[QUOTE=KorJax;24477553]requires forum membership to view[/QUOTE]
Here: [url]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j130/jamilahmed1994/Deus%20Ex/DXHRConceptArt.jpg[/url]
[url=http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidegamer.nl%2Fpc%2Fdeusexhumanrevolution%2Frubrieken%2F31587%2FDeus-Ex-Human-Revolution.html%3Futm_source%3Dtwitterfeed%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter]Another translated article, I've pasted some interesting bits:[/url]
[quote]"Yes, suppose you decide to murder an entire city that's your choice, but people throughout the game will no longer return. It is not that this stops your progress, you can still continue playing.” This is also in a situation not easily hear that, but it is for sure is possible."[/quote]
[quote]That making a Deus Ex game after so many years is difficult, therefore, soon clear, but funny enough, the development has been difficult in other ways. "There were several things difficult, but to give you an idea, then I was put on the project, I was the second employee of the Eidos studio in Montreal. We needed to have a studio, a team working on the game and then we had to do our best to further a cult franchise back to life. It is not easy. "Fortunately, they seem to sit on the right track, and that starts with the adoption of the right people:" We have people here who worked on Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, FarCry, Rainbow Six. Therefore we had better experience with the stealth and shooting work.” One of our biggest challenges in the beginning was also to create an open city with no loading times and so we have our first paid to creating a solid tech demo." [/quote]
[quote]The first Deus Ex, you can improve yourself with all accessories so you can jump on and so on., But you will notice very little of, because there are only a few parameters changed. We wanted the player to show what he can do as a cybernetic super-person action by the spectacular into view. Maybe if that harms the experience that we play ... sort of tests have shown that the players could appreciate, so it seems that bad.” Moreover, we try to further minimize the experience to break through your example, while not hacking camera to change, but also the ingame cutscenes to leave. "[/quote]
[quote]Our stomachs full bellies we shared information from the conference table, but Anfossi has a dessert for us. So he said that they currently are busy making the DLC for Deus Ex Human Revolution and they only now just begun to brainstorm about the next Deus Ex game. Oh yes, talked about it, I dropped a bomblet? They seem to co-opt to think. [/quote]
Aww, man. Nothing new in 3 days? :frown:
Everything is orange :ohdear:
[QUOTE=sp00ks;24586243]Everything is orange :ohdear:[/QUOTE]
No, it's lemon-lime.
Holy crap. This blew me away; I didn't know much about it till I saw this.
I've only played Invisible War (Hate on my for whatever reason, I don't get it why that game receives so much hate) but I'm looking forward to this one.
[QUOTE=ElectricSquid;24586401].
[b]I've only played Invisible War[/b] (Hate on my for whatever reason, I don't get it why that game receives so much hate) but I'm looking forward to this one.[/QUOTE]
That's the whole problem right there :v:. People didn't like IW because it was awful compared to the epicness the previous game had set.
[url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6114/deus_ex_the_human_question.php]Deus Ex: The Human Question:[/url]
[quote]With the Square Enix-published Deus Ex: Human Revolution, due out early next year for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, the Eidos Montreal team has done something extremely difficult -- create a new sequel to the legendary 2000 original to primarily positive notice. The team has also done that while forging a new aesthetic vision for the title: the "Cyber-Renaissance".
Gamasutra recently spoke to Eidos Montreal's general manager Stéphane D'Astous to find out more about how the team forged this new creative direction, how to develop an open-ended game in a world of production realities, and how the team collaborated with Square Enix Visual Works, the Tokyo-based team which concentrates exclusively on producing CG cutscenes for the publisher.
While the game does have a strong central vision, D'Astous says that in fact it is only the sum of its parts; he describes it as "labor of love" for the whole team.
In addition to addressing the game itself, D'Astous opines on how to offer developers creative autonomy, how to hire the right people, and how to work with outside contributors and retain creative consistency.
[b]With Deus Ex: Human Revolution, you have the responsibility now to take it to an audience that has never experienced it before, a larger audience. You have to honor the original games, but you have the duty to be creative, both to your audience and your staff.[/b]
Stéphane D'Astous: That is maybe the single most greatest challenge of the dev team, to walk this very line by respecting the, as we said, the heritage of Deus Ex but to bring it to another level because it has been several, several years. I think it's been eight years since the last Deus Ex, Invisible War.
So, we need to bring it to another level and have it accessible to new fans. So, we want to keep and not disappoint the old fans even though their expectations are this high. [Gestures above his head] But to bring new people to really discover this incredible RPG/action game.
[b]It's not the only game, but it stands out as one of the earliest games that said, "You can play this how you want," and that is why people still talk about and people still play the original.[/b]
SD: You can replay. It's the replay value, and it's a sophisticated game in the sense that there's not single way to play it, so I guess that was recognized by the fans. One of our mottos for Deus Ex: Human Revolution is "choice and consequences."
I mean, we hear that quite often, but it's truly important to the team to have, let's say, four different ways to enter the police station. You can go through the front door, dialogue, try to win [with] your dialogue, or you could come in with guns blazing. You can go hacking. You can go through the sewers. So, this is an example of a multi-path game.
[b]Those kinds of choices, is that a design question, or is it also a tech and art even, in terms of how you structure things?[/b]
SD: I think it starts with the design. I think Eidos has always had a great history of character and design. The games, if I take two things, it's characters with the Lara Crofts, with the Hitmans, and all this, but also with the design. These two components were truly important. To answer your question, I think it starts with the design, and tech... There's always a way to make it work somehow. Tech shouldn't be leading the design, but it has to be compatible. I think design is king.
[img]http://www.gamasutra.com/db_area/images/feature/6114/deus_shot1.jpg[/img]
[b]That is also a tough question if you're speaking from a production standpoint. How do tech and design interface? Do you have technical designers?[/b]
SD: First of all, our floor space is managed in a certain way where an animator could be sitting next to an AI programmer, and it's very organic. So, we do cluster people together for a common goal, so it's not a row of programmers, a row of designers, and a row of modelers. No, we often configure the work and the workspace itself by deliverables. So, this is a key point. Have better communication and better productivity within the game. So, yes, we have some technical designers.
