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Enter the Action
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Interviewer: Mocker
Action Unreal Tournament Representative(s): To many to name
Date: Aug 05, 2004
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Action Unreal Tournament Interview
On Tuesday I got the chance to meet up with 7 of the Action Unreal Tournament team and talk a bit about their upcoming mod. And just as a note...they are quite the lively crowd. And now your feature presentation.
Q: First of all introduce yourself and tell us what you all do on the AUT team
A:
Duncan: So I’m Duncan. I like hobbies, and my hobbies are animations and websites
parkar: My name is Pär "parkar" Karlsson, I do what ever the team needs me to, models, maps, textures.
[AUT]Frost: My name is Richard Neumann, I'm doing the models for AUT. I did the weapon models you will see in the first release, and I also did some work on the player models, fixing them, rigging them, etc. And whatever else comes around.
[AUT]seekm: My name is James Ingram and I am making a map for AUT
[TSU]Payback: I'm Stuart "Payback" Crouch and I'm the coder and I guess the guy in charge of the mod. So all complaints come here I guess (NB. I'm happy to receive praise too)
CHPX: I'm CHPX the lead artist and I over see the AUT eyecandy
Ace12GA: My handle is Ace12GA, obviously. I started with Action back with Action Quake2 in early 1998. I was a mapper back then, and made 2 of the most popular, and ugly, maps of all time. Cliff and Cliff2; they both get played still. When work on AHL started I sort of dropped out for a while. But joined back around Beta3 with support on the model side of things. I then modeled and animated half the weapon models seen in B4 of AHL, actually probably animated more than half. In late 1999 I started work with a few of the guys on AUT, built on the original UT. This went on while work on AHL continued. With AUT2k2/4 I have been working on maps again, which take much more advantage of my modeling skills then was possible before. The map I am working on now will hopefully take full advantage of the newer engine, and looks that much cooler. In regards to what I do: everything. I have mapped, modeled, 2D artist, animator, and coder... I have pretty much done it all. The team jack of all trades. If someone can't figure it out, I usually do, at least on the art front. Payback kicks my ass at coding. In relation to the current team, and right now, I do what I can; which is trying to get my maps done.
Q: For those who don't know can you please explain to us the “Action” concept that the mod is based on.
A:
Payback: Action is an idea that started way back in the days of Quake 2. A bunch of guys were playing quake 2 with rail guns only, and it was kind of fun, and it spawned an idea. The idea was that instead of big ass rockets and laser beams that kill, the game should be more about instant hit weapons. Kind of like real world weapons...And if you have real weapons, why not have other realistic things like bleeding, the need to bandage, having to reload your gun and so on. But the real world is boring, as we all know. So the next source of inspiration was taken, the action movie. Action movies has everything the real world has, only it's done better. The main drive behind Action is to take the things that the movies do well and convert them into a game format where you can be the hero or villain[/b]
Q: So guys. One thing that I always want to know about a mod is what weapons it will feature?
Payback: So far we've got fists, knives, grenades, a pistol, a sub-machinegun, a shotgun, a handcannon and a sniper rifle. It doesn't sound like a lot, and its not meant to be. That's another key concept of action, each weapon class has a job, and it does it well. The handcannon will kill up close, the sniper will kill from a distance, and the pistol is useful as a sidearm. We're trying to achieve a balance where each weapon is advantageous in a certain situation.
Borg: Everything can be akimbonized (NEW WORD)
[AUT]Frost: As in, you can put whatever weapon is in your possession at the moment into left or right hand and go shooting stuff
Borg: More unique yet intuitive is to combine different akimbo settings with the items AUT provide. All the items in the action series add a certain game style for the players and the game. We also have Kevlar, bandolier (allows to akimbo 2 unique weapons like 2 mp5), stealth slippers (no footsteps), silencer (no gunshots will be heard), laser (increases the accuracy of your gun) not all weapons can handle laser though, quick draw holster (allows you to change/draw weapons very fast), nightvision (improves vision in dark maps), flashlight (see nightvision). So basically... you can be a stealthy player with a handcannon and slippers or a rampage maniac with bandolier and the ability to run around with akimbo mp5 or a silent assassin...with your sniper and your silencer waiting to be taken out by the guy with the slippers and the handcannon ;) Or.... use mp5 in left hand and tokarev in right... combined with the laser item. Highly vunerable, but deadly at the same time. Finding your own style, adapting to other players and maps. That is the fun. Make every game experience a new one.
Q: What feature in AUT are you guys most proud of?
A:
CHPX: Mixed akimbos
Duncan: This is the point where everyone says 'the unique gameplay and mixed akimbos
Borg: The mixed akimbo system
[TSU]Payback: Mixed akimbo.
parkar: Mixed akimbo
[TSU]Payback: I think maybe we should elaborate on mixed akimbo :o
[AUT]Frost: Definitely mixed akimbo
[TSU]Payback: The mixed akimbo system allows you to mix and match any weapon in the game into akimbo mode. In previous incarnations of action, and many games that followed, you could only go akimbo with two of the same types of gun. With AUT you can now choose which gun goes in each hand. So the left hand could contain an mp5, while the right contains a handcannon, or a pistol and a grenade, or a sniper rifle and a knife. People have questioned the balance of it, but getting a mixed akimbo combination isn't easy to do, and once you are akimbo there are logical restrictions, and some that we've added as design features.
Q: What special do you think AUT can offer players that other mods just can't?
