Q&A: 3D Realms' George Broussard
    George Broussard, president of 3D Realms, is a mainstay of the gaming industry.

    GAMECENTER: Does the lead character in Shadow Warrior have a name?

    George Broussard: Not yet, but he will have. It is very likely that the character will have speech, but we want to do something a little different than Duke, and we are playing with a few interesting ideas now.

    GAMECENTER: We've heard he's biomedically enhanced. Does this mean the character will have an advantage without his weapons? Will sharpened senses be translated into the gameplay?

    G. B.: All of these "story" items are up in the air. As it stands now, the character is Japanese and that's about as detailed as it gets for now. He can do things like climb ladders and ride vehicles. All the bio stuff was just for story's sake and never really got off the ground.

    GAMECENTER: What other enemies are in the game? We've seen screen shots with reptile-like creatures...what else? And who or what is a Coolie?

    G. B.: The enemies in the game result from being genetically engineered by the main bad guy. That's as deep as the story gets for now. More refinement will be added toward the end. Coolies are characters who walk around carrying boxes of TNT. Their whole mission in life is to see you and make a screaming, yelling, kamikaze run toward you, detonating their TNT when near. Once killed, their ghosts will rise from their spilled guts and will also attack you.

    GAMECENTER: So as of now, there are no monsters other than the Coolies?

    G. B.: We've been working on some others...An evil ninja will be able to do anything the player can do. In fact, in Net play, we hope to allow players to choose to be a good or evil ninja. The character can walk, duck, crawl, jump, swim, climb ladders, duck behind walls to avoid shots, drive vehicles, shoot, and whatever else we can think of. The evil ninja will also commit suicide (by sticking an Uzi into his mouth) if you get him too low on health. And a baboon-like Ripper creature is also in the works. They scramble around very fast, jump real high, and will even cling to walls, waiting to pounce on the player. When you're close enough, they will hack and slash the player to death, and if you get weak enough, they will rip out your heart. Expect 10 to 12 adversaries in the final game.

    GAMECENTER: Is Kirin the final adversary in the game? He's supernatural, but does he also have magical powers? If so, what kind? What kind of fight can we look forward to in the final battles?

    G. B.: Again, all the story elements are being worked on now. The main bad guy as it stands is not really supernatural. He's more of an evil scientist who can genetically alter things to do his bidding. 


 GAMECENTER: So, the entire story line is still up in the air? Nothing of the former remains other than the fact that the lead character is Japanese? He's no longer part of a special mercenary team, he is no longer related to Kirin, is no longer 1,000 years old...?

G. B.: True. The main character is Japanese, will speak in English, and possibly curse in Japanese (with subtitles). Other than that, we will just tweak it all as we go.

GAMECENTER: Are there magical creatures in the game?

G. B.: This isn't really going to be a fantasy game with spellcasting. You will be able to do some strange things with enemies' body parts, though. And these body parts do have some interesting powers, due to being genetically altered.

GAMECENTER: Are the shurikens in or out? Have they been replaced by a shuriken gun? If so, how does it work? And what kind of damage?

G. B.: The shurikens [Japanese throwing stars] are in. They share weapon spot 1 with the katana sword. Right now we are trying to make them more interesting by allowing them to skip off floors and ceilings and sometimes ricochet off walls.

GAMECENTER: Can you explain the rail gun?

G. B.: It's like the gun from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Eraser. It creates a magnetic field and shoots a piece of metal at near light speed toward an enemy. We are playing now with the rail gun's smoke trail, trying to get it to look right. It's a very fun, high-tech weapon. At this time, all the weapons are done and in, and we are just tweaking things like their art and gameplay balances.

GAMECENTER: I've also seen shots with the character holding a heart. Do you get to rip it out of another character?

G. B.: There are currently two characters that, when you kill them, you can collect their body parts and use them as weapons. The heart is such a weapon.

GAMECENTER: Does it work like a voodoo doll on others or is it simply a visual effect? Can you do this in multiplayer mode?

