Interview with Scott "Scorch" Brown of NetDevil

[schild]

I don't think there are elves.

[stray]

Auto Assault is a vehicle combat game so the focus of game play is on blowing stuff up while behind the wheel.

Sounds good to me!

To be honest, I didn't give Auto Assault much thought before, but now that I think about it, it sounds perfect for my tastes.....Hopefully though, it'll borrow more from other vehicular action games than it does other mmog's. If I end up having to play the same old wack the foozle game, except in a car, then I'm gonna be pissed.

[SirBruce]

I still can't say Auto Assault interests me enough to actually want to play it (and why couldn't they spring for an AutoDuel or Mad Max license?), but it's nice to know it will be a solo-friendly game.

Bruce

[stray]

and why couldn't they spring for an AutoDuel or Mad Max license?

As much as Mad Max appeals to me, I'd rather not play something like that in an online world. A game with Mad Max in it is going to be much more rich as a single player experience. Playing as some random scrub in the Mad Max universe (or Conan, Star Wars, and Middle Earth) is not my idea of fun.

Why license AutoDuel? It's no more original than Car Wars, Carmageddon, Twisted Metal, or Auto Assault.

[Comstar]

Autoduel WAS carwars.

Anyyway, the game sounds more promasing than before, but the last video I saw of it reminded me too much of matchbox cars. I shall await beta reviews.

[Sobelius]

Have been watching this one for a while -- looks like it will have a City of Heroes pace of combat, and (I hope) a CoH level of chassy/armor/weapon/engine/paint design.
 
Only thing that bothers me: Scott Brown says they are putting the polish on the game and showing it off -- yet they haven't even run a public beta. I wish more software developers would run a beta program for public design feedback rather than just a glorified QA session/stress-test. I know they are running an internal beta, but that keeps the level of feedback to a pretty limited gene pool. In some respects, maybe that's a good thing.

[kaid]

I was a big fan of carwars and interstate 76 so as long as I can get a nice powder blue station wagon with a big ass gun I likely will give this game a whirl when it comes out.


kaid

[Daeven]

Clem: "Dem Elves make fer some Guuuud roadkill!"
Bubba: "Yep. Pass me that there BBQ!"

If Auto Assualt sucks I promise to drive the couple of miles required to camp their offices in my own Urban Assualt vehicle for the required mayhem.

Has it really been... 15 years since Autoduel on the Apple 2e? All I can say is that it is about damn time.

[HaemishM]

The first time I saw Auto Assault, I laughed at the cartoonish car color schemes. The new screenshots actually look a ton better. Their descriptions also got me a bit more excited. If NCSoft starts offering a premium membership (pay a little more to get access to all their games), I'd probably subscribe to it just to have the option to flip between CoH and AA (and eventually Tabula Rasa).

I look forward to the beta with guarded optimism.

[Mesozoic]

I just wanted to say that Jen Kierce is the new Natasha Kerensky.

[Signe]

I wasn't interested in this game at all, but now I'm a teeny weeny bit interested.  I enjoyed the interview.

[Mi_Tes]

Nice to see that passion!  I also look forward to subcribing to the NCsoft package - great line-up of games.  Now only if they had picked up Mythica.

W,w,w,w,w,a,d,w,w,w,left click, left click, left click………

Good news!  WASD movement and a sense of humor. :)

[Furiously]

It does look like their art direction has taken a turn for the better.  The first trailers I saw looked like 1996.

[AcidCat]

It does look like their art direction has taken a turn for the better.  The first trailers I saw looked like 1996.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. It certainly looks like it has some potential, something different at least.

[Nebu]

Nice interview.  All-in-all it seems very much like CoH in a car... I'm not quite sure how to feel about this.  I love the character creation and combat in CoH, but the lack of strong social networks and limit in game scope left me empty rather quickly.  I'm very interested in following this game to see whether they'll be able to keep the fast pace of CoH while adding some much needed depth to the gameplay.  As a fan of driving sims, I'm also looking forward to see how the physics "feel" while behind the wheel.  

