As I don't have an approval to put it on a website just like that. I put it up here. Enjoy!
Riftrunner: Larian's latest...
The situation in the low lands (ed. this is a common referral to The Netherlands and Belgium) is still kind of sad as far as the development of top games is concerned. At the moment there are only a few who have delivered one or more known games. The short list of Dutch and Belgium games developers is proudly lead by Larian Studios. This Belgium developer delivered a few years ago their first game, an RTS named 'L.E.D. Wars'. Even though this was a fairly standard RTS, the thorough way it was designed caused it to be noticed internationally also. Their second game was 'Divine Divinity', an RPG of a stature that received many rewarding critics and which has also got several international awards. The successor to this game is already planned, but before this development is started Larian is busy with their latest project: 'Riftrunner'. So, it's time to have a talk with Larian. The target of this interview was Swen Vincke, founder of Larian Studios (in 1996) and also project leader for Divine Divinity and Riftrunner.
PCZone.nl: Could you briefly describe a standard working day?
Swen Vincke: That's not so simple, because no day is the same as the other. You are always busy with something different and there is always something that requires your attention. At some days there is so much work, that you have to offer your night rest for it. Mostly this happens right before a deadline or when there is an important event, like the E3 show. The days before such a show are mostly filled with trying to wrap up as many loose ends as possible. In this business you'll never know what is waiting for you the next day...
PCZone.nl: Riftrunner uses an extended version of the Divine Divinity Engine. This engine offered a huge interactive environment. Can we expect an even bigger environment in Riftrunner?
Swen Vincke: The world in Riftrunner is not much more interactive than the world in Divnity 1. In Riftrunner you have roughly the same level of interaction, but this was already very advanced in Divinity. There will be ofcourse new objects you can discover and some object functions were changed. Bedrolls are now normal objects you can possess, whereas in Divinity you could only create a bed by combining haystacks.
PCZone.nl: Divine Divinity was according to many a great game, hence the many rewards. The most important point of criticism was the average graphics. Will Riftrunner have comparable graphics to Divine Divinity or is the graphics site of the engine improved also?
Swen Vincke: We have ported the engine of Riftrunner to DirectX9 to work away some incompatibility problems. The new engine allows to work with real time 3D characters, add more glitter to the magic effects, use higher resolutions and there is the possibility to zoom in when played at higher resolutions.
PCZone.nl: Riftrunner takes place in the same world as Divine Divinity. Can you tell a bit more about the story and the locations in Riftrunner?
Swen Vincke: The story takes place 20 years after the events of Divinity 1 en before the events that will take place in Divinity 2. The main character is no longer the Divine One but one of his helpers who has assisted him during these years after the events of Divinity 1. One day, this helper is dragged into an other dimension which is overwhelmed with demons. One of these demons magically links the faith of the player to that of a Deathknight; when one of them dies the other dies also. Together they search for a way out of this world and a solution for their "soulforging".
As said Riftrunner takes place in an other dimension but the player will also return to some of the locations in Divinity 1. The player will find out what has happened in teh main time with the world in Divinity 1. But we can't say anything about this yet.
PCZone.nl: Will Riftrunner be completely linear or will the player get multiple story lines?
Swen Vincke: Riftrunner is made up out of a main story which is surrounded by many side stories which are at times linked to the main story. The main story is rather linear as it tells about the events that are tied to the Divine One and the Damned one, the baby in the final movie of Divinity 1. Surrounding this there are many things to do for the player, which makes the game not entirely linear. Add to this the Battlefields technology, which generated random maps and quests and the player will have plenty of choice to do what he wants.
PCZone.nl: Where is Riftrunner positioned with respect to Divine Divinity 1 en 2? Will it be a complete game or is it more something to keep us busy until Divine Divinity 2?
Swen Vincke: As said above, Riftrunner takes place between Divinity 1 and 2, about 20 years after Divinity 1 to be precise. Riftrunner will indeed keep you busy until Divinity 2 by request of the fans. From the reactions we received, the fans wanted to have a sequel as soon as possible, better this year than next. As Divinity 2 will take some time because it uses a new engine, we could get to release another game shortly after Divinity 1 by reusing its engine.
