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08-18-05 Delta Force: Black Hawk Down Chat with Producer Jordan Blackman
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08-18-05 Delta Force: Black Hawk Down Chat with Producer Jordan Blackman
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 Moderator
Posts: 6
Registered: 01-14-2009
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Delta Force: Black Hawk Down Chat with Producer Jordan Blackman
Jordan Blackman: Hi everyone. I'm happy to be here. Game on.
gigablade77: About how many man hours did it take to build the game, total?
Jordan Blackman: To gigablade77: That's a question I've never thought about. It's interesting because development has occured extensivley both internally at NovaLogic and at Rebellion. Any specific number I could give you would be off, but I can give you an idea of the scale... The number of man hours about 70,000 man hours...
Toriyama: Are there any new features never seen in a shooter before?
Jordan Blackman: To Toriyama: Of course! No other PlayStation2 game has 32 players onlne in the same game. In addition we have a lot of interesting graphical features that I've never seen before. For example, the fire from explosions spreads on a per-poly basis to give the effect of a naturally growing fire.
ramjo_frlim: wHEN IS THIS GOING TO BE RELEASED? is this going to be like counter stricke.. is it rated mature and would i be able to play online?
Jordan Blackman: To ramjo_frlim: It is already released. Don't you have your copy? The online features are huge. The game is rated Teen.
Project Thief: Will you release a Patch for
the online part of the game? Maybe to fix the problems with the ranking system?
Jordan Blackman: To Project Thief: I know that some player's stats are not properly being tracked. We are currently looking into the issue and will make any fixes we can.
SOCOM II New Maps...: How many weapons are currently in used in the game...can you use vehicles too?
Jordan Blackman: To SOCOM II New Maps...: There are 28 weapons that you can use. There are vehicles used for insertion and gunning in the single player campaign. This includes ground and air vehicles.
Life-or-Death: How many maps are there online?
Jordan Blackman: To Life-or-Death: 25. The cool thing is that all the maps are compatible with all the game types. There are 7 game types so you have 25*7 combinations.
Jak522: about how long is the game
Jordan Blackman: To Jak522: The single player campaign has 16 missions. It really depends on your skill level how long it will take you. It also depends on what difficulty setting you choose. Once you consider multiplayer online, co-op, and split screen-- well, there is a lot of time you can spend with your PlayStation2 and Delta Force - Black Hawk Down.
whoosh88: I first want to say that after playing this game, I thought it was a really good shooter - something you hardly see on the PS2 anymore. OK, now I have a few questions - what part of the game do you think the developers spent the most time on? (i.e. map design, online, graphics) And did you watch the movie for any inspiration when making the game?
Jordan Blackman: To whoosh88: I'm glad you're enjoying the game. We're really proud of it. Because of the sensitive nature of the subject matter, we put a lot of time getting the details right: What do Ranger's look like and behave? A lot of games will feature a Ranger with messy hair or something-- that's not the route we wanted to go. And yeah, we've all seen the movie and read the book. Great stuff!
Canada_J13: Will the game apply to a large auidience or have you guys just decided to focus on a core group?
Jordan Blackman: To Canada_J13: I think it can appeal to a broad audience. We have an interesting mix because while the subject matter is very serious, the game is designed to be immediate and fun. You can pretty much jump into an online game and know what you're doing, but you can also get deeply into the ranking and voice communication to take the play to a higher level.
KEEPER: Is it possible for the PC version and the console versions of Black hawk Down to interact with each other online And are there any major differances between the console and PC versions?
Jordan Blackman: To KEEPER: While it would be really cool if PC and PS2 gamers could play together, we would have had to sacrifice making improvements to the PS2 version in order to make that work. The PS2 version has some very major improvements: Voice com, new graphics engine and effects, bullet penetration, new game types, etc.. I think that we made the right choice.
elementsk8er24: What makes this game any different from a regular FPS?
Jordan Blackman: To elementsk8er24: The setting is very unique. It's not WW2, it's not "the near future," and it's not sci-fi. This is a period piece based on actual events in the early '90s. We've also got, of course, the 32 player online games. Perhaps the most unique aspect the way that players can customize and improve the skills of Coach (the player character) as he progresses through the game.