This game has some potential.

[Alkiera]

Actually, having played their previous game, it sounds something like Jumpgate in a car.  Which is not a bad thing.  Jumpgate had a, if not exactly realistic, at least somewhat useful, set of space physics.  Big heavy ships manuevered like 5 million tons of bricks, and light fast fighters were quick and agile.  The game also used some player skill, as docking at space stations was a less than trivial task.

All in all, it sounds interesting.  Hopefully there's some depth to it, too, as that's mostly why I left CoH.  Great combat and customization...  but not enough options.  Every character was a one-schtick-wonder, like the proverb about only having a hammer(everything looks like a nail).

In many other games, it's possible to alter some things about your character to change your performance against specific enemies... using a blunt weapon over a bladed weapon, or swapping out some armor pieces for resists when fighting magic-users.  CoH combat, at a certain point, boiled down to 'I mash 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then I start over again at 1.'

Auto Assault looks to be an improvement over that, given what he said about weapon and armor types.

Alkiera

[WayAbvPar]

After struggling through the interview (the bolded white on black text burns my eyes- anyone else having trouble, or do I just need coffee?), I am guardedly optimistic. It has potential to be fun.

Some questions for the next interview-

It sounded like the player is 'stuck' with a single chassis to which they can make various improvements. Any way to switch from a compact car to a bus to a truck? Or are the different sized vehicles the 'classes' in the game?  

Is the advancement keyed to the driver (through skill increases, trees, etc), the car (through equipment upgrades), or both? Is there a phat lewtz system, or is everything available provided you have enough cash/skill/levels?

PvP- are there multiple types of arena contests? Deathmatch/, pure races (with no combat), death races (with open combat, but the goal is to finish first, not to kill your opponent), multi-player demolition derbies, etc?

Any way to customize the look of cars ala CoH characters (as alluded to above by a previous poster), or does everyone look pretty much the same at a certain level/character age?

How many different characters will be allowed? Any guild system?

[Paelos]

They found a way to put boobies on a post apocolyptic car. My rage knows no bounds.

For God's sake people, market something else besides tits. Seriously, it's just becoming more insulting by the month.

[Joe]

For God's sake people, market something else besides tits.

Not if you want to sell things.

[Nebu]

Seriously, it's just becoming more insulting by the month.

The sad truth is that most people will scream outrage and then lock their doors and download pr0n.  These marketing campaigns exist because they work.  When people evolve to a point where they no longer work, we'll see fewer of them.  Until then, we'll continue to live in the era of Jerry Springer and Girls Gone Wild.

Who wants to head to Hooters and get some buffalo wings?

[Mesozoic]

As other games ask you to pick a race and class, I hope that AA askes for a driver race and a car chassis, with the different car types playing varying roles in combat.  From there (again, I hope) you earn cash for car upgrades and cosmetic customization options, leading to more personalized and powerful vehicles.  Technically, such a system wouldn't require "levels," which would be silly for cars.  

"CoH in cars" would steal my heart and my cash.  Of course, I think CoH is the best MMOG out there.  YMMV.

They found a way to put boobies on a post apocolyptic car.

The effect of lingering radiation on cup size is well-documented.

[Signe]

I wouldn't mind being forced to look at boobs in nearly every game advert I see quite as much, if they didn't all look so painfully huge and strained.  No saline boobies in that lot... no, no.  It's all atomic number 14... the sort you find in granite.

The sight of those things makes me cringe... much in the way Mrs. Bobbit probably made you lot cringe.  Maybe it's a girl thing. (well, and Paelos, perhaps... who I have always considered one of us, anyway :))

[Hanzii]

After struggling through the interview (the bolded white on black text burns my eyes- anyone else having trouble, or do I just need coffee?), I am guardedly optimistic. It has potential to be fun.

