MMORPG PlanetSide 2 Interviews: The Hardcore Interview

[Eyeklops]

The Hardcore Interview with Higby (http://www.mpog.com/gamelist.cfm/game/599/feature/6145/PlanetSide-2-The-Hardcore-Interview.html)
http://images.mmorpg.com/features/6145/images/PS2-1_t.jpghttp://images.mmorpg.com/features/6145/images/PS2-2_t.jpghttp://images.mmorpg.com/features/6145/images/PS2-3_t.jpghttp://images.mmorpg.com/features/6145/images/PS2-4_t.jpg

Updated:

Already here:

http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/viewer.php?img_id=1916
http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/viewer.php?img_id=1917
http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/viewer.php?img_id=1918

http://www.planetside-universe.com/news-new-interview-with-matt-higby-2700.htm

[Geist]

<3 Forgelight.

[Hamma]

oOoOo nice!

Posting up.

[Ailos]

OOooh.... Those two screenies in the middle are new...

[Mastachief]

some of those screenies look awesome

[SpLiTNuTz]

<3 Forgelight.

This.

[Hmr85]

That 3rd image. What is that a Antenna on that Sunderer? With that said, it was a pretty decent interview. The screenshots though are "omg beautiful". I cannot wait to get in there.

[CrystalViolet]

Love hearing about the techy stuff. Great interview!

[Coreldan]

Holy fuckin hell! Those look absolutely amazing!

Didnt even get far enough to read the interview yet lol.

[Was_Ash_Emerald]

Wow... all those NC vehicles moving in at once is the best screenshot so far!

I really hope the final game will support moving 200+ people in vehicle convoys like that.

[Vash02]

Models are looking awesome.

Leaves look a bit odd though.

[Snowfake]

2nd Picture down = OS TARGET!!

[duomaxwl]

Mmmm. They're so blue in those top pictures. <3

[Sabrak]

If only we could get pics 2 and 3 in higher quality, we could show those BF fanboys that no, PS2 isn't a Battlefield wannabe: we have more tanks at once :D

(Yeah yeah, I know that's not the only difference)

[Xaine]

Sexy screen shots.

WTB GDC beta announcement plx!

[Hmr85]

I love the wear and tear on the vehicles. The attention to detail they have put into this game is amazing. Forge light is amazing. Hopefully that dust on the Sunderer builds up over time as your moving around.

[SniperSteve]

Yeah, that third screenshot is rather epic.

[Eyeklops]

If only we could get pics 2 and 3 in higher quality

You can, go to the article and click on the picture.

[Sabrak]

You can, go to the article and click on the picture.

Oh. Right.

I didn't try that. Thanks!

[Hamma]

Re-posted on PSU as well:

http://www.planetside-universe.com/news-new-interview-with-matt-higby-2700.htm

[Eyeklops]

Those plants in the ATV pic look like they could bite a chunk out of your ass if you get too close. Like the plants in Bulletstorm

[Xaine]

Those plants in the ATV pic look like they could bite a chunk out of your ass if you get too close. Like the plants in Bulletstorm

I still wake up screaming.

Something about carnivorous plants scares the shit out of me.

[Eyeklops]

Having stationary maneating plants could be fun. The thought of tracking down a sniper, who happens to be camping just a bit too close to a maneating plant, and kicking him into it gives me a chubby.

But if SOE ever do something like this, I wanna hear some nasty bone snapping effects /w screams. The kinds of sound effects that make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Something like a metal file grinding against bone with a nice crisp "snap & crunch & chew" kind of sound.

[LightningNoob]

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/6145/images/PS2-2_t.jpg

The Galaxies in this shot have different degrees of color!
Top left Galaxy is almost all grey. The others appear to have more blue & yellow.
I'm assuming this is a direct reflection of "Higher Rank = More Color"
:D

[Eyeklops]

The Galaxies in this shot have different degrees of color!
Top left Galaxy is almost all grey. The others appear to have more blue & yellow.
I'm assuming this is a direct reflection of "Higher Rank = More Color"
:D

Good catch. Could the differences also be outfit graphics?