[b]If you talk to different people at different studios about formatting the seating arrangements, the production pods, cabals, whatever you want to call them... If you look at every studio in the world, every studio has a different way of doing things, right? How did you arrive at yours? [/b]
SD: Well, first of all, when I recruited the team, most of them had worked together. We did start from scratch, but we had experienced people that had managed to deliver several triple A games in the past, so it wasn't their first run at this. It was certainly a challenge because the whole studio started from scratch, and it's quite an important IP.
I think how we function, it's very collaborative. I think the producer, the game director, and the art director is certainly a triangle that takes a lot of decisions. There is not one prima donna. At our studio, you could be the most talented, respected, but if you have a large ego, unfortunately you won't fit in our culture.
We have refused some candidates because we think that the culture that we're trying to put in our studio is really important, and people with big egos won't function as well in our studio than other team members. Everybody has to put the shoulder to the wheel, pretty much.
[b]It's interesting to hear that you recognize a distinction between a creative vision and a big ego. Certainly with this game, it has a unique look and a unique take on the aesthetic; it's a strong aesthetic vision.[/b]
SD: This is a very interesting question because I spoke to my art director. We went for lunch, and he said, "Stéphane, I hope that you realize Deus Ex has a soul." He says, "I hope that consumers will see that it's a labor of love of a whole team, and it's not necessarily a vision that I had two years ago with the art direction", let's say for example.
He really hit an interesting point because it's true that I hope people will sense that it's a labor of love of the whole team, and it's not a one-man show. Somebody can have great ideas, great direction, and a great vision, but to make this reality, it's a team push, a team effort, and that makes the difference between an excellent game and an average game.
To what extent are you able to push the idea? It has to go on the screen. You need to have your consumers be able to play with it. So, the ideas are very often good at the start. It's how it ends.
[b]I think that having a creative vision pushes that soul. You can have a game that's created very competently, that hits all the notes in terms of what it has to have, but if there's not a vision there, it's just lacking. [/b]
SD: Exactly. For some people, it's "tick the boxes". You could have a whole column of tick boxes, but if the game is without a soul or without an interest... We cannot fall into the trap of saying, "This is... tick!" It doesn't work like that. It's the ingredients, it's the recipe, it's how you bake it, and it's how it comes out of the oven that really makes it work.
[img]http://www.gamasutra.com/db_area/images/feature/6114/deus_shot2.jpg[/img]
[b]It can be easy to lose sight of the creative goal, given the pressure to create. When you talk about deliverables and schedules and features and map building. It can be a repetitive, complicated process to boil it all down and stay consistent. How does the team approach that?[/b]
SD: Again, as I mentioned, the producer has the power to take decisions that affect the whole project because even though the art director or anybody else in this case has a great idea, it has to be feasible. And if we just throw ideas in a bucket hoping that everything will be okay, it doesn't work like that. So, I guess the producer definitely has the accountability to make the scope, the budget, and the time. This is the oldest triangle of project management. Time, money, and scope. That it's well balanced. So, you need to work on that balance.
[b]When you knew you were going to be working on this IP, did you give it a lot of time to bubble up and have a long pre-production process before you made any decisions about how exactly you were going to tackle it?[/b]
SD: Yes. Well, at Eidos, prior to the Square Enix acquisition, we had a greenlight meeting process. So, different publishers call it different names, but basically it's when everybody gets around the table -- is it green or yellow or redlighted -- and so we followed this process.
And yes, we have a healthy period for concept because the guys took the time... Before throwing ideas on the table, they replayed, replayed, re-replayed the games, the first two, and all the references games that are not Deus Ex, to really do a good background check. And afterwards, they built up. So, it was a very healthy concept phase period.
And we have a deliverable that we need to show to executives, and afterwards, the decision continues. So, we took our time because when a tree starts to grow crooked, it's going to be hell to put it back straight. So, concept is this. Your tree needs to be as straight as possible.
[b]You know, it's always hard to nail down gameplay in the preproduction process, but to nail down open-ended gameplay is almost a contradiction in terms.[/b]
SD: [laughs] Yes, yes. This is the rule of our game director, Jean-François Dugas. I hope that you have time to interview him because this is definitely one of the biggest challenges of any game director, a game of this size, of this magnitude with multi-endings.
Jean is somebody very structured, so he has great idea, but he is able to lay them out on a table. We call it a blueprint. This is internal. So, he's doing the blueprint of the house basically, but it needs to be logical obviously, it has to fit, and it has to be compatible.
And he can show this to his coworkers to make sure that they're driving through the same thing. And the multi-ending, if you don't have this plan-out phase, you're asking to improvise, and when you improvise at this stage, you will waste time and energy. So, you need somebody that is somewhat structured or else you're going to go in different directions.
[b]It's just that it's a daunting, complicated project, even more so, I think, than probably many can take on.[/b]
SD: [laughs]
[b]I mean, that sounds like a "your game is so awesome" kind of question, but what I'm really talking about is this: there's a lot of pressure. You're founding a new studio, you're working with an IP that people love, you're trying to take it in new creative directions, and it's a complicated game.[/b]
SD: Yeah, but I think the key thing is that I'm as good as the people, and the group is as good as the people we hire. We really went through an important hiring phase. We needed to be aggressive, but we needed to make sure that we're hiring the right people at the right time for the right scope for the right mandate.
This is the GM talking. I'm very proud of the team I've built, and I think the more we went forward, my shoulders were starting to finally [sigh of relief] ... I was able to breathe because these guys and girls were able to pursue what we wanted to do.
And I think if it was a one-man show -- again, I'm going back to my staff story that it cannot be a one-man show, it has to be a team effort -- it would have been impossible to do this game if we wouldn't have a strong team.
