Howdy, folks!

My name's Ed Orman, and I'm Lead Designer on Tribes: Vengeance. Michael Johnston (or KineticPoet, if you like) is Multiplayer Designer. As advertised, it's time for us to answer some questions. I'm going to ape Thrax's rules from a previous Q&A:

1. Anybody can ask any question.
2. Primarily, Michael or myself will answer the questions. We may bring another member of the dev team as questions demand.
3. There will be no discussion about the answers in this thread. Only questions and answers. Any ongoing discussion must take place in a new thread. One question, one answer, next question. Very simple.
4. One question per post, please.
5. Try not to ask the same question repeatedly.

So let the questioning begin

Cheers,

Ed

Last edited by irrationalEd on Wed May 07, 2003 5:23 pm; edited 1 time in total

If you don't obey the rules I'm just going to delete your post. If you don't like that, please let me know so that I can ignore your angst

ONE QUESTION per post please. Also don't spam the thread. the idea is that everybody gets a chance to ask and be answered. If you ask 7 long questions, be prepared to have just one answered.
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Last edited by Thrax on Wed May 07, 2003 8:56 am; edited 1 time in total

Question:
Will Tribes: Vengeance incorporate a native benchmarking utility similar to the unreal 2003 utility provided by HardOCP?

Reason:
If there was a native benchmarking utility incorporated in the retail version of the game it could provide further exposure in the gaming scene if it was adopted by the gaming public. Also it has been stated by one of the programmers associated with T:V that the inclusion of DirectX9.0 was a possibility, thus in relation to the first question if they were to incorporate a benchmarking utility it would more likely be adopted if the game was based on the latest DirectX version.

Scripting: Will the scripting engine for T:V be exactly the same syntax-wise as UnrealScript or will it be different again?

Command Map: A lot of the functionality in the Command Map from Tribes and Tribes 2 was very rarely used. Are you going to simplify the Command Map interface (assuming there will be one in T:V of course) or are you going to try and develop the Command Map in a different direction to the previous 2?

--[ Extra questions we'll ignore start here - Thrax ]---------------------

T2TV and Observers: I realize there have been many questions asked about broadcasting matches and converting demos to movies, but I was wondering what sort of steps you will be taking to enhance the viewing pleasure for those who like to watch. For instance, observers often zoom out to get a wide view of an area, but this means that all of the players are tiny and it's impossible to tell who is who. Will you be showing each players name above them and ensuring that the player models never shrink below a set size for observers?

Ping Weapons: In 1 of the Tribes 2 patches, the delay on the Shock Lance and Laser was removed. While this stopped the crying from people who can't play with any ping over 80ms, it took all of the skill out of using them. With the shift of emphasis back towards individual skill, will T:V have a similar delay for those weapons?

Standards: From what I've seen in the various threads and in Tribes 2, there's a definite move towards using widely accepted industry standards. Will T:V use even more of these standards, ie file formats, image formats etc. Or will T:V use exactly the same formats that the Unreal engine already uses? Could you tell us what standards are going to be used?

Documentation: Seeing as T:V is going to be finshed first, then released (as opposed to released and then finished), will there be time spent on producing documentation and making that available to those that wish to write mods/scripts, eg function list

Servers: An online, multiplayer game is nothing without the servers. Tribes 2 servers were not that friendly to set up and run. Will we see an application to help server admins run their servers easily, ie a Telnet app that does not require knowing the actual function names and required parameters, along the lines of a basic Tricon type app

--[ End of ignorification- Thrax ]---------------------

I realize that there's more than 1 question there, but I'm at work and don't have the time to split them into different posts. Sorry.
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Last edited by Mental Trousers on Wed May 07, 2003 8:58 am; edited 1 time in total

Thrax you just wanted my spot!!!!

Anyways...I'm fairly sure this question hasnt been asked before.

Q: Is it going to be possible to "rewind" demos when viewing them?

My reason: Its a pain when viewing a demo, if something catches your eye you have to restart the demo to watch it over. Would also make reviewing of demos a hell of a lot easier for admins, clan leaders etc.

Howdy fellas

Okay, seeming I'm still up at this ungodly hour (go the unemployed!) I think I'll hoy a question at you, I mean I'm sure all of you bittah fans out there want to know what the sexiest bittah-web-developer-type person on the forums has to ask the devs right ?

Anyway, since I've just been playing Castlevania on gameboy advance it's reminded me how greatly I enjoy the elements of RPG games... I can just hear in advance all of the T1 cowboys banging their heads against their desks "OMG Rae ITS NOT AN RPG ITS A TEAM BASED ACTION GAME @!*(! FFS" But but, I was thinking how well System Shock 2 pulled off the whole "Psi abilities" thing tying in mysticism with a futuristic game. I beleive the same principal could work in the next Tribes game if it were done correctly. Say there was a PSI station with a certain amount of points that could be spent on *whatever* special upgrades for a player character, of course they would have to be limited to stop people whoring them. It would add a certain challenge to clan wars too, say you dedicate a team-mate to have enhanced speed or natural regeneration *whatever these are all ideas.* Or perhaps you pool the points into one certain person who could become an 'avatar' type character and have certain special abilities?

Point is, is there any chance of tying in "mystic" type elements with T:V ? Cheers.

Oh yeah and before anyone mentions it, no I did NOT have UT2K3's little button combo's in mind thx
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Question: Some people argued that pre-classic, vehicles were too heavily relied upon in T2 for capping and the like, whereas others believed their implementation was just right. Personally ive always been a big fan of vehicles mixed in with 'on-foot' type play. To what degree will vehicles be implented in T:V, and will we see any innovations in this area?

Last edited by Deepjay on Wed May 07, 2003 9:07 am; edited 1 time in total

Q : Will there be Rag doll effects .
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T1 for life!

Has their been any change in the status of a linux port of Vengeance since the thread on tribes3.org. There was one group which expressed interest in doing it, has anything changed since then?

Question: T2 Base was seen by many of it's players as too 'Defense' orientated. What measures are being put in place to address this issue and keep the gameplay as balanced as possible?
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How many differnt armors (ex, light medium heavy) do you wish to incorporate into the game?

As a Tribes 1 player (only briefly in competition, but I still play the game and greatly enjoy the high level of skill -- I still keep getting better and have a long ways to go still) and avid fan, I was wondering:

1. Normal mapping has been mentioned in connection with this game. For the general (gaming) public, can you explain what this would mean graphically?

Questions 2-6 removed - Thrax

All for now, more on the way!

Q: Will you keep up the standard that T1/T2 has in the way of voting missions, removing a player (kick), voting time limit etc the way both T1/T2's have had it? As in, none of this Q3 "/vote yes" stuff and pressing F2 to vote yes, clearly show the vote and a progression, much like T2.

How the hell are you guys going to get client-side mods to work with the Unreal Engine???

Are the jetpacks going to be really big this time around? (btw, if so, I think a lot of us are with you 100% on that).

Vehicles. Since teamplay isn't going to be as forced this time around, single-player vehicles might have more of a chance -- what about the hoverbike? That thing had horrible controls! Any chance of a Jet-Moto-esque FUN MACHINE for Tribes 3?

You're pushing me Luc! - Thrax

Q: Will you return the TabMenu (from T1) back to T2? Most people installed a script to return a tabmenu for T2, will we see it from the beginning in T1? (It was *very* useful).