World War II, and make them feel as though they are truly under fire. This time around, not only are the missions much larger than in the original game, some of the missions also present the player with more pathways to complete their objectives, while still keeping that sense of cinematic intensity throughout.

“Early on, our military advisors pointed out a missing aspect of most squad-based military games: soldiers were unrealistically silent.  We felt the incorporation of a well thought-out Battle Chatter system driven by comprehensive AI to be the solution, with each soldier vocally reacting to situations from their own perspective.  The result, we believe, is a much more authentic and immersive battlefield experience – much more true to life and compelling.

“Another major improvement is our brand-new graphics engine - we’ve been able to take advantage of a variety of new features: normal and specular maps for enhanced surface relief and details in the world, heat shimmer effects, feathered volumetric smoke, screen blur, and soft shadows.”

Q: With such a wealth of battles to choose from, what criteria determines the battles you use in this game?

Eric: “There are many, many determining factors that go into how we chose battles for the game. But, in the end, it really comes down to playability and intensity within the game itself. For example, we had to include Stalingrad. The Germans and Russians fought house to house, street to street in that city for months and months. Everything about that battle is simply unbelievable. In addition to that we feature several of the biggest battles of the North African campaign, including the Battle of El Alamein in Egypt and the fight for the Mereth Line in Tunisia. In Normandy we recreated the assault on Pointe du Hoc on D-Day. That was a battle where about 200 Army Rangers, who were the American special forces of World War II, scaled the hundred foot cliffs of Pointe du Hoc under German fire, using rocket propelled grappling hooks launched from modified Higgins boats. If it sounds insane, that’s because it really was.”

Q: What will the online support be like for this title?

Eric: “Both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game have robust online multiplayer support. All the fan favorites of the first Call of Duty will return better then ever including additional game types. Each version of the game will have the following game types, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Headquarters and Search and Destroy. Note: the Xbox 360 supports both XBOX Live and System Link.”

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