New World Order

Q: Tell us about New World Order and how it came about.

A: From the start! About 5 years ago, like most people, we were playing Quake like crazy and having a blast. After a while it got a little boring though. A game named Rainbow Six appeared. At first glance I was ready to dismiss it as a really low-class game, which I also did for a while. Finally trying the game out we found out that it was a blast! How could that be? Really poor graphics, not even a weapon visible and extremely slow movement. The game had something though. It pulled you in. The realistic environments, real-life weapons and bullets as deadly as in reality brought a whole new feel to multiplayer gaming. Suddenly the fantasy world of castles and monsters in Quake did not seem that appealing. People were screaming while playing, as it could be very intense.

Having wanted a realistic shooter for some time, Rainbow Six satisfied the most severe hunger, but the glitches in that game were still obvious. At the time we were developing a single-player game called Decay, which was a fantastic game but a really long-term commitment. Our ideas for how we could create the most awesome realistic shooter kept pulling us in the direction of what would later be NWO. As it turned out, we had to stop working with our publisher for Decay and got the chance to do what we really wanted to do. NWO was in the works!

During development of NWO, a game named Counter-Strike (which we all know about :) caught our attention. While running on a pretty old engine it was still a real blast to play, and it did many of the things we wanted to do just right. Needless to say, we were inspired by the huge success of Counter-Strike as it finally thwarted previous developer ideas of what gamers really want. While Counter-Strike was great (and still is!), it was still far from our vision of what could be done.

Q: What new ideas / features did you bring to New World Order?

A: I would say that everything in NWO has been written and done from the ground up to reach the next level. Technologically we've gone beyond existing engines and forced ourselves to develop technology with as few limitations as possible. We wanted a game that could handle vast amounts of dynamic lighting, particle effects and physics. The same goes for gameplay. We were never looking to reinvent the wheel, as we believe that (sadly enough in many ways) the road from here to future games that looks and plays almost as good as reality, is all evolution. Many of these evolutionary steps are so great that they may be perceived as revolutions though.

Q: Which competitive games are you keeping an eye on and how does New World Order compare?

A: We're always looking at what the established developers such as ID and Epic are up to. SOF2 looks fine also. Our greatest pleasure is pushing NWO's features further than those guys, even with a small development crew. :) As it turns out, NWO is in a genre that none of the main competitors are really in so a comparison is kinda awkward. Technologically we will come out faster with the next-gen stuff such as per-pixel lighting and shadowing, bumpmapping and all that. Our main focus for the rest of the development is to maximize the amount of fun you have while playing, and from what has already been done; I'd say that NWO is going to be very hard to match.

Q: What graphic tools were used in developing New World Order?

A: 3DSMax, our proprietary tools, exporters with error-correction. Using professional modeling software is really what is needed to take advantage of the DVA engine.

Q: What Hardware 3D features does New World Order support?

A: Vertex and Pixel Shaders of course, TruForm on ATI hardware. Bumpmapping, environment mapping, hardware skinning, shadow buffers and all that. It is honestly hard to not support this, as it is so easy to do with the latest hardware.

Q: Can you give us some examples of how New World Order takes advantage of those features?

A: Player models can be skinned using hardware, which greatly speeds up the rendering and in turn allow us to pump out more detail. Dynamic per-pixel lighting and shadowing, especially with bumpmapping really pushes graphics to the next level.

Q: What feature of the Radeon 8500 do you like the most? And why?

A: That would be the 1.4 pixel shaders without a doubt. This is still beyond what any competitor has and really makes a difference. There is also a certain smoothness to playing on the 8500 that I like.

Q: If you could ask for only one new 3D feature, what would that be? And how would you use that in your games?

A: Only one?? :) Oh, ok.. That would be hardware displacement mapping. Gimme!

Q: If you could sum up how much the Radeon 8500 improves New World Order in one sentence, what would you say?

A: Pure power with the best design right now makes NWO fly.

Q: If you could sum up your view on ATI's future in 3D, what would that be?

