TRIBES EXTREME UPDATE

TRIBES Extreme Dev Team Blasts Ahead

The excitement is tangible on the third floor of the Riverfront Research building in Eugene, Oregon. Dynamix is crafting a single-player version of the award-winning TRIBES online first-person shooter. Scheduled to ship this fall, TRIBES Extreme will feature new multiplayer maps and gameplay, but the core of the product will be the enhanced AI and the new campaign features. With TRIBES Extreme, players can participate in and create single-player campaigns of linked missions or "cooperative" games that pit several players against computer-controlled opponents. The single-player campaign will introduce a new enemy, the Grievers, a scavenger-pirate group that raids the fringes of Tribes space.

The TRIBES Extreme development team is pumped, and the design phase for the game has been short but efficient, according to Scott 'Captain America' Rudi, the lead designer for TRIBES Extreme. "We're currently working through baseline campaign issues, things like respawning, inventory locations, and team energy budgets; we have a lot of awesome ideas we're trying out."

The development team members aren't the only source of new ideas. Last month, Dynamix announced an open call on its website at www.tribesplayers.com, inviting players to submit their own maps and skins for inclusion into TRIBES Extreme. "We've got an excellent community with a ton of experienced players," says Rudi. "We want to give them every opportunity to influence the development of the game." He adds that he's still going through the submissions, but that the first pass has been made.

"So far, about half of the material is making the cut," he says ruefully. "That's the stuff without any glaring problems. The next step is to look more closely to see how the maps affect gameplay; the hardcore testing stage comes later." Some of the player-created maps are mind-blowing, Rudi exclaims, shaking his head. "Just insanely cool."

One of the goals of TRIBES Extreme is to offer new players a chance to practice their skills before going into the hardcore arenas of TRIBES, where even veteran players of first person shooters quickly find themselves casualties of the unique aspects of TRIBES combat. Rudi says he feels "confident and excited" about the direction of the game. "By the time a player completes the training missions and the campaign, he or she will have a ton of battle experience for the multiplayer servers."

Lincoln Hutton, Extreme's lead programmer, agrees. He looks relaxed as he leans back and gestures expansively. His office is spare and the walls free of decoration. "The AI navigation system's coming along very well. It's live and operational already, and we'll have the latest version in just a few days." Hutton admits the dynamic 3D aspect of TRIBES combat provides a special challenge, but he believes the programming team is over the hump.

"We're updating our graph system for navigation, kind of a background process for AI. We're also working on pre-set roles for the AI warriors which will define their tactical behavior."

According to Hutton, the AI roles will be Skirmisher, Sniper, Assault, Defender, and Bombardier. "They're going to be pretty robust," he says. "I feel really good about the momentum we've generated."

"The AI will do some pretty neat things," says Tinman (yes, that's really his name), a programmer working with Hutton. "Right now we're tuning up the low-level behavior, things like aiming and repairing objects. It's all building blocks for the more complex stuff." Tinman says the AI construction will get easier as development continues. "Once the foundation is in place, the rest comes really fast."

When asked what his goals are for the AI, Tinman laughs. "I want it to kick the players' asses. Is that a high enough goal?"

Over in the darkened cave he calls an office, lead mission scripter Jesse Russell says he can't wait to get TRIBES Extreme on the shelves. "We're setting it up so players can make their own single-player campaigns, and I'm working on ours now."

"At the moment, I'm working on energy budgets and placing the bad guys in the maps." Of course, he hastens to add, there'll be good guys, too. "Squadmates are the key for getting through the missions."

According to Russell, one of the biggest challenges a player will face in the campaign mode is the limited energy for purchasing weapons and armor. "The energy levels will tie directly into scoring," he says. "There's a reward for executing your mission objectives efficiently; it's going to add a whole new dynamic to gameplay."

The lead artist is Ian Christy, whose office resembles a shrine to action figures of all varieties. He says he's excited and thrilled about the TRIBES Extreme project. "The art is basically all done. I'm doing a lot of fluff and fun stuff now." Among the new art for TRIBES Extreme will be new buildings and new skins, he says as well as various miscellaneous shapes.

"We've incorporated WorldCraft into Extreme," Christy continues. "It's a sign of things to come for TRIBES 2, since we can do a lot more with WorldCraft than with our previous graphics tools." The campaign buildings he designs are balanced differently than the buildings used in multiplayer games, he adds with a grin. "They have a different feel to their layout, and we're trying some variant architectures that should give gameplay a fresh twist."

But Christy displays the most enthusiasm for the expanded flavor he's been able to inject into the look and feel of the TRIBES Universe. "The Grievers let us show a lot more of the grunge stuff, more of a road-warrior, scavenger-oriented side of life on nastier planets. Our new buildings look patched, converted, occupied, beat up - definitely seedier, which I think is a cool counterpoint to the existing TRIBES look."

In the other half of Christy's office sits Blake Hutchins, the writer and creative director of TRIBES Extreme. The legions of action figures are noticeably absent here, replaced by numerous stacks of paper. Hutchins is responsible for the story, documentation, briefings, and all the creative text that will appear in the campaign aspect of the game. "It's a pretty straightforward story; we're not shooting for anything on the scale of Half-Life," he says. "The Grievers make awesome bad guys, Ian (Christy) has nailed an awesome patchwork look for their armors, and there'll be plenty of motivation for the player to take out the bosses."

One of the major benefits of playing the campaign will be the opportunity for the player to gain experience commanding a squad. "It's possible for clever players to win the campaign without firing a shot after the first few missions," Hutchins offers. "But the player had better be good at thinking quickly."

Hutchins says TRIBES Extreme will add to the backstory of the TRIBES Universe more in small details than in any epic sweep of events. "Aside from the Grievers, there's going to be more information about squadmates and tribal attitudes. The default for the campaign will be the Starwolf, but we're setting it up so the player can be from any of the major tribes."

Overall, every member of the TRIBES Extreme team exudes confidence and excitement about the project. "This is one of the best teams I've ever worked on," says Rudi. "We're having an absolute blast making this game."

For some new pictures of the development team in action, log on to http://www.tribesplayers.com/tribesplayers/extreme-devteam.html#pics