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.
![Revenant Preview [ That's a scary looking monster @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/t-s.jpg) That's a scary looking monster
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![Revenant Preview [ Is Locke wearing a Santa hat? @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/u-s.jpg) Is Locke wearing a Santa hat?
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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.
![Revenant Preview [ Locke gets tossed aside @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/v-s.jpg) Locke gets tossed aside
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![Revenant Preview [ Hail to the king, baby @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/w-s.jpg) Hail to the king, baby
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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
![Revenant Preview [ Treasure for me @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/x-s.jpg) Treasure for me
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![Revenant Preview [ Stairway to heaven @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/y-s.jpg) Stairway to heaven
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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.
![Revenant Preview [ A quaint little pond @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/z-s.jpg) A quaint little pond
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![Revenant Preview [ Is that an empty swimming pool? @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/aa-s.jpg) Is that an empty swimming pool?
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