ESG Exclusive FutureMark Interview on Shattered Horizon
We here at ESG had the pleasure of speaking to Antti Summala from Futuremark Game Studio about their upcoming zero-gravity FPS Shattered Horizon. We were able to speak about details regarding the possibility of a single player version of Shattered Horizon and even the chance gamers will get DX11…
We here at ESG had the pleasure of speaking to Antti Summala from Futuremark Game Studio about their upcoming zero-gravity FPS Shattered Horizon. We were able to speak about details regarding the possibility of a single player version of Shattered Horizon and even the chance gamers will get DX11 support. Keep reading for all the details.
ESG: Please tell our readers what your role is at Futuremark?
Antti Summala : My name is Antti Summala and I am the lead designer for Shattered Horizon.
ESG: For the people out there who are unfamiliar with Futuremark, can you please give us some background on the company?
Summala : Futuremark was founded in 1997 as a spin-off from Remedy Entertainment, the creators of Max Payne and Alan Wake. For the last 10 years we’ve been making 3DMark which, for your readers who don’t know, is a 3D graphics benchmark for gamers. The idea behind 3DMark is to push your gaming PC as hard as possible using the latest 3D graphics technologies to find out where the bottlenecks are in your system. It’s a useful tool for measuring your PC’s performance and of course, if you have an über-PC then a high 3DMark score is a great way to show off to your friends. We have been making a new version of 3DMark every couple of years and with each major step up in DirectX or Shader Model. It’s been pretty popular and we stopped counting at something like 45 million downloads.
ESG: Futuremark has been best known for making world leading 3D, mobile, and PC benchmarks. What was the drive behind creating a fully fledged title?
Summala : There has always been a vocal group of people in the company pushing to make our own game. We set up Futuremark Games Studio in January 2008 because the timing seemed right. We’d finished 3DMark Vantage which is our latest DirectX10 benchmark so we had a solid rendering engine that we could use as the basis for the game. So we took the plunge, launched the studio and announced to the world that Futuremark was going to make a game.
ESG: How long has Shattered Horizon been in development? And what can you tell us about the experience of making the studio’s first game?
Summala : Although the studio was officially created in January 2008 the idea for a zero gravity shooter had been floating around for a while, so to speak. We refined the concept and then started designing the game and building the extra technology we would need to make the game work.
We use a development style called “Agile” which means that every few weeks you have to have playable code. In the early days the game was just a bunch of rocks floating around. That was it. By the time of the Leipzig Games Convention in August 2008 we had a very early preview of the game to show to press behind closed doors. The game looked pretty basic, with very simple graphics, limited animation and so on. But the thing we wanted to show was the zero gravity, the freedom of movement and the possibilities that would give the player for changing the way FPS games are played. We got a pretty good reaction from the press so for the next year we just put our heads down and got on with it.
We took Shattered Horizon to Gamescom in Cologne this August and by then the game was already looking a lot more polished. It was really great showing it to journalists who’d seen it the year before and seeing their reaction to how much it had improved. At Gamescom we also let journalists play the game for the first time. It was a big relief to see all of them get the hang of the zero gravity controls really quickly. We had one very memorable session where a guy from a German gaming site totally dominated our producer. It was headshot after headshot after just a few minutes of play. After Gamescom we started our closed beta test which has just come to an end this week.
ESG: Currently the game is in closed beta, has allowing selected players helped in game design choices & gameplay changes? What are the pros & cons of having a beta instead of internal testing?
Summala : The beta has without a doubt been the most surprising and enjoyable part of the project so far. We said right from the beginning that we would do a “proper” closed beta. We would listen to people, respond and make changes to the game. That was the plan, but we really didn’t know what to expect when the beta started.
We must have done a good job in attracting the right sort of people because very quickly we built up a really good community in our beta forums. Lots of people said that it was one of the best betas they had ever been in and many more said they made new friends.
From our point of view we owe a huge debt of thanks to all the people who posted bug reports, feedback and suggestions. And especially to those who stuck with us when the game still had lots of bugs and glitches.
We had done internal testing before the beta started but there comes a time when you just need to put the game out there and see what people think. The pros of beta testing for us were access to a wide range of hardware to hunt for bugs, getting lots of different perspectives on what was working and what wasn’t and starting to build a strong and friendly community around the game. The only downside was trying to stay on top of it all. By the end of the beta we had reached over 19,000 forums posts. But the many late nights spent reading and responding to the feedback were more than made up for by the improvements we were able to make to the game. There are several features, and even a whole level, which were designed and added to the game as direct result of beta tester feedback.
