Interview: Dave Matthews F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin art direction versus censorship

Mike Bantick
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 01:12

Opinion and Analysis

iTWire:  A big talking point about this release is the artificial intelligence brought into the game.

Matthews:  “One of the hallmarks of the first game was our truly immersive AI, and our AI is not really based on scripting, it is based on stimulus.  We educate the AI about its environment, how they can see and leverage the environment, both offensive and defensive.  Then ultimately what the player does changes the behaviour of the AI.”

“So if you are the sort of player who pushes forward all guns blazing, then the AI will set up a little more defensively, come around and flank you from the side, or use the environment in a way to pull you in and ambush you.  Or if you’re a person that likes to set up a little more defensive areas, the AI will become more aggressive and ultimately try to dig you out.”

iTWire:  F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin was originally banned in Australia, then successfully appealed, what were your thoughts on this?

Matthews:  “It was really interesting, we had a specific story we wanted to tell about Alma.  It had to have very specific visual implications or story driven aspects we wanted to make sure came across. And at first, we were a little disappointed about the ban, but ultimately very happy when the decision was overturned .  And what makes it really great now is that we get to bring F.E.A.R 2 to the Australian public how it was originally intended.”

“It definitely deals with mature themes, so it was probably one of the reasons.  We were targeting a specific audience, we were shocked when it was banned.  But we believe when they [the classification board] saw the themes, they understood the game more, and that allowed them to overturn the ban.”

iTWire:  Your target platforms are ps3, Xbox 360 and pc, how did the development for these differ from the original game?

Matthews:  “When we finished F.E.A.R, we had the ports done by a house outside of Monolith, ultimately when we looked at it, we thought there were a couple of things that were different from what we initially intended.  And it caused us to go through and re-evaluate our pipelines.”

“With F.E.A.R 2 we developed for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 all simultaneously, now if I build an asset, I can check it on all three platforms simultaneously and make sure that the goal is being achieved on all.  So I never ever feel that one is a port of the other.”

iTWire: How much does it stretch development time?

Matthews: “It does a little bit, you have to think about things a little holistically, but the rewards that come from that are fabulous.  Now you know that at any point, you know that, on any platform, you are going to see exactly what the player is going to see.”

iTWire:  So you don’t feel it would hold you back in any respect, especially on the PC front?

Matthews:  “Well, we try to tailor a lot of things.  I use the term synonymous, so you might see some slight visual changes, or certain behaviour might be a little different.  But ultimately the experience that we want you to have will be synonymous on all three.  So we definitely speak to the strengths of all three machines.”

iTWire: Could it have included the Nintendo Wii?

Matthews:  “It would have put new challenges on us.  Just going from PC to console development, you see challenges.  I think with F.E.A.R 2 you will see we met and exceeded those challenges.”

F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin is due out (in Australia) February 13th for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC