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Interview with Ryan O'Meara; For people wanting some more info on me and Witch-Hunter
Tweet Topic Started: Apr 9 2010, 01:46 PM (342 Views)
Tomothy-Mayhem Apr 9 2010, 01:46 PM Post #1
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Interview with Ryan O’Meara

1.Mannequin Software seems like a relatively new studio so could you tell me a little about both it and yourself?

Mannequin Software is pretty much my dream, it’s the company I want to own and currently stands as the name of my beloved little indie studio where we are developing our first game. Many members have come and gone but really the backbone of it is really myself, MasteR (programmer) and Eoghan Cowan (Artist). Basically we wish to make games that change the way people look at Video Games, to look at them as something more then a murder simulator, but a piece of art.

I’m Tom, the Lead Designer and Founder of Mannequin Software. Video Games when I was younger were like the forbidden fruit, I was only able to play them at someone else’s house seeing as I did not own a console, or now how to use a computer. I’m part of the generation that unless you had an old brother or a parent who was a gamer, your first console is going to be a PS1, N64 or Dreamcast….*shudder*, however I was not one of these people, my mum bought be a Sega Megadrive 2 from a fellow worker with all the Sonic the Hedgehog games. I was in love, I played Sonic morning day and night and well I guess its one of the reasons I have fond memories and am quite nostalgic of things made before I was born. Pretty much ever since I started playing games, I’ve wanted to make them, and well its all evolved from there…

2. Could you to tell me a little about Witch Hunter for those people who might not be familiar with it?

Well Witch-Hunter: Demon Within is an FPS/RPG and the first game from Mannequin Studios. We hope to bring back the golden age of FPS/RPGs and bring the quality of System Shock 2, Thief, Deus Ex and other great games of old. Witch-Hunter: Demon Within takes place in an Alternate 19th Century England where the supernatural and Steampunk collide in a living world, while the world isn’t a huge open world we hope to compensate by making the detail in each Hub of London, and each location around England so rich and alive that you can lose yourself in it just as I did in The Nameless Mod, System Shock 2 or Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

The main purpose of Witch-Hunter is to bring more then just a player with a gun, versus monsters that he must kill, instead we want a very in depth world that has its own issues, its own faults its own factions etc. Witch-Hunter: Demon Within is our first attempt at making a game that can truly be respected as an art form, which all games should be in my opinion.

3. From what i've seen of the concept art this game certainly looks interesting to behold. Did the ideas for both the look of it and the storyline come all at once or were they both refined over a period of time?

Well this is an interesting one, I always knew the art-style was to look different to what is expected in an FPS (Sci-Fi, Modern Day, World War II, Post-Apocalypse the list goes on…), but I didn’t know what that would be. In actual fact, my very first vision of Witch-Hunter was a third person squad based game similar to Splinter Cell or Gears of War where you killed Vampires and Werewolves in a modern times London.

When Witch-Hunter turned into a first person shooter, it was around the same time I became obsessed with 19th Century literature, and with that came the love of Steampunk. So I settled on Steampunk, but the visions in my mind have changed astoundingly with the very talented artist; Eoghan Cowan.

4. Besides 19th century literature and Steampunk is there anything else which you think may have helped to influence your game's design?

Hmm, my influences as it goes for Game Designers would have to be; Will Wright (and the story behind the Sims), John Romero (his rough childhood and rising from the….ashes I guess), Warren Spector (Deus Ex…), Ken Levine (System Shock 2, BioShock), Tom Hall (after reading Masters of Doom, he seems like a pretty cool dude :p), Not sure if there is anyone else…

As for the background and story behind Witch-Hunter, I’d go for the 60’s and Psychodelic Visions, H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos, the Dream Cycle, Sandman by Neil Gaiman, V for Vendetta, The Inquisition, Warhammer 40,000, Dante’s Inferno, Mythology, J. R. R. Tolkien, the list goes on…

5. What do you think is something that other horror games released in recent years have lacked which you think Witch Hunter will provide?

Well, a richly detailed environment which you have a say in, that you can change. Witch-Hunter’s world isn’t a small little corner for the player to go through like in say, DOOM where creatures jump out at you, instead its an evolving and immersive world similar to the likes of System Shock and BioShock, but with more different locations. From brooding lonely alleyways, darkened caves, cathedrals, open expanses of wilderness, Steampunk cities, intense apocalyptic events, different planes of existence, bustling crowds, the list goes on.

Things like Print Media which are quite commonly just a background filler kind of thing, are huge in Witch-Hunter. A target you might be looking for may be mentioned in the paper, also we’ll be starting to release articles of a certain newspaper in Witch-Hunter once we’ve made some more progress with what we cannot talk about at this time (secrets, I have a hard time keeping them), this newspaper will be a window into the world similar to the Journal of Roden from the Hexen mod.

6. How important would you say the option of choice is in Witch Hunter?

Alright, well without revealing much that we don’t want to. Choice has quite a lot to do, not necessarily with the main plot, but how people react to you and how the world reacts as a whole. In the game we have 3 different newspapers, 1 run by the Church, one by the Totalitarian Government and one by a worker’s rebellion.

To make an example, the government don’t want the worker’s newspaper because of the imagery of the government it makes, so they are constantly searching for their printing presses and journalists so you have the opportunity to say protect them or let the government get them.
This is just one example.

7. What advantages do you think playing from a first person perspective gives to players?

Well, what better way is there to put the player in the character’s shoes? You aren’t looking down on them in an isometric view thinking to yourself “Hah, look what he’s doing, look what he’s got himself into, quick mash all the special powers as soon as possible!” instead its “Oh no, oh no, oh NO, OH NO, OH $#!+!”