No, I just gave up... and I've been drinking nothing but coffee all day.
There's a reason that white text on black is considered a webdesign no no, if you want to convey actual content (I thought Haem did this for a living?)

But the screenshots are nice (they used to be garish and asstastic). So the combination of NCSoft and a post apocalyptic setting will make me check this out.

[Paelos]

I wouldn't mind being forced to look at boobs in nearly every game advert I see quite as much, if they didn't all look so painfully huge and strained.  No saline boobies in that lot... no, no.  It's all atomic number 14... the sort you find in granite.

The sight of those things makes me cringe... much in the way Mrs. Bobbit probably made you lot cringe.  Maybe it's a girl thing. (well, and Paelos, perhaps... who I have always considered one of us, anyway :))

That's awesome, I'm the Christian nut and one of the girls now. I'm going places.

As far as people getting pissed and watching porn, well, that's not really the point. Porn is porn, you market it with tits because that's what it is. Some products are simply about sex appeal. Bras, Clothing, Perfume, work out accessories, etc. These things about body image, thus sexual images are not out of the norm.

I don't object to the images of women that they portray, I object more to the fact that it seems like they think its a shiny gloss on a sucky product that makes all gamers look like libido-driven idiots. I didn't buy WoW for the elf boobs, I bought it in spite of that. So, if they could market a game as A GAME, and not as the new cover of Maxim, that would be great.

[Llava]

I got the chance to talk with Steve Snow, an NCSoft producer working with this game, a while ago.  He made it sound pretty good.  He's a big fan of DAoC but was able to articulate the problems that he has with it- mostly, waiting around for an hour to get a group, running around looking for a fight, finding no one, taking a keep to get a reaction, getting nothing, taking another keep, then another, then getting 9,329,270,287 people gunning for you because they think you're trying for a relic.

So there's some decent PvP perspective backing up the game.  I'm looking forward to it.  I don't expect I'll trade CoH out, but I'll give it a shot.  Agreed with Haemish about the "premium membership" thing.  If I could pay maybe 25-30 bucks a month to access CoH, CoV, AA, and Tabula Rasa, I'd go for it.  Course, they'd give me access to Lineage 2 as well, but you aren't really supposed to eat the parsley on the side of your plate.

[Mi_Tes]

That's awesome, I'm the Christian nut and one of the girls now. I'm going places..

Don't nock it, there are worse places to be.  ;)

I don't object to the images of women that they portray, I object more to the fact that it seems like they think its a shiny gloss on a sucky product that makes all gamers look like libido-driven idiots. I didn't buy WoW for the elf boobs, I bought it in spite of that. So, if they could market a game as A GAME, and not as the new cover of Maxim, that would be great

I totally agree, I usually assume that if they are pandering it with boobs, it must be crap.

[Sobelius]

Well, there's also a long history of associating women with cars in American advertising, from pin-up calendars to Maxim.

Consider the "tool" magazines with women with overly large secondary sex characterstics fawning over wrenches and pneumatic drills...

Consider the car as an extension of male genitalia. The whole "got a hod rod sports car because he hasn't got his own hot rod" thing. (Vin Diesel doesn't count, of course -- he's just hot).

So this is nothing new and it's not going away. Paelos, consider yourself lucky that you have the mind capacity to see through the ploy. But I agree with you in the sense that it's almost like saying, "we don't think our game is good enough as a game, so we're going to get you to play by slapping a babe on the cover." Regardless, I'll still try it.

Also, notice the discussion about the graphic appeal of the cars -- the audience on this board, myself included, clearly wants cool looking vehicles to be part of the equation (just as much as we want cool looking characters, which I think for me is a lot of the appeal of the amazing CoH character creator).

I've noticed the AA web site -- and the interview -- often mentions that one of the main things to do in the game is "blow things up" -- at least that will be cool.

