TimeShift interview : XBW and Scott Hawkins
posted 03/07/07
After numerous delays, a PC demo and then a publisher swap with rumours of a complete retooling, TimeShift sounded like it was headed for the scrap heap or into Duke Nukem Forever territory. After a move from Atari to Vivendi though things have picked up.
The team has totally reworked the game from, to be honest, a pretty substandard looking shooter that would have found it hard to compete, into something more like what Xbox 360 owners expect visually. The whole graphical look of TimeShift has been upgraded with a new rendering engine, weather effects, HDR lighting, depth of field and higher resolution textures.
But it’s not just the graphics. The story has been completely rewritten and the clichéd main character given the flick as well. TimeShift is starting to sound pretty promising again so thanks to Vivendi, XBW had a chat with Scott Hawkins the Executive Producer on the all-new TimeShift…
XBW : TimeShift has had something of a chequered past – starting life as an Xbox title for Atari before eventually being picked up by Vivendi and rebuilt as a next-gen showcase for Xbox 360. Most developers and publishers would probably have cut their losses by now; what makes TimeShift so compelling?
SH : While other publishers might have cut bait at this point, we felt TimeShift has the potential to be a next-gen showcase title for Xbox 360 both in terms of graphics and gameplay. The ability to manipulate time with Time Stop, Time Slow, and Time Reverse is a significant feature that pushes the FPS genre to the next level.
How has the story changed from the original game? What can you tell us about our new protagonist?
The story has been completely changed. Almost all of the characters have been updated or replaced with the exception of our villain, Krone. We also created all-new cinematic sequences with a studio called Main Road – and they look amazing. The look of the main character has been completed updated as now the focus is on the TimeShift suit the character wears. The new look is much edgier and we believe gamers will embrace this new direction.
Previously TimeShift gave the player quite a bit of control over the time control features, but now it has been boiled down to a single context-sensitive button that allows the game to decide best how to use the powers. Can you explain the reasoning behind this dramatic change, and how will players know what time control power is going to be used?
The TimeShift Beta Suit that the player wears is equipped with its own Artificial Intelligence called S.S.A.M. This technology has a built-in Time Reverse safety net that will automatically engage when it detects that the person wearing the suit is about to die. This prevents the suit from being left in history and accidentally getting into the wrong hands.
The user also has the ability to use Time Slow, Time Stop, and Time Reverse. S.S.A.M. will be recommending the best solution at all times, but the user will have the ability to override S.S.A.M.’s recommendation, which means the user will be able to pick a different time control solution throughout the game. We feel this new solution will increase the user’s ability to control time powers, while also offering an intuitive, user-friendly interface for time controls.
Playing with time is always a difficult prospect. Is TimeShift going to be one of those brain-pain inducing games where players struggle to keep up with the chronology, or can we expect to focus on action?
The focus is definitely on the action, but we also have a very compelling story that deals with time travel. The easy way to think of it is that the player travels into the future and quickly realizes that he must defeat Krone and prevent the evil future from happening.
We also have many cool moments in the game where the player has to think about how to use their TimeShift powers in order to bypass certain obstacles and challenges. For example in our City 2 level, the player comes across a pool of water that is near some active power lines. The player must engage their Time Stop power so that the water will become solid allowing the player to run across the surface of the water without getting electrocuted.
While the time control powers are obviously going to be important, a good First-Person Shooter still needs a healthy arsenal of weapons. What does TimeShift have on offer in this department?
We have a solid selection of weapons available in TimeShift. In addition to the standard weapons that you would expect in the FPS genre including pistols, machine guns, shotguns, etc., we also have some very creative weapons.
One example is the ThunderBolt, which is a weapon that is similar to sniper rifle with a unique twist. The ThunderBolt shoots arrows that penetrate the armor of an enemy and then they explode, resulting in the body of the enemy to gib into little pieces. This is especially rewarding when you are looking through the zoomed in score of the ThunderBolt and you get to see this happen from a far away distance!!
