November 3, 2008

Damnation Q&A: GameZone Learns Why They Call It The "Shooter Gone Vertical"
By Louis Bedigian

“One of our goals from the very start was to make sure that the player was never in the same sort of environment for more than one hour at a time and that a major thematic change occurred every three hours.”

There are a lot of shooters in the world – too many, perhaps. Many try to copy (PR lingo: "re-create") the experience of Halo or Gears of War. But what we end up with as gamers, and overall as an industry, is less of a reason to be excited when a new shooter is announced.

That's why it's so refreshing to see a game like Damnation, which, if nothing else, aims to impress gamers on a different level. Wanting to know exactly what that level might be – and find out what this "shooter gone vertical" hype is all about – GameZone turned to Jacob Minkoff, Damnation's Lead Designer and Katie McNamara, PA/PR.

Damnation is being referred to as a "shooter gone vertical." Walk us through the transition and explain how this will change the way we experience the genre.

Jacob Minkoff and Katie McNamara: When development on Damnation began in 2004, we were playing games like Quake 3, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and ICO in our spare time. We thought “How cool would it be to have fast-paced, intense shooter combat take place in an open environment?” Shooters at the time seemed to limit environments to tunnels, small rooms and flat areas, so incorporating the vertical element gives new visual and game play possibilities. Players can use different acrobatic moves to maneuver through and you can see your obstacles laid out in front of you at the beginning of each level.

If your goal is to get to a bridge and blow it up, you’ll start the mission standing atop a tall cliff, with the bridge visible in the distance. Below you, you’ll see the city you’re going to have to make your way through in order to get there. You can really take advantage of the environment during combat to get a gain on the enemy. For example, instead of running into an open area towards a building filled with snipers, risking frontal assault, you can climb to the rooftops, smash through an attic window and drop in to take them out.

Give us some info on the stunts/acrobatic moves you'll perform.

JM and KM: Well, to get to different heights in the level you’ll be able to wall-jump, climb lampposts, and vault off of ladders, giving you access to roofs, higher ledges, etc. You can shinny across and pull yourself up onto ledges, zip line down to lower areas, and you have myriad skills for crossing horizontal gaps, such as swinging on pipes, vaulting over and diving across railings, and smashing through windows.

How will these moves help you in combat? Or are they used for some other purpose?

JM and KM: These moves will allow you to position yourself higher in the environment and be more powerful to snipe enemies below or you could choose to be more strategic, seek some cover and shoot enemies on the same plane as you, not allowing them to get the better position.

There appear to be a lot of mountainous areas in Damnation. What inspired this environmental choice?

JM and KM: Being that this is the ‘shooter gone vertical’ we felt we could experiment with different heights in our environments. So we chose mountains since you can explore them from their peaks to their rocky bases. We don’t just have mountainous regions, however – the player will spend more than half the game exploring huge cities full of skyscrapers as well.

Can you tell us about the other environments we'll explore in the game?

JM and KM: Damnation is about taking part in an epic quest that covers the entire North American continent. One of our goals from the very start was to make sure that the player was never in the same sort of environment for more than one hour at a time and that a major thematic change occurred every three hours. This same sort of pacing is how a movie like Lord of the Rings feels so epic – it’s all about changing venues constantly. The player will be traversing a plethora of environments that show off the greatest icons of the American landscape. From the industrialized cities of the Northeast, to the painted mesas of the Southwest, to mining towns in the Rockies, to coastal cities of the West, to the frozen tundra of the North, Damnation’s storyline spans a massive number of different settings.

How much freedom will you have in completing missions, the order they're completed in, the direction you take to finish the game, etc.?

JM and KM: Damnation’s mission-structure is linear due to the nature of the deep, character-driven story we are telling, but within those missions, the player will have different ways of approaching the combat scenarios and navigational puzzles based on their own gameplay preferences. Two players making their way through the game may not find the same way of traversing the environment, and they may have drastically different methods of using the environment to their advantage and overcoming enemies.

Upon the game's announcement, Damnation was promised to have three hours of gameplay per level. That's a pretty big claim. How will those hours add up when in the hands of everyday gamers who have varying skill levels?

JM and KM: The idea that we wanted to get across about our levels is that they’re on a scale that’s never been seen before in a hardcore shooter. The levels are set up so that from the beginning, the player can see their objectives in the distance and work towards them in a strategic manner. When we say three hours, what we mean is you’ll start a level by standing on a tall cliff. Far into the distance after miles of sprawling cityscape will be a huge dominating tower. Your goal will be to get to the top of that tower and defeat the boss enemy atop it, but to get there you’ll have to work your way through the city, climbing rooftops, ducking inside buildings, etc. There’s different ways to navigate through.

A more action-oriented gamer may be willing to expose themselves to attack in order to gain a strategic advantage. However, another gamer may choose a more passive route and duck behind pilings, walls, and buildings in order to take out the enemy with the least amount of damage done to their health. Once atop the tower, you could look back and see the entire city you just navigated through and defeated the enemies. Rather than restrict the player’s views by adding walls and creating tunnels, we thought we’d open things up and give a different, more realistic point of view. It’s basically the antithesis of the hallway-shooter.

What vehicles will we get to drive?

JM and KM: Over the course of the game a variety of vehicles are offered – from super fast motorcycles and ATVs to massive mobile artillery that can take out whole buildings with a single shell. The player will have their fill of both.

The story is being hyped as an ensemble. Excluding RPGs, that isn't the norm. How will this work when you're controlling just one character?

JM and KM: While you’re controlling the main character Rourke, you will always be accompanied by at least one member of the Peacemakers – who will aid you in combat as well as divulge story elements as the game progresses. In addition, a second player can take over the role of one of the friendly NPCs at any time during the campaign.

Are there any non-linear elements to the story?

JM and KM: Due to the cinematic nature of the story we are telling in Damnation, we felt that the only way we could do it justice was to focus on a strong, linear narrative. The non-linearity comes in with the player’s gameplay choices throughout our environments.

Thank you for your time.

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