ESG: Shattered Horizon was announced as a multiplayer only experience. Is that still the case or will we ever see a single player experience to expand the games universe?
Summala : Shattered Horizon is a multiplayer only game. If it’s successful then we’d very much like to do more in the same game universe. We think zero gravity gameplay together with the backstory to Shattered Horizon offers a lot of potential for different experiences in both multiplayer and single player games.
ESG: What can you tell us about the different game modes in Shattered Horizon? How many multiplayer modes will be available at launch?
Summala :: There are three multiplayer modes at launch. In “Battle” two teams compete to capture control points and dominate the map. Teams must defend their own control points while attacking the enemy’s. “Assault” is a turn-based control point capture game. Teams take turns attacking and defending. Control points cannot be recaptured by the defending team once lost and the attacking team must capture all control points in order to win the round. Finally, “Skirmish” is a team deathmatch game mode. At the end of the round, the final score determines the winning team.
ESG: One of the major highlights of the game has been that it shows the power of DirectX 10. Why did the team choose DirectX 10 instead of the more popular DirectX 9? Can you give some examples of the benefits in working on a DirectX 10 only title?
Summala : We’re very proud of the graphics in Shattered Horizon, particularly how we use light and shadow to create a realistic space feeling. Futuremark has always been a forward-looking company and with Shattered Horizon we are aiming to create a game that makes people proud to be PC gamers. And because Shattered Horizon is exclusive to the PC we haven’t had to make any compromises for consoles. Everything, from the graphics through to the controls and interface, has been designed for PC gamers.
When we started making Shattered Horizon we had some good DirectX 10 rendering technology available as a result of the 3DMark Vantage project so we decided to go with it. We’ve been tracking industry trends and things like the Steam hardware survey pretty closely. With Windows 7 launching this week, and some very affordable DX10 cards entering the market, there are plenty of reasons for PC gamers to make the jump from XP. And when they do, we think Shattered Horizon is a great game to show off what their system can do.
ESG: There has been some recent hype regarding the upcoming DirectX 11 API launching with Windows 7. What does Futuremark think of the new version of DirectX? And does Futuremark intent to utilize the new API for future benchmarking software or games?
Summala : It’s a safe bet that we will be all over DirectX 11, both on the game studio side, and with our benchmarks, but we can’t confirm anything at this time.
ESG: Does Futuremark intend to update Shattered Horizon to use DirectX 11 through a post release patch?
Summala : There are no current plans for this, but as I said, we’re a forward-looking company.
ESG: Will the game appear at retail stores or will it be digital only? If digital, what outlets have been chosen to distribute the game?
Summala : Shattered Horizon is a digital download only. Gamers will be able to find us on Steam and can also buy the game direct from us on our website.
ESG: Is DLC being planned for the game? If so, Can you tease us with something about it? Will it come though free game updates or will it be paid content?
Summala : What I can tell you is that we think it is very important to support Shattered Horizon and the community after launch. We’ll be making an announcement about that soon.
ESG: Finally, is the game still on track for a late 09 release?
Summala : Yes.
**ESG would like to thank Futuremark for taking the time to have this interview with us. We look forward to the final release of the game, and we wish Futuremark great success. **
Shattered Horizon is a PC exclusive currently slated for a Q4 2009 release. Look for all the news related to Shattered Horizon here at ESG as the game gets closer to launch.
For all you PC gamers out there here are the specs needed to run the game :
Minimum Requirements:
Shattered Horizon requires DirectX 10 on Windows Vista or Windows 7.
There is no support for Windows XP or DirectX 9.
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 / AMD Athlon64 X2 5600+
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT / ATI Radeon HD 3870
GPU memory: 256MB
Hard disk space: 1.5 GB
RAM: 2GB
Sound: Windows Vista compatible sound card
Recommended Requirements:
Shattered Horizon requires DirectX 10 on Windows Vista or Windows 7.
There is no support for Windows XP or DirectX 9.
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 / AMD Phenom II X4 940
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 / ATI Radeon HD 4870
GPU memory: 512MB
Hard disk space: 1.5GB
RAM: 2GB
Sound: Windows Vista compatible sound card
