Techland’s new first person shooter, Chrome,is one of those games that comes outof nowhere with great graphics and fun gameplay. I got the chance to interview Techlanddesigner Bartek Paul about the game – just after I asked these interview questions, asingle player demo of the game wasreleasedso you can check it out yourself.

The screenshots in this interview are courtesy of the officialChrome site.

Finger: Tell us a bit about Chrome’s story.

Bartek Paul:The background for Chrome is the colonization of Valkyria planetary system, which lieson the outskirts of the civilized world. It is the end of the 22nd century. This “NewFrontier” attracts various types of people — colonists, settlers, engineers, but alsofugitives from the law and bounty hunters chasing those fugitives. Bolt Logan, the maincharacter of the game, belongs to the last group. Once a member of the elite SpecialForces now an anonymous bounty hunter running away from his past. We meet him when hearrives in Valkyria in search for a new job. Because of one of those jobs, which wassupposed to be easy, Logan gets dragged into twists and turns and intrigue involvinggiant corporations, colonists, pirates, and some of Logan’s old friends.

Finger: I’ll assume we have the usual assortment of basic weapons. Have you guysadded anything totally new and special to the arsenal? Will there be alimited amount of space to carry weapons in?

Bartek Paul:The entire combat system in Chrome is unique. Aiming, recoil, projectile trajectory,and the implant system, which influences almost everything connected with combat, createa very unconventional and interesting, or so we think, mixture. As far as weaponry isconcerned, we assumed that our arsenal should be realistic (although futuristic) in thefirst place. That’s the reason why most weapons in Chrome are conventional. But we do havesome spectacular exceptions to this rule, for example electro-magnetic blaster or the HEXcannon. The amount of weapons and equipment carried by Logan is limited by the size of the“inventory”. It is divided into “slots”, so the player can take a lot of small stuff butonly two rifles for example.

Finger: I’ve heard that Chrome is based on a new game engine that you guys wrotespecifically for this title. What unique features are in here that are ofinterest?

Bartek Paul:Our engine was specifically designed with extensive terrain with rich plant life in mind.The Chrome Engine enables the player to run across a very thick forest looking at a verydetailed texture of the leaves and bark, and the next moment the player can jump into ashuttle, fly up and watch as everything gets smaller and turns into a distant view ofvast terrain with thousands of trees.

Finger: The Chrome web site says that one may use stealth or action to take outenemies. How big of a part does stealth play? Are there areas where one isforced to use stealth to progress?

Bartek Paul:The game gives the player full liberty when it comes to choosing game style. Byselecting proper equipment and using the proper implants, the player can take on thesame mission in various ways, silently eliminating the opponents or turning everythingto dust.

Finger: One of the highly-touted gameplay features in Chrome is the implants you caninstall. Can you tell me what your favorite one or two are?

Bartek Paul:Each implant has its own advantages in given situations. For example when I want to take out a guard on the watchtower, I will use a weapon with a silencer and activate the Targeting Assistance System (implant, which improves aiming), EyeScope (implant, which enables zoom without any optical equipment), and perhaps Muscle Improver (reduces recoil). But I can also use a different set of equipment and implants, so I can walk up to the guard unnoticed and deal with the situation without firing even one shot.

Finger: When can you install implants? Can you remove or replace these at any timeduring the game?

Bartek Paul:The implants inserted at the beginning of the game “assimilate” with Logan’s body withtime. What it means is that with every mission there are more implants available forthe player. The parameters of implants also improve with time.

Finger: How much of an impact do implants have on gameplay, both in single- andmultiplayer?

Bartek Paul:Implants are the basic element constituting playability in Chrome. Of course one canplay without using the implants, but accomplishing some of the missions, especially thelater ones, without taking the advantage of the implant system, is very difficult.Besides using the implant system can give some spectacular effects, so it’s definitelyworth using it 🙂

Finger: It’s obvious from the trailers that this is no Serious Sam – it seems youhave focused on having fewer enemies that are more intelligent. What kindof AI do you have set up for them?

Bartek Paul:In Chrome, most of the enemies are human. Corporation soldiers, mercenaries, spacepirates and common criminals. We wanted their AI to be realistic in the first place,but also unpredictable at the same time. We wanted them to be very demanding opponents.Some of them use cyber technology just like the player, which makes them even moredangerous. Very often the player will have to fight with different types of combatvehicles, on the ground as well as in the air. “Bosses”, individual opponents withskills matching Logan’s, are a separate category. They all have their own AI, sofighting with each of them is a completely new experience.