PCZone.nl: What gameplay elements from Divine Divinity shall make their appearance in Riftrunner too? What new elements will there be and to what extend did the feedback of the fans influence the made changes?
Swen Vincke: Riftrunner will have an even higher level of interactivity with the worlds. It will be again possible to move objects freely around, combine them and create new objects like in Divinity 1.
Riftrunner will now also have arty members so that the hero is no longer alone when fighting a horde of enemies. The character development in Riftrunner will be completely different. We will not be satisfied about the system used in Divinity 1 and thanks to the feedback of the fans we are now developing a new system.
PCZone.nl: Can you import characters from Divine Divinity into Riftrunner?
Swen Vincke: No, as there is a completely new character development system and because of that also new and other skills, this is not possible. It wouldn't be fun anyway to play with your Divinity 1 character in Riftrunner as it would be too strong in the beginning of the game. Also the story is not about the same person.
PCZone.nl: Will Riftrunner have a high difficult level or is the game playable to the beginning RPG player?
Swen Vincke: Just like in Divinity 1 it is out purpose to make the game accessible to as many people as possible. It must be fun to both the hardcore players and for the people who normally only play solitaire on their PC.
PCZone.nl: What about the NPC’s? Will you encounter some known characters?
Swen Vincke: Indeed, but for the time being we won't tell who. With the exception of a certain imp who 'borrowed' your teleportation stones. You will also return to some of the locations in Divinity 1 and see what has changed in the mean time.
PCZone.nl: Can you tell a bit more about the size of the worlds?
Swen Vincke: The world will have about the same size as the one in Divinity 1, and will consist of volcanic areas, temples, village and underground cities where demons have destroyed everything. There will be some areas from Divinity 1 and random maps will be generated during playing. In total the game world will be certainly bigger than that of Divinity.
PCZone.nl: You have been working on Riftrunner for a while. At what percentage of the development are you now?
Swen Vincke: Riftrunner has been finished for 80%.
PCZone.nl: Are you planning to add a multiplayer mode, like the ever more popular co-op mode, in the game?
Swen Vincke: Multiplayer will not yet be present in Riftrunner but it will be in Divinity 2 which will have different multiplayer options, but more about this later.
PCZone.nl: Are there certain things that you would have liked to add to Riftrunner but which will not appear due to one or the other limitation? Will these be back in Divine Divinity 2?
Swen Vincke: As told before there will be no multiplater functionality in Riftrunner but this will be present in Divinity 2, which will also be completely in 3D. For this we have a top-engine, but as said the multiplayer functionality is the major difference between Divinity 1/Riftrunner and Divinity 2.
PCZone.nl: In these days many games require a monster-pc’s to run a bit decently. How do you feel about this development and is anything of this to be found in Riftrunner? Or in other words, will RIftrunner require such a heavy machine?
Swen Vincke: Just like for Divinity 1 we try to keep the minimum demands as low as possible so that as many people as possible can play the game. For the engine an upgrade was performed, which causes a requirement for slightly higher demands, but still low enough to be liked by people with a low-end PC.
PCZone.nl: It is ofcourse too soon for a demo, but is a demo scheduled at all?
Swen Vincke: Yes, the demo is scheduled shortly before the release of Riftrunner (The release date is set for the first quarter of 2004). More information about this will be given when that date gets closer, at the moment there is only little information to be told about this demo.
PCZone.nl: Next to Riftrunner there are also plans for Divine Divinity 2.Don't you get enough of RPG's yet?
Swen Vincke: Not up to now. We do toy with the idea of making an RTS one day, but there are no concrete plans made right now. At the moment we would like to expand the Divinity universe.
PCZone.nl: Are you stuck with a certain deadline or do you follow the 'it's done when it's done' strategy?
Swen Vincke: Unfortunately we don’t have the means to have a "when-it’s-done" scenario and as such are stuck with a number of restrictions related to possibilities and time. This is probably also the best as you can keep on developing a game without finishing it.
