Questions about Prey...

[Duoae]

First off, i understand that they cannot be answered by the developers just yet - but i'd like to get them out there and in discussion:

1: Wall-walking. Are these "gravity mats" that not only allow traversing in two-dimensions, but three (jumping) as well? Can you fall off of them? Are they like "rails" that you can't step off?

2: The article in PC gamer speaks of involving the player much more than previous games in the FPS genre. Will you be using the "Emotioneering" (TM) techniques garnered from David Freeman's involvement in the project? Or was that before the project was transferred to Human Head Studios?

3: Will Tommy still have bio-augmentation? or a suit? Like was thought to be in the original visions for the game. - The screenshots seem to indicate some sort of biological monitoring system (akin to max payne's health indicator) as well as biological weapons (the grenades).

4: Enemies. As well as bio-engineered, "grafted" and "possessed" enemies, will we be facing more than one "race" of alien in this game? Is it still the same conglomerate of aliens that was thought to be in the original vision? Or is there just one alien race? Will there still be warrior "castes"?

5: Nice wrench!

6: Tommy looks great. Will we see many cutscenes in the game - or watch our play from a 3rd person perspective?

7: Are portals still in use for multiplayer? Would they cause problems that might require their removal?

Thanks for your time.

[Parkar]

Duoae said:
...
7: Are portals still in use for multiplayer? Would they cause problems that might require their removal?
...

I sure as heck hope they are in. And if there is still some weapon/item that can create portals that would rule so very very much.

[crunchy superman]

Multi-Prey, yeah there's not been much info on the multiplayer end of things.

Any 3DR or HH folks willing/able to comment on what gametypes & details there are plans for? Bot support? (please!)

[Gryph]

I'm wondering how destructible the environment is. I don't think it will be anything like Red Faction but doesn't portal technology allow such things?

And another question, how much of the engine did you modify? I'm assuming again it was quite a bit since portal technology is a pretty big thing. They've had access to the engine since the beginning so they've had time to do whatever they want with it.

I'm very excited.

[Kev_Hectic]

Duoae said:
1: Wall-walking. Are these "gravity mats" that not only allow traversing in two-dimensions, but three (jumping) as well? Can you fall off of them? Are they like "rails" that you can't step off?

Well here's what is said in the article,

"Portals can be oriented in any way, so you could walk through a portal on a wall and end up falling through a portal in the ceiling in another room" - says Chris Rhinehart

By the sounds of it, you'll be able to turn a portal to it's side so that the wall is now aligned to where the floor should be and walk around on it. Or flip a portal upside down and walk on the ceiling. At least that's what I got from it.

crunchysuperman said:
Multi-Prey, yeah there's not been much info on the multiplayer end of things.

Any 3DR or HH folks willing/able to comment on what gametypes & details there are plans for? Bot support? (please!)

I'd be disappointed if multi-player didn't make it in this one. There's so much potential here for some unique death match experiences.

That "leaving your body" technic sounds like it could be interesting in MP.

[Kristian Joensen]

Multiplayer is mentioned in the article.

[Parkar]

Kev_Hectic said:
...
That "leaving your body" technic sounds like it could be interesting in MP.

Hell yes!

[Kev_Hectic]

Kristian Joensen said:
Multiplayer is mentioned in the article.

Oh awesome, I hadn't bothered reading through all of it yet.

[Gryph]

Kev_Hectic said:

Oh awesome, I hadn't bothered reading through all of it yet.

It's like one short sentence. I missed it the first time I read it.

[Duoae]

GryphonKlaw said:
I'm wondering how destructible the environment is. I don't think it will be anything like Red Faction but doesn't portal technology allow such things?

There is a difference between a portal engine and "portal" technology. I'm pretty sure that the geo-mod style of things is not possible in Doom 3 engine because it is BSP based. While you can add portals in as a teleporter entity (which is essentially what they seemed to have done - not sure how it was in the original engine, they mentioned multiple geometries being drawn.... but). I don't see physical destruction/modification being in the new Prey except for pre-determined sequences....

I'm very excited.

Me too! More than ever!

By the sounds of it, you'll be able to turn a portal to it's side so that the wall is now aligned to where the floor should be and walk around on it. Or flip a portal upside down and walk on the ceiling. At least that's what I got from it.

That wasn't what i was talking about... and that isn't what happens. I was talking about the "ladder" replacements; the "wall-walk paths". And as for portals, they say it themselves in the article (that you quoted):

"Portals can be oriented in any way, so you could walk through a portal on a wall and end up falling through a portal in the ceiling in another room"

I don't think you can randomly walk on any surface - up is always up and down is always down.... - you can walk on the pathways.......

[Sigma]

These aren't specifically questions about the Prey engine, so feel free to delete them.

Will Prey have a user level/model/art/etc. editor? I'm sorry to even have to ask this question, but you never know.

I know this question will make some people mad, but will Prey require an online connection for single-player modes (a la "Steam")?

Sorry about all this, but someone has to ask the disturbing/difficult questions.

[Wamplet]

Will the flashlight be replaced with a magical glowing tomahawk?

[Ninja]

/me crosses his fingers for a nifty "astrral vision" type of illumination

[Cerberus_e]

I wonder what would happen if you step through a portal than en enemy uses to teleport in...
where would you be? in a much different place in the game

but the spawning won't be frustrating now, in contrast to doom 3, smart idea from 3dr.

and I wonder if there will be portals that turn around like we saw in 1998 movies, that's just beautiful, and I wonder how they will work.

I think I'll need a new graphics card in order to find out

[KaiserSoze]

i'm looking forward to the pet hawk-talon you have in the game.

i hope he helps you battle the aliens, he already helps with puzzles and such.

there could be some really neat sequences and puzzle stuff with talon involved. plus, hawks are just cool to begin with.

[SyntaxN]

I think they are using some kind of advanced teleportation tech for the "portals"! Not a portal based engine at all, but something which can show very similar effects

[Beelze]

Wamplet said:
Will the flashlight be replaced with a magical glowing tomahawk?

More importantly, will there be a radioactive peace pipe?

KaiserSoze said:
i'm looking forward to the pet hawk-talon you have in the game.

i hope he helps you battle the aliens, he already helps with puzzles and such.

there could be some really neat sequences and puzzle stuff with talon involved. plus, hawks are just cool to begin with.

Sounds like Crow from The Longest Journey. Although I don't think he'll be able to talk, will he?

[JackpotDen]

I want some blatant puzzles, which you work out using your mind.

Blatant puzzle : Prince of persia : WW : The start of the water tower, where you get the water to flow into the "pipes" on the floor, so that lots of water comes out of a statues mouth, thereby opening a door.

Non blatant puzzle : Most of the Half life 1 box climbing, area navigations.

Tomb raider (four?)'s room, where you have to jump on the tiles with the holes in.

[Cerberus_e]

I think prince of persia: SoT had better puzzles than WW, the palace defense system was cool, though it was a spoiler how he resetted it, you could see the movement you will have to do.