Earth 2160 interview

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Executive Producer Dirk. P Hassinger talks about the destruction of our planet, and how it caused Earthlings to flee their homes.

 

 

 

 

 

Itʼs hard to imagine what life would be like on another planet. Many humans are dying to go into space, explore the galaxy, and see new worlds that they hope will be entirely unlike our own.

 

 

 

That desire to see the galaxy quickly dwindles when the thought of never coming back enters the picture. Could you leave Earth knowing that youʼd never get to come back? What if you knew that the planet was falling apart and that you might not survive if you didnʼt leave. Could you do it then?

 

 

 

Earth 2160 answers that question. Weʼve seen numerous space battles before, both in movies and in games, but this one has something that no other has: graphics that go above and beyond the games you see and play today.

 

 

 

Thereʼs also the gameplay aspect, but not much is known about that. In fact, not much is known regarding how ZUXXEZ Entertainment was able to create the gameʼs realistic graphics.

 

 

 

Never one to leave questions unanswered (we love cliffhangers, but only in games, movies, and the best show on television, 24), GameZone Online spoke to the Vice President of ZUXXEZ, Dirk P. Hassinger. Dirk is also the executive producer of Earth 2160. Heʼs a pretty secretive guy, but we did manage to pry some interesting tidbits out of him.

 

 

 

It could be assumed that Earth 2160 takes place 156 years from now. How does the game begin, and what is the connection to the previous game in the series?

 

 

 

The year 2150 A.D. and the Earth collapsed, and only a few thousand of each of the remaining fractions could save themselves, some equipment and technology and then escape to the nearest available planet ? Mars. Humans spend the next few years with the terra forming of the red planet, developing new technologies and building up new civilisations. Somehow each of the three fractions "Eurasian Dynasty", "United Civilised States" and "Lunar Corporation" did this independently and separately from each other ? but in the year 2160 something strange happens in this new world. If ED, UCS and LC join forces or continue the old war against each other ? who knows?

 

 

One of the things that are being promoted for the game is its use of the Earth III engine. Talk about that.

 

 

 

That is outdated information, Iʼm afraid. Sorry, but we have not given very much information to the public about Earth 2160 within the last 2 years. We came to the conclusion last year, that the Engine we had been using during the last 5 projects was getting to big, because of so many added features in the projects. For this reason we started a new engine named "Earth-4" in spring 2003 from scratch. This new engine is much faster, because it is developed for per pixel shader graphics boards only. It allows us to show a so far unseen graphic realism in a game.

 

 

What are Bezier-curves? Why did you choose them instead of polygons?

 

 

 

The models are not stored in low resolution or several resolutions as before. A detailed mathematical description of each model allows the scaling of displayed graphical material to the needs and the abilities of the hardware used.

 

Can you give us an estimate of the kind of PC and graphics card that will be needed to run Earth 2160?

 

 

 

Players will need a P4 - 2GHz, 512 MB RAM, ATI Radeon or GeForce 4 Ti card. The graphics card is of course more important than the CPU speed.

 

Of course, gameplay is always more important than graphics. What can players expect from Earth 2160? Will they recognize any familiar gameplay elements?

 

 

 

The modular Unit Construction System, known from E2150, will be greatly enhanced; also ? because of the new graphic features ? Infantry units are once again possible; the research possibilities are almost free and unlimited; Virtual Agents can be hired to help the player (and allows him focus on the part of the gameplay he wishes) ? these VA have an impressive AI, they interact with each other, and their behaviour makes them appear as real people. Besides such innovations, we are in continual contact with the Earth-Community and will not disappoint anybody by kicking out beloved gameplay features of the processors.

 

 

What does this game have to offer in terms of attack units?

 

 

 

Itʼs a Sci-Fi war game ? the player has almost unlimited research possibilities and can construct thousands of different attack units out of a variety of chassis, weapons, armour, boosters etc. ? the number of different attack units is not countable.

 

How varied are the locales? The game is titled Earth 2160 but it looks very spacey... Do players get to visit any new worlds?

 

 

 

As I said ? the Earth was destroyed in 2150 ? so 2160 takes place on the planets, moons and asteroids of our solar system and outside it. Some of the venues look familiar or lets say similar to real planets (like Mars) some of the worlds look really insane.

 

How many missions are being planned for the single-player campaign?

 

 

 

There are seven for each fraction (4x7) ? but with lots of sub goals.

 

Are you at liberty to talk about the multiplayer mode and its features?

 

 

 

Sure. There will be four types of match modes, which can also be played in companion mode. MP saves and the joining of existing matches are possible. Internet matches are organized over the well-known EarthNet server system, but the new server software will allow enhanced statistics, video reports and leagues. Of course, self-created maps will be handled and distributed by the EarthNet server.

 

 

 

Thank you for your time.

 

http://www.gamezone.com/news/03_31_04_10_09AM.htm

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