FAQ de B.C.

Q - What can we expect from B.C., an out-and-out console action romp, or one with significant depth and strategy?

Our desire from the outset with this title was to provide both types of experiences, giving the player the freedom to choose to be clever or go in guns blazing (metaphorically of course. Maybe that should be 'spears blazing').

The basic character control and interface for BC is deliberately simple, comfortable and intuitive, we want the player to experience no difficulties at all interacting with the world, moving around, picking up objects and attacking creatures. The viewpoint is a typical third-person camera that players of many action adventure games will be familiar with. On top of the simple input system we have created a world of unprecedented depth and richness. The player can use items and the abilities of the characters in an almost unlimited amount of ways.

In addition to this, the missions in the game can be completed in any way the player chooses. Some players may move through the missions, killing indiscriminately and attacking every creature on sight, destroying all vegetation in their path. Some players may choose to employ sneaky but violent tactics, such as poisoning fruit, using the cover of darkness or sniping enemies with a bow and arrow. Some players may try to move through the game doing to minimum amount of damage to the environment, sending creatures to sleep rather than killing them and trying to avoid damage to plant life. Any path is available to the player.

Q - Can you tell us a little about the rival race; is the battle for survival dynamic or based on …?

We are trying to keep this enemy secret. It is unlikely that anyone will see these creatures until they play the game. I can say, however that they are a terrifying, organised and vicious enemy.

Q - Does the main premise lie in the hunter/hunted dynamic?

The battle for survival amongst creatures is certainly one of the mechanics that has the largest impact on the gameplay. Creatures attack humans for food, and the player attacks creatures for the same reason, or to protect themselves from being eaten. The creatures all have different attitudes to others in the environment (some species may be ambivalent of others, while some are arch enemies), these complex animosities and grudges are sometimes able to be exploited by the player.

Q - Can you give us a few more details on the control system, i.e. controlling other members as well as yourself?

While in camp, the player can select up to 5 other tribe members to join the 'team'. While moving around the world, these 4 other team members follow the character the player is controlling wherever he goes. The player can switch to control any of the team by hitting the right trigger button. Using the Y button the player can issue simple orders to the rest of the team, these are context-sensitive, and include orders like 'Attack!', 'Retreat!' and 'Collect this food'. The player can also tell some team members to stay where they are and guard the area. If the player wants to use one of the unique skills of a team member, they just have to switch directly control them, and then they can carry out the task. Whenever possible, we want the player to be doing the 'cool stuff' rather than issuing orders and watching others do it,

Q - Evolution appears to play a significant role, can you elaborate on what forms this takes in the actual game?

One of the player's key tasks is to find objects in the world that could be used to upgrade the technology of the tribe. These items are usually obtained through completing missions. For example we may have a mission to find five examples of a special plant that grows in an inaccessible part of the environment. When these items are taken back to camp the tribe may discover that the plant can be used to string a bow and arrow, and the player is now able to purchase this weapon from the camp with food collected in the world outside. There are a huge amount of technological upgrades like this, which mean the initially poorly-equipped cavemen are quite powerful and advanced by the end of the game.

Q - Is the 'highly talked' about simulated eco-system as deep as people are making out, can you give us some specific information on how this pans out?

The power of the eco system is the way the mechanics combine to make a complex world. For example, all creatures in the world have a favoured food (it could be pine cones, leaves of a certain plant, or meat). The creatures actively forage and hunt for this food stuff. At certain times of the day they will also look for water or they may sleep through the day or the night. If you set the game in motion with a few creatures in the world you will begin to see these desires and routines making a complex simulated environment. A group of predators may happen upon some herbivores at a drinking spot one day and attack them, killing one and eating it. Another day they may not be in the right place at the right time. Also a large creature may knock down all the trees that bear a certain fruit, meaning one creature could go hungry and begin to forage further away, becoming the prey for another creature. If you combine these desires for food, social activity and rest with the fear (or liking) of water, a fear (or ambivalence) to fire, etc, then you can begin to see a huge amount of possibilities for interacting with and also for simply watching the world.

Q - I’ve heard that every item in the game can be picked up, is this purely for combat purposes or for other reasons, i.e. combining wood with stone to make a simple axe perhaps?

Every item under a certain size can be picked up and used as a weapon, thrown as a weapon or given to another team member. In addition the player can (later in the game) add chemicals to these items. They can add any chemical to any item. These chemicals include fire, poison and sleeping drugs. Thus the player can add fire to a tree branch and use it as a torch or to ward off predators. They could add fire to a pine cone, and throw the burning object into long grass to scare creatures away. They can also add poisons and drugs to objects that they know are favoured foods for certain creatures. This means the player can lead creatures around the level with a trail of food and then poison them, or they can drug the foodstuffs in a certain area, wait for animals to eat them and be sent to sleep and then sneak past them without being noticed. The item system is central to the game, and there is a lot more I am not able to talk about at the moment.

Q - Peter Molyneux has talked of a 'sea of blood' when large dinosaurs are killed, can we really expect to see this much gore or will it be toned down?

Currently we are working on a blood and gore model, which like the rest of the game is a slightly exaggerated version of reality. The life of prehistoric men and creatures is an extremely violent one naturally and we don't want to hold back in terms of representing this brutality. In instances where large creatures are killed with edged weapons, like spears and arrows, there will be a huge quantity of blood, just as modern day whalers and elephant hunters experience this when killing large animals. We hope the players will experience a combination of revulsion and pity when they kill the large creatures in the world.

Q - The combat system sounds to be revolutionary; can you really hit dinosaurs out of the ballpark with a burning tree branch?

Yes, if you have a big enough branch, and you hit a small enough creature they will tend to travel a long distance. We want the player to have the freedom not only to attack creatures head on, or with a bow or spear at a distance, but also let them use the environment creatively to kill creatures. An example would be pushing a boulder off a cliff onto a creature, or felling a tree, setting light to the tree trunk and rolling it into a pack of creatures, setting them on fire in the process. We set up the world so that in any instance where the player is expected to fight creatures, they are able to use a variety of fun and creative methods to do so.

Otro juegazo que pinta muy bien. Mmm de donde puñetas voy sacar dinero para tanto juego bueno?????

Le tengo unas ganas... la cosa promete.

Simplemente la caña, io toy esperando impaciente este y el fable....

Peter Molyneux