Das ist doch mal wieder ein etwas originelleres Interview zu dem Spiel. Da kann ich
RPGDot nur bestätigen, eine erfrischende Abwechslung zu dem jüngsten Wiederholungseinerlei. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Elite Bastards.Com: Interview with [i]"Oblivion"[/i] -Producer Gavin Carter"...
Elite Bastards: A previous interview mentioned using multi-threading to
help speed up area/cell loading for when players move about the game world.
Are the devs using multi-threading in other ways to facilitate game
performance?
Gavin Carter: The game’s code takes advantage of the multithreaded nature
of the Xbox 360 and multithreaded PCs to improve just about every aspect of
the game. The primary function is to improve framerates by off-loading some
work from the main thread to the other processors. We do a variety of tasks on
other threads depending on the situation – be it sound and music, renderer
tasks, physics calculations, or anything else that could benefit. Loading
also gets spread across hardware threads to aid in load times and provide
a more seamless experience for the player.
...
Elite Bastards: In these days of pixel shaders, AI, and physics, it's
very easy to overlook another key component: sound. How have you
improved/what new features have you introduced for sound?
Gavin Carter: One of the new features that really improves the game
experience is the use of physics-based sound. We associate sound categories
with material types on objects and have ways we can mix and match up sounds
depending on
collisions that occur in the game. So dropping a sword on the stone floor
of a cave will sound different then dropping it on the floor of a wooden house.
The system is global, so even things like combat sounds get modulated by it.
So striking a guy in full armor will give you a nice clang, while smacking a
goblin with a warhammer will give you a satisfying flesh impact sound.
...
Elite Bastards: What were the most challenging elements of your
design to actually implement in the game? What's been the most frustrating
element to implement and how did you finally overcome it?
Gavin Carter: The AI has certainly been the most challenging element to implement.
It turns out that giving any sense of autonomy to a world with 1500 NPCs that
are running 24 hours a day (no matter where you are) can be a dangerous
proposition. We’ve had to deal with everything from NPCs killing plot-essential
characters off-screen to them breaking the economy by purchasing everything
in a town. However, our programmers have done a tremendous job plugging the
holes that form and it’s grown into a very tight system that is fascinating to
observe and interact with in the game.
Elite Bastards: The economy in Morrowind is widely considered to be
somewhat broken. What steps have the designers taken for Oblivion to avoid
repeating this game flaw?
Gavin Carter: Economy has been a much bigger focus for us in Oblivion
than it ever was in Morrowind. Our designers have produced reams upon reams
of spreadsheets, charts, graphs, and statistics examining player advancement
and linking it up to the world economy. One major step we’ve taken is providing
the player with higher level economic goals – things like houses and horses
and high level weapons and armor in shops. These are meant to be goals to
save your money towards over the course of the game.
Also, we’ve introduced the concept of investing as a skill perk. Once you
achieve a high enough mercantile skill, you can invest in a store and permanently
raise the maximum amount of money the merchant has to purchase items from
you. Over time you can use his increased wealth to your selling advantage
because he’ll have more money to buy your loot.
..."
Ragon