G. B.: All the weapons work in multiplayer mode as well. As for the heart's function, we are still tweaking things, but we have something special planned for it...

GAMECENTER: What is the guardian head weapon? How does it work?

G. B.: The guardian head is another body part from another enemy. The way it's working now, you carry the head around with three of your fingers sticking into the back of its skull. By removing a finger, you can fiddle with the head's brain and make it fire in three different ways. The head, of course, isn't too happy about this. 

     GAMECENTER: It's been announced that there will be 12 weapons, but we haven't seen 12. What other kinds of devastation can we look forward to, and how can we cause it?

    G. B.: Currently there are 10 weapons: sword; shurikens; Uzis (you can have two of those at a time); quad-barrel shotgun; three-mode rocket launcher with single-fire, heat-seeking, and mass-firing (up to 10 rockets at one time) settings; grenade launcher; and rail gun. Sticky mines are proximity activated and stick to ANYTHING in the game: ceilings, walls, floor, enemies, and so on. Then there's the heart and the head.

    GAMECENTER: When in one of the vehicles--the boat, the tank, or the forklift--are there defined areas you can travel? Or can you get on the forklift, say, and go all over the game?

    G. B.: There are defined areas, but we plan to have enough space to allow for some really cool fights in multiplay. We hope to have enemies driving some vehicles, so you have to take them over before you can use them. Vehicles will be able to run over enemies, break down walls and other obstructions, take damage, and even stop working. They can even be repaired with a toolkit. We are still tweaking it all, but I don't think any game has gone this far yet. It should add a new dimension to 3D games, if we can pull it all off in a fun way that makes sense.

    GAMECENTER: Along the same lines, how much of the environment can be destroyed--set areas or all of it?

    G. B.: Set areas, but you can expect more action than we had in Duke Nukem 3D, due to the higher PC requirement. Shadow Warrior will require a Pentium and 16MB of RAM.

    GAMECENTER: I know it will be "ready when it's ready," but there are some rumors going around. Is the shareware version ready and waiting for the Quake excitement to abate before coming out? Hey, that's what I heard...

    G. B.: No. Quake's release has NOTHING to do with it. The game just isn't done yet. We want Shadow Warrior to surpass Duke Nukem 3D in features and gameplay and that's a TALL order. So we are still working on the game. We do expect a release around the first of 1997. We are trying for a shareware release prior to Christmas '96, but I doubt that will happen, and we won't rush the game just for a deadline. In the end, we intend on delivering more of everything people have come to expect in 3D action games. 


     GAMECENTER: Can you explain the 3D Creature Camera and how it works?

    G. B.: That never existed in the game. One of those many rumors that floats around...

    GAMECENTER: What about the multiplayer options?

    G. B.: Shadow Warrior will be the same as Duke Nukem 3D, and we'll likely add a few new items to it. We aren't quite there yet, so I don't know.

    GAMECENTER: In your own personal opinion, what is the coolest level? What's the coolest effect?

    G. B.: Hard to say, since we are still working on all the levels. But all the levels will be real places as in Duke 3D. There are places like airports (which terrorists have attacked), construction sites, volcanoes, and ancient temples. We've got a pretty good mix of modern-type levels and more ancient/ruin-type levels. As for effects, there are so many, it's hard to say. The vehicles are probably one of the coolest features in Shadow Warrior at the moment. Along with the mounted gun turrets in levels that you can get into and swivel around to shoot at enemies.

    GAMECENTER: What do you think will set this game apart from the other upcoming 3D shooters?

    G. B.: We will stick to heavy environment interaction like we did with Duke 3D, and even surpass it. The engine features true rooms above rooms (unlike Duke 3D), vehicles to drive and interact with, and above all we will ensure that the gameplay and fun are there. It's hard to list all the features on paper, but when all is said and done, and we've assembled the game, we think Shadow Warrior will push 3D gaming a little further, just like Duke Nukem 3D did. 

Lee Hamrick is the assistant editor for Gamecenter and has a blood-caffeine count of .40. Feel free to send him your soothing comments.