An interview with Brady Bell

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machf
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An interview with Brady Bell

Post by machf »

I found a link to this interview:

http://www.game-interviews.com/miniviews/trespasser.htm

Unfortunately it isn't online anymore, but there are some copies at the Internet Archive:

http://web.archive.org/web/199902100708 ... passer.htm
Trespasser
Trespasser was supposed to be the digital follow up to Jurasic Park: The Lost World. It was game everyone was waiting for. Then the reviews came in, everyone either loved it, or hated it. We asked a member of the Trespasser team, Brady Bell about the reviews, here's what he had to say...

Game-Interviews.com: Trespasser is very different than what many most people expected. How did this misconception come about?

Brady Bell:I'm not sure it is. I think gamer's initial impressions are a combination of two things. First, it's not what they're used to in performance. Trespasser isn't a 50fps game and was never intended to be. Secondly, it's such a departure from anything people have played before, the natural reaction it to pick it apart and wonder why it's not like every other first-person game they've played the past two years. There's also a notion that because it has dinosaurs & guns, it has to be a shooter.

GI: The reviews of Trespasser have been all over the map. Some people have really loved it, while some have really hated it. Why do you think there is such a large discrepancy in the reviews?

BB: Same as above really. The trend I've noticed is the longer people spend with it.. the more they like it. Perfect example... we had a review where the guy absolutely tore the game apart... didn't like anything! The very next day... he apologized and attributed his previous comments to much of what I mentioned in question #1. He actually took the time & played it on a high-end machine and was stunned by what he was seeing. More than any game in recent years, Trespasser has a learning curve that users need to spend time with.

GI Would you like to respond to any of the negative reviews out there?

BB: Not really. I'd only ask that they spend a few days with the product before formulating a final opinion.

GI One of the chief complaints about Trespasser is that it is a resource hog. Are you taking any measures to optimize the game now? Do you have any tips for those who are having trouble running the game?

BB: Don't know what to tell ya here... the amount of math were computing every frame is staggering... and computationally expensive. The player... the dinos, and most objects are true physical models. They're not pre-animated and that comes at a cost.
Also, gamers wanted the next technology breakthrough. They want a real world to explore. They didn't want the same old enemies with a few scripted animations, and they don't want anymore clones. We did our absolute best to provide all these, but it comes at a cost. You can't have tomorrow's technology on yesterday's machine.
We're currently working on a guide to help users gain a better performance through the menu settings. I imagine we'll post it by end of the week.

GI Are there any patches forthcoming? What will they address?

BB: Yes. We'll have an executable patch out in about two weeks. We've tightened up the jumping, sped the player-character up a bit, fixed some cheats, make the keypads easier to use... stuff like that. After that, we'll look at doing a data patch to address tightening up combat in some areas, updated audio collisions, plant floating objects, etc.

GI Why did you go with a level based system? Wouldn't it make more sense if you could go anywhere on the island?

BB: It's just like any game development decision. Sure, it would make more sense to go anywhere you wanted, but it would also make sense to blow holes in the corridors of every first-person shooter and make your own path. There's trade-off's you have to make when developing a game. Quite trivially we could've made it a continuous world, but we would've had to sacrifice something else. It's give and take.

GI Did Trespasser sway from the original design/concept at all? Are there any things that you found just didn't work in actual practice?

BB: Oh yeah. There's a dozen features we wanted to add from day one. Multiplayer, extended hardware support, a nice lighting model, and more species of dino's would've all been cool. Eventually you have to say, "Okay, it's not perfect, but we need to ship the game and let go". Believe me, we would've loved to polish & tweak for another six months, but fun as game development is, it's a business, you do the best you can, and ship the game.

GI How much input did Spielberg have through out development?

BB: Probably not as much as you may think. He came by frequently, played the game, and told us what he thought. But he also gave us the leeway to make the final decisions and trust in us to not let him down. He did lend significant time and designed a couple puzzles in the game. Unquestionably, he influenced all areas of the game and made it blast to work on. We were really lucky.

GI Are you satisfied with the finished product?

BB: In so many ways, yes. Without a doubt. Like anything, I wish we had more time to tweak, polish and experiment. Because I spent so long on the project... know the effort that went into it, and care about the people that made it greatly... I'm extremely proud.

As time goes by and other products hit the shelves, I hope people will realize what we tried to do for the industry. And that is to push it forward... to give gamers more. We just couldn't do the same old game.

GI Was the game released early?

BB: Late actually. It simply took longer than we anticipated to implement some features. That's software development for ya, anything worth a look, inevitably ships late!
Some interesting things there, like what the patch is supposed to do...
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Post by Remdul »

Very interesting. Good to heard that he himself was proud of the achievements made.

Also interesting is that they considdered multiplayer.
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Post by Markosaur »

dam, one of the features removed was Multiplayer :(
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Post by Slugger »

Markosaur wrote:dam, one of the features removed was Multiplayer :(
Rebel thinks the code is still in there.
0066521C: 'Cannot create local swap file - Is Trespasser installed??',0Ah,0
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Post by masterchiefoo7 »

they wanted that feature from day one. I dont think it was ever implemented.
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Post by Remdul »

No, I'm quite sure there isn't any multiplayer stuff remaining (we don't have a single piece of tangible evidence afaik) and it just doesn't suit the engine either...
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Post by Markosaur »

well if there is it would be awesome :D maybe we just then would need to do menue graphics ;)

but i guess thats a bit optimistic, but still who knows wut we might find,
btw isnt there a way to totally decompile a .exe or encrypted file?
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Post by JPXTom »

That would be cool, but really it wouldn't fit the game..IMO.
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Post by DemonCarnotaur »

Cool, id really like to have a chance to see and speak of some of there other ideas...
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Post by Remdul »

Yeah, its kind of an unique interview, I think its the only one done after the release...
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Post by Markosaur »

ye know i just had a thought, everytime i reinstall Trespasser and run it for the first time, my firewall pops up and says trespass.exe is asking for a outgoing connection. i wonder if this couldnt be caused by stowed away or part of a network/multiplayer code, because Tres is the ONLY single player only game i have wich does this
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Post by hppav »

Probably has to do with the "Register now" thing, or your registration is trying to validate itself.
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Post by Slugger »

Markosaur wrote:ye know i just had a thought, everytime i reinstall Trespasser and run it for the first time, my firewall pops up and says trespass.exe is asking for a outgoing connection. i wonder if this couldnt be caused by stowed away or part of a network/multiplayer code, because Tres is the ONLY single player only game i have wich does this
Mine does the same thing. Too bad we didn't have the source.... :cry:
0066521C: 'Cannot create local swap file - Is Trespasser installed??',0Ah,0
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