Ghost Recon Retreat
Ghost Recon 2 E3 Developer Interview
By Anubis | May 21, 2004
Anubis had the opportunity to interview Red Storm's
Christian Allen (Ghost Recon 2 Game Designer)
on behalf of GR Retreat at E3 2004. The following is a
transcript of Christian's spoken answers recorded during an audio interview in the "closed-door"
Ubisoft press area.
Many long-time fans of Red Storm's games recognize Christian Allen by his online handle "Serellan". (Check out
his personal website at Serellan.com) Christian played a big part
in the Rogue Spear community's mod scene and his mods are still available at
The Rooster's Nest. Christian's
hard work and dedication paid off when he was hired by Red Storm in 2002.
For this interview, we requested GR fans to participate by sending in their questions about the
highly-anticipated Ghost Recon 2. We would like to thank our fellow GR fan sites
GhostRecon.net,
GhostReconTwo.com, and
The Platoon, as well as the
official Ubi.com forums
for allowing the GR community to use their forums to submit questions for us to ask Christian at E3.
Let's get on with the interview!
Christian Allen at the GR2 E3 booth
GENERAL GR2 QUESTIONS
GR Retreat: How long has Ghost Recon 2 been in development?
Christian Allen: We’ve been in development for awhile,
since Ubisoft and Red Storm Entertainment realized that the original Ghost Recon title was a hit
with the multiplayer and modding community. Ghost Recon 2 was started when it was apparent that
the community was ready for the next level in gameplay from the Ghost Recon series.
How far along in the development process are you now?
We are very far along. We are scheduled for a holiday release in 2004. We're basically cleaning
and polishing a lot of things up, finishing some levels out, and then we’re basically done.
When GR first appeared, it was a completely different and compelling game
experience from anything else on the market at that time. What will differentiate
GR2 from an already saturated "tactical squad-based combat" market and make this a different
experience from other games?
Well, the Ghost Recon franchise was known for its attention to detail and realism. Ghost Recon 2 is going
to carry that forward, but also add a whole new level of immersion and excitement with the action aspect.
We are not sacrificing the realism to get the action, we’re just ramping up the intensity of the action. The
bullets are just as lethal as GR1, there are just more of them flying around.
What we are really trying to do
is to keep the core elements that made GR1 a popular game and a great game, and
just ramp them up for Ghost Recon 2.
What are some examples of how fan feedback has been used when developing GR2?
One of the things we have been looking at is the medic system to get your Ghosts up and running when they
get incapacitating wounds and not killed. A lot of the feedback taken from that is taken from the community.
We spend a lot of time researching what the community is interested in, reading the forums and seeing what fans
say. We want to incorporate that kind of stuff into the game.
GAMEPLAY
What gameplay features will be included in GR2 which are previously unheard of in the
Ghost Recon series?
The one thing that I'm really excited about is the Dynamic Order System. Ghost Recon always had a
very strong order system for ordering your teammates to do something. Now there is a really dynamic system
that is basically, whatever you’re looking at, your team knows what they need to do. You can point at an
enemy vehicle and give them a command, they will know to take it out. You point at a friendly troop and
you want them to cover that troop - you point at him, and they will know to do it with your command.
You point at weapons, and they know to get on it and take out enemy troops.
The interface is really cool. It has a simple point and click level, but at the next level, it gives a
radial menu. You can give orders like flank commands, suppress orders, and hold positions. It’s got a lot
of power because it’s really simple but you can layer commands on top of others. You can order a right flank
and they move out, then when you think they are in a good position, you order suppressive fire. They start
laying down suppressive fire from where they are at, then you could advance under the cover their fire.
Not only is simple, accessible and really easy to use, it has a deep tactical flexibility in combat.
How will GR2 increase my immersion and make me feel like I'm in the game?
One of the things we are doing is character development. The characters in GR2 are going to be real people.
You will be able to identify with them. They will give feedback during the mission, calling out intelligence
and giving tactical tips. They will also talk to each other. They won't be faceless soldiers. They are actual
Ghost team members that will be backing you up.
It’s a really different experience from what we have seen
in the past. As you advance in the campaign, you will get to know each character. They will also have
individual voices and a unique look to each character. We spent a lot of time with our sound experts to really
develop those characters.
Will any of the specialists from GR1 return? What can you tell us about the new ones?
There are a lot of new specialists, and some old faces showing their colors,
but I don’t want to give anything away yet. I want it to be a surprise.
We've noticed in the E3 demo that the team you lead in GR2 has been reduced to four soldiers
from GR1's 6-man team. What's the rationale behind this?
We chose this for gameplay and realism reasons, as well as a desire to put as much attention to detail
in the individual characters as possible. Check out the tats on Salvatore! By focusing things down to
four soldiers, we were able to focus on the classic four-man fire team,
and really balancing out the different roles on the team.
"Check out the tats on Salvatore!"
One of the new gameplay features we've heard about is calling in airstrikes.
Can you tell us what kind of air support will be available?
Right now we have F35 Joint Strike Fighters and Longbow Apaches.
Will we be able to control vehicles? If so, which ones? Will they be available in both single player and multiplayer?
I can't give anything away right now, but you’re going to see a new kind of vehicle
interaction that you haven’t seen before in the Ghost Recon series.
GR2 ENGINE
How much of the GR2 engine is based on GR1’s? Was it built from scratch?
I'm not an engineer, so I can't get into technical details, but GR2 has a completely new
engine based on the GR1 engine. It was built and developed proprietarily by RSE. There are a ton
of new features. The game feels great, looks great, and plays great!
