ic-games Review - Vietcong 2 - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

ic-games Review - Vietcong 2 - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii ic-games Review - Home - Review, Preview and Interview for PC, Xbox,Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

Vietcong 2

Information
Previewer: Jarek Kolar
Developer: Pterodon
Publisher: Take2
Platform: PC
Genre: First Person
Released: November 2005
Article Date: 27.Aug.2005

Screenshots

1 of 10

Vietcong 2 is due for release on the PC late this year, and to whet your appetite we have got together with Jarek Kolar lead game designer of Pterodon. What follows is a fascinating preview in how characters end up in todays hi-tech games.

Importance of characters in FPS game

In a computer game – the same as in a book, theatre play, or film - characters take on an essential role. Vietcong 2 is definitely a story oriented game and, as such, you will find characters fighting alongside you which will try to make you believe that the environment in you are playing in is real. Without believable characters even the most beautiful environments are just nice theatre sets devoid of life.

Creating story with strong characters

In the original Vietcong we previously introduced characters that were more than just animated objects created by the computer. The story centred around a small group of US Special Forces living in a camp on the border with Cambodia. We populated this location with personalities, but were limited by the closed area of the environment where the game’s action took place.

In Vietcong 2, the story is set in the city of Hue which is under attack during the Tet offensive of 1968. With such a setting we had better chance of creating interesting characters and personalities. The city is full of interesting individuals who really didn’t expect to end up in a real combat situation. So we have an experienced military advisor who admires Vietnamese culture, a young lieutenant who is experiencing his first real battle, an angry Marine officer who hates the Special Forces, an American news reporter, an old French priest, a girl from a brothel along with many other interesting personalities.

Problems with strong characters in the game

The only problem with using such strong characters is the fact, that because these characters are so unique, we can’t let them die in-game only to be replaced by other characters. If we did allow to these characters to die, we would then need to have incredible amount of expendable, but unique and strong characters throughout the whole game.

For Vietcong 2 we were thinking about having characters in the player’s squad who weren’t so unique and important which would then allow us to finish them off at any time. We did initially implement and the result was terrible. Instead of believable characters that we knew from the original Vietcong, we had these nameless figures that you might easily recognize from any other game. Immediately, the important part of atmosphere was gone. So we had to redo the whole concept and put back a team made of unique individuals. After this experience, we realized that the approach we had to characters in the original game was right.

Drawing character sketches

After having the characters described on the paper, we started to think about how they should look. Our concept artist did a lot of sketches that portrayed the characters which became the groundwork for their computerized creation. Here are some examples:

Getting all uniforms and equipment correct

To keep the authentic feel of the game, we had to gather together all the uniforms and equipment from the period. In the Czech Republic there are quite a few military history styled clubs. I’m sure you’ll be aware of the kind of thing - a group of people who get together and form a unit with authentic uniforms, vehicles and airsoft weapons. Then these guys regularly head off into nature and do their best to recreate various wartime experiences. Things like, creating training formations, employing tactics, digging trenches, eating military rations and meeting with other clubs for recreation of battles with airsoft guns. Many of these clubs specializes in WW2 but, surprisingly, there are a large number who put their efforts into building authentic Vietnam War units. They do their best to have all the equipment from the exact period of time, and that’s exactly what we needed.

I was surprised how much these people pay attention to detail. There was one example I overheard which really made me realize just how crazy these guys are. One member said to another: “Hey look, I managed to buy this 1967 MACV uniform from ebay.” The other one replied: “Yeah, it’s very nice. It must cost you a fortune… But look, this buckle on the harness is from 1974, it’s not an authentic Vietnam era buckle. You can’t wear it.”
So with help of many of these clubs we were able to photograph all our characters dressed up properly with the real uniforms. We have also spent a decent amount of time photographing all the related equipment.

Casting for character faces

For the central player related characters - and also for all the Vietnamese NPCs - we needed to get some distinctive and suitable faces. So, we approached an extras agency in Prague which normally caters for film casting. They then provided us with their database of models so we could choose the right faces we wanted. It was then a case of getting them photographed for us.

As for the generic soldiers we photographed Pterodon team members (only the good looking ones, of course). It’s inevitable really, but we still find the idea actually being ‘in’ the game quite cool.

Creating models and textures

Once we’d prepared all the photographic assets we started to create the actual game models of characters and their equipment. We slightly raised the polygon count so that the models are now nicer and smoother than in the original game. Also, due to the high quality photographs we could do very detailed textures this time round.

The new rendering engine allowed us to use specular maps as well as normal maps on the characters. Using specular maps means that some parts of the models can reflect light - for example, glasses, or a metal helmet. Using normal maps means that even a low poly surface appears to be more detailed. We decided to use normal maps only for the heads and hands. The clothes would look more detailed via this treatment, but a bit too plastic like. Also the memory consumption for fully normal mapped bodies would be way too high, simply because we have a large variety of characters active in any one mission.
The change in technology has meant that everything, as far as character creation is concerned, is now done in 3D MAX. This is one feature we think could well help the fan community create their own models - in the original VC we employed very specific in-house tools for skinning the characters.

Animating the movements

The big question is, where would characters be without movement? This is an essential part of building up believable characters. For better results we have enlarged the animation team and have used optical motion capture for Vietcong 2. We have also had a lot of experience perfecting animation thanks to the first game, as well as drawing on our direct experience from paintball and airsoft battles.

The main focus this time was on the ‘system’ animations – the basic movements that are used by both players and AI in the game. Due to a high amount of movement possibilities (running, sprinting, crouching, lying prone and aiming) and a really vast amount of weapon types, we had to create a really huge number of animations.

We have also focused strongly on details, like animated transitions between poses, or the animated turning of the characters. The result is that the movements of characters are now looking very realistic - especially in multiplayer.

Adding humanity to computer models

Finally we’ve be closely studying how people behave and what they do. And from this we’ve realized that there are several details that are essential for making the characters look truly human.

Eyes – eyes are the living part of the head. Even when the head is not moving, the eyes are looking around, blinking and showing some form of expression. Then comes the facial expressions and animations which are another very important for how the character’s personality is portrayed. The turning of the head also – we have noticed that humans tend to turn their head using the minimum effort. For small adjustments only eyes move to the side, then the heads turns a bit, and if character wants to turn more, the shoulders and upper part of the body will eventually rotate.

In relaxed poses, if a character is not doing anything and is not stressed, he will try to find a relaxed position then, after a while, the pose will changed to relax some other, different muscles.

So, by implementing all these things, we’ve added much more humanity to the computer models of the characters. And when you eventually get to see them in-game, we think you’ll definitely notice that the general ‘feel’ has improved from the original Vietcong.

Jarek Kolar lead game designer of Pterodon.

IC-Games RSS Feed

IC-Games Reviews and Previews (c) 2002-2007

Designed by James Collins

To have your product featured contact The Editor
Found some news? contact The News Desk
PR Dept - Andrew St.Denis
Additional Coding by James Collins and Phil Douglas
Get credited, submit breaking news at The News Desk
Want to hire one of our journalists? Enquire here
Want to see your advert on site? Enquire here

Ic-games.co.uk banner Ciao.co.uk

Find the best console offers for the video game lover like Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and all types of PC games.

Xbox 360 Games

Internet bingo is played by large and a vast amount of gamers, so you’re sure to make a network and friends. Whatever age or gender.