Urban Chaos is a 3rd person action blast affair in a fully 3D free roaming city, in development by the Brit software house – Mucky Foot. The game is nearing completion and there is a demo due towards the end of this month (11/99), so I decided get on their case and start asking a few questions. I got to chat to Fin McGechie, one of the ex-Bullfrog guys that founded Mucky Foot.

KungFu: How’s things going over there at Mucky Foot? You must be finishing upUrban Chaos round-about now? 🙂

Fin: It’s all hands on deck at the moment…A wise man once said…” Finish the gameand don’t let the game finish you”. So with a few more late nights ahead weshould be done and dusted.

KungFu: You got to show Urban Chaos at ECTS, how was the peoples reaction to it?Was there anything that really struck a chord with people?

Fin: The reaction from everyone was very positive. People seemed very positivetowards the game and where we were taking it. Many of those who saw thegame mostly remarked on the little things like litter and leaves…but Iwould have to say that the main thing other than the game itself was thefreedom we give the player. As we showed the game to people to people theyasked. “can you drive that car” we’d say “sure”, hi-jack the car and driveoff. Also the ability to take any route in completing the objective, overthe roof tops, drive a car, in through the main gate, sneak in by the backalley or just run in guns blazing. So in a word….”Freedom”

KungFu: There seems to be a surgence of 3rd person games released, or to bereleased in the near future (Bungie’s Halo and Oni, Rituals FAKK2, QuanticDream’s Omikron). With first-person shooters being the most popular genreon the PC, what do you think it is that is are drawing developers away fromthat to develop a game with a 3rd person view? What made Mucky Foot want todevelop a 3rd person style game?

Fin: I’d say it’s about creating a connection between the player and thecharacter controlled. When you think about it we been playing 3rd persongames almost since the start of the whole computer game phenomenon, we’rejust beginning to be able to do what we want with the in game character interms of poly count and animation. I think it’ll all calm down and peoplewon’t mention the type of game it is but more on the content and in fact ifit’s a good game.

KungFu: There is a lot of fuss over the main character – D’Arci, and how she’sthere to bring women gamers into the fry (which they are plenty out therealready), was this the case? Or did you just think she would be a coolcharacter to have in a game?

Fin: When we originally discussed what we wanted an in-game character(s) wefinally decided that we weren’t going to go down the lines of a bimbo and abronzed chiseled jaw. After several weeks of arguing, debating, we decidedthat we would try and create something that would not only stand out fromthe crowd but a character that would hopefully be taken a little moreseriously than the usual silicone implants running around out there.Bringing women into the fold can only be regarded as a good thing. There isa secondary character that of a 50 something borderline nut with a drinkproblem……I wonder if he manages to attract anyone to become a gamer?

KungFu: How difficult have you found it to make a fully explorable 3D world,rather than just levels? This is quite is quite a feat on the the PSX too,as far as I know no one has pulled that off yet?

Fin: It’s been quite a challenge to give the player the freedom we wanted andmake an enjoyable experience. The problems mainly revolve around that aplayer can appear anyplace on the map at any time. This means we have toplay extensively trying every possible route even some that may just seemdaft but guaranteed somebody will try. As for the PSX we’ve managed tosqueeze everything in all the way down to the leaves and litter.

KungFu: For those who don’t know can you explain what this ‘crinkle’ technologyis and how it works?

Fin: The “CRINKLE” technology is a way for us to add extended detail to theenvironment. We’re all used to seeing nicely drawn textures on flat walls,what we’ve done is take that texture and created an alternative 3d versionthat the player sees as they approach. It sounds simple but adds a greatdeal of depth and realism to the play area and no longer will we have theplayer running around flat boxes but solid buildings with contours andcracks, window ledges and doorstops.

KungFu: How do you find cross developing for the PC and PSX at the same time?With both versions being the same do you feel maybe the PC version is beingheld back by the PSX version? Or, will the PC version have extra things thePSX version won’t (not including ‘crinkles’)?

Fin: Both versions are as full as they can be, we’ve exploited both machinespotentials to the full. Obviously the PC will utilize certain things i.e.“Crinkles” but as they stand neither version lacks anything that the otherone has.

KungFu: You got quite a few well known chart and dance acts (in the UK anyhow)contributing music to the game, how did that all come about?

Fin: We met up with a guy and we discussed incorporating some singles to thegame. The guy was very enthusiastic and tuned in to what we wanted to do.We showed him the game and he was eager to help us achieve our goals andafter a couple of beers it went ahead.

KungFu: There’s word of a Urban Chaos demo being due at the end of this month,what can we expect in it?

Fin: In the demo, which will be appearing soon, you can expect to get yourself afeel of the full game. The demo is set in a portion of a city giving theplayer freedom to roam and adventure but with vehicles, thugs, guns,Platforming and a little bit of hand to hand just as a taster.

KungFu: If you could pin it down to one thing, what would you fave feature bein Urban Chaos?

Fin: I would have to say the freedom to do just about anything.

KungFu: What’s next from the Mucky Foot camp? Can we expect to see moreexploits from D’Arci, maybe a sequel or a mission pack? Word is D’Arci willbe talking over Lara Croft’s role within Eidos 🙂

Fin: We haven’t as yet decided fully what we intend on doing next we’re stillvery focused on Urban Chaos “1” but there is every potential there for theadvancement of the character and the world that is Urban Chaos. We’ll justhave to wait and see…….

Related Links
   • Exclusive Urban Chaos Screenshots
   • Mucky Foot’s Home, plenty of Urban Chaos info