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TRIBES Extreme Update

September 15, 1999

TRIBES Extreme Designer Swings for the Fences

TRIBES Extreme: The single-player version of the award-winning online game TRIBES. Due out this fall, the game will feature a new and robust AI, new maps, buildings, art, and missions, as well as the capability to construct cooperative missions of player tribes against AI opponents. With its single-player campaign and grittier edge, TRIBES Extreme promises a completely new dimension to the dynamic online first-person shooter that has rocked the gaming world since its release at the end of last year.

I'm talking with Scott Rudi, the designer of TRIBES Extreme, who plops himself down with a boyish smile. He's got a lot to be happy about. The development of TRIBES Extreme is progressing very well.

"Basically, this is a dream team," Scott says. "There's a lot of can-do people here, and everyone has a great attitude. We're having an incredible amount of fun, and getting an incredible amount of work done."

Scott got his start in computer gaming as a small child, he says. "I played a lot of games while we moved around a lot while Dad played ball." Scott's dad is none other than Joe Rudi of the Oakland Athletics, and Scott (unsurprisingly) remains a hard-core A's fan to this day.

When asked about his early gaming experiences, he laughs. "Well, it's not much to speak of compared to the stuff out there today. We had an old Atari, and I played until I had blisters. We used to joke about the 'Asteroid blister' on my thumb."

He graduated from the Atari to a TSR-80 from Radio Shack. "We called it the 'Trash-80,' and it loaded from a cassette tape," he says. "It just took forever."

As technology evolved, Scott moved to the new games. Today, his office boasts an impressive array of flight sims, Civilization 2, Warlords III, EverQuest, Quake, and of course, TRIBES.

"Civ Two is my all-time favorite game," he admits. "It's a game with incredible scope and detail." In terms of first-person shooters, Scott started off with Quake and Doom before coming to TRIBES. "The early stuff seemed too limited, and I was losing my taste for shooters. Then I started playing TRIBES in Beta during in-house testing, and everything changed."

"At first I was skeptical," he says, shaking his head ruefully. "I thought, 'Great. Another Quake clone.' Then I played it and got completely hooked. Here was a real setup for team play, huge landscapes to move around in - and the jets. Man, that third dimension of movement was just the icing on the cake. I love the airborne aspect of the game."

In Scott's opinion, TRIBES captures that epic element with its enormous outdoor environments and fast-moving team orientation. "TRIBES is the only one that's really taken existing limits and just tossed 'em out the door."

Scott's design philosophy is simple. "It's all about gameplay and accessibility. TRIBES is an awesome game, but it has an intimidating learning curve. I want to bring new players into TRIBES Extreme, get 'em past that curve, and provide them with a fun experience while they get their skills up to speed."

According to Scott, the training missions and the single-player campaign will give players plenty of practice before hitting the multiplayer servers, with greater attention given to commanding squads and coordinating team strategies.

"But it's not just for newbloods (beginners)," he adds quickly. "Between the new multiplayer maps and the selectable difficulty of the single-player game, even experienced TRIBES vets are going to find real challenges."

Scott looks forward to expanding the TRIBES Universe with TRIBES Extreme. "We've had a lot of interest from the community in broadening the focus of the game setting, maybe eventually creating new games in the Universe, new types of gameplay. TRIBES Extreme is just the first step in that direction."

By new types of gameplay, Scott means cooperative campaigns. "We have cooperative missions in TRIBES Extreme where a squad of players can go in and play against the computer. Players can even link missions to form their own cooperative campaigns. But what I'd really like to do is set up a cooperative campaign with an epic plot, optimized for a group to play and experience the story together." Such a goal poses a range of challenges, but Scott feels sure the time is right.

"Cooperative games really are distinct from single-player games." The balancing is different, he says, because you have multiple players participating instead of one, so the mission design necessarily becomes far more non-linear, more of an environment setup than a scripted plotline. "TRIBES as it stands poses some additional design difficulties, though, because it originated as a purely online game. We've had to construct a single-player version without disturbing that multiplayer cornerstone."

The new artwork and storyline add a grittier edge to the setting, he says. "The Grievers look really cool with scavenged armor and different motifs than we've seen already. I'm just blown away by what I've seen so far." Inspired by his fascination with Japanese anime, Scott looks forward to incorporating the kind of dramatic punch into TRIBES that he saw in movies like 'Akira.'

"The TRIBES Universe has so much potential, and we're seeing such a great response by fans from across the spectrum," he says. "Everyone from hardcore fraggers to hardcore roleplayers is contributing to the development and direction of the game. It's just amazing."

A self-professed "flight-sim nut" since the mid-80's, Scott has played all types of flight sims, and has worked on some major flight sim projects himself. He rose from being a production assistant on Red Baron 2 to the position of Assistant Designer by the time the project was completed.

He came to Dynamix in '94, having started as a production assistant with Jeff Tunnell Productions (JTP). According to Scott, he did a little bit of everything: mailroom, level design, and low-level production artwork. "I'd change copier paper one minute, then the next minute I'd be working on art for 'The Incredible Machine 2.'"

Scott has always been an avid gamer, and now he's working on an industry phenomenon. When asked how he feels about his position, he pauses for a moment, evidently taking the question very seriously.

"Dad was on the A's from 1969 through 1976, and then again in 1982. Helped win the World Series three times. He's on the high list for hits, but not the list for strikeouts." Scott grins. "I'd love to have my career be described that way, too."

For more information on TRIBES Extreme and some candid photos of designer, Scott Rudi, log on to www.tribesplayers.com!