Dreamscape : Pin Point Blank feature

[page=Introduction]

Dreamscape - Half Life 2 Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the passed few years, you don't need me to tell you that Half-Life 2 was one of the most highly anticipated (and now, succesful) games of all time. The promises Valve gave us of a totally new way to play video games, had gamers everywhere in a nervous sweat, eagerly awaiting the release of this new messiah. But a good percentage of those gamer's weren't sweating just in regards to the game, but to the technology that was giving life to it. The new Source engine would give mod developers unprecendented levels of control and power with which to bring their creations to life. The months following Half-Life 2's release saw an abundance of mods claim their territory on the community, only to die moments later through the realisation that a fantastic idea, isn't necassarily enough if your mod is ever going to see the light of day. However, nearly a year on from the game's release, modders are finally beginning to crack the engine, and bring us modifications the likes of which we've never seen before. One of these mods is Dreamscape, a third person action mod that promises to bring a fresh perspective to the term, digital reality. But despite the world of Dreamscape being a bloody and violent one, the team were good enough to make time in their schedule to talk with us, and shed some light on the project.

Catch the latest from the Dreamscape mod right here on their moddb profile!

[page=The Interview Part One]
Formalities as per usual! Could you please introduce yourselves and outline your general responsibilities on the Dreamscape mod?

Cyanide: My name is John Lester, a.k.a. Cyanide. I am the team manager on Dreamscape and also a 2D artist. My management duties include basically making sure everybody stays on task, making sure the right tasks are being done, and I harass people when they get lazy ;). I handle pretty much any personnel issue the team has. On the 2D art side I just draw whatever 2D assets the team needs; concept art, graphic art, HUD elements, etc.

Led Kardova: My name is Sam Kozel, otherwise known as Led Kardova. I am the Mod’s creator, Lead Designer, and Head Writer.

Canuck: I would like to thank ModDB.com for this opportunity and Koroshiya_Ichi for taking the time to interview us. My name is Igor Todorovski. I am 20 years and I live in Toronto, Canada. I am the Assistant Lead as well as the Lead Programmer at Lucid Thought Productions, the Dreamscape development team. As an Assistant Lead, I spend a lot of time chatting with various members of the team and answering questions related to the mod. I also write the technical sections of the Design Document. My programming duties include almost everything code related except for the programming of weapons, which SDW, our other programmer, is handling.

Approximately how long has work been taking place on the mod for?

Cyanide: The team started assembling in late July. I joined in August.

Led Kardova: Personally, I’ve been working on the game design and story off and on for around 2 years, but in terms of actual production it has been in the works for a couple of months.

Canuck: Sam actually came up with the idea for this mod 2 years ago. On July 21, 2005, Sam created a thread on gamedev.net about Dreamscape: Pin Point Blank. His plan was to create an independent game. At that time, I was looking to join a development team. I came across Sam’s post. I loved the idea, so I decided to send him an email. Soon after that I joined the team.

Were members of the team together before Dreamscape, or was the entire crew assembled specifically for the mod?

Cyanide: Hillartsympho (our environment artist) and I worked on SourceBALL before Dreamscape. I think we're the only 2 that worked together on a mod prior to Dreamscape.

Led Kardova: First it was just me trying to find some people to get on board. Luckily Canuck found me, and liked the idea enough to join up. And from there we just kept the momentum going and kept recruiting more and more people.

Canuck: In the early stages of the mod’s existence, both Sam and I made a huge effort to find talented people from all over the internet. We actually spent days looking for people who would want to help us out. We actually gave this a term; we called them recruitment runs and it was pretty interesting to see the responses you get when you posted the same thing on 30+ forums. In short, different forum communities respond very differently.

Sanity Levels will give players even more to think about

Now before we go any further, without meaning to sound pessimistic (despite looking quite special, this is a HL2 mod after all), how long is it gonna be til this dies?

Cyanide: I don't know what you mean. I can't find "die" in my dictionary. ;)

Led Kardova: Well, I suspect this Mod will die sometime after Canuck, Cyanide, and I die. Before that happens, it’s not going anywhere. I don’t start things I don’t intend to finish, it’d be a waste of my time, and I wouldn’t want to waste the time of all the hard working people on the team.