Deltan: Hey everyone, we're going to close the question queue in 5 to 10 minutes so that we can get current questions answered and clear the question queue. If you have a question, get it in soon!
Born2 kill: I have seen the movie black hawk down, did the movie have any influence on the game at all? if so what how much?
Jordan Blackman: To Born2 kill: Well, the movie and the book were inspiration for the game, we did the research ourselves and worked closely with actual soldiers who were on the ground during the Battle of Mogadishu to strive for historical accuracy.
RedDragoon: Did you want to be in the gaming bussness your whole life? And wht advice would you give to somone who really wnat to have a career in video games?
Jordan Blackman: To RedDragoon: I want to retire at 30, but otherwise yes. I love this industry! My advice to any aspiring game developers is to play and design games for fun, and to get used to really hard work. you really need to be dedicated. Don't give up-- ever.
Deltan: The queue will be closing in 3 minutes, please get your question in now! Thanks everyone.
JonnyStain: What vehicles will you be allowed to play online with?
Jordan Blackman: To JonnyStain: In a word: none. The vehicles are offline only. Layering vehicles into multiplayer gameplay is actually really complicated from a design perspective. I've seen a lot of games mess it up. We chose to nail the footsoldier experience. We are considering vehicles as a major component of any possible follow up title.
PSPFrenzy91: What do you think is the best feature in the game?
Jordan Blackman: To PSPFrenzy91: From a micro perspective, I'm having fun with the bullet physics. You can shoot folks through some of the walls, so it's really cool to peg someone who tries to duck below a window. more broadly, I think the huge multiplayer games are a blast and I'm really glad we got it running so smoothly.
Deltan: The waiting queue is now closed. Thanks everyone, we'll try to answer your questions in the queue as fast as possible.
BigBassMan: How much historical realism has been conveyed into the game?
Jordan Blackman: To BigBassMan: A significant amount. The player gets to be a part of the Mogadishu Mile, the Lost Convoy, and of course "Irene" where the choppers take off for the mission to the Olympic Hotel that erupts into the Battle of Mogadishu. That said, we took some liberties too, but I don't want to spoil the ending...
sk8er1412: how does the ranking system work if there are any, and are there any cool online feature?
Jordan Blackman: To sk8er1412: The ranking system is really interesting, and we put a ton of work into it. It is based on a method of determing chess rankings created by a guy names Arpad Elo. This kind of system is generally called an ELO system, and is used in some other games. Basically, the game makes a prediction about how you should do in a given match based on how your rank versus the ranks of your opponents. If you do better than predicted, your rank goes up. If you do worse than predicted, your rank goes down. Rank is about how good you are, not about how many hours you've played.
SuspiciousCharacter: At what age did you first start game developement?
Jordan Blackman: To SuspiciousCharacter: I started as an intern at a game publisher when I was in college, but I didn't begin working as a developer until I started at NovaLogic when I was 24. I'm not going to say anything more to a "SuspiciousCharacter." =b
Mikeeman95: Are you working on any cool games right now?
Jordan Blackman: To Mikeeman95: Yes.
XolrecX: What type of editing tools had you used on the game?
Jordan Blackman: To XolrecX: Rebellion and NovaLogic each have a bunch of proprietary tools with cool names like "Azura" and "NILE." These tools let us craft the game world and create the levels that end up in the game. Yay.
Deltan: Thanks for coming out today everyone. A transcript of this chat will be made available tomorrow on the forums. Thanks to Jordan Blackman for joining us. Be sure to check out the Black Hawk Down website: http://www.blackhawkdownthegame.com/ as well as the PlayStation.com site: http://www.us.playstation.com/games.aspx?id=SLUS-21124
Jordan Blackman: Ladies and Gents, it has been a pleasure. Thanks for coming here and chatting. I also want to thank Sony for having me here to chat with everbody and for creating awesome platforms like the PlayStation2 and the PlayStation Portable. Play online and you might run into me!
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08-22-2005 08:49 PM
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