Exterminate the Biggest Rodents of All as the Ultimate “Rat Hunter”

by Louis Bedigian

“Our enemy list is really spacious.” 

Nobody likes rats. They get into your food, tear up your home, leave germs everywhere, and tell your boss that you’ve been taking pens and Whiteout from the office for personal use. That last one’s a different kind of rat, but the answer is the same: they should be exterminated as quickly as possible.

In Rat Hunter, the newest first-person shooter from Game Factory, players get the opportunity to wipe out the biggest rats of all: giant, flesh-eating monsters who want to take over the world. AHHH! Run! 

Wait, what am I saying? Don’t run. Just grab more firepower!  An electromagnetic sling ought to do the trick, at least for a while. If not, how about a PMD? The results could be very explosive.

Aside from big words like “electromagnetic” we’re just as clueless about the game as you are. Thankfully Ilya Teterin, Lead Programmer, was kind enough to take the time to tell us about Rat Hunter.

First off, how would you classify Rat Hunter? Is it a survival/horror game?

Ilya Teterin: We wanted to create a classic FPS with nice and rich gameplay, where the player could interact at max with ambient space and objects. It is a very story-driven shooter in initial meaning. It is not suspense or horror, quite the contrary, we guess that the player should not be depressed or repressed by game surroundings. Characters and ambient space should be real and interactive as much as possible. Sci-fi plot isn't only existing in User's manual but is an integral part of the gameplay. The plot calls forth some features in the game, like supernatural powers for example.

In Rat Hunter you play as a reporter who ends up taking a job as a rat hunter in order to proceed with an investigation. I'm no expert, but I don't think rat hunters generally use guns to get the job done. When is it that he realizes he needs something stronger to get the job done?

IT: Rat Hunters, who are going down into the basements and desolated districts, are gaining access to a few primitive, but really effective weapons. The player will have to kill the rats and protect himself from antisocial elements that inhabit desolated areas. 

What was it that he was investigating anyway? Did it have something to do with the rats?

IT: As I mentioned before, the story begins when freelance journalist decided to launch personal investigation about colonists' disappearance. Countless disappearances being explained by over bred local fauna, so called Rats. It is significant, that militant fauna looks like rats, has rat's mores. To find out the circumstances journalist apply for work as Rat Hunter in local agency. During the mission the player finds out the truth about the reasons of human disappearance. Journalist unveils details of corporative conspiracy, mysterious mutations.  

Can you give us a hint, even the slightest hint, as to what the mystery surrounding the game might be? Are there hints within the game that the player could pick up on and figure out the story before the truth is revealed?

IT: The basic hint could be found in a popular belief "the world is me." In your past you could be not [be] the person you used to know. This means the matter is absolutely different. From this point it's easy to guess who exactly is the main reason of the trouble on the planet. Furthermore, our hero is having flashbacks from time to time, when he sees some parts of his alter ego. Besides, the hero is equipped with a PDA that not only gathers but also analyzes all logs and messages that the player receives during the game. The PDA is some sort of smart one, so all important events are logging into that PDA in a form of comments and hints to follow. Frankly speaking we are not expecting the player to be deadly stuck.

How do you obtain the weapons that you use in the game? Again, reporters don't usually carry guns. Does he acquire them by chance?

IT: Weapons are an integral part of the Rat Hunter's equipment. And on the way to the truth we will meet not only rats, but also other enemies. Of course, Rat Hunter has ability to pick up and use enemy equipment and weapons. To some kinds of weapons the player gains access after capturing special territories.

What are the different types of weapons that you hope to include? Have you finalized how many will be featured in the game?

IT: We invented unique set of the weapons, still we tried not to confuse the player by the items invented. This can easily be explained by our will to create gamer-friendly in-game atmosphere. 

For example, the first gun that Rat Hunter gets is an electromagnetic sling. Any small metallic objects that you can easily find are useful to shoot with. It's a simple weapon, but endless ammo makes it attractive. [The] common shotgun in Rat Hunter is called the electro sawed-off gun, it is more powerful but effective only in close combat. It uses plugs with two electrodes instead of an ordinary round.

Then goes rapid-firing but [less] powerful machine-gun and its exact opposite electro magnetic assault gun. There is no FPS without rocket launcher, so we have one, but in Rat Hunter it [has been given a different name]: PMD – portable mass driver. And it shoots with particles driven at high speeds. In spite of extraordinary names and looks our weapons will be intuitive [and familiar] to players. Of course we have original kinds of weapons but you’ll have to wait for the game to see them. 

Will there be any weapons that don't consume ammo, such as a knife, to use when the guns are empty?

IT: Certainly, we have a "last resort weapon," it is the weakest weapon in the game, electro-magnetic sling.

The main feature is the player's interaction with surrounding objects. The main character can use about all of them to protect himself. In Rat Hunter every crate, stool, barrel can become a weapon, but extents of damage depend on the object's weight as well as the distance [between its target, and where it has been shot].

The creatures that you battle – we can assume they're all rats, but is that exactly what they are? Is the entire game comprised of vicious, oversized rats?

IT: Formally, it is not rats. It is local hostile fauna, so called Rats. They just look like rats. A few have [rat-like] moves. I can say that it is a kind of mixture of mutation, beetles, gnawing animals, and crustacean.

How do the rats defend themselves? They can't use weapons. Are they able to fight just because they're big?

IT: There are [different] kinds of Rats in the game. Some multitudinous species are attacking in groups, trying to bite Rat Hunter. They are the primitive form that live on the planet. More advanced Rats like to hunt using their good sense of smell. Others can't see well or are slow-moving, but very dangerous in close combat. They can inflict the highest possible damage to the player.

Are there other monsters? Other threats that will make your mission even more dangerous?

IT: I'll [reveal] a secret: soon there will be some other missions in the game. Of course, the new enemies will appear and they will be not only rats. After the intro mission there will be humans, vagrants, hobos, mercenaries. Finally, cyborgs – a result of corporation activities. Our enemy list is really spacious.  

What can we expect from the game's locations? Do all the battles take place within one of the colonies?

IT: One colony in every detail – industrial estate, production area, [unclaimed] parts of the planet which can be explored by ATV. Also you will have to visit production complex at remote asteroid, in space anomaly zone.

What are the advanced physics and graphics that the game is going to display?

IT: The physical engine is interactive system, including lots of modules for the simulation of great number of objects and interaction between them. Thus, Rat Hunter allows the realization of a lot of features that you could see in contemporary games of this genre – vehicles, rag dolls, and collision models.  

The player can interplay with most of surrounding objects like in real life. It is the greatest feature in the game! You can roll, move, pick up and throw most of the objects; tables, chairs, boxes, books, etc. In such a way all these objects are becoming the peer participants of the game.

The engine is supporting indoor just as outdoor areas. Part of the engine realized contemporary visual effects, because of the pixel shaders [version] 2.0.

Thank you for your time.