<Gamesurge> so we can start by introducing your selves and what you do
<Dave> I'm Dave Ewing worked on Unreal and UT Unreal for sounds, UT level design, textures and sounds
<XceptOne> Ok, My name is Pancho Eekels and I'm a level designer and model along the way, some textures
<XceptOne> I worked on Unreal and UT
<James> I'm Game Design/Programming/Art
<Reptile> Hello, my name is Dan.....................
<Reptile> I was responsible for weapons skins, pickup skins, as well as some voices
<Speuger> Steve Sinclair, graphics programmer, new to the team
<Gwot> James Edwards, animator/3d guy

<Gamesurge> How did you guys contribute to the development of Unreal and UT?
<James> I started Unreal myself
<Gamesurge> you started it?
<James> As a lone wolf type project
<James> It kinda grew from there
<Gamesurge> so then why is it Epic's game?
<James> Well, it's an Epic/DE game
<James> It was very collaborative, but I worked on it for about 10 months by myself. Then I hired Cliff Bleszinski on.
<James> Then Tim started making the editor and Dave Carter was hired.
<James> It sorta snowballed from there, with both companies hiring new people at a fairly rapid rate.
<Dave> I did all the sound effects for Unreal, and for UT I did 4 levels (including Overlord and Morpheus) , a texture set and some of the sounds
<XceptOne> I did the outdoor areas in Unreal + trees,some plants, textures, The little two legged bunny
<XceptOne> In UT I did more levels and the rocketlauncher
<XceptOne> And a boatload of pickups which in turn were skinned by Dan

<Gamesurge> Ok, now that UT is done what are you guys planning to do?
<Gamesurge> a new game?
<James> We are already well into our new game
<Gamesurge> Can you reveal any details about it?
<James> It's a 3d Action game. And we plan to have a team of 15-20 people work on it for 2 years.
<James> It's going to be _huge_
<Speuger> Yeah its an ambitious game
<Dave> to say the least
<Reptile> lotsa great ideas here..................

<Gamesurge> what engine will you be using?
<James> Most likely the Unreal engine.
<Speuger> We've been prototyping alot of new technology
<James> Actually, a super heavily modified Unreal engine.

<Gamesurge> isn't that going to be kind of old (in 2 years) especially with the new Q3 engine, and Epic's upcoming engine around the corner?
<James> It will greatly surpass anything out there.
<XceptOne> Nope, the graphics will be stunning.. you'll see
<Gamesurge> Doesn't the Unreal engine "constrain" you a littele bit....?
<XceptOne> Not the modified engine
<James> Every part that ages will be replaced.
<James> Or revised
<James> There are a lot of Unreal engine components that there is not need to reinvent.
<James> It's a very modular engine.
<Gamesurge> are you guys thinking of using some parts of Epic's upcoming engine?
<James> We still have to work our the details, but hopefully we will have access to all the improvements they make.

<Gamesurge> how'd you guys get together?
<Dave> James founds us all
<Dave> wandering the streets
<XceptOne> That James...
<Reptile> I was introduced to the company by a friend who already worked for James.
<James> I was hired by myself.
<James> It took a lot of convincing.
<James> But I managed to offer myself a salary that I could accept.
<Gwot> I was referred to DE by James Green (Epic animator now)


<Gamesurge> What do you guys think of the UT models compared to q3 models?
<XceptOne> The style is different...
<James> I like the diversity in the Q3 models, but we had a different focus, and different needs.
<Gamesurge> UT models weren't too spectacular.
<Gamesurge> Q3 models look great though.
<Dave> well different tastes I guess
<Dave> no doubting that the q3 models are cool and all, but we kinda thought the ut models were just as cool
<Gwot> I think both game's models have strengths and weaknesses but it has more to do with the engines implementation of them than the artist's "skills"
<Gamesurge> UT models weren't diverserse enough.........
<Dave> not as many true
<Dave> but made up for (hopefully with many more skins, WAY more levels and gametypes)
<XceptOne> It was clearly a design decision..
<Gamesurge> The flak cannon has a cool looking projectile :)
<Gwot> flak cannon is one of the coolest weapons ever
<Speuger> flak cannon rocks!
<Speuger> yeah!
<James> did you see the smiley face?
<James> ...just before you died?
<Gamesurge> thats what I was talking about, the smiley face :)
<Speuger> so cool, gotta get hit with the alt fire of it
<Dave> we all think q3 is a very cool game, no doubt about it, we both just went for variety in different way