[PoisonTaco]

Another thing I noticed with the screen showing all the vehicles was that if you look at the tanks off in the distance they have much less detail than the ones in the front. I mean obviously this is a given, but hopefully this is what the devs are talking about when it comes to scalability. When you're up close everything looks good, but from far away the visual quality goes down.

Hopefully this means battles won't turn into slideshows.

[Warborn]

Another thing I noticed with the screen showing all the vehicles was that if you look at the tanks off in the distance they have much less detail than the ones in the front. I mean obviously this is a given, but hopefully this is what the devs are talking about when it comes to scalability. When you're up close everything looks good, but from far away the visual quality goes down.

Hopefully this means battles won't turn into slideshows.

Dynamic level of detail is pretty standard for all types of games.

[Vagabond]

Beta now please :(

[RovingDeath]

Pic 2: OMG OMG OMG OMG

My reaction brought people to my cubicle to see wtf is going on

[Ragotag]

The quoted statement by the PS2 project Technical Director (Ryan Elam) in that interview concerning client-side hit detection / server-side hit verification mechanics for thousands of player simultaneously as an extreme challenge that they have already "licked" is huge in my book. EA/DICE can't even get that right in Battlefield 3 with a max of 64 players in a tiny non-persistent world.

[Eighm]

I liked the article, and the shot with the convoy and galaxies was awesome. I wonder if the squad leader perks will be a tree separate from class skills or if you'll have to give up perks for yourself to benefit your squad.

[Jennyboo]

Super exciting!!!

[Xamublack]

Why would they do that to the Vanguard? The old M1 style model was one of our favorites and really fit with the 'heavy hitting' theme of the NC.

[Mordicant]

I noticed something about squad spawning, has this been discussed somewhere else? I don't know but something about that is odd to me.

EDIT: forgot, OMG OMG SQUEEEE THE SCREENSHOTS ARE AWESOME.

[SUBARU]

Why would they do that to the Vanguard? The old M1 style model was one of our favorites and really fit with the 'heavy hitting' theme of the NC.

???????http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/main/psnext/l78x.jpg

[texico]

^ Squad spawning I heard was far down the leadership skill tree, only a squad leader can do it and it's on a cooldown.

I think it's being designed as a little mechanic that a few people can use occasionally and not as a primary spawning method for an empire.

[DayOne]

Even if squad spawning isn't on a cool down (and it shouldn't be) it would not be too OP if it was the new form of drop podding. Susceptible to AA of course.

[Mordicant]

Okay, thanks that was what I was unsure about.

[Bags]

Wow, some amazing screenshots. I got the bigger ones reuploaded.
http://i.imgur.com/DoSzh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7vtzR.jpg

[Hamma]

Already here:

http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/viewer.php?img_id=1916
http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/viewer.php?img_id=1917
http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/viewer.php?img_id=1918

[Bags]

Oh, they're not showing up in the media page, hamma. i have it bookmarked.

[MonsterBone]

"Also, since you have a gun and so does everyone else, the time period when that many people would be in front of you and still breathing is limited by the size of your clip as much as your clip plane."

Now that is a GREAT ANSWER LOL!

[Hamma]

Oh, they're not showing up in the media page, hamma. i have it bookmarked.

hmm - they are here:

http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/index.php?cat_id=123&page=4

[Bags]

Oh, I have the Twitter library bookmarked. Whoops.

[Infektion]

Did anyone else try to figure out which AMS matches the ground and aerial shot?

[Vash02]

Another thing to add:
Still no secondary gun for the Vanguard? I'm wondering how they will pull that off.

[Raymac]

"Also, since you have a gun and so does everyone else, the time period when that many people would be in front of you and still breathing is limited by the size of your clip as much as your clip plane."

Now that is a GREAT ANSWER LOL!