And since all my lieutenants and the guys and the girls on the floor, they're quite professional, talented, motivated, and passionate. And if you add this up, you can move mountains. Again, I'm saying some clichés, but it's true that the team is everything. It's maybe not an interesting answer, but it's basically what is reality in our studio.
[img]http://www.gamasutra.com/db_area/images/feature/6114/deus_shot3.jpg[/img]
[b]We're talking about the balancing a creative vision with a team effort, right? There are a lot of discussions these days about group-effort theories versus auteur theory. How do you balance cohesive vision with team collaboration?[/b]
SD: Well, I think again our art director, Jonathan [Jacques Belletete], he had also a very huge mandate, because the black and gold and the Renaissance, the new Renaissance, is something that didn't come up overnight, I can tell you.
It was trial and error at certain points, and it's during the process of the stage-gating process that, well, this seems when we were showing our stuff internally, because we need to be honest during these meetings. And people were saying, "This doesn't work. This works."
We went back to Montreal and we re-grind our ideas, re-filtered them and dropped that... What came at the end was the black and gold, the Renaissance, the cyberpunk. With very few elements, you diffuse this afterwards back to the team, and they have a clear understanding.
You need to let them a certain margin of flexibility because they're not robots. I mean, we have dozens and dozens of artists, but if it's too clear, they feel like a robot and they won't be productive. So, you need to have a little margin, but you need to have a clear vision. "We're going this way."
[b]It might be a coincidence, but it just occurred to me that Montreal is the home of Renaissance aesthetic right now in gaming, right, with Assassin's Creed and your game. It's just a strange coincidence. Do you think that's just a coincidence or is there something about Montreal?[/b]
SD: [laughs] Well, as I say often, Montreal is geographically situated between Europe and the Americas. We really feel we have the best of both worlds. I guess we have this connection with Europe, the culture sharing, the multicultural, the joie de vivre, but every day we wake up, and we're in the North American standard of living, the rhythm of business, the very dynamic business environment. So, that said, I think we have a special hybrid connection with these two continents.
Montreal has always been quite creative. If you think about it, Softimage started in Montreal. Autodesk are pretty much based in Montreal. The Cirque de Soleil kind of thing. So, I guess now, some products are getting more attention, but we have pretty much always been a creative hot spot, and I'm very proud about that because it's something that you cannot outsource. It's the savoir faire, it's the gray matter of Montreal, to come up with innovative, interesting approaches.
[b]I wanted to talk to you about the fact that you're collaborating with Square Enix Visual Works in Tokyo, which is pretty fascinating.[/b]
SD: Very much so. This is a great story. Square Enix bought us in April 2009. And in that period of the year, we were starting to plan our CGI trailers for Deus Ex. Initially, my thought was, "Well, we obviously know that the people at Square Enix are doing great CGI, but they must be booked until 2030." [laughs] And I didn't even entertain the idea of having them working.
But we went through a process, and at a certain point, we came out with a pitch, a nice pitch for the trailer. We were at the junction point where we needed to find a partner to produce the CGI, and that's one morning I remembered very vividly in the month of June. I said, "I think I need to call Phil [Rogers], my CEO, to throw him the idea. Is it worth it to ask Tokyo if they have people availability?"
So he says, "It doesn't cost anything to ask." So, he calls [Square Enix president and CEO Yoichi] Wada-san. So, it's the phone chain. Finally, Wada-san and several of his directors of Visual Works flew to Montreal, 16 hours of flight, for a one-day meeting. [laughs] So, that was very crucial.
I will always remember that day, and we did our pitch for the trailer. In the process of decision-making, it went quite rapidly, and they said, "Yes, this is too much of a good opportunity to start collaboration. We'll make space in our schedule at Visual Works. This will be the first real concrete collaborative deliverable." And it worked out so nicely. So, I'm very, very glad that our studio was implicated.
[b]How was the process of working across that distance? And as far as I'm aware, the only other game Visual Works contributed to that wasn't internally developed by Square Enix was Star Ocean: The Last Hope. So, it's a new process for them, too.[/b]
SD: Yes. Very good point. So yes, when everybody says, "Yes, we want do this," how do we manage this now? [laughs] So, yes, I think the complications were always put on top of the list of things we needed to understand, that there are no stupid questions.
Language is obviously something that we need to handle, but we had good support from the people at Square Enix Los Angeles. So, when the emails have to go through and be translated, we were able to do this quite efficiently. It was not without challenge, I must say. A lot of sweat, a lot of blood, a lot of labor of love again...
We had a couple of meetings face-to-face, and that really accelerates the problem-solving, the misinterpretations. Obviously, they could not be in Montreal every week, but every time now and then, we called the meetings, and that truly helped. So, it wasn't without difficulty, but everybody believed in the potential, and that makes a whole difference.
[img]http://www.gamasutra.com/db_area/images/feature/6114/deus_shot4.jpg[/img]
[b]The [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FRWYRqaGFE]newest trailer[/url] is very visually arresting, which is what we expect from Square Enix. Is the aesthetic all derived from Montreal? Or is it a collaborative approach?[/b]
SD: Good question again. When I mentioned that the concept pitch was accepted, this came, and they're on the credits of the trailer. It's a small -- not small anymore -- but a small Vancouver-based group called Goldtooth. And they pitched us.
The concept pitch that we retained was from them, and we kept them after their pitch to be the intermediate between Montreal and Tokyo because our dev team didn't have sufficient staff to fully support the trailer.
So, they understood our vision, our values of the game, and they were able to transmit this. And they were working very closely with Square Enix. But when major decisions were to be taken, all three of us needed to be around a table or around a conference call to make the call. So, yes, they had a very good pitch that we followed through.
[b]Final Fantasy XIII has got amazing CG, but the real-time visuals really live up to the standard, right? And there's a high-level of consistency between them. I'm assuming that that's an approach that you would like to emulate.[/b]
SD: Well anything compared to Final Fantasy when you're talking about cutscenes, it's quite the highest level you can obtain. It's certainly going to be one of our objectives. We're presently exactly working on this topic, the in-game cinematics. So, we'll see the results, I guess.[/quote]
Phew, enjoy this long interview!
