At this week's E3 Expo in LA, BU contributor Erik 'spineblaZe' Tande interviewed Epic programmer and UT2007 lead designer Steve Polge on the developer's next big PC title. Amongst other things, Steve talks about the new game's movement, the new Conquest gametype (which he was playing while being interviewed), and confirms the return of the original UT's Impact Hammer!
http://www.beyondunreal.com/content/articles/128_1.phpBeyondUnreal: What specific changes have been made to dodging and movement? Are wall kicks or dodge-jumps going to be removed?
Steve Polge: All the movement abilities from UT2004 are still there. So you've got double-jump, you still have dodge-jump: The biggest thing we've done is fine tuning and tweaking the existing movement to get it exactly how we want. We'll be in the hallway after a play session arguing about whether the jump higher should be 4 units heigher or whatever. But the biggest change is really that we've increased the feel of gravity. And that makes the world feel a little more solid and less floaty. What it ends up doing is, while you still have all those movements, they're not quite as dramatic. You're not feeling like you're floating through the air. What we're trying to do in our play sessions is perfect the combat. We also do a lot of play sessions of UT and UT2004 and kind of compare where we're going and if we're happy with the changes we're making. You still have all those things a good player can take advantage of. By reducing the amplitude of the dodgeing movements, the fighting is more controlled in a way that allows the it to be more "in your face," closer and more personal, and that's really one of the things we're going for.
BeyondUnreal: Speaking about "up close and personal," what are the plans for melee combat in UT2007? Will the shield gun be returning or will we see something different?
Steve Polge: We're going back to the impact hammer. [Steve smiles deviously]