A:
CHPX:Mixed akimbos
Duncan: Other than mixed akimbo, the item/unique weapon system is something no other UT mod has.
[Borg]: I answered that question in my lovely speech.
Parkar: The combination of equipment, the bleeding, mixed akimbo makes the game very unpredictable.
[Borg]: Even though we haven't mentioned it before we have more then just Team Deathmatch. We have Last Man Standing and Classic Deathmatch as well.
parkar: Ohh, and the fact that you fly I mile if you happen to stand on a grenade when it explodes.
[Borg]: Bleeding is another great part of action. When getting shot... you start to bleed to death...unless you bandage.
parkar: Except if you have body armour in which case you don't start to bleed.
[TSU]Payback: Mixed Akimbo, but seeing as we've covered that I'll go on to point out that the gameplay experience in action is something that you dont really find elsewhere. We don't worry about weapon load outs, or cash systems. We say, "Hey, pick a gun and go kill with style". We also try and vary the game as much as possible with the different game modes available, and when you throw everything we've talked about so far into one game it makes for a lot of fun.
CHPX: AUT offers a realistic weapon experience, ammo is very sparse and players have to make every bullet count.
Q: How many maps will be included in the first release?
A:
parkar: S-mart, a small grocery store and surroundings.
parkar: Labs, A James Bond style lab.
CHPX: Teleport (working name): Shootout on the roofs and back streets of a urban area.
Parkar: GBOF - Great balls of fire, an abandoned warehouse that has been set on fire, complete with overgrown yards.
Parkar: Pain Clinic, a Clinic.
Duncan: (with pain)
Parkar: Lennys bar, a bar.
Q: What is the major difference between Action Unreal Tournament and previous Action mods?
A:
Duncan: Akimbo system, again?
Parkar: Yeah
Duncan: Plus UT allows for way more details and bigger map
[Borg]: Enhanced graphics
Parkar: And the fact you can double jump, dodge, wall dodge
CHPX: Tweaked stamina system
with indicators
[Borg]: we are planning to include goals back into AUT again. Like the famous CTB from AQ2.
Duncan: The item system has been rethought and tweaked a bit.
CHPX: Set team models so that we can remove the confusion factor that AHL had.
[Borg]:And we have a huge amount of cool sounds and music.
duncan: And yeah, future plans include an action version of invasion and whatchamacallit, assault.
[AUT]Frost: Borg has produced a complete new set of music in a manner of a movie Original Soundtrack.
[Borg]: With the UT engine we can add now a lot of things we wanted to do in AHL like more and complex animations, gamemodes.
parkar: And it wont be a aq2 2 or ahl 2, it takes the best of both, atleast in my opinion
Ace12GA: Essentially more detail than has ever been seen in an Action mod to date.
[Borg]: well, this is our first beta. And we have quite some plans for the next one. Something we haven't mentioned in this interview is what most AHL player will kind of miss at first. The dives. In the predecessor of AUT (AHL) you were able to dive in all directions. Due to some replication problems we took them out for the first beta and focus on other important things to give the players at least a solid base to play AUT. Nevertheless, we are going to put dives back in. And when they come back they'll add even more game experience.
[AUT]Frost: They'll also be better then ever!
[Borg]: Think Max Payne dive.
Just picture yourself diving left and right with mixed akimbos.
parkar: Akimbo handcannons!
[Borg]: Being able to rotate smoothly the whole body. And I tell you getting killed by a diving person is as cool as shooting yourself. So...yes. No dives in beta1, but they will come.
Q: Well that was all. So Anything you guys feel needs to be said?
[Borg]:Yes
Parkar: See you on a action ut server this fall
[Borg]: I wish Asia Carrera would play this mod
Duncan: what happened to the 8 questions :P
[Borg]: Asia..if you read this... get in touch with me... please..we need your voice for this mod!!!!! :D
[AUT]Frost: I would like to state that the rumours on our forums about me "craving the wang" are not true. Not at all.
Ace12GA: I wish this mod would make us all millionaires
[AUT]Frost: And thanks for interviewing us
[AUT]Fibbles: I'd like to say that Frost is just shy about 'coming out'
duncan: I'd like to thank some people
CHPX: Washing machines clean brighter with calgon
Duncan: Especially my mother, she's been real kind to me
Ace12GA: ...dunc, who would that, be?
[Borg]: On a serious note: I hope we can attract old school action players and a new fanbase in the UT community
duncan: Then there's Chuck Norris
[Borg]: Thank you for this interview
[AUT]Frost: Can't forget chuck
[Borg]: ps: I am still single
Ace12GA: Yeah, can't forget chuck
[AUT]Fibbles: haha borg I read that as 'old schoolgirl players'
[AUT]Frost: thanks a lot to Chuck Norris, he has inspired lots of fun for us
parkar:hehe
[Borg]: That's what I meant
[AUT]Fibbles: Go chuck!
[AUT]Frost: And if he reads this, and is up for some voice acting, we're eagerly waiting!
[AUT]Fibbles: And dolph lundgren(sp?)
[AUT]Frost: And michael dudikoff
[AUT]Frost: Van damme
[AUT]Frost: I have this picture of van damme here
[AUT]Fibbles: david hasselhof :D
[AUT]Frost: err
[AUT]Frost: forget it
Well that was it, Sorry if the flow is a bit off at some parts, but that's what happens when you interview 7 jokers...Hope you all enjoyed it
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7.8
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Gameplay:
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7.9
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Based on 272 ratings
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