Interview at Comdex with Lee Rossini, Sierra Studios, Brand Manager for Tribes 2.

Luckee: Is your job basically to guide the Tribes developers to get the game released?

Lee: Usually a producer keeps and eye on the development team to keep them on schedule. My job actually has more to do with marketing the game. Whether it be advertising, packaging, print ads, online campaigns, tournaments, promotions or things like that

Luckee: This is such a highly anticipated game, what do you think the differences are from the first Tribes game?

Lee: Everything is different. First, Tribes 2 has a brand new graphics engine. This engine allows us to do things that weren't possible with Tribes 1. Whether it is having three ground vehicles, three air vehicles, or infinite worlds, the engine gives us a lot of freedom and differentiates us from competition. In their games weather doesn't come into play and the worlds are fairly artificial. Tribes 2 is different that because the worlds are infinite and those worlds are tormented with real-time weather and elemental effects....from wind, rain, snow and fog to lava, lightning,
and sand storms. Plus we have seamless indoor and outdoor transitions. Second, we are trying to give our gamers kind of a nexus to go to in terms of participating in the Tribes community. Dynamix is putting things in Tribes 2 that are totally unprecedented in a PC game. There is e-mail in the
game, the Tribes 2 forums are in the game, the Tribes 2 news is in the game, IRC is in the game, as well as in-game voice communications. All of these things are in Tribes 2 including a terrain editor, so basically we're trying to include things that people wanted in Tribes 1 but weren't possible then. In Tribes 2 you can go in and make your player, recruit players for your tribe and communicate with them in the game. When you see it, you'll see that the development team on Tribes 2 has done an excellent job in giving the community everything they need to communicate with their friends and opposing tribes.

Luckee: So this game takes the multi-player aspect to a whole new level?

Lee: Definitely. We are taking multiplayer action online up to 64 players at a time. Some other games may try to get up to 64 players, but their worlds are generally too small to accommodate that many in the first place. In Tribes 2 we have infinite worlds...ones large enough to support 64 gamers and make owning certain portions of the battlefield a practical reality. 

Luckee: Do you really have to tweak the net codes in order to handle that amount of traffic?

Lee: Yeah. Well, Tribes 1 was known for having one of the best net codes when it came out, and with this one they're taking it even further. The development team wants people on an 28.8 on up to be able to play. That's no small feat because not only do you have 64 players but also they can talk to each other through microphones while gaming. They're masters at what they do and if anyone can pull it off, its the Tribes 2 development team.  

Luckee: Would you say the graphics and sound is up to par with all the new hardware that is coming out?

Lee: Yes, but I think it is going to push it really hard. We are trying to find the right amount of polygons for the special effects where it is not going to slow down the frame rate, but still take advantage of some of the higher end cards too. When you run this on a Geforce 2 and a grenade goes off in front of you, you'll see sparks fly and smoke plummet out. Visually these effects are phenomenal and they really add to the gameplay experience. It is going to look good for most everyone, but if you have a higher end card obviously you're going to enjoy the visuals a little better. . .

Luckee: If I have a 5.0 digital surround sound I would really be able to take advantage of the sound?

Lee: Yes. The 3D sound element in the game is awesome. When somebody shoots a disc at you, you can hear it go by your head. If it goes off to the right, you'll hear it go out behind you to the right. You'll be able to hear crickets chirping, the rain, and the bots screaming at each other. What I love is knowing you can hear someone's footsteps sneaking up on you now with this three dimensional sound, it really is phenomenal. 

Luckee: When do you expect this game to be out?

Lee: We are pushing as hard as we can to get this game out by the end of the year, but we have a lot to lose in our community if we push the game out and it is not perfect. So the overriding thing is basically to get the game out
when it is ready and we're shooting for Christmas, although we are not making any promises.

Luckee: Are there any other special features in this game that are not in other games out right now?

Lee: Yes. It was in Tribes 1, but I think the whole Tribes gaming experience is different because of the Jetpack. You look at other first person shooters and they shackle their gamers to the ground, forcing them to circle strafe-right or circle-strafe-left; the same thing that has been around
since Doom. The jetpack gives Tribes 2 a vertical element that makes for more engaging, more addictive gameplay, and it makes Tribes 2 is true 3D action game. The vehicles are the other feature worth mentioning. We have vehicles now that support several players and will require teamwork to operate. For instance in the bomber, one gamer is the pilot, another is the bombardier and another is the plane's tail gunner. I love that, it is a lot of fun. We are trying our best to really push the team play concept forward with these vehicles. I also like the surface-to-air missile launcher that locks onto anything with a heat source, that's a lot of fun.

Luckee: What new weapons have you incorporated into the game?

Lee: Yes, we also have several other new weapons. A missile launcher is one, and the shock lance is another. The shock lance allows you to sneak up on someone from behind and inject a massive amount of electrical current into their armor -- which happens to be conveniently conducive to electricity. Plus we have several new grenades: concussion grenades knock the enemies' weapons out of their hand; flash grenades blind them; and flare grenades are used by tail gunners to divert surface to air missiles from being locked onto the plane. So far...so good. Tribes 2 is a lot of fun to play.

Luckee Thanks for sitting down to talk with me today.