Yeah that is an epic quote! Ryan is a pimp.

Also, I'm really excited for the reactions of people after they see the GDC demo. I have a feeling the gaming world will walk out of there thinking "Mother of God".

[Coreldan]

I thought that was Ryan, not Higby saying that?

Another thing to add:
Still no secondary gun for the Vanguard? I'm wondering how they will pull that off.

Also "concerned" about this. It's been like that for a long time now.

[Evilmp]

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/6145/images/PS2-3_t.jpg

To the person that set this screenshot up:

You have talent.

[Timealude]

The Galaxies in this shot have different degrees of color!
Top left Galaxy is almost all grey. The others appear to have more blue & yellow.
I'm assuming this is a direct reflection of "Higher Rank = More Color"
:D

actually i think the blue and yellow ones are libs not gals.

[Raymac]

I thought that was Ryan, not Higby saying that?



Ah, you are right as always, Core. Good call.

[Coreldan]

Dear Higgles,

any chance we could get high res/full size versions of those pictures. They are pieces of art and they are dying to end up as my wallpaper.

Yours sincerely,
Core

[TerminatorUK]

"We expect the game to launch running at good frame rates on any Shader Model 3.0 or higher video card"

Awesome - so we'll get a great framerate on an NVIDIA 6800 GTX then?

[Xamublack]

???????http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/main/psnext/l78x.jpg

I guess the new Vanguard isn't as different as I remember, but I think the overall shape just gives it the appearance of being less 'massive'.

I would have liked a larger more centered turret like the M1, but that's just a minor nitpick.

[EVILoHOMER]

Wow... all those NC vehicles moving in at once is the best screenshot so far!

I really hope the final game will support moving 200+ people in vehicle convoys like that.

None of them are moving, it's obvious they've just been spawned and are static, you can tell from the gun turret positions.

Also the trees are copied and pasted all right next to each other, I mean at least have some different variations next to each other.

[WiteBeam]

That 3rd image. What is that a Antenna on that Sunderer? With that said, it was a pretty decent interview. The screenshots though are "omg beautiful". I cannot wait to get in there.

Are you talking about the turret? Looks like a machinegun. The sunderer that's up ahead a little looks like it has MK-19s on it.

[Shogun]

yeah!

thanks to higgles for getting some technical answers for us!
and the screenshots are the best so far!
now that´s how i want screenshots to be!
they look more and more "planetsidy".
the most shots so far had just a single soldier or vehicle in them, or 2.
i like shots with a lot of units that really reflect how the actual gamingexperience will be.

more of those staged mass-scenes please! they look awsome!

[Chinchy]

"We expect the game to launch running at good frame rates on any Shader Model 3.0 or higher video card"

Awesome - so we'll get a great framerate on an NVIDIA 6800 GTX then?

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I have a computer under my desk with that video card in it I use it as a space heater.

[duomaxwl]

The Galaxies in this shot have different degrees of color!
Top left Galaxy is almost all grey. The others appear to have more blue & yellow.
I'm assuming this is a direct reflection of "Higher Rank = More Color"
:D

Others? I only see one other gal that are the same colors. Aren't the more yellow ones Liberators? Maybe it's the angle, but they look pretty different to me. Just wondering. I could be wrong.

[Coreldan]

None of them are moving, it's obvious they've just been spawned and are static, you can tell from the gun turret positions.

Also the trees are copied and pasted all right next to each other, I mean at least have some different variations next to each other.

I think most of the turrets are pointing at where I'd expect them to point, and they arnt pointing straight forward that you'd at least expect freshly spawned vanguard to point at.

What I think is the biggest giveaway of a static set up is the lack of tracks in the ground.

As for the trees, sure doesnt bother me even if the root-area looks the same in all of them. Just make sure they are sorta turned to different directions, like they mostly are in the screenies.

[Hmr85]

Are you talking about the turret? Looks like a machinegun. The sunderer that's up ahead a little looks like it has MK-19s on it.