This is the first game that I'm actually considering buying a collector's edition for. As long as the key works on Steam and the content in it is worth the price.
[QUOTE=Dr Bob;24590057][url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6114/deus_ex_the_human_question.php]Deus Ex: The Human Question:[/url]
Phew, enjoy this long interview![/QUOTE]
Why the hell is he being rated dumb?
[QUOTE=Jericho_Rus;24594484]Why the hell is he being rated dumb?[/QUOTE]
It could be some "butthurt" people from the Nighmare House 2 mod thread.
Basically, I posted what I thought about the mod and people got mad.
Anyway, I hope you found the interview as interesting as I did!
[editline]09:39PM[/editline]
Another article:
[url=http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news/news-6249-Gamescom-2010--Deus-Ex--Human-Revolution--Interview-%E2%80%93-David-Anfossi--Producer.html]Gamescom 2010: Deus Ex: Human Revolution Interview – David Anfossi, Producer[/url]
[quote]Deus Ex broke the mould in crossing the traditional first-person shooter with RPG elements back in 2000, and although it may not have been the first of its kind, Deus EX seamlessly blended conversational elements with gunplay and performance-enhancing augmentations, transforming the game's hero, JC Denton into an unstoppable force.
It was pretty revolutionary at the time, and there's a reason why it regularly shows up at the top of PC gamers' all time greatest games lists. So, with original creator Warren Spector moving to Disney to make Mickey Mouse games, the Deus Ex torch has now been passed to Eidos Montreal.
We sat down with Deus EX: Human Revolution's Producer, David Anfossi, to find out just how the developer plans to bring the franchise back for a new audience of gamers and whether it's going to be the human revolution that we're all hoping for.
[b]Deus Ex: Human Revolution is kind of being considered a reboot of the franchise. Are there any plans to re-educate gamers that may not have played the first two games with HD remakes for XBLA or PSN?[/b]
That's a good question. We want to educate the new gamers I would say with a teaser to make sure they understand everything about the universe we have created, but that education will appear during the tutorial. Once you've played the first hour of the game, you will understand all of the possibilities and options we've added to the game. There are loads of different ways to play the game, so this is very important. We don't want to put in something that says, “here, do what you want.” It doesn't work like that, so you will see that during the first hour of the game you will pass different tutorials. You don't have to do them, you can skip them if you've already played Deus Ex, but for new gamers, you will see that during the first hour, you will know what to do after that.
[b]But do you think we'll ever see the previous games in the franchise remade to complement the new game?[/b]
No, no. This is the same universe, although you will see different links with the first Deus Ex.
[b]Can you tell us a bit about the dialogue system? As we saw in the demo, there are about 3 or 4 decisions. Do they change based on the context of the situation? We saw the 'plead' option crop up a few times for example.[/b]
This is unique, you know? And the purpose behind the conversation is to let the player try what kind of conversation they want to experiment with in the moment, so we put a lot of thought into the body language and the facial expressions to create something new. As you've seen in the demo, you have three different choices and you have different roles. I think for every conversation, we have around 20 minutes of animations, because you have a lot of different branches unfolding during the conversations. You may pass a branch the first time, but if you decide to redo it, you'll get a completely different response from the guy in front of you and that will lead to different situations. So, if last time I failed and got killed, I can go back and try and get a different outcome every time.
[b]Are we right in assuming that you're able to talk to every character in some shape or form as well?[/b]
Yes. You can talk to every person in the game, but not necessarily with the branching dialogue. The stuff you saw in the police station is the social side of the game, but there's a more detailed and advanced conversation mechanic that you'll be able to experiment with in the game. There is a second level of conversation that you can have with story characters or in side-quests and so on, then you can have the first level of conversation with the lesser NPCs. That doesn't mean they'll just say things like, “oh, it's sunny today.” They'll give you a lot of information about the Deus Ex universe, about the city and about things that are very important factors in making you feel like you're immersed in the world.
[b]As games evolve and become more cinematic, sound is an increasingly important factor. What does Deus Ex do differently, if anything, with its implementation of sound in the game?[/b]
I'm really glad that you asked that, because for me the sound, music and ambience is all part of the experience. It's very, very important. Usually you can see that the audio director maybe arrived at the end of the project and he's very bad, you know? Our audio director has been with us since the game's conception. It was very important that we had his direction with us, on par with the gameplay, the visuals and everything, so he was part of the team from the beginning. You're often reminded of your favourite movies because of the music, so films like Rambo, Rocky, Jaws, Star Wars... You can be reminded of those movies because of the music, so the team thought that it was very important for us to try and do that also for the game. For the music we hired Michael McCann as composer and he did the music for the Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer, and is doing the music for the game too, keeping the music consistent to respect the universe we've created. That's very, very important.
W[b]ill the game be properly localised for non-English speaking markets too?[/b]
Yes, because we have full control over that. We're very picky with that and it's something that's important to me. We did a lot of sessions to find the right actors for the English version, so we have Elias Toufexis voicing Jensen, but we'll do the same kind of casting for all countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Russia, Japan and we'll pick all of the right actors for the job and integrate them all at the studio in Montreal to the same quality across the board.
[b]What sort of links can we expect to see between this Deus Ex and the previous games?[/b]
You will see some links with the first Deus Ex with regard to corporations, characters and so on. There won't be many links to Deus Ex 2: Invisible War. It's mainly about the first one.
[b]So would you say that you were more inspired by the first Deus Ex than the second one?[/b]
Yes, to be honest with you. That doesn't mean that I don't like the second one, and we had a very long discussion with Warren Spector (creator of the previous Deus Ex games) last night about that, and he told us how he just faced a lot of constraints with the second one on consoles. He wasn't happy with the end result and having to have a lot of corridors for the streaming and loading, made it seem less epic and open-world due to the console constraints. But this one is more based on the first game in terms of mechanics and experience. Honestly though, as a gamer, I prefer the story in Invisible War for the characters and so on.