[Mesozoic]

Games show tits because most gamers are guys.  If you girls want less tits in games, then get your girlfriends to play.  

But just the hot ones.  

Naked.



P.S. Send pictures.

P.P.S. Please consider multiplayer console games.

[HaemishM]

After struggling through the interview (the bolded white on black text burns my eyes- anyone else having trouble, or do I just need coffee?), I am guardedly optimistic. It has potential to be fun.

No, I just gave up... and I've been drinking nothing but coffee all day.
There's a reason that white text on black is considered a webdesign no no, if you want to convey actual content (I thought Haem did this for a living?)

Yes, I do this for a living. No, that wasn't my design on the front. Of course, even if it had been, I like white text on black. It rarely ever bothers me. Of course, I live in the modern equivalent of a cave, with almost all windows blinded, shuttered and curtained. Fuck the sun.

[WayAbvPar]

The normal white on black doesn't bug me; it is just the longer responses in bold that did it.

[schild]

Ok, back on track for you people whose eyes aren't total crap. There's a company not really at Steak!!111.

[Mi_Tes]

Ok, back on track for you people whose eyes aren't total crap. There's a company not really at Steak!!111.

What more can be said.  Good interview, game looks to be progressing well, devs are excited about it, and we want beta soon.  keke

[Furiously]

I guess the importantant question is - when does the beta start and who do I have to sleep with to get in?

[Krakrok]

As long as it is more like Guild Wars/PlanetSide and less like WoW/EQ/DAOC I'm there. And yes the cars in the latest screenshot are more Fallouty and less Hotwheelsy which is good(tm).

Until it comes out I don't care either way. Gamestop lists the release date in September 2005. That is 7 or so more months of me not caring.

"the Bards Tale series, Wasteland, the Ultima series, Elite, Wing Commander and Privateer, all the X-Wing games, Fallout series, Diablo Series, I76, the System Shock games, Doom/Quake games, StarCraft, all the games that used the Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance engine" is a winning list of good games.

Hopefully they will have captured the essense of post-apoc classics like Iguana-on-a-Stick and Power Armor in Auto Assault.

[Tisirin]

Well, in true Starship Troopers "Would-You-Like-To-Know-More?" form, I just thought I'd post a reminder regarding the Auto Assault Dev chat tomorrow night.  You got questions, come and ask 'em...

Tisirin





Please join the Auto Assault team for a live chat on Thursday, Feb. 3, hosted by GamerGod (http://www.gamergod.com). During the chat, we’ll be asking some trivia questions. The right answer at the right time could score you an Auto Assault t-shirt. (Contest rules are available on the official Auto Assault website: http://autoassault.com/contest_01.html.)

 

Details:

Time: 9 EST / 8 CST / 6 PST

IRC server: irc.gamesnet.net

Channel: #gamergod

 

In other news, f13.net has posted their Q&A with Auto Assault project lead Scott “Scorch” Brown in which Scorch talks a little more about what players can expect when they enter the Auto Assault game world. We threw in some new screenshots, as well. You can find it all here: http://www.f13.net/index2.php?subaction=showfull&id=1107334424&archive=&start_from=&ucat=12&

 

Speaking of screenshots, you may have seen the new Pike screenshots that went up on various sites this week. If you missed them, pop over to Boomtown (http://rpg.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=7272) and have a look. And don’t forget to tune in to the latest Recon (http://www.autoassault.com/recon) report. This week, we’ve uncovered information about the Mutant Highway known as The Western Front.

 

Finally, for those who have inquired about getting linked from our site, our online submission form and requirements are now available. You will find them, as well as the Fansite Depot itself, in the Community section, http://www.autoassault.com/community/fansite_portal.html.

 

We’ve got a little Valentine’s surprise (Auto Assault-style, of course) coming up on the site this month. Keep an eye out for that in next week’s web update.

 

Hope to chat with you tomorrow!

Pann and the Auto Assault team