We recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with a few members from the Full Metal Jacket team.

                                                                                             (PCShooter) What is your name and what do you do for the Full Metal Jacket Team?

The Eternal: The Eternal, I am one of two coders. Also scripting and site design currently

SenseOred: I am SenseOred, and I have much fun modeling and animating FMJ's models.

PitchBlende: I am PitchBlende, hear me roar, I do Public Relations on the mod, and also look up History for the team, do Concepts, and generally nag the team.

ThermO: ThermO, FMJ Lead Mapper/2D Artist/SoundFX

Stu: Stu, Mod Founder/Mapper

(PCShooter) Where did you come up with the idea for a Vietnam War mod? Can you give us an overview of the mod?

Stu: I came up with the idea just after I watched the movie "Full Metal Jacket" the first time. I am impressed by the movie. So I searched for a Vietnam mod to play but I found nothing. So consequently, I tried to build up my own. So the process of hiring members started and it led to what it has become now.
PitchBlende: Although I’m a newer member of the team, I believe we all joined cause of love for Gaming, Fun, and the History of the Vietnam War.  An overview you want.  Several Vietnam Era Weapons, Us Forces battling NVA/VC Forces on realistic environments. They have goals they have to accomplish etc., etc. 

(PCShooter) What are some of the objectives in the game?

SenseOred: There are several different objectives, um, three to be exact. There are the normal Team Deathmatch (that will be different depending on how many player life's the server sets), Destroy (destroy something on the map) and Find The Spot (get to a certain place).

PitchBlende: I will take the more professional approach to this question.  We have three Objectives right now, which will go out with beta1. Those include (War – Basic Team DM), (Search & Destroy – Reach an object on a map and blow it up), (Search & Locate – Certain Number of your team must reach a well-guarded part of the map).  Several New Innovated Objectives will find their way into Beta2.  This includes a Secret Mission involving helicopters and a Mission that MACV-SOG Calls Bright Light.  We do not want give the missions away, but more information of these objectives will be released once they are in game.  We also have plans for other missions, maybe a territorial mission, maybe something else.  Any ideas will be will appreciated.

(PCShooter) What are the primary classes in this mod? How can we decipher between classes?

The Eternal: USMC and VC, You can see differences in models, skins and of course weaponry.

SenseOred: I know this one! None.
We decided to skip the class system early in development, and that has not changed. Your stats instead changes depending on what weapons and items you choose.

PitchBlende: VC/NVA & US Forces.  Everyone has access to all the weapons/items, except you can only select to a certain limit.

(PCShooter) There are many combat mods out there these days, what sets yours apart from the rest?

The Eternal: ME nah, I haven't seen any other total conversion on Vietnam for quake3 yet, also we have so much realistic things put into the mod, seems like you're actually in Vietnam
SenseOred: Except the obvious, the theme, we also have a rather unique aiming system, incredible maps and a really good feeling.
PitchBlende: The Theme, The Love, First Realistic Mod with Rocket Launchers?  We have jungles, m16s, RPGs, etc.  We have a weather system, undulating water, moving water, and water falls.  Spawn and Death Effects.  Air strikes, Viewable Bleeding, Destructible Items.  That is just to name a few, we have so many new things it is hard to name them all.

(PCShooter) Can you explain what the primary weapons are in this mod? Any napalm bombs? :)

SenseOred: We don't have any napalm bombs, since, well, I don't think the troops would fancy running around with those on the shoulders, and making drivable airplanes in a Q3 mod would be rather difficult (read: impossible).
We have the basics, pistols, machineguns, rifles, snipers, grenades, a grenade launcher and a rocket launcher. I bet everyone will find his or her favorite.
PitchBlende: As SenseOred said above, we have all those.  We have Airstrikes also, but they are regular Mark HE propelled missiles from flying F4 Phantoms.

(PCShooter) Can you elaborate on the different environments, in relation to the changing weather conditions that were prevalent during this war, as well as the terrains in this mod?

ThermO: WOW...Changing weather!
Well, if I had my way, FMJ would connect to some remote weather network and check out the conditions in the city/town where the first connected user is located. Then the weather variables such as Rain, Sunny, Cloudy etc could be loaded into FMJ as the map load - and the correct atmospheric conditions would be applied. Not very likely but one day perhaps.

Nevertheless, we do have weather - and a little beyond what your stock-standard out-of-the-box Q3 Arena offers. We have realistic looking cloud cover; cloud mass that reflect the leading edge color...to that if the clouds are moving east and there is a sunset in that direction, the leading edge will reflect this condition. Not THAT high-tech but effective when used correctly.

Sky maps are always hard. Getting them looking right is an art of its own.  It was tempting to use Terragen, a 3D terrain generator, but found the results were less than impressive in the way that nearly all Q3 mods use the output of this program and tend to look similar after you have seen a few.

