Multiplayer and technical issues

Firingsquad: How will online multiplayer be handled? If there is competitive multiplayer, how will you address the cheating issue?

(Keelan) Multiplayer games have always had a problem with cheating (take Diablo for example), and we realize that no matter how hard we try to make Revenant un-hackable, some smart alec out there is going to figure out a way to do it, but here's how we're going to curb their ability to do so: First, all of the statistical information that is required to see whether or not you successfully cast a spell, hit an enemy with your sword, et cetera, will be verified on the server. Next, all player-characters inventories' can be modified by the host prior to their entering the game, so that unwanted (or unfair) items are left "at the door." As for internet play, Revenant will be hosted on MPlayer initially, but eventually, we would like to see individuals setting up their own servers and creating worlds of their own in a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) format.

That's a scary looking monster

Is Locke wearing a Santa hat?

Firingsquad: Will the game include 3D sound? A3D? EAX?

(Keelan) Yes! Revenant does utilize 3D, positional audio. Even better is the support for hardware acceleration of spatialized audio on devices like the Sound Blaster Live! or Aureal boards. Also, since we are using the Miles Sound System, it was a snap to add A3D and EAX support. In the case of EAX, we were able to make it sound like you're in a cave when Locke is in a cave. It's quite impressive.

Locke gets tossed aside

Hail to the king, baby

Firingsquad: Any 3Dnow! optimization? SSE?

(Keelan) Our software renderer uses 3Dnow! for some optimizations, but the rest of the game is built to run best on Pentium-MMX and Pentium II processors

Treasure for me

Stairway to heaven

Firingsquad: You mention having a day/night cycle - how does this figure into the gameplay? Different monsters at diff times of day?

(Rex) The day/night cycle is mostly for ambience, but we are working on having it effect monster visibility ranges. For example certain monsters would have better or worse range of sight based on whether it was night or day. There may also be some sub-quests that involve the day and night cycles.

A quaint little pond

Is that an empty swimming pool?