Mankind Fights to Survive in B.C. a Game Where Dinosaurs Rule the World

Mankind Fights to Survive in “B.C.” – a
Game Where Dinosaurs Rule the World

by


Louis Bedigian

Build a tribe, hunt dinosaurs,
and help humans evolve to become the superior species.

“One of the things making B.C.
interesting is that not only is there a constant supply of new things to
discover, [but] the world simulation will work as a sandbox which you can alter
yourself and interact with intelligent creatures.”—Marko, AI Programmer

Ask an Xbox owner – any Xbox owner –
which game he or she is most looking forward to and you’ll get the same answer:
“Halo 2.” Playing the original Halo makes it easy to see why. The game was
closer to perfection than any other first-person shooter released, prior or
since that time.

Halo 2, however, is not the only
game that’s coming to Xbox. Believe it or not, it’s not the only one that should
be on the top of your Christmas wish list either.

Peter Molyneux, the man behind Black
& White, has been a huge Xbox supporter from the beginning. Support doesn’t mean
much to a gamer who wants games but hears nothing more than promises for the
future. It’s been a long wait, but now you will finally see the result of those
promises. Promises that aren’t being broken.

By now I’m sure you’ve seen footage
and read about all the cool gameplay features introduced in Peter Molyneux’s
Fable. But do you know anything about his other Xbox project – B.C.? B.C. is a
joint project between Lionhead Studios (Peter Molyneux’s company) and Intrepid.

Imagine a prehistoric world where
man and dinosaur live peacefully together. Now scratch the word “peacefully” and
replace it with the words “in hell.”

“The game features a fully simulated
eco system of creatures taken from the realm of B Movie prehistory,” said Joe
Rider, one of the directors at Intrepid. “You are in territorial competition
with every other living entity in the world map, so naturally your encampment is
not safe for any predator.”

If you can imagine what a battle
between a man and a T-Rex would be like, you’d envision lots of blood and gore.

Joe informs us that while the game
is gritty, “none of the violence is gratuitous, or pitching human against
human.” He hopes that this will facilitate a reasonable rating.

Jeremie Texier, assistant lead
tester, adds, “Indeed it ‘s only about survival and self-defense.”

Yesterday the hardworking developers
at Intrepid and Lionhead Studios held an online chat to discuss the massive
world of B.C. Tons of fans attended, including myself. We pummeled the
developers with dozens of questions, forcing them to finally say, “It’s over,
get out!” (Okay, they didn’t really tell us that, but after revealing so much
they had the right to wish we’d leave.)

FAN: What sort of physical changes will
happen to your character / tribe based on their activities?

Carson, Lead Scriptor: The
characters will start basically bare [from the essentials]. As you gain rank,
they’ll gain cool clothes, hair-dos, tattoos, and other adornments. Look for
some awesome tribal masks in upcoming screen shots.

Mark B, Lead Animator: The
character gains more and more skills, weaponry and cultural artifacts during the
game.

FAN: Is there a day and night change in
B.C.?

Andrew Vidler, Graphics
Programmer: There is a complete day/night cycle that is continually running
in the game.

Sam Martin, Coder (game
navigation): I reckon the day/night stuff is one of our best points.

Carson: The cycle is not real
time…it takes about 20 real minutes for 24 game hours.

Jurassic Park is frightening in
the dark.
All the dinosaurs are running wild!

FAN: What is B.C. all about?

Al, Lead Designer: What is
B.C. all about? It’s about survival, growing your tribe, [and] exploration.

Marko, AI Programmer: It’s an
action adventure game with a simulated world and missions

Joe Rider: Absolutely Al,
B.C. is a deadly adventure of brutal prehistoric survival.

FAN: How is the world built up…is it
like a huuuuge map or something smaller?

Al: It is a huuuge consistent
map of one island but we have had to break it down into sections. But you can
still view the ultimate objective of the mountains from where you start.

Carson: Dave (our Lead Level
Designer) has built a huge, realistically connected continent. Each of five big
levels all flow together…

FAN: What program did u use for making the
3D graphics in this game?

Des Owens, Lead Graphics
Programmer: We use a combination of in-house tools, 3dsmax and photoshop –
and a few plugins.

Andrew Vidler: Pretty much
everything is bump-mapped – including the entire landscape.

FAN: Will there be simian-like enemies who
use tools etc?

Carson: Yes. While the dinos
will all be mostly neutral (just a part of the food chain), simians will
actually be out to get you.

Joe Rider: However, you can
use the experience you have gained to manipulate the creatures’ behavior to do
your bidding.

Mark B: The simians will not
be as advanced as cavemen but will be able to handle rocks, sticks etc.

You’re gonna defend yourself with
that? Oh well, there’s always the afterlife.

FAN: You say that you can interact the
world, but does that also include something like hunting something to
extinction? Or will new creatures continuously spawn, without any ‘parents’?

Carson: We want the
eco-simulation to be as realistic as possible, of course. But we also need to
keep the game fun. A completely empty world, devoid of all creatures, wouldn’t
be fun.