Therefore, I used my own methods to make nice looking panoramic views of Asian looking terrain. PhotoShop helped me greatly in this area, as most skies you will see in FMJ are heavily composted images; wispy clouds, misty highlands and fire hell-skies. Digital and non-digital media was used to create these realistic backdrops. I feel they still need some work.... Nevertheless, we are very happy with how they compliment our growing map collection.

(PCShooter) Any trick stuff like mines or booby-traps in the mod?

The Eternal: There is C4, this is used for destroying the enemy goal.
SenseOred: We plan to include mines (claymores) later on.
PitchBlende: We have C4, it’s used to destroy a certain goal.  We have plans for claymores; they will probably be in beta2.  As for booby traps, we are working on a shader that would camouflage the ground so you can possibly fall in a trap. Where are you getting your influence to create realistic levels that depict the Vietnam War?

ThermO: I cannot really speak for the other Team Members but I have several Vietnamese contacts and one very close friend who is a Vietnam Veteran. Most ideas come from what we all see in the movies and I am sure that will not be a disappointment. However, we do strive for realism in every way we possibly can. So speaking with real people that have some link or special interest in the conflict helps greatly in the area of research. In addition, it seems that most of our team is trigger-happy and war-enthusiasts...so we do not usually have any problem getting the info we need.

(PCShooter) Can you explain the realism factor of this mod in relation to a mod being too realistic to be fun?

The Eternal: Well, we have made as much as possible realistic. Some small factors are just a little unrealistic. But if we would put those in it would just ruin the game play
SenseOred: Early in development we decided that we should make this mod fun to play, filled with action and some realistic factors. I do believe we have managed to stay on that line - while not being ultra-realistic, we do have one of the most realistic aim system so far, and it's still fun to play.
PitchBlende: It’s a Realistic Simulator, that means, it’s somewhat like Real-Life, but we take out certain realistic items/features to make it worth while.

(PCShooter) Will you incorporate the single player aspect into this game?

The Eternal: No, we are probably gunna add bots tough.

SenseOred: I do believe we will try to make rather smart bots.
PitchBlende: Xaero is good enough for single player, isn’t he? J  A Single player game takes to long, we already started on the multiplayer part, and to start on one now would be pointless.  Single Player games and MultiPlayer games are two different types of games. They are like comparing RPG’s with RTS’s in my mind.

(PCShooter) What are the limitations you have experienced with the Quake 3 engine?

The Eternal: Not many limitations. However, some things are in the engine, while they should actually be in the available source. (Things that have nothing to do with the engine). In addition, surface parms are limited.

SenseOred: While we have not really had any problems with the graphics on the Q3 engine, the biggest problem must be its way to deal with sounds. The gun sounds simply does not have a big enough area it is played on. I think we have found a good solution to that problem though.
PitchBlende: It does not have an html editor for me.  Oh and screenshots sometimes come out bad.

(PCShooter) How many clients will the multiplayer game support?

The Eternal: depends on server settings
SenseOred: How many does Team Arena support?

PitchBlende: Must maps are made for 10-20 players.  We suggest that teams be around 12-16 though.

(PCShooter) What tools did you use in the creation of the detailed levels?

ThermO: The basic level creation tool we are using on the project is Q3Radiant. The most popular incarnation at the time of writing is GtkRadiant 1.1-TA-beta. This editor allows much larger maps/levels/scenarios and some better options to make life somewhat easier from a mapper's side of the fence. Our version of this tool is heavily modified to suit our game type. It features a completely new weapons list, custom surface parameters for impact/surface sounds and really has nothing to do with Quake III Arena apart from a common graphic engine all Q3 mod's share; And it seems to be getting better with each new point release id software create.

Apart from the CAD style creation tool, we use a whole host of image editing software such as Adobe PhotoShop - Aldus Photostyler to name but two. Cool3d was also used in the creation of our new three minute long promotional video. This coupled with Adobe Premiere and a handful of other graphic intensive applications gives us a credible, professional if not commercial look. Take a squeeze at some of our latest screens and tell me Vietnam is not the prettiest place to kill your online buddies. Charlie may not surf but we have it on good authority that he loves a game of Full Metal Jacket.

(PCShooter) Are there any special new things you would like to tell our readers about FMJ?

The Eternal: IT ROCKS

SenseOred: No, but I would like to tell everyone to use their safety belts, and not lick on frosty poles.

PitchBlende:  Beta1 will be good, but do not pass up Beta2.  We have good plans for it.

(PCShooter) Last but not least, when do you think FMJ’s first beta will be released?

The Eternal: When it is done (verrrry soon)

SenseOred: Soon enough.
PitchBlende: Soon, we our testing the last versions of alpha stage now.  Expect Beta2 release around 2-4 months after.

Visit their website @ http://www.planetquake.com/fmj

(PCShooter) Thank you for your time.  We really appreciate you taking the time for this interview and wish you the best of luck in the future.