[b]So, what did you think the second game did well in terms of characters and level design?[/b]
The level design in Human Revolution is based more on the first one, because you have these open-world city hubs and you have this compound and everything, so you have this mix of locations. It's very important for us to respect the legacy of the first game and it was also very important for us to have a strong main character in Adam Jensen. You don't necessarily have that in Invisible War.
[b]How important to you is balancing the difficulty of the game for a broader audience?[/b]
That's exactly what we're doing right now. We reached beta last week, so we are at a phase where we have months left to balance and polish the game, because as you say, it's critical as it's this period that makes all the difference. We didn't just wait until the beta milestone to do this though. We did a lot of playtests with shooter fans, RPG fans and Deus Ex fans, to make sure that they enjoyed the game and that they could play it the way they want to play it and they have fun. So, we did a lot of that and now we're doing playtests every week to keep testing the balance and keep applying the polish to get the quality we want.
[b]What's been the overriding approach players have been adopting while playing the game during the playtesting?[/b]
The great thing about having so many playtests, is that everyone tries to enact everything in the game. There's a little RTS mini-game in there that's something more for the hardcore gamer, as it's not mandatory to play and it's more of a secondary thing. But it's funny, because everybody tried playing it and adding robots, turrets and other little things during the playtests.
[b]Does the attention to detail we've seen in the levels so far extend to the other parts of the game, like the hacking games, lockers and array of other details?[/b]
Yes. It's everywhere. There's a lot of little, different things. It's amazing, because every day, I have to play the game to look at the quality and the progress. I end up discovering something new every day. It's amazing. We've put so much detail and information everywhere in the game, for the player to discover and it all adds to the experience.
[b]Is exploration rewarded in Deus Ex: HR then, if there's so much to discover? Will players be able to find hidden, unique items for instance?[/b]
They will find... Actually, I don't want to spoil anything, but players will keep discovering new things every time they play.
[b]Deus Ex: Human Revolution isn't supporting 3D, but what do you make of 3D games in general?[/b]
We had the opportunity to integrate 3D, but at this stage in production, it'd be too risky to adapt the game to support it and do it properly. If we were going to do 3D, it would have to be to the high quality that we expect for this game, but it's perhaps something we'll keep to one side for the next Deus Ex, when we have time to do it right. But what I've seen of 3D so far is good and it has potential.[/quote]
Deus Ex: Human Revolution at PAX:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LdEvgns8B4[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7USABbiRAo[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22XdZbIq5Mg[/media]
[editline]01:26PM[/editline]
Basically, imagine the E3 gameplay leak except on a HUGE screen with no head in the way.
[IMG]http://i55.tinypic.com/zwdxy1.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Jericho_Rus;24613168]http://i55.tinypic.com/zwdxy1.jpg[/QUOTE]
Versalife? That mission was one of my favourite parts in the original DX.
Oh, my messenger bag came here yesterday. It is quite good, can certainly be used for carrying some objects. It isn't really strong to hold all the shit you CAN possibly stuff in there, sadly. But it looks definetly awesome.
This thread needs more posts, because Deus Ex is a cool guy.
[QUOTE=Ihasabucket;24662966]This thread needs more posts, because Deus Ex is a cool guy.[/QUOTE]
Yes. Yes, he is. And JC Denton is such a cool game, damn!
I still don't get why this game is so unpopular here.
[QUOTE=Jericho_Rus;24665944]I still don't get why this game is so unpopular here.[/QUOTE]
Seriously? In every Deus Ex thread I've read I see nothing but "damn that game was good, now I have to reinstall it..."
I've got to thinking I should either try the original game (Because if I thought IW was good, then the original should be even better) or just buy the new one, because I know enough of the story line already.
[QUOTE=ElectricSquid;24666789]Seriously? In every Deus Ex thread I've read I see nothing but "damn that game was good, now I have to reinstall it..."
I've got to thinking I should either try the original game (Because if I thought IW was good, then the original should be even better) or just buy the new one, because I know enough of the story line already.[/QUOTE]
I truly recommend buying the first one.
It really is a special game and is worth playing, for sure.
It's slow at the start, but a few missions in and you'll probably love it.
As for this thread, if you have any suggestions for the format of the first post, please go ahead and suggest them.
[QUOTE=ElectricSquid;24666789]Seriously? In every Deus Ex thread I've read I see nothing but "damn that game was good, now I have to reinstall it..."
I've got to thinking I should either try the original game (Because if I thought IW was good, then the original should be even better) or just buy the new one, because I know enough of the story line already.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, everyone who played the game knows it is awesome. I'm talking about the thread actually. It's kinda lonely here. :smith:
Oh, and if you liked IW [B]DEFINETLY BUY[/B] the first game
The thread is lonely mostly because the game isn't out yet so the only thing you can talk about is theories, and even then that's not that much since they've shown/talked about a lot of things. Once the game is out though and if it's good (which I assume it wil be) this thread will probably be locked and on the way to V2 in no time.
[QUOTE=Dr Bob;24666830]I truly recommend buying the first one.
It really is a special game and is worth playing, for sure.
It's slow at the start, but a few missions in and you'll probably love it.
As for this thread, if you have any suggestions for the format of the first post, please go ahead and suggest them.[/QUOTE]
Speaking of great games, your avatar brought back memories. Munch's Oddyssey was one of my favorite Xbox games. On-topic, I played Invisible War on Xbox. It made me go "Wow!" a lot. Especially the final level, with the resurrected-with-nanobots Statue of Liberty. And the secret ending level, where all the characters are chilling in a nightclub, and there's developer notes scattered about. I remember one was some poetry, an ode to a turret cut in development. :D
Six new screenies, guys!
