Matt Higby Gamespot Interview

[Bravic]

Nothing new, but Matt seems to need some rest! LOL!

http://gamescom.gamespot.com/video/6330326/gamescom-2011-planetside-2-interview

[Raymac]

Dude looks like he is working his ass off. Thanks for finding the interview, Bravic! I almost thought he was going to let some sort of date slip at the end there. So close.

[Bags]

Matt Higby showing off the sternum bush.

Wondering, how does one cloak, snipe, and shoot rockets at the same time in PS1?

Man, I thought we were so close to getting an actual date at the end! hah

[Hamma]

Good find I'll get it posted up :)

[Death2All]

Higby looks annihilated. I'm sure answering the same questions over and over again going through his whole schpeel of what PS is gets tiring after awhile. He looks as if will be permanently exhausted for the rest of his life and his relationship with his wife is in jeopardy because he doesn't take her to enough movies.

The mark of a good game developer.

[Hamma]

:lol: I'm sure there is some Jetlag involved as well.

[basti]

Matt, dude, take a break, seriously. You look completly smashed. :D

[Mastachief]

I'm sure that will mostly be jetlag and the 14+ hr days of public attention etc that takes it out of you

[Tatwi]

"Where continents are dozens of square Kms"

Starting off with just one isn't so bad, now is it?

[Mastachief]

"Where continents are dozens of square Kms"

Starting off with just one isn't so bad, now is it?

Certainly sounds better than the 4kmx4km that had been the belief

[basti]

4x4 = 16km²

Thats more than a dozen. and even if ment 2 dozen, it would still be just 5x5=25km²

[Tatwi]

4x4 = 16km²

Thats more than a dozen. and even if ment 2 dozen, it would still be just 5x5=25km²

:(

I forgot about the squared part. Still, the maps in SWG are larger than 5x5 Kms so I would imagine that Smed's comment "seamless on a scale you've never seen before" is more along the lines of 25x25 Kms.

[basti]

:(

I forgot about the squared part. Still, the maps in SWG are larger than 5x5 Kms so I would imagine that Smed's comment "seamless on a scale you've never seen before" is more along the lines of 25x25 Kms.

That would be indeed epic.

In all those years playing games, i figured that in every game you have the same issue: Bigger map = Harder to capture. With something like 25x25, a single continent would be much bigger than cyssor is these days, and with the territory system instead of the lattience, taking such a continent entierly is pretty much impossible, even if you have all 333 guys of your empire in outfits working well together.

Such big maps would even make more sense with sancs on them. it wouldnt matter anymore at some point. Hmmm. :)

[FIREk]

Matt Higby, whether or not the Red Bull can was only an empty prop, or you actually poured so much liquid sleep into yourself in one go, that was probably the best way to start an interview that I have seen in my life. You're an Internets hero in my book and deserve all the vacation you need.

Now, I may not have played in a while, but since when is PlanetSide 1 "very popular"? ;)

I also love how all the devs stick to the "thousands of players at the same time" statement. They're not jumping between that and "hundreds" or "over a thousand". Makes it all seem real. :)

[Graywolves]

Seeing Higby so worn out makes me almost feel bad for leaving 20 questions for him on Reddit..............


I wonder how the rest of the team is feeling. I think they should all just have one day to chill. And then get back to being our slaves and making our game out NOW!:evil:

[RedKnights]

Matt that is the most balls-awesome start to an interview i've ever seen. Take care of yourself dude. :lol:

This interview was probably the largest treasure-trove of information we have received.

Is it just me but does he look like he is in the middle of development "crunch-time" when everything is just coming together and they're racing to the finish and they're actually able to in-house play-test the game extensively. The probability of seeing the beta before the end of the year looks better and better.

I'm never complaining about not having information or more screen-caps ever again, they look utterly beaten <.<

[Mastachief]

That would be indeed epic.

In all those years playing games, i figured that in every game you have the same issue: Bigger map = Harder to capture. With something like 25x25, a single continent would be much bigger than cyssor is these days, and with the territory system instead of the lattience, taking such a continent entierly is pretty much impossible, even if you have all 333 guys of your empire in outfits working well together.

Such big maps would even make more sense with sancs on them. it wouldnt matter anymore at some point. Hmmm. :)


I see what you are saying but surely to be "on a scale never seen before" they need to eclipse cyssor a few times over. Also as you say with this whole foothold base thing the maps are going to need to be epically huge.