Yeah, its the turret. when I was looking at it earlier The rails on the top of the sunderer looked like they went with it. So I was under the assumption it was some form of a antenna. It is not though. I should of just looked at the one off in the distance.

[Johari]

What I'm most excited about is this quote,
"At next week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, we’ll be doing a demo presentation that will show off some of the amazing features that Forgelight provides like incredible massive-scale battles in enormous open continents..."

I'm hoping that video will actually include an incredible massive-scale battle that we can all get the video to. More gameplay the better.

[foam]

I fucking shit my diaper

[foam]

What I'm most excited about is this quote,
"At next week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, we’ll be doing a demo presentation that will show off some of the amazing features that Forgelight provides like incredible massive-scale battles in enormous open continents..."

I'm hoping that video will actually include an incredible massive-scale battle that we can all get the video to. More gameplay the better.

Yes! And hopefully it is an HD ripped video and not some crappy camera recording a projector screen!

[Rubius]

Amazing screenshots!!! But are there no white dudes on Auraxis? All I've seen are black dudes.... in like EVERY screenshot. I know the art director is black and all, but come on man. Over-representation much?

[Crator]

What I'm most excited about is this quote,
"At next week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, we’ll be doing a demo presentation that will show off some of the amazing features that Forgelight provides like incredible massive-scale battles in enormous open continents..."

I'm hoping that video will actually include an incredible massive-scale battle that we can all get the video to. More gameplay the better.

What I find more intriguing about that massive-battles statement is where will the massive amounts of people for that battle come from? I'm thinking beta :)

[SUBARU]

Amazing screenshots!!! But are there no white dudes on Auraxis? All I've seen are black dudes.... in like EVERY screenshot. I know the art director is black and all, but come on man. Over-representation much?

If I was T-ray (the art guy) i would tell you "welcome to my world ,where every game I play the guys are always white" :)
I'm white.To be honest i was thinking the same thing:)

[Ragotag]

"We expect the game to launch running at good frame rates on any Shader Model 3.0 or higher video card"

Awesome - so we'll get a great framerate on an NVIDIA 6800 GTX then?

I haven't heard any mention of the hardware that the Dev's are alpha testing on at present, but IIRC, one of the Dev's mentioned getting consistent 40 FPS during heavy combined arms combat.

[Graywolves]

Amazing screenshots!!! But are there no white dudes on Auraxis? All I've seen are black dudes.... in like EVERY screenshot. I know the art director is black and all, but come on man. Over-representation much?

I didn't really think about it.

I know I can get my avatar to be not far from accuratley representing myself as far as far as that so it doesn't pop out at me.

[Death2All]

On the topic of the GDC presentation....Is GDC a public event in the sense that if they put out a demo/presentation like that, that we'll be able to see it? I'm not really familiar with GDC.


I know all of us would really want to see it.

[Vancha]

On the topic of the GDC presentation....Is GDC a public event in the sense that if they put out a demo/presentation like that, that we'll be able to see it? I'm not really familiar with GDC.


I know all of us would really want to see it.

GDC - Game Developers' Conference. It's more for the industry, but there is a small public presence and you do get videos coming out of it occasionally.

[Hamma]

The SOE event is not public afaik. It's a press event.

[cellinaire]

Another thing I noticed with the screen showing all the vehicles was that if you look at the tanks off in the distance they have much less detail than the ones in the front. I mean obviously this is a given, but hopefully this is what the devs are talking about when it comes to scalability. When you're up close everything looks good, but from far away the visual quality goes down.

Hopefully this means battles won't turn into slideshows.

...@_@a

I'm sorry. But,



been living under a rock or somewhere?

[cellinaire]

I didn't really think about it.

I know I can get my avatar to be not far from accuratley representing myself as far as far as that so it doesn't pop out at me.