[img]http://i52.tinypic.com/28bcys0.png[/img]
[img]http://i52.tinypic.com/25kmp9y.png[/img]
[img]http://i54.tinypic.com/vczyqe.png[/img]
[img]http://i55.tinypic.com/endk2.png[/img]
[img]http://i56.tinypic.com/1zfh6qh.png[/img]
[img]http://i51.tinypic.com/347z7rk.png[/img]
[editline]10:09PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=ElectricSquid;24675469]Speaking of great games, your avatar brought back memories. Munch's Oddyssey was one of my favorite Xbox games. On-topic, I played Invisible War on Xbox. It made me go "Wow!" a lot. Especially the final level, with the resurrected-with-nanobots Statue of Liberty. And the secret ending level, where all the characters are chilling in a nightclub, and there's developer notes scattered about. I remember one was some poetry, an ode to a turret cut in development. :D[/QUOTE]
Yay, another Oddworld fan!
Though I haven't properly played Munch's Oddysee, because of Xbox 360 compatibility issues, I absolutely love the original two games.
Guys, if you have any questions for Eidos Montreal (the developers), then post them [url=http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?t=113445]here[/url].
New article on dumbing down the game:
[URL="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103406-New-Deus-Ex-Not-Dumbed-Down-for-Consoles"]New Deus Ex Not "Dumbed Down" for Consoles:[/URL]
[quote]All gamers want to feel smart, regardless of platform, says Deus Ex: Human Revolution's lead designer Jean-Francois Dugas.
According to Dugas, Human Revolution's multiplatform design hadn't affected the substance of the game, but it had influence how it had been put together.
Dugas said that Eidos Montreal had looked at the first two games, and tried to preserve the essence of the Deus Ex series, while building a title that would appeal to a modern audience. He said that there wasn't as much difference between consoles and PCs as there had been, and that the team hadn't made the game simpler or taken anything out for console gamers.
Dugas said that his team was specifically trying to capture the feeling from the first game where a player could try different things and forge their own way through the game. "Players like to figure things out by themselves and they like to experiment; I think that's kind of timeless. They want to feel smart about their experience ... The first Deus Ex was one of the first games that really brought that type of choice to gamers, and I think that's something that all gamers want."
He did indicate, however, that the team was aware PC gamers and consoles gamers often approached games in a slightly different way, and so had designed the game to accommodate both. "We can have a very deep experience," he said. "But it's important that if you want to just jump in to it, you can jump in to it. It's not about removing complexity or cutting possibilities: it's about the way the complexity is introduced."
Deus Ex: Human Revolution will be released for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in February 2011.[/quote]
Two new interviews:
[url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=263274]How Deus Ex is redefining the FPS experience[/url]
[quote]Eidos Montreal is bringing back the critically acclaimed PC franchise Deus Ex. Its game is on the road to becoming more than just another first-person shooter, it could redesign and redefine the entire FPS experience.
PSM3 sat down with Jean François Dugas, the director of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and discussed what his title could mean for the genre.
[b]So, what defines Deus Ex?[/b]
Choice and consequence, cyberpunk and augmentation. There's more than that, but that's keeping it short!
[b]You've retained so much of the original game for Deus Ex 3. Was it so ahead of its time that those things still work today?[/b]
I think it was ahead of its time in certain aspects. Players like to figure things out by themselves and they like to experiment; I think that's kind of timeless. They want to feel smart about their experience and they want to feel, 'Oh, I thought about it and it worked' and that's what made it so powerful: that's also what we're trying to capture again.
The first Deus Ex was one of the first games that really brought that type of choice to gamers, and I think that's something that all gamers want.
[b]Was there anything about the original game that obviously had to change?[/b]
Not really. We didn't want to reproduce the game exactly as it was back then, but rather recreate the aspects in a fresh and new way. We just went in and went back to the first two games, saw what was working well and analysed what would keep the essence of Deus Ex alive but at the same time fit a modern, global audience.
[b]Does that mean hardcore PC gamers can call it 'consolified'?[/b]
Absolutely not. I think PC is a great platform, but I think consoles are a great platform, too. Back in the '90s, games on the two platforms were very different, but I think these days it's all about bringing things together - movies, TV, music - they're all converging in the same places for everyone to access. I see it as convergence, and it's the same for games.
We didn't think, 'Oh, it's coming to console; it has to be easy'. We can have a very deep experience, but it's important that if you want to just jump in to it, you can jump in to it. It's not about removing complexity or cutting possibilities: it's about the way the complexity is introduced.
[b]Deus Ex has been around for so long; why has nobody done a good job of imitating it until now?[/b]
Because... God... making a game like that is a great challenge. It's fantastic and exciting but it's a lot of work and you need a very dedicated team. You need so many systems and all of those systems need to talk together. You often have to produce maps before the systems are functional, so you'll have routes play-testers can't explore because they can't move boxes or something. And then you'll have to balance the augmentations so that every player gets to experiment and nobody ever gets stuck. You have to iterate and iterate and iterate. It's a challenge. It's a big challenge![/quote]
[url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/09/13/deus-ex-3-jean-francois-dugas-interview/]Deus Ex 3: Jean-François Dugas Interview[/url]
[quote]Staying calm the face of a new Deus Ex game is tricky. Quintin came back from GamesCom making excited chirping noises, but there’s so much at stake. We must remain steady until we’re certain. We’ll play it and then, only then, we’ll decide whether to get to explode in a ticker-tape parade of giddiness. Of course, this steely focus didn’t stop me getting in touch with the lead designer, Jean-François Dugas, and seeing what he had to say about the game. Fortunately for us he said many things, including revealing the link with Rainbow Six: Vegas, and explaining that most of the game could be played through without killing anyone. Also, most significantly, we can exclusively reveal that there are no greasels in Human Revolution.
Read the full conversation below.
[b]RPS: So let’s start with some background. How did you come to be designing the third Deus Ex game?[/b]
Dugas: My background, okay! I started in the industry in ’97. I started off working on racing games on the N64 and PS1, things like that, then I moved over to first-person games, such as the Far Cry games, and an unannounced Rainbow Six game. At some point I was approached by a producer I had worked with in the past, and he asked me “would you be interested in making the next Deus Ex game?” I basically said yes, but with my heart pounding! It actually took me about six weeks to say yes. So that’s how it came about. I was approached, and I was a fan, and so it was a really, really exciting moment.
