Gothic 3 Interview (con't)

FiringSquad: What are some of the dev team's favorite creatures in the game so far?

Blaine Christine: Well, there are a huge number of creatures in the game, some old and some new, but I think there is little doubt that the Minecrawler is an all-time favorite. This ugly creature is a cross between a preying mantis and a tarantula to my eye. With the new animation system they are using in Gothic 3, its movement is very creepy (as you would expect) and their size is daunting when you first encounter one in the game. Another nasty creature is the Ogre, but I think the main attraction for this ugly foe is their sheer size and the fantastic modeling and texture work that went into its creation. As with the Minecrawler, the first time you encounter one of these guys, you will definitely think twice about attacking him.

FiringSquad: What other unique features will Gothic 3 have?

Blaine Christine: There are a number of unique features in the game. From the immense, hand-crafted world to the fantastic, beautiful graphics engine to the seamless world with no loading screens, Gothic 3 will stand head and shoulders above the rest of the single-player RPG crowd. I think one of my favorite features has to be the use of real-world physics with the bow and arrow. In order to shoot an arrow at an enemy, you must take their distance from you into account. If an enemy is farther away, you must aim above their head since there will be a natural arc to the arrow’s flight path. This makes the archery component require skill and strategy to use instead of a simple point and shoot FPS interface. The newly revamped combat system is also incredibly fun to use. The melee combat against orc and human enemies is very fun and feels strategic because of the blocking and multiple types of attacks based on mouse input.

FiringSquad: There will be no loading screens in the game. How hard was it to get such a feature in Gothic 3?

Blaine Christine: The seamless gameplay world is always a challenge to implement, but can be done as long as it is planned for in advance. This is a feature that definitely requires the developer to think and plan ahead; it is not something that can be added on at the last minute. Happily, this was a key component that was important to Piranha Bytes from the start of development, so the end result is a great gameplay experience for the player where their suspension of disbelief is not interrupted by loading screens. Unless, of course, you die and need to reload. J

FiringSquad: What other graphical features will the game have?

Blaine Christine: Let me preface this by explaining I had help from the devs with the technical aspects of this question. I’m not nearly as smart as I’m about to sound. Gothic 3 supports Pixel Shader 3.0 including real-time lighting and shadows, full day/night cycles, parallax and bump mapping and (if you’re really tech-savvy) the lighting system supports both dynamic and static per-pixel diffuse and specular lights along per-pixel spherical harmonics and ambient lighting with per-vertex ambient occlusion. How’s that for detail? *Snap!*

FiringSquad: Are there any plans for a demo of the game to be released?

Blaine Christine: As you can imagine, it would be incredibly difficult to craft a demo from a seamless world, so there are no plans for a demo at this time.

FiringSquad: What is the current status of the US version of the game's progress and when will it be released?

Blaine Christine: The US version is in the final stages of balancing and polishing. You can expect it on store shelves before Christmas!

FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Gothic 3?

Blaine Christine: Simply put, if you are an RPG fan you owe it to yourself to try out the Gothic series. If you haven’t played a Gothic game before, now is the time to try it out. The open-ended nature of the gameplay will certainly be a refreshing change from any other RPG game you’ve tried and the visuals will truly astound you. Thank me later!