[EASyEightyEight]

I see what you are saying but surely to be "on a scale never seen before" they need to eclipse cyssor a few times over. Also as you say with this whole foothold base thing the maps are going to need to be epically huge.

Maybe not epicly huge. Maybe mashing Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms together huge, and if that isn't big enough, bring down Northrend :p.

Well... I'd be greatly amused to be storming across Azeroth in a Marauder anyway.

[Bags]

After that interview I think Matt Higby is now my favorite dev. Sorry Robin Walker.

Chuggin' red bull during an interview like a boss.

[EASyEightyEight]

And he still nearly spilled the beans. Darn. You know he had warning sirens going off in his head. That vacation might have been permanent if he didn't catch himself, though it does seem they have a good idea of when the beta will be, they're just not confident in telling us yet.

[RedKnights]

And he still nearly spilled the beans. Darn. You know he had warning sirens going off in his head. That vacation might have been permanent if he didn't catch himself, though it does seem they have a good idea of when the beta will be, they're just not confident in telling us yet.

As much as I want them to I don't want them to tell us when BETA will be I want them to just one day go ahead and be like "Hey guys, stop fighting on Ceryshen and download PS2" and watch the populations fluctuate madly.

[FIREk]

Is it just me but does he look like he is in the middle of development "crunch-time" when everything is just coming together and they're racing to the finish and they're actually able to in-house play-test the game extensively. The probability of seeing the beta before the end of the year looks better and better.

The Gamescom expo itself is really tiring in itself, so I don't suppose crunch mode is the direct reason of Matt looking completely obliterated.

And I'm afraid that crunch time (even if the devs were in crunch mode right now) doesn't have to point towards seeing a beta sooner, nor later. They might be working towards finishing a milestone, which may not even be a playable alpha version yet.

On the other hand, what we've seen so far looks mighty playable, and seems to be in alpha stage, internal testing and all. ;)

[Lunarchild]

From what I gathered he was pulled right out of another convention to go to GamesCom last minute. So I am quite sure it wasn't crunch mode of the development type. Still, getting flown around like that really is more exhausting than a development crunch.

Regardless, yes they are internally playtesting it, so it is playable to a certain degree. The devs have been taunting us with that through twitter for a bit now ;)

[Xaine]

He SO NEARLY gave some sort of guess at release/beta, did you see that?

He came so close to saying something. That was the sleep deprivation kicking in right there, you can almost see him going "Yeah, BETA you say? Sure thats around Novemb..." then the Red Bull kicks in and is like NO. NO DATE GIVING FOR YOU.

[Lunarchild]

He SO NEARLY gave some sort of guess at release/beta, did you see that?

He came so close to saying something. That was the sleep deprivation kicking in right there, you can almost see him going "Yeah, BETA you say? Sure thats around Novemb..." then the Red Bull kicks in and is like NO. NO DATE GIVING FOR YOU.

You should know that even if he accidentally did, that piece would've been cut out and we'd still not know ;)

[Timey]

He's almost as handsome as me, good for him!

[Xaine]

You should know that even if he accidentally did, that piece would've been cut out and we'd still not know ;)

Can you not ruin my dreams please.

Like, can you just..

not.

[FIREk]

Still, getting flown around like that really is more exhausting than a development crunch.

I assume it's more immediately exhausting (as I've never flown so fa as to experience jet lag), but crunch time exhausts you in the long term and leaves more collateral damage... :(

You should know that even if he accidentally did, that piece would've been cut out and we'd still not know ;)

Yup, stuff like that needs to be approved by the developer/publisher before it can be released. Unless someone practices dirty pseudo-journalism, of course.

[Lunarchild]

I assume it's more immediately exhausting (as I've never flown so far as to experience jet lag), but crunch time exhausts you in the long term and leaves more collateral damage... :(

True, but doing these interviews at cons around the work is basically like traveling + crunch ;)

Can you not ruin my dreams please.

Like, can you just..

not.
Well... it is still possible that some stuff slips by accidentally. And if he accidentally does so at a live QA session that will definitely get the word out quickly... It's not all gone ^_^

[basti]

Erm, guys, the game is already in alpha testing, and playable. It seems they are just doing more artwork and getting systems in the game atm. Beta may not be this or next month, but im pretty sure we will see it THIS year!

[Bruttal]

Poor mat, keep up the good work bud. and go get some SLEEP!.

[TheHalekTheory]

WE WANT THE GAME SOON HIGBY!!! OR ALL YOUR RED BULL ARE BELONG TO US!!!