Al: We did used to allow
hunting creatures to extinction but that’s just what players did, and ignored
the missions until everything was wiped out (just like "man" would do really) so
we have had to make sure that creatures keep coming back to keep the challenge.
The aim is to achieve balance with the eco system, not conquer it.

Joe Rider: You can however
certainly wipe out creatures from discreet areas of the map.

FAN: Could you give me an example of what
kind of items you can find in the world, and/or use?

Carson: Everything you can
pick up can be used as a weapon.

Al: Anything you would expect
really. Break a boulder for stones, knock down a tree for branches.

Sam Martin: Dino eggs…

Al: Fruit, meat.

Jeremie Texier, Assistant Lead
Tester: Use branches as clubs.

Carson: But as you advance
the tribe will manufacture better weapons.

FAN: Are there any other tribes?

Mark B: No. The simians play
that role.

Carson: The simians will be
your arch-rivals.

Al: There WERE other tribes
and you discover the survivors as you progress, however, the simians act as a
rival tribe (and are far fiercer).

Carson: And you assimilate
those discovered humans into your own tribe.

Andrew Vidler: [Example] You
pick up the remnants of other tribes as you go along.

We can’t wait to explore these
lands.

FAN: I must say that the dinosaur
animations look incredible. What did you use for [technical] information?

Andrew Vidler: We have real
live dinosaurs in the office 😉

Mark B: Videos of BBC,
natural history, and so on.. We [also] watched Jurassic Park.

FAN: Are you planning there to be some
friendly creatures in game… Maybe something that could in theory provide some
kind of symbiotic relationship?

Al: [None of the] creatures
are naturally "enemy." Many like the dodo need to be hunted carefully to ensure
they don’t migrate.

Marko: Not all creatures in
the game are hostile. You could keep one as a pet even, if you just manage to
trap it.

Joe Rider: Every creature in
the game is completely feral, wild and savage. It’s not possible to domesticate
any creature, but it is possible to harness their power against your enemies.

GameZone Online: Could you
give us more information on capturing and raising a creature as a "pet"?

Marko: The creatures will
never attach to you, or become pets like a dog. But you can keep one trapped and
keep feeding it, and watch it grow… And eat your tribe one day if you’re not
careful.

FAN: What section of the game are you most
proud of?

Des Owens: At the moment my
favorite part of the game is the meat harvesting. You can instruct the tribe to
cut away parts of any killed dino, section by section. It will be really gory.

Andrew Vidler: The lighting
as you go through the day/night cycle – it looks amazing. But then I would say
that 🙂

Paul Holden, Gameplay Programmer:
The physics [are] looking really sweet right now.

Jeremie Texier: The landscape
is fantastic.

Aaron, Lead Tester: I love
B.C. because it is so unique. It’s unlike anything I have ever played before.

Bennie Cook, Scriptor: My
favorite aspect of the game is trying to manage my camp and nurture my tribe to
maximum population.

Joe Rider: I am personally
extremely proud of the level of naturalism we have got going. It’s an extremely
frightening, brutal and savage world, just as it should be.

Whoa. That’s a big landscape.

FAN: With BC having such an emphasis on
gore, what kind of damage systems are we going to see in there? Are we talking
Soldier-of-Fortune-limb-removal kind of levels?

Joe Rider: You’ll find that
some of the tribe’s people have not developed a sense of empathy with one
another and can find a team-mate having an arm ripped off very amusing.

Des Owens: Better than limb
removal. You actually see the meat underneath the skin, and all the veins and
arteries [that] have been cut.

Aaron: It’s like an episode
of ER!

Paul Holden: We should sell
it as an anatomy aid to med students

FAN: Is this game going to have any Easter
eggs?

Joe Rider: There will be a
number of cool Easter eggs in the final release. Most are derived from very cool
game systems that we couldn’t shoe horn into the game proper.

No giveaways yet I’m afraid. We need
to have some things up our sleeves!

FAN: You said that there will be day and
night in the game, but will there be any seasons like summer or winter?

Carson: The levels start in a
tropical area…then you head up higher elevations…

Mark B: There are hot regions
like the desert and icy ones in the mountains.

Andrew Vidler: We don’t have
plans for seasons, but the weather in the game deteriorates as you progress
through the levels.

Carson: So, effectively, the
climate will be changing.

FAN: As a freelance composer I ask, what
kind of music and atmospheres which convey the emotional "feel" of the world do
you have planned for the project?

Joe Rider: Each environment
has a very specific theme, which is modeled in sympathy with the graphical
atmosphere and the nature of the challenges the player will face.

***End of questions***

Aaron: To finish off; B.C. is
one of the most unique and amazing games I have seen/played for years. I know
you may think ‘I have to say that because I work for Lionhead,’ but it really is
true. Keep an eye on this baby and it will truly blow you away. This is why you
bought an Xbox!!!

Joe Rider: Thanks for all the
questions. We’ll host another session in the Autumn, if not before, in the run
up to release.

For more information on B.C., visit:

Intrepid Games –
www.intrepidgames.com
Lionhead – www.lionhead.com
Forum – http://boards.lionhead.com