<Gamesurge> What genre will your new game be?
<Dave> FPS
<James> thats all we can say for now.
<James> Give us a couple of months and we will have some real badass screen shots to show.
<Gamesurge> will it be a "real world" FPS or one of those kill everyone for no reason type FPS?
<Dave> more real world and strategic
<James> No more running down the endless corridors, find the key, open the door, kill the monster, rinse and repeat!
<James> I hate that shit.
<Gwot> I like that shit....but then I'm somewhat of an automaton...
<Dave> hopefully we will be putting in some VERY cool gameplay inovations, but we are keeping a low profile for now
<Gwot> yeah, avoid the spotlight till ya got sumpin to show for it

<Gamesurge> Some people think UT will "fail like Unreal did". What are your thoughts on that?
<Gwot> no way
<Gwot> UT is solid
<James> Not a chance
<James> I haven't seen a review less than 92%
<Dave> well, Unreal failed in the multiplayer, but shined in single play
<Speuger> The initial reviews have been amazing
<James> Unreal didn't fail
<James> There a millions of reasons why Unreal didn't fail
<Reptile> a lot of Unreals shortcomings were more than improved for UT

<Gamesurge> What do you think is the best part of UT that will get most people hooked?
<Gwot> Instagib!!!!
<James> All the different game types.
<Reptile> mutators
<Speuger> mutators!
<XceptOne> Kickass teamgames
<James> And rich feature set
<Dave> The diversity of gameplay
<Speuger> team play with bots!
<Gwot> yeah the bots definitely work in teamplay
<Reptile> MINIGUN rulez!
<Gwot> the weapons are very well balanced as well
<Speuger> crazy, the weps are so balanced

<Gamesurge> ok, what do you guys think about "tacitcal-strategy " games, such as rogue spear and spec ops ?
<Speuger> I play all sorts of games
<Dave> I am all for playing games that make you use your head
<XceptOne> they are fun..
<James> They are very cool. There are a lot of games like that coming out.
<Gamesurge> Do you think the genre is getting "overcrowded'?
<James> There are good games and not so good games in each genre.
<XceptOne> It doesn't matter what kind of game it is, it needs to be done well so that the player can have fun
<James> People will always play the good ones.
<Gamesurge> what i meant to say is that like a year ago noone even heard of the genre now everyone is busting ass to try and make a new game for it which in turn makes games suck :(
<James> Yeah, it's great when someone invents a new genre or cross genre games. Some will suck and other will rock. It's all in the quality of the developer.
<XceptOne> yeah... well it's good that the gaming world is not stuck in a loop
<Speuger> I think the game industry is influenced by fads as well
<Speuger> so you get alot of knock-offs when a 'different' game does well

<Gamesurge> what about software piracy? What do you guys think of it?
<XceptOne> Software piracy is not cool
<XceptOne> It also discourages gamecompanies to make games
<James> Well, it hurts everyone.
<Dave> its hard to see someone rip off a couple of years of your life I guess
<Speuger> Totally
<James> Especially the honest people who pay for games because they have to pay more.
<Speuger> Exactly
<James> Due to the loss because of piracy.
<Gamesurge> but lets say someone wants a game. there is no demo and they buy like a few games a year and don't want to waste their money on utter crap
<Speuger> Reviews dood, same like a movie you don't go in a shoplift from blockbuster
<James> They can play it at a friends.
<Speuger> you ask around, read stuff
<Speuger> supply and demand, hard reality
<Gwot> I'm all for demos
<XceptOne> But in most stores you can return it and try out another
<James> Demos are good.
<XceptOne> Demos are cool
<Gwot> and shareware
<James> I wish shareware would come back strong!
<Gamesurge> do you like CD keys?
<Gwot> no
<Gwot> I don't like any kind of protection myself
<XceptOne> CD keys suck but they are a nessecary evil
<Gamesurge> i know that Blizzard made a cd key sysetem in SC/BW and war 2 BNE then all of those cd key generators came out
<Speuger> Protyeah, that sucked
<Gamesurge> It once happened to a friend. Really pissed him off.
<James> Nobody likes protection, but like Pancho said, it's a necessary evil.
<Gwot> yeah
<James> There is no one good answer to the piracy issue at this time.
<Gwot> nope