In your opinion, what do you feel is the biggest improvement in GR2 over GR1?
The first big improvement is the graphics. As you’ve seen in the E3 demo, we’re really happy with the way the
graphics came out. The characters look awesome, the environment looks great with the trees and the grass,
and the buildings look good.
The AI is also really great. Our engineers put a lot of work into getting the
AI challenging, formidable, and realistic.
How has the AI been improved in GR2? What are some new friendly/enemy AI behaviors
that stand out?
The AI is leaps and bounds ahead from what we’ve seen. The AI team has done a really good job on improving
the AI and trying to make it more realistic. As you can see in the E3 demo, the AI tries not to stand out in the
open and blast you. They will lay down suppressive fire, but when they think it’s worthwhile, they will go for cover.
There is a lot of terrain analysis in the AI. GR always had a really strong platoon level AI - like trying to work
together to try and outflank you. That's all still there, but it’s ramped up with terrain analysis. The AI can
determine its way through different terrains from what we call a "Navigational Mesh". The AI can determine what
is a good route, where the choke points are, and "this is where we need to go, this is good cover, this is a bad
cover area." It’s really cool to see it in action.
Will the GR2 maps be larger than GR1? I believe the maximum size for GR1 maps was 400x400m.
Yeah, we’re not locked down to that anymore. One of the things that we are doing is that our maps aren’t
square 400m by 400m. Different maps are wider, longer, and shorter. I’m not sure on the exact dimensions,
but I am sure that we have at least one map right now that is 800m long. The engineering team has been
really good, so we are going to open it up to the level artist so they can really dig in and develop the
environment for visual and gameplay purposes.
WEAPONS
What are some of the new weapons we can use?
The Army’s new M8 assault rifle - the XM8 right now - is obviously a cool gun, especially with the new
M320 grenade launcher on it. We are really trying to push the envelope. One of the things that is
really cool about working on Ghost Recon 2 is that we spent a lot of time researching weapons. We had a lot of
people with military backgrounds that know a lot about guns. When the M8 was decided to be officially adopted,
we had it in the game 24 hours later!
I have to say that’s my favorite, although the weapons modelers did a really good job on the M249.
Take a close look at the demo - you'll see it is the Mark 46 variant that the Navy SEALs are implementing -
which looses the magazine, drops weight and has the rail systems all over it. The weapons in GR2 aren't
run-of-the-mill. Even the classic GR weapons we put in are the latest and greatest models used today.
The M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) in GR2
Will GR2 have more intricate ballistics for its weapons compared to GR1? E.g.
Will GR2 allow for bullet drop or the effects of wind on a round?
We’ve added a few factors to the ballistics. The people that have been working on the ballistics are
the same people who worked on GR1. We have been really ramping it up and the bullets are as realistic and
lethal as in the past. We’ll let you be the judge.
Is the kit structure the same as GR1, i.e. with pre-constructed kits, or will it
be more flexible like in the Rainbow Six series?
This is another feature that we spent a lot of time reading the forums, listening to the fans and
checking out what the people had to say. Our goal is to make it more flexible for the player to
choose what he wants to use.
There are four kit slots: primary, secondary and two items (grenade, mission sensitive kit, the MAAWS Recoilless
Launcher, etc). So it’s really up to the player. We give intelligent defaults, but the player can choose anything
they want such as the Gunner weapon, the Marksman rifle, or just a regular Rifleman gun
MULTIPLAYER & MODDING
From what we've seen here at E3, it appears that multiplayer is still in the development stage.
Can you give us a few thoughts on issues that you think may be important?
I am focusing on the single player side of the game, so I don't have too many details. Gary Stelmack
(Red Storm Game Designer) is designing the multiplayer side of the game, so fans of the series can rest
assured it will rock.
Obviously for Xbox, we are going to take advantage of Xbox Live. GR was really well-received for the
multiplayer aspect. We are really looking to build on that. We are working towards a four-player split-screen
and using all the technology that Xbox can provide. We really want to take advantage of that.
Obviously GR is a great for multiplayer and I am looking forward to playing it!
Given your roots as a player first and modder, can you give us a few words for the modding community
about what you think they should look forward to?
I don't have the details yet, but as I can attest, Red Storm has had strong support for the modding
community. We know one of the things that keeps a community alive are the modders. We really like to see
the community involved. As a former modder myself, I personally support what the modders do. We will
always try to make the game accessible to the modders. We are still working on the details to make the
game more accessible to the community. Hopefully we can get the best tools out there for them to get in
and make some cool mods for all of us to download them and check them out.
CONCLUSION
Fans of the PC version of GR may feel disappointed that Ubisoft decided to only show the Xbox
version of GR2 at E3. What if anything can you tell us about the PC version of GR2?
I'm not on the PC team right now, so I really can't give you much info except that it is being worked
on at RSE and is due out at the same time as the Xbox version.
Thanks for your time, Christian. Are there any final words you would like to say?
GR2 will be really cool. Red Storm is really happy with the community and really happy with the
fan base. We really appreciate the GR sites out there that keep the community alive. We want to hear your feedback!
Once again, a huge thanks to Christian Allen for generously taking the time to do this interview at E3.
Also, thanks to all the fans who submitted questions!
For more of GR Retreat's coverage of GR2 at E3 2004,
check out the Previews section at our Ghost Recon 2 Resource page.
Visit our Interview Archive for
a comprehensive collection of links to more interviews about the Ghost Recon series.
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