Q: Who is RatByte Software?

A: RatByte Software was founded by the C++/WDL programmer TCS and the level designer Cant and currently consists of 4 members: TCS, Cant, Ssyed and Pascal. Ssyed generally will care with the weapon design. Pascal‘s job is to create atmospheric sounds and musical accompaniment. The team definitely will expand. So for in-stance we search a model designer and other talented helpers.
 

Q: So NEON is just another detective game? What’s new in it?

A: In NEON will be summarized different approved game genres, to create a big diversified game. Generally we described NEON as a detective game, because the story is fixed at a detective. While playing the game the different game modes will be emphasized differently. For instance we do not plan to import real action scenes, but exciting sneak missions, but not that complex as in Dark Project. Later more and more ego shooter aspects will be added and sometimes the player is forced to shoot his way through the enemy lines. We endeavor to migrate these changing kinds of playing fluently, so that the player won’t notice how his own game behavior changes, and so the motivation will be preserved for a long time. We will dispense with role-playing aspects, like complex schedules. We probably will also dispense with an inventory. Thereto the game will be highlighted with an exciting story, which always offers new surprises. But instantly we do not want to betray much of the story. One highlight will be the AI of the enemies. So we already work since the project start on a good AI, who really shall demand the player. In contrast to other games we also will implement an interaction AI, which means that the enemies will act differently on different places in the game.

 
Q: Can you tell us something about TCS’ pathfinding algorithm? How will it work?

A: The algorithm was programmed in WDL and actually consists of two algorithms. The first algorithm is based on the „Best-First Search“ algorithm, who finds the virtual way from the departure to the goal. For that the map must be divided in a resource-saving grid. The algorithm then creates with a very complicated system the way to the goal, while he bypasses the barriers and backfills the local minima. As the algorithm creates different ways at the same he is very fast. If the enemy now would follow one of these ways, he would be on the way a pretty long time, because the ways probably contain detours, change direction arbitrary or cease in a blind alley. That’s why a special algorithm was created who additional finds the fastest way to the goal. Because of these two algorithms enemies already now can move absolutely in the levels without taking any detours or moving against walls. But we will definitely not implement this algorithm in the final release of NEON, because we will use the known A* algorithm. Furthermore we must implement additional features like moving through different floored level.
 

Q: Are you going to use fixed cameras (like in AITD) or 1st / 3rd person cameras? Why?

A: It’s planned to use 1st person camera. We privately think that you can manage the game better with an ego view.. Till now in 3rd  person camera games there have always been problems with fast and exact aiming. We want to simplify it for the player, so that he won’t have to manage a complicated camera view. There will probably be scripted events or video sequences, in those we will reconvert to 3rd person temporary.

 
Q You say that the game will consist of 5 huge city areas; how many quants will a medium sized level have? Do you plan to split a level in several parts like in Half Life?

A: It’s planned to implement 5 huge city areas. But we already do not know if we will only fix on large cities. 2 or 3 will be present in every case, apart from that we will create other scenarios, like a huge building or outdoor areas. The towns are very detailed, so we will split one town in 4 zones, with 5000 quants each. The zones will be set free one after the other, so that the player won’t loose the oversight. In each zone will be one or more missions to solve for the player. The game won’t only work on high end computers. The requirements will be something like PII 400 and a TNT2 graphic card. In regard of other games with good graphics, this is quite little.
 

Q: Are you using pre-rendered movies or in-game movies, when needed?

A: All video sequences are realized with the engine. We do not want to extend the development time of NEON unnecessary. At most the intro and extro are pre-rendered. We will think about it some months before finishing the game.
 

Q: I read your scenario and I have understood that your models will need many polygons because they’ll have many details (gun under the jacket, for example). How many polygons will the average NPC in Neon have?

We personally like details. But we will only implement them there if they are meaningful. So this one model will have more polygons than an average NPC. The average NPC will have the number of polygons that they still appear realistic but do not waste many resources. At now we can not say definitively how many polygons will an average NPC have. Definitely the models will be very detailed, but we will use the LOD feature. At now only weapon models were create. These have up to 700 polygons; that depends on the size of the weapon.

 
Q: What tools are you using to create your models, sounds and music?

A: We use 3D Studio Max Release 3 for modeling and skinning. Animations are created with the Character Studio 2.2 and Milkshape 1.4.4. The skins are drawn with Paintshop Pro 6.
The music is done with the brand-new Roland XV-88 Synthetiser and Boss GT-3 for guitar FX. The software, MIDI songs are composed with, is called Encore 4.1. We also use Wavelab, to create and edit WAV files.
 

Q: How much time do you need to finish the game? Do you plan to expand the team?

A: We are planning a developing time of 2 years. But this can vary intensely. We definitely plan to enlarge the team, just because everyone should only do these topics he is really good at so that we will publish a good result. A team mustn’t be too large. Also the fields of activity of every member should be delimited strictly, because it could produce complications. Probably we won‘t engage a new programmer, except he shows really impressing examples of his work, because the whole code should be transparent. Interested people should really apply, but also reckon with not being hosted in our team because we have quite big demands.
 

Q: I see that Conitec gave you 5 stars. Which were their motives to do it, in your opinion?

A: Personally we take very much pride in our achieved work. Our game scenes really represent the mood of deserted downtown streets. Till now, we did not had to limit our ideas; every member really did excellent work. We are our own strictest reviewers. Conitec seemed to notice our efforts and they seem to like also the story, the game principle and the screenshots. That’s why they gave us 5 stars...
 
 

Thank you, Ratbyte.