Canuck: The single most irritating thing about making a mod is the amount of people who think it’s perfectly acceptable to join a mod team and then do virtually nothing. This type of behavior really ticks me off.
Because of this, we give our team members a maximum of 3 weeks of inactive time and if they go beyond that without giving us a valid reason for their inactivity, they are gone.
Unfortunately we have had to let go of several members in the 2+ months that we have been in development. This is because everyone on the team is dependent on the results of everyone else on the team. If someone is slacking, then he or she is capable of bringing the whole team down and that’s unacceptable.
You don’t often see mod leader’s cut people loose and I think that this is one of the major reasons why mods die. They wait so long for inactive people that the otherwise active members drift away, thus causing the mod’s collapse.

We are taking a very organized approach to moding. We brought in a weapons researcher who has been able to help SDW with every detail that is required to bring our weapons to life. We have completed the majority of our design document before beginning development. John is actually in his last year of a BS in software production management. Last but not least, we are using several web tools to make our life easier; dotProject, MediaWiki, and Mantis. These tools are used for task management, the design document, and bug reporting.

From just looking at the screens without really reading up on the mod, it'd be a fair mistake to just assume it's basically based around guns, terrorists and money. However your mod is quite different in a number of ways (I personally like the buying and selling of Drugs, eat that Jack Thomson!). For those who aren't yet aware could you please elaborate a little on these features?

Cyanide: Well, without giving away too much, you’ll have to fund your operations somehow. Guns, bullets, knives, bandages and other essentials aren't free (with the exception of the occasional 5 finger discount). You'll also have to consume those drugs from time to time in order to stave off total insanity or allow yourself to forget about the pain of being shot, punched, kicked, stabbed, and/or bludgeoned.

Speaking of sanity; In Dreamscape you actually have 2 types of health to worry about. Mental health, and physical health. Your mental health is measured by the sanity meter. The less sanity you have, the more strange things will begin to happen. Sanity is affected by a number of things, being shot at, being shot, killing another person in certain ways, and generally anything that would mess with your head in real life. When your sanity reaches 0, you'll put yourself out of your own misery.

Your health is measured in blood. Each part of your body will decrease your blood count at a different rate when shot. For example, getting shot in the stomach will drop your blood count faster than being shot in the arm. You'll have the ability to stop that bleeding by bandaging the offending body part. Of course, no amount of bandaging is going to save you from things like a bullet in the face.

Canuck: My favorite feature in the mod is the Point Blank mode. I’ll give you an example of this feature because I think it’s easier to understand when it’s framed as an example. Let’s say that your character is behind an enemy and that the enemy is unaware of the player’s presence. The player can press the ‘G’ button to grab the enemy. Let’s also say that the player has a knife equipped. The player now has several options. He can choose to slit the enemy’s throat by pressing the left click mouse button OR even better, the player can choose to snap the enemy’s neck. This is where the interesting aspects of the Point Blank mode appear. You can snap the enemy’s neck to either the left or right direction based on the movement of your mouse. Also, the system will take into account the velocity of your mouse. So, if you move your mouse to right at a medium rate, you will not kill the NPC, but rather, you will make the enemy go unconscious. If you sweep the mouse fast enough, you can do some really nasty things. :P

Can you give us a little insight into what the general story is for Dreamscape?

Cyanide: I think I'll leave that one to Sam.

Led Kardova: It’ll be a visceral, vibrant, and unforgiving roller coaster of violence and wit. You’ll encounter the monsters of the underworld, and fight to understand why the treachery of your life has begun spiraling again into a fierce blood soaked corpse parade, seemingly held in your honor. It’s all happening for a reason, Fate? Karma? Fuck it, deal with it. Kill or be killed, because in Dreamscape there is no room to hesitate. You might not get a second chance.

Canuck: Well put Sam.

[page=The Interview Part Two]
It's quite clear that you really want to make this as realistic as possible. Are there any specific steps or rules by which you are abiding to ensure that this works?

Cyanide: Well, I think we generally look at a given issue in this way:
A) Does it make logical sense?
E.g. If I get shot in the head, does it make sense that I should die?

B) Can we keep that real-world logic, and still make it fun?
E.g. Yes. Let the player use his brain to find ways of accomplishing his goals without getting shot at. Also, make it as difficult to shoot somebody in the head during a fire fight as it is in reality.

Led Kardova: We’re trying to make it as real as possible without taking all the fun out of playing. Reality isn’t always fun. If it was, there would be no point in gaming. But we will be having different difficulty settings, so the hardest mode will be very close to true to life, then it will be slightly scaled back from there but not dramatically where it turns to a crazy shoot ‘em up. So we should have the freedom to make it as real as possible for the hardcore gamers and the not-so-hardcore can still play a softer version.

