Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ Games On Net

Time for another Deus Ex: HR interview, this time at Australian site Games On Net:

games.on.net: It’s been ten years since the first Deus Ex, and obviously game design and technology have evolved a lot during that time. What has this allowed you to do, that the original creator of Deus Ex could not do? What are some of the main ways that you can make it bigger, or grander?

Sebastien Bich: I think with the increased firepower of the consoles, obviously you can make that notion of choices more prominent. The graphics are another thing, but it’s not just the graphics, we like to present this game as being strongly art direction driven. We really want to get that immersion, just throw you into the world of of 2027. You might not notice but in terms of the instances and the objects that you have in the world, the monorail you saw and such, there are lots of things being done under the hood to make the game more immersive and believable.

There are some gameplay elements obviously, like the number of AI’s you can have on the screen, the depth of the customisation and so on but I think to me at least what really makes a difference is how you get thrown into that world. You saw the E3 demo - I don’t know how it is for you, but for me, and I’ve seen that demo at least fifty or sixty times, and every time I see that alley I’m in Blade Runner, you know. The smoke, the neons, all these things help with the immersion, with the believability of the character and the story. To me, this art-direction driven approach is what is really important, and the reaction from the journalists and the public, this is the first thing they really notice and tell us about.

More information.

Uh oh. Some bad signs in there (as pointed out at the Codex)…

games.on.net: And can you tailor the difficulty, or is it one size fits all?

Sebastien Bich: It’s one difficulty to rule them all.

games.on.net: Does it dynamically scale?

Sebastien Bich: It scales based on how much experience points you have, and how you level up within the game.

i can respect the honesty for the delay, not really there fault its all good. Two Worlds 2 is the last of a dieing breed. I think this game is going to be really good.

wrong thread?

Originally Posted by Thrasher
Uh oh. Some bad signs in there (as pointed out at the Codex)…

You can see that he didn't say yes, it's dynamic when talking about the scaling. It might be just like the first game:

You started by facing street thugs and "reservists" NSF soldiers. Than moved to MJ12 soldiers, than commandos and MIB. The bots scaled as well: tiny bots, bigger bots, gigantic bots. The type of foes you encountered stopped changing when you got (almost) all the augmentations (Paris and beyond). They can do this, because the game is linear, they know that X hours in you are going to have Y number of experiences points and about $W worth of augmentations…

He did say it scales according to XP, which is the standard def of dynamic scaling…

I wouldn't call what you describe as scaling - scaling means numerically computed based on a character property like experience. One wouldn't call doom levels scaled to the better weapons you get, for example. It's hardcoded - just like you're describing.

Scaling isn't an inherently bad thing and is quite a useful tool if you have a non-linear game. In one sense, this might indicate the game has quite a bit of freedom.

The problem is universal scaling using a catch-all formula, like Oblivion.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
He did say it scales according to XP, which is the standard def of dynamic scaling…

I wouldn't call what you describe as scaling - scaling means numerically computed based on a character property like experience. One wouldn't call doom levels scaled to the better weapons you get, for example. It's hardcoded - just like you're describing.

It's not because it's hardcoded that there is no scaling in the difficulty as you progress in a game.

Well you can redefine what scaling means, but you'd communicate more clearly if you stick to the standard use of the term. The standard def is that if it's hardcoded - it's not scaled, but "designed". Scaling is automatic computer realtime generated content based on your character's level or what have you.

I actually prefer a designed approach, with a good linear (but branching) story. But as Dhruin said above, sandbox games that give the freedom to go anywhere need some sort of scaling.

If this means Deus Ex is a sandbox game, then that could be really great or really bad, depending on how they do the scaling. It's a new risk item, and a worry, since it's hard to do right.

More information about the difficulty. The community manager on the official forum got this answer after someone asked to clarify difficulty scaling…

This is from Frank Lapikas, game designer on DX:HR.

"We are indeed working on 3 difficulty levels: casual, normal and Deus Ex.

We are conscious that not everybody wants the same things out of their games.

Some play for the challenge, others for the narrative.

We wanted players to be able to enjoy the game, regardless of their proficiency level.

As for why a Deus Ex level, I believe it comes from reading the forums.

Some people were worried that we’d dumb down the game and make it too easy; that combat would prevail and overshadow the stealth aspect because players wouldn’t die with just a few bullets, especially with the introduction of health regen.

Well this level has been tweaked for them. Enjoy."

Difficulty levels is one thing, scaling is quite another. He doesn't really clarify what he meant by "scaling". Maybe there isn't any scaling?

Scaling is never really needed, as long as you use your brain as a designer. That said, it makes the task of creating a huge world with balanced content MUCH easier. It's really about whether you, as a developer/publisher, think the non-scaled approach is worth the effort.

I think it is, always, but then - I'm not the average gamer and I don't have to maximise profit as my primary goal.