News: Lunch interview with Higby: Complete

[NapalmEnima]

Okay! Good lunch, the interview is recorded, and I'll be able to upload it from my phone when I get home tonight (PDT). I'd like to once again thank Matt for agreeing to the interview and bearing with me through the whole list.

Some highlights:

Health & Armor is no more. It's now Health & Shields. You'll have a variety of shields to choose from, trading off max charge, charge rate, and charge delay.

Galaxies can spawn while airborn, and are not limited to spawning a particular squad or platoon. If the pilot has the right cert, you can even spawn in a MAX.

Equipment timers are still present. MAXes will probably have timers.

Vehicle entrance/exit animations are still under discussion.

Some sort of social networking hooks will be present.

The Sunderer & Jackhammer were specifically named.

My 1-hour/110mb audio file should be up tonight with a little luck.

EDIT: I would like it known that Matt did NOT pound a red bull prior to the interview.

Update: News URL and Audio Recording!

http://www.planetside-universe.com/a...higby-2546.htm

[basti]

Recharging shields? Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

Have you not learned from all those FPS? THEY SUCK! Its going to be hop around corner, fire some shots, recive some shots, back to cover and wait till the shield is auto recharched.

Not fun!

[Hamma]

Good stuff Napalm! Thanks for taking the time to do this, hope you took the time to soak it all in it's great talking to game developers - not everyone gets the chance to do that.

[Sirisian]

Was really hoping to have Health, Armor, and activated Shields of different amounts to vary the armor types.

New question. So EMP grenade is now like a must?

[basti]

Originally Posted by Sirisian

Was really hoping to have Health, Armor, and activated Shields of different amounts to vary the armor types.

New question. So EMP grenade is now like a must?

Ohh, didnt think of that. EMP disabeling shields, that could be nice.

[LZachariah]

Thanks Napalm The Shields thing is unfortunate, but not a deal-breaker for me. Most games nowadays have some system wherein your survivability will recover if you stay out of combat long enough (in this case, Shields recharge). Even Bad Company 2 (a fantastic game, and one to which SOE often compares PS2) has a similar system. However, (like Bad Company 2), your base health doesn't fully recover, you need a medic for that. It isn't good news, but I am still absolutely thrilled with how Higby and Smed and T-Ray are so ACTIVELY working with us and talking with us. I've never heard of a game studio that was this in touch with its fan base, and it's going to pay off for them in our wild support of their amazing game.

~Zachariah


Edit- So, are we assuming that Armor is effectively subsumed into Health? As in, thematically, the heavier your armor, the more damage you can take before you die. IE- wearing heavy armor gives you 250 Health, whereas wearing light armor may only give you 150. And Infiltrators might only have 50.

Something like that? That would be ok with me.

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by basti

Recharging shields? Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

Have you not learned from all those FPS? THEY SUCK! Its going to be hop around corner, fire some shots, recive some shots, back to cover and wait till the shield is auto recharched.

Not fun!

Given the success of Halo & Badlands, I'm not overly worried. I enjoyed playing them. It's simply a difference from PS1.

No more hot glue gun to repair armor. The only thing a squad needs is medics. You won't need an engineer (or two) to keep a squad healthy.

I'm okay with that.

Higby also said there's no ongoing health regeneration, a la CoD. Once you're hurt, you stay that way until someone does something about it (including you, with a med kit).

[basti]

Originally Posted by NapalmEnima

Given the success of Halo & Badlands, I'm not overly worried. I enjoyed playing them. It's simply a difference from PS1.

No more hot glue gun to repair armor. The only thing a squad needs is medics. You won't need an engineer (or two) to keep a squad healthy.

I'm okay with that.

Higby also said there's no ongoing health regeneration, a la CoD. Once you're hurt, you stay that way until someone does something about it (including you, with a med kit).

Well thats at least something.

Depens how shields work out in the end. I guess different armors have different sizes for shields, like max got the super heavy ones, agile the light ones, etc. It could work out, as long as you dont need to go throu the entire shield first before damaging health. We shall see, im still in rage. :/


btw: get that audio file uploaded NAW! :P

[Talek Krell]

Originally Posted by Sirisian

New question. So EMP grenade is now like a must?

Oh that is a good question...


I'm willing to entertain the shields instead of armor idea, I don't think it will destroy the game. People are right that we need more details though. I can think of numerous questions already.

1. Will shield strength/charge rate/charge delay vary with armor type then, or will there be variations between shields in each type of armor, or is it both?

2. Will health total vary with armor?

3. Does damage penetrate through shields as it does with armor in the original?

4. Will there be variations to the amount of damage that penetrates depending on what armor or what shield you select?

And that's just off the top of my head.

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by Talek Krell

I can think of numerous questions already.

The live boadcast today has a chat window, and we've got that IRC ask-the-devs thing going tomorrow.

Now whether or not the questions get answered is another matter...

Originally Posted by basti

btw: get that audio file uploaded NAW! :P

I've tried several tricks to get the file off my phone already, to no avail. I'm gonna hit Hamma up and see if he has any suggestions.

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by basti

Recharging shields? Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

Have you not learned from all those FPS? THEY SUCK! Its going to be hop around corner, fire some shots, recive some shots, back to cover and wait till the shield is auto recharched.

Not fun!

I hear ya, but I'm not too freaked out about something like this because all you have to do is look at Planetside 1 now. You pop out, get hit, back behind cover, repair and heal, then pop back out.

I know it's a bit different, but in practice, it sounds extremely similar. No?

EDIT: Oh yeah, and Napalm. you are the freakin MAN! Great job setting this up, organizing it, and then exectuting it. Can't wait to see the whole thing. Well done, sir. Well done.

[DOUBLEXBAUGH]

So with recharging shields replacing the need for engy, if the heavy infantry class has HA/AV I'll be exactly the same as I was in PS 1. The supposedly "one-man-army".

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by DOUBLEXBAUGH

So with recharging shields replacing the need for engy, if the heavy infantry class has HA/AV I'll be exactly the same as I was in PS 1. The supposedly "one-man-army".

Only if you're a medic too.

[DOUBLEXBAUGH]

I used medkits and the regen implant, never had medic

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by DOUBLEXBAUGH

I used medkits and the regen implant, never had medic

LMAO, I thought I was the only one that did that! Right on.

I recently switched away from that and certed Med and got PShield. I like the new one better.