The Precursors

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Deep Shadows is a developer that isn't afraid to issue itself a challenge. After delivering jungle based romp Boiling Point, it's now forging The Precursors, a game that combines first-person shooter, space sim and role-playing game genres - no less - and flings players into the future. It sounds crazily ambitious, but speaking to the dev's director Sergey Zabaryansky recently it's clear that the studio is confident it can pull it off.

Can you introduce us to The Precursors and tell us about your key goals for the game?

Zabaryansky: The story is about a young pilot who is solving some secret problems and traveling the Galaxy and visiting a lot of different planets. The genre is free-play shooter with RPG and space-sim elements. Everyone should be able to find something for themselves in the game, and that is our goal.

The Precursors sounds a very ambitious project - what are some of the major hurdles you've had to overcome during the course of development?

Zabaryansky: It is rather difficult to do balanced gameplay . On the one hand, we must do every detail on a very high level, so every fan of each genre can appreciate our hard work and love the game. On the other hand, the game must be finished on time so we do not fall into the "chasing the technology" trap. We already have a working prototype, with planets, space and ships, and are using it to tweak the balance.

Exactly how do you go about combining RPG, FPS and space-sim genres?

Zabaryansky: It is not that easy to combine three different genres, but we've solved this problem. It's right to say that our game Precursors is a free-play shooter - you can be sure that the game will be very dynamic, shooter fans will enjoy it. When you are on the planet the game will look like a shooter and an RPG; when in the space it will look like a classical space simulator. Fans of the space-sim genre will be able to spend time at the wheel of space vehicles. In FPS we have done various and good AI , a lot of weapons and damage system. Also, you will see a lot of interesting missions which are linear and non-linear.

Where have you drawn inspiration from for The Precursors? And what existing PC game would you say it's most like?

Zabaryansky: I'm sure that many people on the planet have dreamed about traveling the galaxy, discovering the new worlds and adventures in space. Not many games before were able to take full advantage of the setting's potential to recreate not just the shooter side but the adventure feeling of the sci-fi world. We've played lots of similar games from start to finish, and upon discovering their hollowness, we wanted to create something really great. So, we want to give the gamer opportunity not only to play in a good and interesting game but also to live there and to feel the atmosphere of space traveling.

How big is the universe you've created for the game, and what can you tell us about the different environments players will find themselves in?

Zabaryansky: The world of Precursors is large and multifaceted, the planets are different. For example, you'll start on a dune planet, bleached by a merciless sun, and then can go to the glacier planet, where you'll have to wade through piles of snow. There are lush tropic jungles and desolate ruins of skyscrapers of an ancient civilized race. Some planets will have many cities and space ports, others just a handful of outposts. Also you will meet alien races and unusual fauna. Enemies will lurk everywhere, so you'll have lots of random encounters.

It looks a very freeform game... Can you tell us about that?

Zabaryansky: Overall, our game will be more dynamic than a typical RPG, more clever than a FPS, and will have good realized space battles. The main thing we're focusing on is that people should have a good time playing!

In what ways is your experience with developing Boiling Point influencing development of The Precursors?

Zabaryansky: We've taken into account all positive and negative sides of the Boiling Point game and as a result we've improved conception of developing the game. So, we realized that the game of that size needs much more time for polishing. And we want to do the game with medium requirements and without the drawbacks of Boiling Point. We've improved level design and upgraded the engine, physics and made other improvements which you will see and I hope that the gamers will like it. In Precursors the player is free to move in not only in some locations like cities, towns, military bases, but he can fly between planets.

How deep are the RPG and space-sim sides of the game - can you tell us a little more about both of these elements?

Zabaryansky: As we have said, first it is a free-play shooter and then it is a space-sim and RPG. You will spend most of your gameplay on the planets. The flying module of a space vehicle is like a simulator, but we tried to do convenient gameplay and so it's not a difficult flying system, in space. But in space there will be battles and missions. If you see that your friendly ships are under attack from rangers or alien ships you can help them and if you are lucky in the future they also can help you at difficult moments. You can dock at the space stations, have fun on planets, explore space ships of alien races - but the game will go on in the meantime. Also you will see a various NPCs, a lot of missions and be able to improve your abilities and perks.

How do players move between the space-sim and FPS parts of the game? Is it a seamless transition, for example?

Zabaryansky: About the only thing that we've added is the boarding possibility. In some old RPGs the heroes were able to teleport to the enemy ship and to fight inside it. After winning this battle, the ship became their loot. We've done this part in a pure FPS style, but still it is directly related to the space combat and will be very useful.

What can you tell us about the engine powering the game? Will/does it support DirectX10?

Zabaryansky: The game is based on the next-gen Vital Engine 3. It supports shaders 3.0, all the modern effects, such as motion-blur, High Dynamic Range and others. Vehicle physics has been greatly improved compared to Boiling Point. One of the advantages of this engine is the handling of many breakable objects.

What's your favourite part of the game, what are you most proud of?

Zabaryansky: We are proud that we are doing such an interesting and not usual game where we combine different genres. When you're on a planet, it's FPS with various vehicles and you can talk with everyone and do a lot of various missions. At any moment, however, you can board your space ship and take off from the planet. Then you find yourself in a space-sim mode and can fly wherever you want or make a hyper-jump into another solar system.

Any multiplayer plans you can tell us about?

Zabaryansky: Of course, we really want to do a multiplayer mode but now we are mostly focused on the single-player, but we really want to make cooperative mode if we have enough time.

When will PC gamers be able to get their hands on The Precursors, and any plans to release a demo before the game's out?

Zabaryansky: Oh, we're working nonstop. The release of the game is planned for Q4 2007.

CVG Staff