Restricted Area Interview

by Sia 'Garrett' Manzari, 2003-01-30

We had the chance to put several questions to Jan Beuck from master creating about their recently announced Restricted Area, an isometric Action-RPG similar to Diablo, but taking place in a SciFi scenario...

Jan Beuck: Hi there! My name is Jan Beuck, I'm the Managing Director of the game studio master creating which is located in Hamburg, Germany.

RPGDot: Could you tell us about the background setting of Restricted Area? In what kind of situation and universe does the storyline take place?

Jan Beuck: 2083 - The world's cities have been grown larger and larger until they merge together; the entire planet becomes covered by one large city. The only exceptions are the oceans and the so-called Wastelands, contaminated deserts with ruins and shelters where only mutants live. The global companies have become more powerful than the government and the large organizations now rule the world. To protect their secrets from criminal freelancers who steal them for other companies, they build large fortresses far out in the Wastelands.

Technology is now far more advanced - cyber implants and genetically enhanced organs replace most external equipment and can be bought to increase your abilities, going far beyond the possibilities of a normal human. The weapons didn't change much, except for some powerful but rare energy weapons. Smog covers the atmosphere over the mega city so the light is always dim, but lots of colorful commercial projections and lanterns more than make up for the lack of light. This stands in contrast to the merciless, continuously shining sun over the Wastelands. Humans discovered a science fiction similar to a kind of magic - PSI. It is a form of Para-psychological abilities like telepathy, psycho kinesis and clairvoyance. Also most buildings have an internal network called Cyberspace, and with the right skills you can hack into the security systems and travel there like in a totally different world.

RPGDot: Why did you want to develop this game?

Jan Beuck: Like more than seven million other customers we played Blizzard's Diablo 2 for hundreds of hours and became addicted to it's simple but surprisingly enjoyable concept. Others tried to make similar games, the first one was Nox (Westwood), the latest Dungeon Siege (Gas Powered Games). But instead of enhancing the fantastic gameplay, they didn't keep the important key elements that make the game work.

We create Restricted Area to bring action-RPG gameplay to the next level. While all others take place in a fantasy scenario, we decided to separate us clearly from all similar existing games and jump forward into the future.

Dark future scenarios are at least as popular as fantasy, if in pen-and-paper role playing (Shadowrun, Cyberpunk), movies (Bladerunner, The Matrix) or other computer game genres (Unreal, Quake) and they offer at least the same possibilities for an action-RPG. We are sure that the players will be thankful for this change, as most may become bored of buying a new game and learning the same spells, using the same weapons and killing the same monsters.

RPGDot: What kind of Sci-Fi atmosphere can we expect? Will it be more cyberpunk or post-apocalyptic?

Jan Beuck:

It´s more "cyberpunk", although I prefer to call it "dark future". It´s not post-apocalyptic like fallout, simply as we don´t expect a nuclear war during the next years. A good example for a dark future scenario like ours is the movie "Blade Runner".

RPGDot: Why did you choose this setting?

Jan Beuck: We choose it because there are already too many fantasy RPGs (for now), and we want to seperate us clearly from the mainstream. It´s also much more interesting to create (and hopefully to play), as it´s new.

RPGDot: Could you give us some more information about the skill system of the game? And maybe a few examples?

Jan Beuck: The skills of the weapon expert will concentrate on the use of firearms. He covers range combat based fighting skills like aim, reload, throwing and critical hit as well as one skill per weapon type to enhance it.

The female tech can make use of a personal robot, identify cyber- and bioware and repair equipment but mainly has skills that are essential when you are in the Cyberspace, such as detection, attack and guard.

The PSI covers the metaphysical, magic-like abilities. These are for example: Healing, Spirit Shield, Mind Flash, Paralysis, Confusion, Invisibility and Teleport.

The martial arts master has close combat abilities, mainly melee combat and athletics. Good examples are: Evade, break through, jump, two handed combat, kick away, attack speed, regenerate life and running.

In general, it´s very important to us to avoid useless skills and give every character a different gameplay as well as different possibilities of being played.

RPGDot: How would you describe the gameplay of Restricted Area? Should we expect it to be more like a futuristic hack 'n slash or will there be an in-depth story with intense dialogues?

Jan Beuck: Although we keep an eye on the storyline and hired a professional story writer to help us with it´s creation, it mainly plays like Diablo 2 and is therefore a hack 'n slay game.

