Q: Did you ever consider adding planetary terrain levels to the game to add variety?  Why or why not?

A: It actually came down to the fact that the story of our game took place on spaceships and never had planets written in the design. Unfortunately Quake III isn’t conducive for making terrain type levels, so not having terrain worked in our favor.

Q: There has been a lot published about the fact Voyager cast members are lending their voices to the game.  How are conversations handled with NPCs?  Are the conversations pretty short and sweet, or is there quite a lot of in-game dialogue?  Does the game move to a cinematic camera angle when these conversations are taking place so the action is paused?

A: We have A LOT of dialogue and the conversations range from short to very long -- our script was over 400 pages. But most of the conversations are NPCs talking amongst themselves and if the player is there with them they will acknowledge him, but the player can free roam and doesn’t have to stand around and listen. Our goal was to make the NPCs seem real, so they go about normal activities and conversations but the player doesn’t have to stay or be locked into listening to them. 

Conversations that directly involve the player use in-game cinematics, but we do those only when the player character has spoken dialogue or we want them to pay particular attention to the storyline or information they are receiving. We are very proud of how dialogue intensive the game is and we want the player to feel like he/she is in a real environment with real people.

Q: One of the fact sheets for the game promises that players will be required to make "moral decisions."   From what I understand, you are going to allow players to actually interrupt scripted story sequences, right?  I'm intrigued with this concept because conventional design wisdom has thus far indicated that in order for an action game to include scripted sequences, the player needs to be in a controlled environment.  For instance, if a character in the game is supposed to die at a certain point in a scripted sequence for story purposes, you can't really let the player alter the outcome. 

So, how are you handling these plot progression issues whilst allowing players the freedom to interrupt and alter scripted story elements?

A: We do have alternate outcomes based on the player’s actions but they are very controlled. We also have our ICARUS scripting system, designed for this game.  It allows us to remove a character in a later event if he/she gets killed. Also, your teammates will react with different dialogue depending on if you saved a teammate on a previous mission.

I guess what I’m saying is that our scripting system is very advanced and can handle all of these alternate outcomes. From the player's point of view, the game flows along normally and everything seems to happen naturally as if it were one linear story and dialogue. In fact, we have many branching story elements and different outcomes, and this will be evident when players begin to talk to each other about their experiences in the game.

There can be different solutions to puzzles or different outcomes to events based on the player’s actions or inactions. There can even be a different outcome on a later level depending on how well or poorly you play. The beauty of this design system is to not create a game with a lot of replayability (although it has) but rather create a game that will tailor to the type of player you are and therefore create a much more rewarding gaming experience for the individual.