TELEFRAGGED: MAKE YOUR MARK

Bakshra: Please introduce yourself to our readers and describe your job at Rebel Act.

Juan: My name is Juan Diaz-Bustamante, General Manager with Luis Alarcon and one of the founders of Rebel Act Studios.

Bakshra: 3rd person games seem to be becoming more popular these days, and more hardcore gaming fans are accepting them (as they separate themselves from the Tomb Raider stigma). What were the reasons behind making Blade a 3rd person title?

Juan: We wanted to create a close combat fantasy game, with a advanced combat system not based on just hiting the keyboard without sense. We thought that it was just possible using the third person view. But the first person view is also available in the game!

Bakshra: I recently read that Rebel Act would be licensing it’s game engine soon. Has this started yet? Is there a specific feature that is drawing these companies to your engine?

Juan: It has not started yet, as we need some previous polishing of the tools, as they are more thought for internal development. But we will start soon to license the tecnology, even adding some new features.

Bakshra: An interesting feature that caught my eye while browsing through the Blade website was “real time blood.” What exactly does this entail? Will blood not be sprite-based as in other games?

Juan: Blood behaves in Blade of Darkness in a realistic manner. Imagine, for example, that blood goes over some stairs. Blood will go down as a liquid downstairs! And the same for walls, edges, etc…

Bakshra: Will the combo system link animations together on the fly as players make up their own combination of movies, or can combo moves only be done in a specific order?

Juan: Combos are linked in the way that the user have chosen when he/she makesp up their own combination of keys.

Bakshra: How much time is actually being spent on the multiplayer portion of the game?

Juan: Difficult to say now…. Although Blade of Darkness is more thought for one player, multiplayer experience is really great, as the strategy behing the character chosen, combos used, avoiding movements and weapons used gives a new dimension to the player versus player game.

Bakshra: Will there be any unique multiplayer game styles available that take advantage of the features in Blade?

Juan: As Blade of Darkness is mainly a close combat, we included a one vs one arena combat. In this mode you are just concentrated on your rival movements.

Bakshra: How much of a performance hit can we expect from reflecting/rippling water? Will players be able to cause these ripples by throwing objects into the water, or getting into it themselves?

Juan: Yes! Although it was not included in the demo released, it has been already implemented, giving to the water great realism!

Bakshra: The last game I played that claimed to have real-time physics was Trespasser, which gave up some playability for these features. What is being done on Blade to balance gameplay and the advanced physics engine?

Juan: The physics engine helps a lot to generate an atmosphere of realism. This feeling of realism has been our main technological objective from the beginning. from a gameplay point of view, we have used the real physics engine to create elaborated puzzles and traps.

Bakshra: Is there a Linux port planned for the game? If not, would the engine allow a 3rd party to port the game?

Juan: It has not being planned yet.

Bakshra: Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions!

Juan: Thank you very much to you and to all your readers!