RPGDot: What are the differences between the 4 classes (the gun guy, computer expert, martial arts fighter and the PSI user) in terms of gameplay?

Jan Beuck: They are very different: While the weapon expert prefers direct confrontation with big guns, the matrial arts fighter concentrates on close combat with cyberclaws and japanese swords, the PSI fights with magic and the computer expert is guarded by a flying drone which can be controlled by the player.

RPGDot: Is Restricted Area based in any way on a specific pen & paper RPG ruleset or setting?

Jan Beuck: We (the designers of the game) are all active pen and paper roleplayers and "Shadowrun" and "Cyberpunk" have been a great inspiration - but in my eyes it´s not a good idea to adept RPG rules directly to the screen, as only hardcore computer RPGs where dialogue is everything can make an attribute like "charisma" as important as "dexterity", so we created our own rules. However, players of "Shadowrun" and "Cyberpunk" will feel at home very fast.

RPGDot: How linear will the gameplay be?

Jan Beuck: There´s one main storyline which is a little different depending which character you play. There are also unlimited, always different subquests.

RPGDot: Could you give us a description of a typical combat situation in Restricted Area?

Jan Beuck: An interesting question... okay, I´ll make a try: Johnson, the former task force agent, opens a door in a sandy old shelter, far out in the Wastelands. Diverted by the shadow of a vent he goes in, when suddenly two mutants appear from the dark in front of him. With two pistols he kills one, but the other one is very close now. He switches to the plasmagun - the other mutant turns where it is and tries to run away. Too late - blue fire lights the entire room and casts large shadows, while the mutant breaks flies throu the air and breaks together in his own blood.

RPGDot: What do you think your game will do better than other futuristic RPGs?

Jan Beuck: There aren´t many futuristic computer RPGs, and the exisitng ones are rather old (for example Fallout) and don´t play in a dark future scenario, so I´ll try to tell you what makes RA different to other action-RPGs in general.

Technically: RA is the isometric action-RPG with the highest resolution (1024x768 and up to 32 Bit colordepth) AND the highest framerates (up to 1000 and usually arroun 300!). So RA features the fastest isometric engine ever, and is maybe the first PC game which runs totally smooth, which is especially noticeable from the scrolling. It takes full advantage of the latest 3D accelerators, so there are lots of effects which are rare or unseen yet, expecially in this genre: Dynamical lights, Dynamical shadows, Self-shadowing, Distance Darkness, weather effects, 3D sound etc.

Gameplay: Unlike Fallout or Dungeon Siege we have real action combat (similar to Diablo 2), and to make it more interesting there are lots of enhancements, for example weather and enviroment effects combat, the AI reacts on the visible strenght of the player and you can switch weapons without entering the inventory. There are lots of new things, maybe the most important one is the unlimited number of generated subquests - so the game never has to be over and you can always explore something new with one and the same character.

RPGDot: Will there be enough variety for replayability?

Jan Beuck: Definately! The main missions as well as the subquests are entirely computer-generated, so they are always totally different. This generator is very complex and expendable, so basically an addon or free updates can expand it further which would directly effect the missions in the main story. The game also features multiplayer modes - a high replay value is one of our most important goals.

RPGDot: So there will be a MOD Tool for Restricted Area?

Jan Beuck: Yes.

RPGDot: Will there be multiple endings?

Jan Beuck: Sorry, the storyline is a secret yet.

RPGDot: How many different areas will there be in the game.

Jan Beuck: Unlimited.

RPGDot: Does that mean, that there are not only unlimited quests, but also always freshly generated areas?

Jan Beuck: Yes, this is one of the most important features of Restricted Area.

RPGDot: If you could choose only one, what would be the best part of Restricted Area to you?

Jan Beuck: Well, this one thing are in fact a lot: It´s the detail.

An example: Instead of saying weapon X makes between 10 and 15 damage, we try to invoce as many factors as possible: The weapon's aiming accuracy: Your character's aiming accuracy, the reflexes of your enemy, the distance to the target, the type and quality of your weapon, the lighting conditions, the weather conditions, the movement speed of the target and so on.

RPGDot: Is there anything you would like to add?

Jan Beuck: Thanks for the interview. :)

Please note that the game is not finished yet, so some (gameplay related) facts may change.