A: Well, as it turns out ATI (with the 8500 1.4 pixel shaders) are right now actually in the lead when it comes to hardware features. It takes a little while to get the target audience to turn around and see this, but if ATI can keep this up - I want to buy some stock!

Q: Gives us a brief history of Termite Games.

A: We started out as Insomnia Software 4 years ago. Our first game was called Decay, a singleplayer epic shooter. Today we're named Termite Games and are doing New World Order, a single and multiplayer teambased epic shooter. :) We recently joined forces with our publisher Project 3 Interactive and are now a daughter company of them.

Q: What do you think is Termite Games's one key advantage above other developers?

A: Constantly trying to push far ahead and to break the current path that most developers seem to be stuck in - we've learned that one must have faith, and truly believe in what you do. I think Termite Games is pretty unique with its strong technology and graphics - combined with the fresh and groundbreaking ideas that we infuse into our games. I think I speak for most gamers when I say that I'm tired of the same old rehashes. Sequel after sequel. We want to show something new, show that there is hope for something better. NWO is merely the beginning.

Q: Tell us a bit about the people who developed New World Order?

A: We're a very diverse crew - but I think the main thing that stands out to an outsider is how much we support each other. Some of these guys has stood by me and crunched away on the game even when there was little to no pay. While those days are over the seriousness and dedication of these people stand out above all else. Dedicated and extremely talented would sum it up nicely. Maybe I should quit now, or they will hit their heads on the ceiling tomorrow. :)

We've got nice setup with a 3D Modeling / Animation Lead (Martin), a Design Lead (Gianni) and 2 other leads / seniors (Sebastian and Stephan) who keep the art crew busy and organized. We're all avid gamers and all have different preferences, so we get a good mix of ideas to mold into the game. While most of our serious gameplay design is done we still have regular meetings where we synchronize and prepare each other for the last weeks of development.

My job as the boss / lead over the crew is to make sure they're feeling inspired, keeping deadlines and to settle discussions with the best solutions I can come up with. I listen to the guys' gameplay ideas and we discuss and refine until it kicks ass or gets dumped.

Q: How do you go about creating a game as a team?

A: It's almost as clockwork nowadays. Everyone knows what they are to do and just get on with it. The trickiest part is right in the beginning of the development because then there is no natural path to follow. We have an effective hierarchy set up, not because anyone wants to boss anyone else around, but because it coincides with the workflow.

Q: How long did the development take for New World Order?

A: About 1.5 years now.

Q: What were the best and worst moments during that time?

A: Best and worst moments? Oh, there's been so many! Best moment was definitely when we first got to boot up multiplayer and play a couple of rounds before it crashed. No one was allowed to move or select a weapon before all players were in the game - otherwise the server would crash! :) Keep in mind that this was the very first test, we were so anxious to play we just slapped it all in there and hoped it wouldn't fall apart before we got to fire a few rounds.

Worst moment was when there was 4 different really nasty bugs showing up and refusing to go away just before we were to send the multiplayer demo to P3 (our then future publisher).

Q: How do you decide which graphic features to support in a title given the development time of your titles?

A: We probably do things a little differently there - we really try and put a strain on ourselves and enforce that we first and foremost add features that really add to the gameplay and feel of the game. Effects for screenshots or impressing publishers really come last. The global per-pixel lighting and shadowing was a given - we had to have that.

Q: How closely have you been working with ATI and how do you see that continuing going forward?

A: We've been working very closely with ATI, supplying them with fresh demos to try out. Graphics hardware still have a long way to go and I hope to be able to give some input from the developer side. From trying out the latest drivers, it sure has worked out fine.

Q: What is next for Termite Games and New World Order?

A: The next big thing is the public multiplayer test for NWO. After that we aim to go gold of course! There is alot of work and commitment planned for supporting the NWO community with updates, new maps, development tools and new features, so
we have our work cut out for us.

Q: Any exclusive parting hints / comments on upcoming titles you wish to share?

A: Watch us when we push the DVA engine on Radeon 8500 class hardware and above exclusively! :) We've got so much to do, we've got to get to it.

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