Interview with Daedalus and Mr. Genuchi

NOTE: This preview was originally posted on September 22, 2001 by Haakon on Red Faction Center, which is no longer available. Both Daedalus and Mr. Genuchi were developers of a then in-progress mod that was to be named Distortion. I don't believe this mod was ever released.


 * We've conducted an interview with the two main guys (Daedalus and Mr. Genuchi) behind a mod that's coming up soon, called "Distortion". This interview is the first one in a series with interviews with mod makers.

===First I have to say that Distortion Productions looks like one of the most arranged team working on a mod for RF atm. This Disotrion mod you're working at, can you give a overview about the story and the gameplay?===

MrGenuchi: I don't know about "arranged" team, but we certainly have a few DEranged team members. :)

The story primarily deals with time-travel. Mankind's first attempt at creating a spacecraft capable of travelling faster than light results in an immense disaster. A temporal rip is formed and several elements from the future take advantage of this to cause havoc in the present.

The single-player gameplay will take much better advantage of geo-mod technology than RF did. We plan on making the various levels extremely dynamic, forcing the player to change his approach throughout the level. Gameplay will be driven by each of the three main characters, Alex, Vivian and Maxwell. Alex's levels will be action-oriented and form 90% of the mod, whilst the the other two will add some variety. :)

I've seen some of the art you guys have drawed, but not any in-game grapichs: have you started the coding yet or is it just the planning?
Daedalus: We're still in the planning phases of most everything for a couple reasons. One, we don't really have any modellers or coders. Two, we weren't really sure what needed to be done until we had the game in our hands.

Okay, so you're still searching for coders and modelers? If someone want to help out, who and how should they contact you?
Daedalus: Definately just send one of us an email. We'd like to see some examples of previous work, especially for modelling.

MrGenuchi: Any modelers would also have to be DP-Approved (TM). The work must be of good quality, but right now, we're pretty desperate for modelers. If you can create a crate model, you're hired ;)

Daedalus: As far as graphics, we have a graphic artist who will be working on 2d art, like textures, interface and the like, but no, none of that is done yet. Just the concepts.

MrGenuchi: Concept art is the step that precedes modelling. We've We're at that step now, and as soon as we find some decent modelers, we'll be up several floors in terms of development

So at this early point, there is no material of the game? (I understand it quite tho, the game isn't even released here where I live ;))
Daedalus: Well, there actually is one room I made in RED... if you want to call that game material...

MrGenuchi: The game will NEVER be released in my country, as THQ has no distributor here. I'm only getting the game on Thursday

MrGenuchi: There's ROOM for some improvement then, isn't there D?

Daedalus: lol *raises eyebrow*

How do you like RED?
MrGenuchi: I prefer blue actually. Sorry. D will have to answer that one.

Daedalus: I've fallen in love with it already. I'm still learning how to use everything, but I can see this is a very powerful editor, yet so easy to use. But don't get me wrong there, it takes a lot of work to learn, but once you know how to use it, level making will just come natually.

What do you think of the stuff V has released to help modders?
Daedalus: I haven't had the chance to look through it yet, actually, but from what I know of it, it's exactly what the Distortion team needs, because with our mod, we don't really need to do any code level modding, but rather the new skins, models, and weapons is mostly all we'll need. We may need some of [V]'s help later to get all the maps to flow together or whatever, but we'll worry about that later.

MrGenuchi: The toolkit allows changes to the game that are primarily cosmetic, such as models, animations, skins etc. In essence, if you're creating a style of mod that is ostensibly different from RF, you might experience some trouble. Distortion is single-player though, and will undoubtedly follow RF's layout. Most of the changes we want to implement will be perfectly possible using the toolkit.

Daedalus: True.

===How do you think the current state of the RF community is atm? As far as I'm concerned, there's no IRC channel for RF Fans, Modders etc to hang out at - or there are, but they aren't much used. What can be done to bring the community closer?===

MrGenuchi: The RF community has certainly been very loyal, supporting V's efforts right from the start. Since the release of RF, there seems to be a "disappointed" feeling among the fans. While I can't vouch for the quality of the game as of yet, it seems that geo-mod was limited but gameplay was good. The mod community is precisely what's needed in these cases...you don't like it? Fix it yourself. The creation of quality mods, utilizing the best aspects of RF will definitely bring the community together. They'll be able to truly enjoy the game, and share their creations with each other.

Daedalus: I'd say the community is still rather small, so it will no doubt get bigger as more people get the game. As it get's bigger, I'm sure IRC channels will be used more, but for now, the VBB is the hub of the community. As people learn how to use RED, there should be lots of good maps in circulation, so that should help the community as well. I just wish [V] supported auto downloading of maps.

What do you think about Red Faction; is it as good as you hoped for?
Daedalus: I think it's a great game, but it could be better. But what game will no one have any gripes about? Not one as far as I know. [V] made their design decisions, and I guess we have to respect that. Overall it's a very fun game though. The single player really is a lot of fun. In multi though, lots of people seem to have framerate trouble, so I'm not sure how far the multi in RF will go.

MrGenuchi: The inability to use vehicles in the multiplayer has not gone down very well. It seemed like such an obvious thing to implement, and would certainly have added a lot of depth. (especially the submarine...haha)

Daedalus: I can see how most maps would not be good with vehicles, because most of the maps are too small, but user created maps could easily be big enough, and specifically designed for vehicles. I just hope there's a way for modders to implement that at a later date.

MrGenuchi: Modders to the rescue.

Anything you might want to add yourself?
MrGenuchi: A hovering motorbik vehicle. EVERY game needs one of those! Daedalus: I'd like to use the jeep again. I LOVED that thing. :)

When can we (the gamers) expect a release of it? Will it be public beta's like with Counter Strike or will it be released once and that is it?
Daedalus: I'd imagine we'll have some beta testers, but probably not a public one. We will no doubt release a public demo though. As far as a time frame, let's see what Mr. G has to say about that. :)

MrGenuchi: Distortion will be released sometime next year, definitely before March. The chances of a public beta are unlikey. I'd concur with Daedalus, a demo will be released as soon as we have something impressive to show the community.

All I want now is just to say thanks alot for the interview :)
Daedalus: Thank you, and you're welcome. :)

MrGenuchi: Not a problem :)

Anything you might want to add as a last line?
Daedalus: I hope the community will be looking forward to Distortion as much as we are looking forward to making it. That is all. :)

MrGenuchi: Beware the giant killer onions. (Oh, Distortion will be quite good)

Haakon: Lol, we' are looking forward to it indeed! =)