[Straws]

I see what you are saying but surely to be "on a scale never seen before" they need to eclipse cyssor a few times over. Also as you say with this whole foothold base thing the maps are going to need to be epically huge.

Be careful with that thinking.

First, Smedly has the tendancy to shoot into hyperbole. No idea if he does it intentionally to get attention or his personal excitement gets the better of him, but I have really learnt to take what he says with a huge grain of salt.

The size of the maps, and the statement "on a scale you've never seen before" or not necessarily linked. That phrase is being used in regards to the scale of the battles, the amount of players involved and the spread of those players. The selling point for PS1 (other than "what side are you on?" of course) was it's "unpresidented scale", and even at that time, those maps were small for an MMO.

Also, in regards to the size of the maps needing to be larger than PS1, I understand that desire, but remember that even though PS1 maps were 16km², we didn't use 16km² of land. On a regular basis, we probably use about 4km² for active battles on each map. Occasionally we use a bit more, but not often. The territory system, even when applied to the PS1 maps, would automatically result in "larger gameplay" as you battle on more of the terrain.

We don't need all the maps to be larger than Cyssor, but it wouldn't hurt for a couple to be exceptionally large, but we'll need some small ones with a lot of height like Searhus and Ceryshen too.

[Higby]

That was relatively early on the last day of the show, so I was dragging a little bit. It's a combination of several factors: jetlag, early mornings, late nights and delicious, delicious german beer.

[Straws]

How long have you been working on the PS2 project now Matt? Or rather, how long without a significant personal holiday?

[Higby]

How long have you been working on the PS2 project now Matt? Or rather, how long without a significant personal holiday?

I had a couple weeks off in February for my 2nd wedding (with my wife's family in Malaysia), so, not too long. I do have a nice long vacation scheduled for *censored*, so I'm looking forward to that.

[Straws]

That's good then. I recall when MMOs was a relatively new concept for design houses. They would work the same way they would for normal offline games (i.e. to the hilt until release), then suddenly realising that the release of a MMO isn't the end of things.

So they would drill themselves into the ground up to release, then either have that time off, which results in "issues" with the game for too long after release (see WoW issues at release) or the developers ended up almost catatonic as they struggle to find their post release second wind.

I'm sure deadline day will still lead to some insane hours, but hopefully SOE has learnt to be a bit more leanient now considering the nature of MMO development.

[Raymac]

I had a couple weeks off in February for my 2nd wedding (with my wife's family in Malaysia), so, not too long. I do have a nice long vacation scheduled for *censored*, so I'm looking forward to that.

You are such a tease dude. :rofl:

The beginning of that interview totally reminded me of John Belushi in Animal House. "Thanks, I needed that."

[Zulthus]

I had a couple weeks off in February for my 2nd wedding (with my wife's family in Malaysia), so, not too long. I do have a nice long vacation scheduled for *censored*, so I'm looking forward to that.

I imagine you'll deserve it. Around what time will you be back?

[TheHalekTheory]

@Higby Ok, so my only concern is with the "Flashy" kill streak messages. Combat Arms has it and its annoying when it pops up in the middle of a fight. How is this going to go down in the next release? Will it be in a corner, or will it flash across the middle of the screen? And was this a Sony design option, or is it being incorporated due to player feedback?

[basti]

That was relatively early on the last day of the show, so I was dragging a little bit. It's a combination of several factors: jetlag, early mornings, late nights and delicious, delicious german beer.

What beer exactly? ;)

[Baron]

I had a couple weeks off in February for my 2nd wedding (with my wife's family in Malaysia), so, not too long. I do have a nice long vacation scheduled for *censored*, so I'm looking forward to that.

Where in Malaysia Matt? The company I work for has an office in Kuala Lumpur, I've already been twice this year! Pretty cool place, gotta watch out for the Beach Club tho ;)

[Xaine]

I imagine you'll deserve it. Around what time will you be back?

I see what you're doing there. You crafty bastard you. :P

You're not the only one looking forward to your vacation Mr Higby, we're all eagerly awaiting your departure :P.

Tell us where you're going and we can all buy you several kegs of German beer.

[Tikuto]

When i first heard of PlanetSide years ago, i didnt see all these interviews and dev tracks, keeping up-to-date with development and all the rest. The bomb of it landing on me was so significant to my start of planetside. i first heard througha friend, and it sounded awesome. i played and loved since. this, however, is like stimulating expectation for the worse to happen. i not particularly keen on the thought of sumbitting to demands to 'see more' about PS2... :( It's like giving-in to a problem-child.

