Savage 2 Interview (con't)

FiringSquad: What other gameplay additions and improvements have been put into Savage 2?

Marc DeForest: While other RTS elements were added to the game, we have limited the commander’s ability to ruin a match for their entire team. With the addition of the builder units, in the event a team has a lousy commander, action players can take it upon themselves to pool gold and build the necessary structures to gain access to better weaponry, items, and units.

We’ve also added team experience. Now your team, as well as your character, level up. An addition to leveling up, for both individual players and the team, is the ability to increase base factors of health, regeneration, armor, damage, and mana. Each level 3 percentage points are granted to allot to any of the above mentioned factors. In example, a level 5 character could have a 15% increase in health (5 levels, 3 points each level all put into health bonus) as well as 15% more damage (the commander could have used all 15 percentage points for damage bonus).

One big complaint about Savage 1 was the learning curve (which we hope to solve through better interface and tutorials). Along with the large learning curve was the frustration of getting owned while you were trying to pick up the basics. Now, not only did we add a tutorial and a much more intuitive and informative interface, but we also have allowed server admins to set their servers experience level. Each account (all players play through a single account) has persistent experience, meaning all the experience they have earned in all their matches played is tallied to their overall account experience. While this doesn’t give any player an advantage over another, it allows other players and servers to see their experience level. We can then have groups of servers for lower level, medium level, higher level, and expert level players. This will allow everyone to compete against players with similar game experience and skill.

I could go on and on with this question but I’ll discuss one more gameplay addition and call it quits :) Items play a role in all matches, items like health packs, mana packs, damage boosters, etc… Additionally to items that can be purchased in the loadout screen are item drops. Higher level NPCs and players have a chance of dropping a slightly more powerful and rare item. Now keep in mind, player skill is the most important aspect to doing well in Savage 2. Therefore, no single item (or level) will give any player an overly distinct advantage over another. So, while these items won’t guarantee you victory over your opponent they could offer just that slight difference to edge you forward in a skirmish. With the addition of persistent items you can now save up to 5 of these items in your players vault. When you enter a server to join a match you may then pull 2 of these items to bring with you. When you exit a match you may then save items retrieved during the match.


FiringSquad: How will the game's matchmaking and multiplayer server features work?

Marc DeForest: Each player (account) in Savage 2 retains persistent stats from game to game. In each match a player earns experience and that experience from match to match is pooled into overall account experience. This experience is used to tally a “level” associated with that account and give us some sort of understanding of that player’s ability and play experience. This is a key feature in breaking matches up into levels. This means there will be servers set up for level 1-10, 11-25, 26-40, and 41+ Higher level players can join lower level matches but a handicap will be applied to their stats allowing newer players the chance to learn the ropes without getting annihilated by seasoned players.

The master server / match list will be very familiar to FPS gamers and will have the standard filter tools to find a match that suits them perfectly.


FiringSquad: What are some of the cooler graphical features in the game?

Marc DeForest: Savage 2 is developed on our proprietary K2 Engine. The engine allows for dynamic self shadowing, point lighting, complex pixel shaders and many other features that are found on today’s most advanced engines.


FiringSquad: Will there be any mod support for Savage 2 like there was for the original?

Marc DeForest: We will allow modding with full release of the SDK. However, we will not allow small minor changes to the Savage 2 gameplay. We expect mods to be full conversions of the original game. We have a few unique ways to motivate our community into making mods, including big contests and income opportunities.


FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the progress towards the game's beta test?

Marc DeForest: We have about 95% of the games art assets completed and we’re feverishly working to complete a few programming challenges and we expect to hit our date of July 31 for initiation of the beta phase of development.


FiringSquad: Is everything still on track for the game to be released this fall?

Marc DeForest: We are currently shooting for a Nov 15 launch date and have confidence that we will hit it. However, we will not sacrifice quality and polish to hit that date.


FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Savage 2?

Marc DeForest: Savage 1 was a game that is LOVED by its current fan base. It was very unique in its gameplay and offered players something new, different and exciting. However, the execution was not perfect. It was our first go ‘round at game development. We have identified any shortcomings Savage 1 may have had, we have identified a lot of additional gameplay features that would make a sequel more exciting, and we’ve dedicated ourselves to putting out one of the greatest games of 2006 and beyond. If you want to play something that is fun, looks great, and offers endless replayability, you must give Savage 2 a try. If you tried Savage 1 and weren’t 100% sold, you must try Savage 2, while it is based upon the same core concept of Savage 1, it picks up MANY of the fallen pieces. If you played Savage 1 and loved Savage 1, Savage 2 will be all of Savage 1 plus a whole lot more.