Par Mathias, Frederic

Fred - Let's start with an obvious first question. What stage is the game at right now?

Dev Team - We are still in the pre-Alpha stage. Alpha is the point in the project where most systems are online and somewhat useable. We aren't quite there yet. For E3 this year, we showed what was essentially a technology demo which highlighed a few of the cool new things the team has been working on for the past year. As for the Mac version, we are still in the planning stages.


- In a few words, how would you summarize Deus Ex 2?

DX2 is the sequel to Deus Ex (DX:The Conspiracy on PS2). As the sequel many of the same characters and plot lines from DX1 will return. Like Deus Ex, DX2 is a first-person action adventure RPG set in the near, but dark future.
The Deus Ex series is best known for its immersive gameplay and freedom of player expression. The player is able to use a wide variety of tactics (combat, stealth, negotiation, hacking) to accomplish goals. In DX2 the player will travel to exotic locales (Seattle, Cairo, Germany, Antarctica) to unravel a conspiracy-laden mystery that threatens the world.


- Are there any particularly challenging restrictions for this project?

We are working with brand new lighting, sound and physics engines. Figuring out how to efficiently use this powerful technology (and incorporate it into DX style gameplay) has been quite a challenge. Some of the initial things we are doing with the lighting engine is blowing people away. Hiding in a dark corner and seeing a gigantic shadow (and hearing and feeling its footsteps) of a sinister bot approaching and then having that bot illuminate the area with his spotlight is down right freaky.


- What are the things you are most happy with at this point?

I'm most happy about our team and our company. The people Ion Storm are rabid about building immersive and complex games like DX2 and Thief3.
Everyone at the company is on board with the concepts expressed in both of these series.


- How long does it take for work to go from concept art to finished design?

Some items (like furniture or objects room trim) go very quickly, while others (architecture full maps and characters) can take awhile longer. We are lucky to have Whitney Ayres as our Art Director. Not only is Whitney as excellent artist with many years of experience in both traditional & digital mediums, he has the technical expertise needed to bring the art to fruition efficiently. Whitney is able to conceptualize objects and characters into a form the artists can really run with. We also have a very experienced design team, most returning from the original Deus Ex team, headed by Project Director Harvey Smith. Their technical sense, efficiency and inordinate amounts of creativity are ensuring that DX2 will be as riveting as the original game.


- Why use the Unreal Engine technology? Could another engine have done the job just as well?

The first Deus Ex was built using Unreal, so we had a strong familiarity with that engine. Using the Warfare Engine allowed us to make progress from day 1. We also feel that Epic has the best overall package currently available.


- Is there anything significant in the initial specification that you have to drop or change?

We've done extensive re-design to the initial mission flow. In the original spec the player visiting flooded London and Red Square turned squatter village in Moscow. Sadly, we had to remove those two interesting locations.
All games change their specs over time, the original Deus Ex had a Whitehouse mission and Moon Base mission that were cut.


- The AI of Deus Ex 1 was really impressive, perhaps even most amusing. What changes have you made to the AI to ensure more challenge to veteran players?

We really wanted to improve the level of our AI. We've hired a great AI programmer (Paul Tozour) and have spent a large amount of time researching and planning the AI implementation.


- It's still a ways off, can you estimate a release date/period?

A Deus Ex game is very difficult to judge until you are 3 to 4 months out.
There is just so much tuning and balancing that needs to be done. Right now releasing in 2003 is as close as we can get.


- You say that you are still in the planning stages for the Mac version. What does it concretely mean? You are in negotiation with Mac companies?

We are still evaluating the Mac market. Deus Ex 1 did very well on the Mac, but DX2 will require some pretty high-end hardware. We do have a close relationship with Westlake Interactive, so we are in touch with were Mac gaming is heading.