[Grimster]

Yeah got to say that the coverage around Planetside 2 seems a lot different from at least what I can remember from Planetside.

Of course back in 2003 there weren't as many gaming new sites and etc around but still. :)

[Tigersmith]

Yeah got to say that the coverage around Planetside 2 seems a lot different from at least what I can remember from Planetside.

Of course back in 2003 there weren't as many gaming new sites and etc around but still. :)

Lets just say. Social Media is a marketing divisions dream. You know how fast anything goes through twitter now a days? god. soo fast.

They need to get a twitter account up for PS2. :) Im pretty sure they have this link already locked down.

http://www.twitter.com/Planetside2

[Malorn]

2003 also had no facebook, youtube, or twitter. Broadband wasn't as broad, and even cell phones were only recently taking off. Now many people have the interwebs 24/7 on their phones, attention spans are shorter than ever, and you're some sort of caveman if you don't have high-speed internet.

It's a whole different world. I can't remember what life was like without a smart phone and can't even fathom not having a cell phone at all. We are definitely rapidly approaching Zombie Apocalypse. In the meantime, Planetside 2....

[p0intman]

Tired? Hell yes he is. I bet the timezone difference has been murder on him between the US and Germany.

[Infektion]

Higby looks annihilated. I'm sure answering the same questions over and over again going through his whole schpeel of what PS is gets tiring after awhile. He looks as if will be permanently exhausted for the rest of his life and his relationship with his wife is in jeopardy because he doesn't take her to enough movies.

The mark of a good game developer.

What wife? A good game developer has a shameful tan line of where his wedding band used to be, just like a CEO. :rofl:

[Gandhi]

Tired? Hell yes he is. I bet the timezone difference has been murder on him between the US and Germany.
Speaking from experience it's even worse going from here to the US, because you "lose" time during the trip. Take off in Frankfurt at 10 AM and land in the western US 9 hours later... at 11 AM... :ugh:

[Kurtz]

I had a couple weeks off in February for my 2nd wedding (with my wife's family in Malaysia), so, not too long. I do have a nice long vacation scheduled for *censored*, so I'm looking forward to that.

Well played!

[Raymac]

2003 also had no facebook, youtube, or twitter. Broadband wasn't as broad, and even cell phones were only recently taking off. Now many people have the interwebs 24/7 on their phones, attention spans are shorter than ever, and you're some sort of caveman if you don't have high-speed internet.

It's a whole different world. I can't remember what life was like without a smart phone and can't even fathom not having a cell phone at all. We are definitely rapidly approaching Zombie Apocalypse. In the meantime, Planetside 2....

You are absolutely right. I first heard about Planetside when I was talking to a friend of mine. I still remember the exact conversation. It was late May / early June 2003, and I said, "I wish there was a game that was a shooter like CounterStrike, except on a bigger scale like Everquest, and with vehicles and stuff. That would be rad."

I'll never forget his reply, "I think there is a game like that called Planetstar or something." My gaming life hasn't been the same since. Had I not had that conversation, I don't know if/when I would have ever heard about Planetside. The media the sequel is already getting is an excellent sign of things to come. It's a whole different world indeed.

[Graywolves]

@Higby,

I know you're here, I know you're reading this. I am everywhere. (jk lol)

Check your reddit plx? I posted 20 questions a week ago and I'm starting to feel like a puppy whom you left the radio on for but it's an annoying talk show radio station and now I'm running around the house barking and ripping everything apart.


:groovy:

I just love that emoticon I don't know why.

:love:
Graywolves

-edit- I know you're busy and that you'll get around to it. I'm just annoying.

[p0intman]

I don't like what higby is doing with the 'class' structure still. I don't want to be confined to one role during a fight. I want to be able to carry a medical pack and a rocket rifle with me, because I fucking love the rocket rifle as much as I do my medical device.

let ME choose what to carry. Don't cater to people who are unorganised gits and can't take on a well-built and cohesive team that knows wtf we're doing.

Basically, fuck this confined to one role shit. Fuck what he said in that interview.

[FIREk]

You seem to be mistaking Battlefield Bad Company 2-style classes with tons of equipment options with Team Fortress 2.

[Bags]

Actually, TF2 has so many weapons now the classes can all pretty much do the same shit any more.