Residents of Seattle Zombie Studios – owners of a large and rather stormy production history. In 1998, they are a couple with Novalogic (cm. their Delta Force ) invented the genre of serious special forces-player, releasing Spec Ops: Ranges Lead the Way. Zombie for a long time engaged in the production of simulators for the military and generally seemed an important, thorough studio. And then everything changed.
There was a series of failures, closed projects and just stupid things. There was a smallest, but stupid Hollywood shooter Shadow Ops: Red Mercury. Was tactical Rogue Warrior , which Bethesda I took it from Zombie and turned it into a kumachi trash with Mickey Rourke and cockades. It seemed that Zombie had forever left the Premier League. But a few years ago everything changed. Firstly, today the developers are finishing Saw – impressive Survival Horror on the same film. Secondly, Zombie found themselves in the center of a grandiose multimedia project: a tactical shooter is being prepared for the exit Blacklight , The rights to the film adaptation of which has already been sold Twentieta Century Fox, and Fox Atomic Comics is released by the series of the same name comics. We contacted the chief designer of Blacklight, Jared Herricen, and asked him about what is the game component of the project.
Before the jump
As it turned out, two games were conceived under the indicated brand: a free multiplayer shooter in the spirit Battlefield Heroes and the big commercial game we are talking about today. BlackLight Sr. uses the engine Unreal Engine 3 and the standard species for modern console shooters from the character’s shoulder (the game is sharpened under the cooperative, and from the third person, they consider zombie, it is more convenient to monitor the actions of partners). In addition, BlackLight will have to climb a lot of stairs (the authors are very proud of the “vertical” of their game), so the developers decided to do without unnecessary switches of the camera. From the first person in Blacklight – only a view through a sniper sight.
There are four people in the unit, each of whom can use shelters, shoot blindly and even perform some parkour-manbules. Herricen explains that acrobatics in Blacklight will not be as spectacular as in Mirror’s Edge : “Still, we have hefty soldiers loaded with weapons and ammunition. In such conditions, you don't really run along the walls!"
The program of the program is the ability to arbitrarily switch between team members (the developers dubbed this option with a “tactical jump”). All who have the first episodes behind Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six And Ghost Recon , They perfectly understand that the jumps between fighters are, to put it mildly, not a revelation (so since 2005). What Zombie reasonably remarks: as soon as the above franchise moved to the console, everything has changed. “Well, if you recall the Rainbow Six series you mentioned BC.Game Casino, then there are far from the races between the members of the detachment. As a rule, they were planned in advance, in the strategic phase of the mission. BlackLight is a purely tactical shooter, and you can in real time adjust the behavior of the whole team. By the way, most players in early tactical shooters went through all the missions by one hero and did not use the possibility of switching at all!" – defends Herricen.
Science and peace
One of the divisions Zombie Studios is developing a series of simulators by order of the US Army (in particular, Zombie helped the army team in the work of America’s Army: Special Force ). “We have vast experience in cooperation with the army, we are aware of what they are doing there now and what toys can appear in the hands of the military in the very near future. Nothing classified – all this information is freely available (if you know where to look). But our contacts still give a certain advantage and help concept designers in working on BlackLight, ”the authors boast.
Number one development: ultrasonic emitter, one of the main types of weapons in the game (in addition to conventional machine guns, grenade launches and sniper rifles), allows you to shoot at the wall and echoing the shot, lay the enemy that has been lurking over the angle. Development number two: helmet with several vision modes. “It will be possible not only to monitor enemies through the walls, but also to set false targets, to include camouflage, which makes you invisible in certain modes (but emits in others)” ”.
The chief designer calls BlackLight “scientific actual”: fantastic, in general, technologies in the game are based on real projects from modern military industry. “Military equipment does not stand still – after 25 years, Impulse weapons and combat robots … Nanocostyum, as in Crysis , We definitely will not have, but the American military is currently very interested in exoskeletons!"
Vertical
The scene of BlackLight is the city of a ball in a fictional (we checked) state of Kajikistan. The developers describe the ball as “the same city from the“ Running Blade ”… If the film was shot in Bulgaria!". Balik is a beautiful old city under a thick layer of new technologies. Everywhere traces of restoration, unfinished new buildings … There are several freshly built skyscrapers; Above the city are monorail trains, under it is an underground bus system. Holographic animated billboards are allocated everywhere.
Snipers equipped with jetpacks will be able to jump onto the roofs of office buildings and track the enemy; Other fighters fortify the lower floors. There will be helicopters and other aircraft (though uncontrollable). Herricen promises that special equipment (harpoon, like Batman?) will allow the player to survive the fall even from the roof of the skyscraper.
The plot for the game was composed by Jason Dean Hall, the author of the Kinoseneria Grand Theft Auto, who in 2008 entered the honorary list of the best unexpressed Hollywood scenarios. “Jason worked not only on the film, but also on the game – we really wanted to attract real literary talent to our side. The film and the game are not interconnected plot – the action of the interactive BlackLight takes place several years before the start of the film. The real fanboy will have to buy her to understand how it all started, ”Zombie explain.
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The developers are currently negotiating with several publishers. They do not call a specific company, but Jared Herricen is sure that there is sure to be. Which is much more amazing – the date of release of the game may not coincide with the release date of the film of the same name for wide screens. “We will work on the game as much as you need!" – developing developers proudly. And then they add: "Since the plots of the game and the film are different, at the same time it does not have to be released at all". It would always be so.
We will wait? Team tactical shooter from people who practically invented this genre. Together with the game will appear a film and a comic book series.
Percentage of readiness: 50%