We also have a variety of grenades that are at the user’s disposal. My personal favourite is the sticky grenade that attaches to a target and then blows up. When an enemy gets hit by one of these grenades, they have only a few seconds before the grenade goes off, but if the player gets hit by one of these grenades, they can still escape unharmed if they can quickly react by engaging their Time Shifting powers which will automatically activate Time Reverse resulting in the grenade returning back to the original owner.
The player can then take out the enemy before they have a chance to launch the grenade at them.
Visually, the game looks completely different to its original iteration. Can you talk us through some of the key changes and why you felt that such drastic re-designs were necessary?
The number of items that have changed within the last year is incredible.
The story has been completely changed, the main character has been replaced with an entirely new look, the graphics has been significantly improved to push the envelope on the next-gen, the physics system has been replaced, the sound system has been completed revamped to include support for 5.1 music and sound occlusion, the weapons have been tuned and improved, the character animations have been replaced with motion capture animations, and many levels have been tuned and refined to make them more fun.
Any one of these updates would help improve the game, but the fact that we did all of these improvements (and more), makes TimeShift look like a brand new, completely different game. We did not want to create another me-too game and we truly feel that TimeShift is pushing the envelope for FPS games – and gamers will appreciate this.
The original game featured both Dennis Quaid and Michael Ironside as voice talent…can we expect to hear from these guys or have you started entirely from scratch? How important do you think voice-talent is for games like TimeShift?
Having quality voice talent is very important. Dennis Quaid and Michael Ironside both did a great job in the original game, but since we completely updated the story, their characters have been removed from the game. We have added Greg Grunberg (from Heroes, Lost, and Alias) to the new story – and he does a great job with Cooke, the Leader of the resistance that is fighting against Krone in the future.
Voice acting is very important in the game - so much so that we even support voice occlusion – meaning that when an object is between the player and the person speaking, their voice will sound differently than when they are talking next to you. The really makes the player feel like they are in the environment and is a great example of how we are pushing this game to the next level.
Word is that TimeShift will feature a 16-player multiplayer mode, but that the actual time control powers from singleplayer will not be present. Can you tell us a little bit about the multiplayer in TimeShift, and the game modes on offer?
Time control powers are an important part of the single player game and they are also important in multiplayer as well. Players have time control grenades that they can use to create of temporary time control spheres.
Imagine you are playing a game of Capture the Flag where one of your opponents is running ahead with your flag is about to return your flag to their base a score a capture. In other first-person shooters, your only option would be to fire your weapon at the person with the flag to try to stop them from scoring. In TimeShift, you can launch a Time Slow Grenade, have it explode near your opponent and capture them in the Time Slow bubble.
While they are suspended in slow motion, you can run around the bubble, fire a couple of shotgun rounds at their head (they will also get suspended within the Time Slow bubble), and when the Time Slow bubble expires, your shotgun blasts will take out your opponent and you can return your flag to safety.
We have several modes of online play including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Meltdown Madness, King of Time, and more. We also have a really cool system that allows users to create the rules for their own online games. This means that you can go through customize the rules and settings to create your own online mode. FPS players love the ability to customize their online game experience.
With TimeShift now confirmed for both Xbox 360 and PS3, can Xbox 360 owners expect any exclusive goodies in their version? Are there any plans for Downloadable Content via Xbox Live at this stage?
We have not announced what our plans are for downloadable content, but this is a great question!! I can tell you that there will be downloadable content for all platforms. You can expect to see downloadable maps and other content, but you will have to wait a little longer to get more details…
Overall, what do you think is the most exciting development or change made between the original TimeShift and the new, next-gen incarnation?
So many areas of the game have improved so much that it is extremely difficult to pinpoint one singular item that is the most exciting. For me, the most interesting outcome of the project is to see what was able to be done with the extra time. All games must ship at some time and it is common to ask yourself – what would I have done if only I had more time??
This project has given the answer and offers great insight into what a publisher and developer could do given extra time to make the game next-gen. I think this is not only interesting for game developers to see, but also for game fans as well.
Interview by Dominic Rozenberg