<Gamesurge> what about the pay for play stuff such as AC/EQ/UO?
<Gwot> don't like it
<James> I don't like that too much. But it's a financial issue.
<Gwot> I was on the UO beta test
<Gwot> when I found out what the game was going to cost + pay to play on top I dropped it
<Gamesurge> why should u pay 50$ and then 10 more a month?
<James> If you pay, then the developer can support the product more and make it better.
<Speuger> there is something to be said about maintenance of persistent games like that tho
<James> Yeah, those servers cost a lot to run.
<Gwot> that's partly my point too
<Gamesurge> I would like it if the client was free
<Gwot> the quality of the experience didn't justify the cost imo
<Gamesurge> and you had to pay 10$ a month or whatever
<James> It's either that, or the free style of play with UT
<James> The free client would be good too.
<Speuger> I'm going to pick up EQ this weekend actually
<Speuger> they have 'dm events' which is totally cool
<Speuger> and worth the subscription alone
<Gamesurge> but woudln't it be great if you can get the game free, and pay for the months you want to play?
<Speuger> sure
<James> That would be good.
<James> I'm sure that will happen in the future.
<Speuger> thats just the way they sliced it, financially
<Gamesurge> if you buy Everquest , then you pay out of "obligation" since you paid $50 you have to keep playing it thats what sux.

<Gamesurge> What is your website?
<James> www.digitalextremes.com
<James> it's not up yet though

<Gamesurge> are you guys hiring?
<James> Always
<James> For the right people

<Gamesurge> are you guys happy with how UT turned out?
<James> Very happy
<XceptOne> Yes very happy
<Dave> very.... the extra months polishing really show hopefully
<XceptOne> We were happy the way it has been received sofar too
<Gamesurge> do you guys have a favorite map?!
<James> DM peak is very cool
<Gwot> November rawks
<Gwot> in ctf
<Gwot> all the outdoor maps too
<Dave> I enjoy the ctf maps a lot
<Dave> lava giant
<James> Yeah, Lava Giant is very cool
<XceptOne> I like the map that Inoxx started and me finnished: DM-Hyperblast
<XceptOne> I like DM-Liandri

<Gamesurge> Favorite Gun?
<Gwot> sniper and flak
<Dave> pulse gun :)
<Dave> the shaft....

<Gamesurge> Can you say ANYTHING about ur secret project?
<XceptOne> No.. it will be something to look out for though
<XceptOne> I can guarantee you that
<James> Yeah, there isn't much to talk about yet. Everything can change at this point.

<Gamesurge> What textures did you guys do?
<XceptOne> For unreal and UT?
<Gamesurge> yea
<James> We did most of them.

<Gamesurge> how long have each of you been working thereat DE...
<Dave> 2 and a half years
<Gwot> I just started about a month ago
<James> 5 years
<XceptOne> I worked at DE for almost three years

<Gamesurge> You guys planning to move down to the USA? Epic did
<Gwot> hehe
<James> Nope
<Gwot> no way
<Gwot> our offices rock
<XceptOne> No.. we stay here
<Gamesurge> like being in Canada?
<Dave> we have a kickass office here and everything we need
<James> We even have a weight room.
<XceptOne> Canada is not bad at all....
<Gwot> yeah!!!
<Gwot> and I might even use it sometime!!!!
<James> And showers, a music room, the TV, a full kitchen. We even have our lunches prepared in house for us.
<Dave> you don't hear about canada much but there is a LOT of really good talent up here

<Gamesurge> What are your plans for future projects besides the secret project?
<James> We are focused only on this project.

<Gamesurge> What do you guys do in your free time when you're not working on games?
<Dave> play them
<XceptOne> Playing them
<Dave> read reviews :)
<XceptOne> Yeah, they all play games too

<Gamesurge> Where are your offices located?
<Gwot> London
<XceptOne> London Ontario
<Dave> London, Ontario
<James> Canada
<XceptOne> hehe
<Gwot> hehe
<Dave> North America
<James> hehe

<Gamesurge>Thanks again for your time and I wish all of you and the rest of Digital Extremes staff great luck in the future.
<Digital Extremes>Sure, thanks no problem!