[b]RPS: You were nervous about it?[/b]
Dugas: Well, I already had a project, a good small team, a good position. I was happy there. When you work somewhere and you have to make a big change you have to know what is going to await you. The primary reason I said yes was because it was Deus Ex, but I was already working, so I had to take these things into consideration.
[b]RPS: What did the original game mean to you?[/b]
Dugas: To me Deus Ex 1 was… well, it was ground-breaking. For me, it was a game that made me feel clever, because of the way I was playing around with the tools that you have available to you. That was pretty satisfying. It wasn’t the first game to do these kinds of things, I would say, but it was one of the first where that particular sense of achievement was more up front. One of the important things at that time, one of the things that stuck with me, was the fact that the game would reflect your actions. So depending on how you acted different characters would say different things to you. For me that resonated, because I did not feel like a ghost in the game, I was a part of it. That was a super-strong aspect of the game, and important.
[b]RPS: Something that comes up when we talk about Deus Ex is that if Invisible War hadn’t had the Deus Ex name attached, it might not have been judged so harshly. But it was also the point at which that kind of game was being attempted for consoles, which makes it interesting, and possibly relevant to you?[/b]
Dugas: Before we really started designed Deus Ex: Human Revolution we went back to the first two games and played them again. Even though the second one hadn’t been so well received, it was important to go back and see what they had done. We also had to go back to the original game, because you might not have played a game like that for years and you end up with souvenir memories of everything. Playing it again now enables you to step back and look at what is strong and what is not as strong. For me it was essential to go back to those games and try to understand what were the pillars of the franchise, what were the core values. We had to make sure that we designed within the confine of those values. It doesn’t mean that it’s the same as DX1 or DX2, but the same ideals and values are portrayed in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. That said, our game is based more on Deus Ex 1 because the more RPG aspect is stronger. The way things are used, the feature list, that is stronger. But overall it was about understanding the values across both games. We wanted to revive it for a third game, understanding the franchise through both earlier games was the best way to do that.
[b]RPS: These are not the only games that have influenced you for this project though, are they? I have seen you mention the cover system in Rainbow Six: Vegas, which you also worked on, as being important to DX3? Splinter Cell seems to flicker in and out there, too…[/b]
Dugas: Well we have not /just/ been influenced by games, of course. In recent years there have been games like Fallout 3 and Bioshock, we definitely looked at those, because I think they were able to maintain complexity in game that is also on console. We might think that console needs to be dumbed down, played with one button or whatever, and I think those games are an example of maintaining some level of complexity, and for us that was useful. One thing we wanted to make sure was that weren’t sacrificing the complexity of the Deus Ex experience because the game is on console. Seeing how these games have tried to do that is useful to us.
But we also have looked at books and movies, sci-fi movies old ones and new ones: Bladerunner, Robocop, The Matrix and also some Japanese Anime. We went all over the place to see where something would strike us as really cool. We didn’t want to really reproduce what anything else did, of course, but to create our own package that seems unique, seems fresh. You can see some influences of these things, I would say, but you cannot say that we rip them off.
[b]RPS: Going back to what you were saying about core values, it struck me playing DX again recently, as well as System Shock and Thief, that all those games basically leave you feeling pretty vulnerable. You have to run away from multiple adversaries, have to hide, and so on. Will Human Revolution have a similar sense of threat to your character?[/b]
Dugas: At the beginning you don’t have much augmentation, so you aren’t that strong. But as you progress and explore some of the areas off the critical path, then you will start to beef up your character. You will not be invincible at all, at any stage, but at the end of the game you will probably be more like Robocop than a human being.
Right now we are balancing the game, I was playing with the new tweaks this week, and if there are more than two or three enemies on screen you will go down fast, especially if you don’t pay attention to your surroundings. We’re aiming to make the frontal assault approach a possibility, like any other means in the game, such as hacking or whatnot, but the frontal approach will require some thinking. If you want to play it as Serious Sam you might not find this to be the game you are looking for.
[b]RPS: Can you talk about the stealth mechanism? Hiding in shadows? Line of sight?[/b]
Dugas: It is really not very complicated, it’s quite a simple system in that you refer to the cover around you, but what you are trying to do is break line of sight and manage the amount of noise you produce. And why we decided to go that way – since we knew that our game would not be built with light and shadows, we would have some brighter, lit environments, basing it on shadows would have been even more complicated. Going with breaking the line of sight and sound produced means you could play stealth in a well lit area. It was about making that stealth work for the player without breaking either the game or the visuals we wanted to produce.
For the cover system, well, I don’t know if you played Rainbow Six: Vegas, but it is similar: there is no automatic cover, if you don’t hold the button then you are not going into cover, release it and you go out from cover. It’s very simple, very natural, and it gives you a good sense of what is going on in the environment to help you plan your next move. Of course if you wanted to just stay in first-person you can do that. There’s no mechanic tied to the cover, especially for stealth, it is not tied to the cover mechanism.
[b]RPS: So what is the reasoning behind the third person sequences? I mean, you see your DX1 character in the third person for dialogue, but here it’s for action bits too. Not just the cover use, but things like the bombs being thrown out, takedowns, and so on. What’s the idea behind that?[/b]
Dugas: There are a few reasons behind that. When we started the project we realised that the main character should be an important character in that sense that you should know or be compelled to know who he is, what his background is, but also that it shows what his augmentations are. We wanted it to feel cinematic. We didn’t want it to simply be some stats that tell you that you are better at this or that, without you feeling directly the sense of reward. We wanted to make sure that the more physical augmentations would be more impactful, and we should be able to see that on the character as often as possible, while maintain a first-person game. This means you get to see your character for certain actions, use of certain items, climbing a ladder, things like that.
