 Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Blade Runner is the blocky character graphics. Please explain to our readers why the characters look this way. What happened?
 The characters in Blade Runner are actually being rendered by your 2D blitter [a special co-processor for fast graphic rendering -ed]. The technology allows for characters with tens of thousands of "polygons" to be rendered in real time by a normal Pentium 90. The problem is that each frame of every animation is stored with most of the math pre-calculated. That makes it fast, but it also means they take up a bunch of space. The technology depends on MANY polygons since each is a solid filled, single color polygon. When there are enough of them, the effect is amazing. If there are too few, then it falls apart and looks "blocky". The method we used allowed for real time lighting effects that were necessary for Blade Runner. I just wish we had ten times the CD space and 4 times the RAM to make all the characters look even better than the main character. Toward the end of the development, we decided it was more important not to have to keep swapping disks than it was for the technology to look the best it could. At Westwood we always favor game play over glitz. I think people would have been much more frustrated if they had to keep swapping CDs. I still think it was the right decision, even if it was less impressive.
Creating a game is always a tradeoff between technology and gameplay. Compare and contrast both factors in relation to Blade Runner. Some would argue you placed too much emphasis on technology in this game at the expense of solid gameplay. Fact or fiction?
Gameplay always wins in my mind. Without stunning environments and incredible audio, the game would not be Blade Runner. We took the compromise on the characters to make the game play the best it could, and I have no regrets.
If you could change one thing about Blade Runner now that it has been released, what would it be and why?
Dektora's death scene. It just did not come off the way we planned. I would have probably had her shot right out the window and not have her run around so much. I should note, there are very few other things I would change. I would have probably shown gameplay to the public at E3 and ECTS, but there were many other factors in that decision.
Is Westwood looking at doing another Blade Runner adventure game? Do you have the rights to such a title?
We have the rights, and are considering it. I can't promise a sequel just yet, but I'm fairly certain we will do another real-time 3D adventure game.
Since the game's release, have you heard from Ridley Scott, Harrison Ford or anyone else involved with the production of the movie? If so, I'd be interested to hear their reactions.
We have heard from a few. All accounts have been very positive. Unfortunately, I don't think it would be right to quote an endorsement without their consent.
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