Pretty much every game is based around a few key principles. For example, you could argue that the principle foundations for Halo would be:

1, Encountering a group of enemies,
2, Melee attacking them before they realize you 're there
3, Throwing a grenade into a group, taking out as many as possible
4, Taking cover to reload
5, Finally picking off the few remaining enemies before they can regroup

Although this is quite a sweeping statement, this is how many games work, repeating a generally style of gameplay. Can you tell us what you feel this will be in Dreamscape? What the player can expect to experience, and how that experience will unfold?

Cyanide: We're trying to present the player with situations where they get to decide how they want to play, based on the proverbial cards they've been dealt. You'll be able to attack most situations with either stealth or raw fire power. The one you choose will be based on what's available to you. If you hit the jackpot on a drug sale, maybe you have the money to buy an assault rifle and loads of ammo. So you're going to go Rambo. However, if you're flat broke and you've got one gimp leg, you may want to take things a little slower and use your head to figure out a safer way to accomplish your goal.

Led Kardova: I wouldn’t say that there’s a specific order for every situation. Like Cyanide pointed out, the player will have decisions to make based on his individual situation.

1: How fast are you? Are your hands too damaged to use certain weapons? Are you breathing too loud to sneak up? How dizzy are you from blood loss, and so on?
2: Can you just sneak past? Which enemies will react to what you’re doing? Can you blow something up? Are there any weapons nearby that would be more effective? What’s the lighting like? What’s the floor made out of, and will it be noisy, etc?
3: What can you use on these suckers, and are they stealthier than other enemies?
4: What are your enemies carrying? Are they wearing armor? Who do you kill first? Who’s the leader, etc?

Basically, this includes many of the factors you would base your decision on in real life. So every situation will require different strategies, and your situation will not always be the same, even when you’re playing the level for the 2nd or 3rd time.

Canuck: To sum up what Cyanide said, depending on what actions you take, your game experience will be totally different. There are many factors that can alter your game experience. They include the Sanity Level; if you are insane, your vision will be slightly distorted. If your arm has been shot, then you’re going to have to make due with one handed weapons. If you don’t have the money to buy drugs, you may have to kill allied NPCs to save your own life, but in doing this, you will create new enemies. Dreamscape: Pin Point Blank is more or less a cause and effect game, and we hope people will find this type of gameplay enjoyable and also replayable.

What kind of weapons can we expect to see in the final release?

Cyanide: Like Led said, you can expect to see a variety of weapons, including pistols, SMGs, assault rifles, sniper rifles, knives, and various other melee weapons. You can even use your own body as a weapon.

Led Kardova: We’re planning to have a lovely array of pistols due to their ease of concealment, with nearly every variation of a handgun added, automatic pistols, Magnums, 45’s, 9mm, compact SMGs and shotguns, as well as not so compact rifles. You’ll be seeing some of your old favorites, and some things you probably haven’t seen before. Personally, I’m a big fan of the melee weapons, screw drivers, hammers (regular and sledge), pens, fire axes, various knives and sharp objects, tazers, and explosive devices. I think my favorite would have to be a plastic bag for suffocating, I think I’m way too amused by it. We have a giant list of potential melee weapons that we have to filter through; I mean almost anything in a room can be used as a weapon.

Canuck: We’re going to have your typical weapons, but we’re also going to add some interesting weapons that you will only be able to get from certain NPC sellers. ;)

What are you doing to ensure the balance between these weapons is good, and that players will be able to adapt each to their given situations?
Cyanide: We're letting the player pretty much dictate what kind of weapons he has available. Of course, some weapons will be more expensive, and some will be harder to find than others, but the player has his pick of whatever he can manage to get his hands on. He will however be limited in how much he can carry. You won't be lugging around 5 assault rifles with 20 clips of ammo and a rocket launcher. Like I said before, we want things to make as much real-world sense as possible.

Led Kardova: In some situations it’s likely that the player will not have the “right” weapon for the job. So relying on your smarts should be expected, because in real life you don’t always have a BFG. Adaptation is key in Dreamscape. If you run out of bullets and can’t find any, feel free to throw your gun at people. :P

Canuck: When the player is healthy, he will obviously use the strongest weapon in his arsenal. However, when you’ve been shot in the arm, you are going to have to choose a one-handed weapon. I think this approach will surprisingly balance out the types of weapons that the player chooses.