We want Witch-Hunter: Demon Within to truly transport you into another world, and hopefully we accomplish that.

8. Has Mannequin Software considered applying for funding from Film Victoria to assist with Witch Hunter’s development?

Most definitely, but there’s one issue, we’re all students (or at least 70% of us are) and that means Film Victoria is a no. It annoyed me a lot when I found out but I guess it was just one of those things. I can’t see the reasoning behind it but I can’t do anything about it, anyway I like how Witch-Hunter is going so I can’t complain.

9. What would you say has been the most fun aspect of Witch hunter’s development so far?

Hmm, that’s hard to decide. I’ve had a great time meeting people and of course getting a taste at what it means to be a game designer, but I have also met some people I kind of wish I hadn’t. I guess it would be realising that this game is actually being made, that it won’t be shoved in a drawer to be forgotten about, and that people actually like it! We’re not going to stop until it’s released.

10. With that being said what would you say has been the most challenging aspect of Witch Hunter’s development so far?

Yet again, this is a tough question. I guess keeping a team together has been pretty tough as well as measuring time between my outside life and Witch-Hunter (which is less than successful, well, as far as school goes, I’ve got leisure under wraps J ). I’ve had few arguments and most of the time something good comes from them, and I’m sure its only just beginning…

11. regarding the roleplaying aspects of Witch Hunter will players complete missions and be rewarded with experience points to spend on advancing their skills or will their character's skills advance based on their playstyle?

Not in the conventional RPG sense no. At the start of the game players will choose one of 5 unique “paths” which are our responses to classes, these classes will allow you to play different side-quests more tuned to the path’s play style. Skills as far as numbers go is gone, instead we have a “well, what can I actually do” if you start to run fast and longer you are obviously more skilled in athletics and endurance, if you can bash down doors and deal some damage then you are quite strong etc.

To test your skills you can go to training grounds and test out what you are capable of, this is just so you can test without causing trouble or getting injured (unless you’re an idiot). This system we hope will bring further realism into the game and also will make the game more approachable to non-hardcore RPGers while still holding all of the in depth world that we all love in an RPG. So Arithmetic can stuff it and in comes the Story side of things, which I’m very excited about.

12. So each of these paths will not only offer different approaches to gameplay but also slight variations on the storyline itself?

To some extent yes, while the already in depth plot will largely be the same for all paths, how you get from start to finish and what state the world is in once you get there is completely up to the player to decide.

13. How do you plan to scale the difficulty of the game for players apart from the possibility of increasing the hit points and or numbers of the enemies that they might face?

Well actually, higher difficulties will have to get used to not having a health bar, ammo bar or endurance bar and simply adapt to a more realistic setting. Also in a higher difficulty some tasks such as lock-picking will be a lot more intricate.

14. I noticed on the witch hunter forums that you intend to release the multiplayer aspect of the game seperately. What led you to make that decision?

Well, yes, but this is for two reasons. Number 1 is we don’t have the number of people on the team that I’d love to have, and therefore can’t work on two games at once. Number 2 is that we really want to make the multiplayer something special, we may add a Deathmatch in a patch or something just to keep you satisfied but I doubt that, seeing as there is already plenty of prime meat out on the Deathmatch table.

So yes, it will be released separately and will hopefully be more then just the average multiplayer game.

15. what game engine have you selected for Witch Hunter and what led you to select it?

We’ve chosen the very capable Leadwerks 2.3 engine for Witch-Hunter, which has kind of a funny history with me. Years ago when my dream of creating games was already realised, but were in the form of TGC Products (FPS Creator etc.) I noticed they listed an engine called Leadwerks 2, which looked great! The graphics were neat, and it fit really well.

Witch-Hunter came around and when the game design doc started to truly develop so did my love for Deus Ex. When I found out that game was built on the Unreal engine all I wanted was that (this was before the UDK was released), then I was advised by one of the members of Off Topic Productions (who did the fantastic total conversion for Deus Ex called the Nameless Mod) to not use it because of its old age and low capabilities.

Then I moved to Unreal 2, then id Tech 4 when I heard that it might be releasing for free sometime in 2010 (still no word now, maybe at Quakecon) I wanted that. And then my loyal code-monkey; MasteR gave word that he had ordered the Leadwerks 2 engine for his own game, and well, I was wrapped.

Anyway, here’s a little side timeline for the engines we have wanted to use for Witch-Hunter:

-id Tech 1 (Yes we started off wanting small episodes DOOM style)
-id Tech 3 (a bit better then…)
-Unreal (and here comes Deus Ex)
-id Tech 4 (Another leap, this was almost the one)
-Leadwerks 2 (And here we are…)

A lot of people around me, other devs and just enthusiasts all say “Surely UDK will be the go” and I’m like “Hell no!” I can’t stand the plastic look of everything, and how the characters don’t feel as though they should be there. As if they are cel-shaded characters in a rustic crayon drawn world. Witch-Hunter will NOT be like that.

__________________________________________________

Hope this helps anyone who wants to know something more about Witch-Hunter.

UPDATES WILL BE POSTED.

-Tom
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dangermouse Apr 10 2010, 12:41 PM Post #2
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Awesome, thanks for posting that. Do they have an estimated release date yet?
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Tomothy-Mayhem Apr 10 2010, 06:16 PM Post #3
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Well that was me being interviewed, and the estimated release date is mid-2012
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dangermouse Apr 12 2010, 10:40 PM Post #4
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:/
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