[b]RPS: Speaking of augmentations, there seems to be quite a lot of future-fantasy tech going on. Is that going to extend into weapons, which have so far been sniper rifle, assault rifle, stabby blade thing. Any other surprises there?[/b]
Dugas: Yes, we didn’t reveal that much so far. We revealed a few weapons at E3 and GamesCom, but we have others. We have lethal and non-lethal varieties, and some are more futuristic and experimental than others. We wanted to make a distinction between the more real-world, familiar weapons and the more experimental things we haven’t talked much about yet. The marketing guys will tell us when it’s time to talk about that!
[b]RPS: So with non-lethal weapons, is that going to be central to the game? Is there going to be some hiding of unconscious bodies and so on?[/b]
Dugas: Absolutely. If we make an exception for a few forced encounters, you can play the entire game without killing anyone. Or if you decide to kill them all, that’s up to you. With the non-lethal weapons, if you don’t hide the bodies, you will find another guard will come round, and wake his friend and they will come and look for you. It’s not always necessary, because some enemies will be alone and isolated, but it’s about managing risk. You will want to drag bodies into cover.
[b]RPS: Okay, this is a bit of an odd question. In DX one there were mutant animals. The greasels, and some kind of crocodile thing. Are there going to be any mutant animals in Human Revolution?[/b]
Dugas: Uh, no.
[b]RPS: Good, I hated those things.[/b]
Dugas: [Puzzled laugh.]
[b]RPS: Moving on: the augmentation system. What sort of limitations are there? Will I have a single specialisation by the end of the game? Mix/max style?[/b]
Dugas: With the augmentation system there are four pillars: combat and stealth, hacking and social. Combat and stealth are primary modes, so all missions can be completed with either combat or stealth approaches. Hacking and social are secondary modes which support the primary modes and exploration in general. There might not always be a social or hacking alternative to a problem, but there will always be a solution through the primary pillars of the game, through combat or stealth.
Our goal right now is to make sure that, in a single play-through, you can’t have it all. So you will have to choose whether to go more with combat, or more with stealth, or to balance them both. You will have to decide which kind of augmentations you want to push, or not. You will have to decide what kind of player you are. Will you be John Rambo with all combat boosted? Or will you be a Jack of all trades? It’s about how you want to play the game. You will acquire experience points from doing missions and these can be used to unlock new abilities. Some of these are already present but must be learned. At the beginning of the game you might have the augmentations in your body, but you might not have all the abilities. Your brain needs to adapt to the machinery. We also have “softwares” which allow you to learn these things faster, a little like the cannisters in DX1.
[b]RPS: Okay, let’s talk size and linearity. How open are the levels going to be? It was one of the strengths of DX1, to my mind, that you could find your own route through a number of the levels…[/b]
Dugas: It’s going to be a mix of open spaces and more confined spaces. If you have seen the E3 and GamesCom demo? Well, the E3 demo was just one corner of a street, and it is way bigger than that. It goes off a long way in several directions, and you can explore all that. But there are also missions where we go behind enemy lines, and they are more comparable with say Area 51 if I can compare that with the original Deus Ex game.
So we will have city areas which you will have to explore, and within those there will be interiors you will have to storm, and then you will fly off to another locations where things are more constrained. It’s back and forth. The story is linear in that you reveal one layer at a time, but the choices that you make within that will reveal the story here and there, explore this and that. The game will tell you when it is time to go into a compound or whatever. It’s a linear structure with many possibilities within the structure.
[b]RPS: Finally, Deus Ex was quite a political, philosophical game. It was filled with ideologies and tried to deal with them in game form. What are you dealing, or trying to deal with, in Human Revolution?[/b]
Dugas: We have a few themes. Transhumanism is at the heart of the experience. We are asking the question about our own evolution, and asking whether we should go there. Is it good for humanity or not? These changes are important, and real.
But one of the end goals we were interested in exploring was the human factor. Why do people do what they do? Characters in the game believe in something, so what is the factor behind their reasoning? We wanted to give a human element to it, to explore the reasons behind their actions. In real life we will demonise people because their beliefs are not matching ours, but when you try to understand those people you see that they simply come from a different background, a different life. That’s what we’re trying to tackle in Human Revolution, to give a third dimension to the machinations of our characters and not just say “Bwha, I am evil because I like to do this kind of thing!”
[b]RPS: Thanks for your time.[/b]
Deus Ex 3 is scheduled for February 2011.[/quote]
Gotta love the character design.
As I said in the DX forums, I want to pre-order this game. Unfortunately, they only sell retail pre-orders and I want to pre-order it on steam.
Of course, when I ask this on the DX forums I get trolled for my decision. Dr Bob saw and posted in my thread too.
[QUOTE=redBadger;24806208]As I said in the DX forums, I want to pre-order this game. Unfortunately, they only sell retail pre-orders and I want to pre-order it on steam.
Of course, when I ask this on the DX forums I get trolled for my decision. Dr Bob saw and posted in my thread too.[/QUOTE]
Your positive opinions will be shot down on the DX forums every single time. They've been complaining about it for god knows how long now.
Yeah, I'm probably going to steer clear from the place until the game is actually released.
[url=http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1492990&postcount=251]A quality post from the forums:[/url]
[quote]I have lost any and all interest in this board. So sick and tired of repeating the same debates, same arguments, same long and painfully detailed explanations of why I think 3rd person takedowns are an idiotic pandering concession to the "l33t kewl wao" crowd.
Forget it. You wanna sit here and pretend that all this junk even remotely resembles a Deus Ex game? Be my guest. Lap it up. Feed into the generic homogenization of video gaming. Quote this post and ridicule it all you want.
I'm sick of it. Peace.[/quote]
Screw this shit, I'm going for a smoke.
Peace out.
[editline]08:56PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=redBadger;24806208]As I said in the DX forums, I want to pre-order this game. Unfortunately, they only sell retail pre-orders and I want to pre-order it on steam.
Of course, when I ask this on the DX forums I get trolled for my decision. Dr Bob saw and posted in my thread too.[/QUOTE]
That was you?
I'm sorry.
Nah, don't be sorry. You never said anything negative.
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