As with many mods you've opted to use Half Life 2 technology. Are there any specific reasons/requirments of the mod that warranted this decision?
Cyanide: I think a large base of players who like realistic games is one major reason. Another reason is the ability to give expression and "life" to our characters, as evidenced in Half-Life 2. Dreamscape is very much about the characters involved. Source's facial animation and choreography tools will allow us the opportunity to make our characters seem quite real, with real emotions, and real personalities.

BTW, we're looking for a few good (ok, maybe just 1 or 2) Source machinima artists to help out in that area.

Canuck: We decided to go with the source engine because it is well known, it is well documented, there’s a solid community behind it and it uses C++. Also, I really wanted to work on an engine that gave you the ability to write your own shaders and the Source engine is capable of that.

Have you encountered any specific problems using the technology so far?

Cyanide: Not so far. Then again, we've only been in development for a couple of months.

Canuck: The problems we have encountered have all been very minor.

In general, each game released seems to influence very specific types of modification. Mods for Doom 3 tend to be very sci-fi based, whereas Half Life 2 mods tend to focus far more on realism, and factual based mods (of course though, there are exceptions for each). What do you feel the reason for this is? Do you think it's down to the engine, or the insight of the team using it that defines how a mod is going to turn out?

Cyanide: I don’t think the engine itself has much of an effect on what people want to do with it. Especially not with modern modable FPS engines (Source, Doom3, FarCry, etc) which are so very flexible. I think a lot of it comes down to the type of people who buy the original game. If you're making a mod for a sci-fi game, there's a pretty good chance that most of the people who can play your mod like sci-fi games. Likewise, if you're making a mod for HL2, where a large percentage of your audience plays more realistic games like Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat, then you can be pretty sure those people are interested in realistic games.

[page=The Interview Part Three]
Is there anything in particular that you feel is going to make Dreamscape really unique?

Cyanide: I think the sanity system and the way we use it will make Dreamscape stand out from most PC shooters. Another rather uncommon feature is the idea that when a player is injured, that injury affects what they can do. For instance, if you're shot in the leg, you probably won't be doing any sprinting for a while. So you will have to re-think your approach to the game.

Led Kardova: The way we handle player health is a bit different than the way most games do it. Where most shooters feel like action movies, we’re trying to make it feel like real life. This question is a little hard for me to answer because I feel that so many aspects of the game have unique elements. When I try to describe this game and what game it is similar to, I usually find myself explaining multiple features from a dozen different games. It’s fast paced when you want a fast pace, yet cold and calculating when you want to be cold and calculating. Most games don’t really even try to give you that. Generally speaking, the difference between this game and other realistic games is the extent of the realism we’re trying to create. Most games give you little tastes of reality. We’re trying to push it a little further than that.

Canuck: I think the Buy and Sell system is going to be very interesting. You can probably categorize it as a mini-game of sorts because there is a certain level of strategy that goes into it when negotiating deals with NPCs. Let’s just say that there are some minor RPG elements involved that give things like this a little more depth than you might expect.

What are your plans in terms of sound? Are you going to be using sounds that came with the game, or will these be built from scratch too?

Cyanide: I imagine we'll probably be doing a lot of custom sounds, and using a few of Valve's sounds as well.

Led Kardova A mix of both, I mean do you guys care if we reuse certain footsteps sounds or the sound of fire burning? Of course there will be some sound FX created from scratch. All the weapon sounds will be created from scratch. However, HL2’s sounds are very high quality, so it’d be silly not to use some if it’s logical.

Any plans for a unique soundtrack too?

Cyanide: I would like us to have a unique soundtrack. That's not really a high priority this early in development though.

Led Kardova: Personally, I have access to a recording studio, as well as a large library of music produced by my brothers, who are both music professionals and have record deals, as well as a thriving amount of local music indie artists. But not relying on one source, we also have composers on staff and are always open to using user submitted music, that is if it’s good and fits. And of course we’ll be tapping into the Public Domain Music supply. So yes, it’ll be unique.

I'd like to give my thanks to the Dreamscape team for giving us their time, and wish them the best of luck developing what I'm sure is going to be a very popular modification.

For more infomation on the mod you can get all the latest media on their moddb profile, aswell as their official homepage : Dreamscape