ET:QW Paul Wedgwood (SD Founder) Interview

Paul "Locki" Wedgewood is the Lead Game Designer and Managing Director at Splash Damage. Who is also responsible for creating Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Paul had a short chat with "Firingsquad" about the upcoming Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

A welcome sign for all ET and RTCW enthusiasts comes in the shape of full mod support by Spashdamage and a vision for equality amongst the classes, with vehicles not dominating the battlefield.

Here’s a few extracts of interest:

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ETQW’s character class structure is similar to Wolf ET. Both the Strogg and GDF feature infiltration, assault, defence and support roles. However, a significant goal for the game is that the GDF and Strogg don’t just look different, but more importantly, play different. All of their tools, abilities, weapons and vehicles reflect their different technology and culture, so their asymmetric capabilities dictate different approaches to combat.

When questioned by Firingsquad about future mod and mapping support Wedgewood has this to say

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As for the community, we’ll be giving them a full tool suite. Because the MegaTexture features unique detail, we’ve developed a tool called MegaGen which allows Level Designers to generate a unique-looking MegaTexture for their maps, using ‘Geometric Texture Distribution’. This system makes use of settings for the required geographical theme (such as the height of the water table, altitudes of silt lines, maximum incline for grass and moss to grow, precipices gathering stones and pebbles), and then distributes these textures across the whole terrain using custom normal and height-map based blends (ensuring that grass grows smoothly in to the crevices of rock, rather than being blended equally and looking unrealistic). Level Designers can lay down routes quickly with the Road Tool, simply dragging them across the terrain, and then compile the MegaTexture as easily as they did a Wolf ET map….

Both new and experienced Programmers will have some really powerful tools, although with the majority of the game controllable in script, you can get a huge amount done without modifying a single line of source code. Nevertheless, the source code for many of the game’s components will also be released, allowing for more advanced modifications and total conversions. Mod-makers will be able to script their own vehicles, and create new hardware shaders and particle effects.

Although most ETPlayers seem sceptical about the impending release of ET:QW, the class based structure is similar to that of ET and an emphasis on infantry fighting could help bridge the gap between competition and newbie players.

Enemy Territory:Quake Wars will be featured at E3 in Los Angeles next week, which our very own head admin TosspoT will be attending and is instructed to keep us in the loop. Which also means he'll get to play on a working ET:QW demo!

Grab the full interview over at firingsquad here

John Carmack has also been interviewed regarding the MegaTexture technology used for Enemy Territory:Quake Wars. You can find that interview here