Episodic content, physics interaction and in-house graphics engine
HEXUS: How long will we have to wait between each of the episodes for the next instalment?
J.N:About 6-7 months between each episode. The development so far has been well planned and all milestones have been ticked off accordingly. This makes us quite sure that we will keep this schedule and not make players wait for ages until the next episode comes out.
HEXUS:Penumbra: Overture is going to rely partly on physics interaction, can you tell us what type of things will we be able to do and any difficulties or challenges that the team faced in the process?
J.N:Physics interaction is a great tool when adding immersion to the game world as the players are free to explore it in anyway they like. It also makes it possible to have several solutions to a puzzle without actually hard-coding each path that the player can take. The various ways in which players can go about when solving puzzles is also the biggest challenge. One has to test each environment so there is no way for the player to easily skip large parts of the game. Another even greater challenge is to make sure that players can not put themselves in none-winnable states. For example if one has a get over a chasm we have to make sure that the player can not simple throw away all the tools needed to get over. Many hours of testing have been used to detect and overcome these problems.
Click for larger imageHEXUS:We understand that you have used your own in-house graphics engine for the game. Why didn’t you use an established engine?
J.N:Because of three reasons:
- The mental challenge and knowledge gain. We simple wanted to see if we could do it and also have learnt a great deal from doing so.
- To be able to fit the engine to our needs. We could focus on making the engine perfect for running the type of game we are doing.
- Money. Using a commercial engine costs quite a lot and we have tried to make the development as cheap as possible (without sacrificing any content quality of course).
Click for larger imageHEXUS:
How long did it take your team to develop the engine and will we see the likes of techniques such as motion blur and dynamic shadow and lighting in Penumbra: Overture?
J.N:The engine is still in development and will be so as long as we are working on the game. We try to improve all aspects as much as we can and add new features all the time.
The time it took to get all basic features in and get it into a stable state was around 8 months, a little less than it took to finish the tech demo.
The tech demo of Penumbra: Overture has received huge interest. Why do think it has been so successful?
We are not really sure, but we think part of the success is due to the interact-system since it is quite unique and our most significant feature. Another reason is probably the lack of weapons. Almost all first person games give the player a one-man-army arsenal and we think players liked to have this changed, especially since it helps to make the game scarier.