I think I've already seen enough of Asian-looking models and the white dudes. Of course, people who did only see some portion of the screenshots and videos released so far might think like that anyway =)

[TerminatorUK]

I haven't heard any mention of the hardware that the Dev's are alpha testing on at present, but IIRC, one of the Dev's mentioned getting consistent 40 FPS during heavy combined arms combat.

Haha, my comment was meant to be sarcastic mate :P The GeForce 6800 GTX was one of the first SM3.0 cards released in 2004/5 (where ATI were quite content for SM2.0 on their Radeon X800 at the time)

Something tells me an AGP system (even dual core) that is 7-8 years old won't run this game especially well ;)

I'm personally running on oc'ed Core i5 750 / Radeon HD 5970 system so I hope for a decent framerate.

Might be upgrading to a GeForce 680 GTX when they launch this year.

[NewSith]

A quick WP made out of one of SShots:

[Synapses]

So I noticed that they TOTALLY dodged the system requirements question throwing out an answer that wasent even asked... Still good info, but it isnt what was asked... Kinda irked me.

[Vancha]

So I noticed that they TOTALLY dodged the system requirements question throwing out an answer that wasent even asked... Still good info, but it isnt what was asked... Kinda irked me.
Well they probably can't say at this point. The system requirements for playing on 5760x1080 will obviously be very different to playing on 1024x768. Not to mention the system requirements may continue to lower as they optimize the engine and such.

[Coreldan]

Probably cos they are still optimizing the game so much, that its near impossible to say. In that case though they couldve just said they cant comment. But theyve said to aim 4-5 hear system as their low end.

[Synapses]

I get that it would be hard to give us exact requirements atm... But I was hoping for a ball park at least. I have plans to build a new system for release thats going to be built so that I can run everything maxed out with decent frames... So the sooner I can find out what I need to do that the better.

Thinking an LGA 2011 system =)

[Ragotag]

I'm personally running on oc'ed Core i5 750 / Radeon HD 5970 system so I hope for a decent framerate.

Might be upgrading to a GeForce 680 GTX when they launch this year.

I just built up a new rig recently, put a single GeForce 560 ti in it, and so far it's run everything I've thrown at it on ultra-high settings. Don't know that I'll bother with the latest and greatest GeForce card when it comes out, especially when I can just slap a second 560 ti in my rig for SLI mode if/when it comes to that. Easier on the wallet this way, yet still get performance.

[Vancha]

If you have an HD4800 or better, or a GTX 260 or better, I'm guessing you'll be fine at 1280x1024/1680x1050, albeit perhaps on lower settings.

[Baron]

The Hardcore Interview with Higby (http://www.mpog.com/gamelist.cfm/game/599/feature/6145/PlanetSide-2-The-Hardcore-Interview.html)
http://images.mmorpg.com/features/6145/images/PS2-2_t.jpg


The flying vehicle closest to our POV is a Liberator ....not Galaxy (distinct "boat-shaped" bottom can be easily seen)

[DayOne]

The flying vehicle closest to our POV is a Liberator ....not Galaxy (distinct "boat-shaped" bottom can be easily seen)

I'll be honest without seeing from the front I really can't tell.

[Baron]

I'll be honest without seeing from the front I really can't tell.

Yes, it looks as if the tail section is perforated...THAT one.

Distinct Wing Angle + Distinct Aileron flaps + Distinct Wing Tips + Signature Bath Tub bottom = Liberator

In fact, the bottom two aircraft (with yellow stripes) are both Liberators

[kertvon]

The libs got me salivating... Gotta have my gunship!!!

[cellinaire]

So I noticed that they TOTALLY dodged the system requirements question throwing out an answer that wasent even asked... Still good info, but it isnt what was asked... Kinda irked me.

Optimization is a constant ongoing effort for PS2 team, and even more so as of late because the launch/beta date is approaching fast. Their engineering team take it very seriously, from what I've heard. So I guess system-spec isn't set in stone yet.

[Shamrock]

Looking really good, keep up the good work Higby and Co.

[Hermes]

Fantastic! Looking forward to those GDC demos :)