Exclusive: Painkiller shoots for glory

The arrival of yet another first-person shooter is hardly cause for excitement these days, but fledgling Polish developer People Can Fly has certainly made us sit up and take notice with its flashy Painkiller, heading to PC and Xbox, to be publisher by DreamCatcher.

Attempting to blend the frenzied ferocity of Serious Sam with the foreboding ambience of Doom is no easy task, but People can Fly is certainly on the right track. Painkiller boasts amazing visuals, a great physics system and clever weapon play - if these elements can be refined to function as an effective whole, Painkiller could kick some serious ass when it hits shelves.

Our appetites well and truly whetted, we went straight to People Can Fly's Andrej Poznanski to find out more:

Can you tell us a little about the game and your company?

Poznanski: Painkiller is the first game from People Can Fly, but the team has been together for several years now. We've created a number of games such as Grom. Now we've regrouped to create Painkiller. We're really excited about the title.

Painkiller is an FPS based on action through adrenaline and really, really fast gameplay. We want to pump adrenaline to players as fast as we can and, at the same time, we want it to be moody and scary. In comparison to games like Serious Sam we want to have a dark atmosphere. Serious Sam was cartoony, but we're aiming for some atmosphere and horror.

Of course, it's hard to maintain horror in a game where there's so much action, but between the moments of action we want sections that are intense and scary.

Have you made your own engine?

Poznanski: We're using an in-house engine, which we're really excited about. We're amazed how much power we can get. We believe it's on a par with engines like Unreal Warfare; we are able to pull between 100,000 and 200,000 polygons per second on screen - it's really state of the art.

We are using a lot of the latest techniques too, like pixel shading and vertex shading, but at the same time we're not forgetting about the game - it's not supposed to be a technical demo. It's supposed to look good and play good. The key factor for us is to maintain good graphics with good gameplay.

Which other titles would you equate Painkiller with then? You've mentioned Serious Sam...

Poznanski: It's gonna provide a rush like Serious Sam, but in terms of atmosphere I'd say it's closer to Doom, and in gameplay it's closer to Quake World. As you probably know we're using the Havoc physics engine, so we've embedded physics very deep into the game - we're really using intense physics. Enemies fly through the sky, hang through fences and really interact with the environments. But it also works the other way round and enemies can send you flying.

What we are also proud of is lighting - we use really advanced techniques to make the levels look really special. There will be a large variety of levels from indoor to outdoor and large and small. We really want to have each level unique in its style and size.

Is there multiplayer?

Poznanski: Yes, we are working on multiplayer as well. As I said, we're aiming for the style of Quake World because we are hardcore fans of Quake World and play it every day, therefore it's obvious to us we have to make a great multiplayer game.

We'll have all the modes: deathmatch, one-on-one, a mid-air game called People Can Fly, where you can only shoot enemies when airborne. Many modes which will be revealed later.

Are the environments heavily populated?

Poznanski: We will be able to have thousands of enemies on some of the larger levels. Obviously you won't see them all at once - that would be crazy - but we have no problems with the technology in that regard.

We are now at the stage where almost all the graphics have been done so we can concentrate on tweaking gameplay - we don't want to leave that until the end. We'll be working hard on refining this and scripting sequences.

What's the European release date?

Poznanski: It's down for August.

Do you have any plans to bring it onto console?

Poznanski: Yes, absolutely. We've also signed a deal to do it on Xbox with DreamCatcher. The PC version will be first, then the Xbox version, which will include many enhancements like new levels and enemies. We really want the Xbox version to stand out form the PC original.

When will that release?

Poznanski: Early in 2004.

And do you plan to support Xbox Live?

Poznanski: That's the plan, absolutely. The game's ideal for multiplayer so obviously we want to have it.

What about the weapons

Poznanski: The weapons are something else that's distinctive for Painkiller. We're using combo weapons. There are five weapons in the game, and each of them consists of two modes that are entirely different. For instance you have a grenade launcher with a shot gun - if you throw a grenade and hit it with the shotgun you are able to create stronger explosions. You can use the rocket launcher with the shotgun to put the enemy in the air with the rocket launcher and finish him off with the shotgun.

How many different enemy types?

Poznanski: Dozens to say the least. You name it we've got it - a real variety.

Why should FPS fans want to play Painkiller? The competition is incredibly fierce.

Poznanski: Because of the atmosphere. We believe the atmosphere of Doom has been greatly overlooked in the latest games and we're trying to recapture that. And we feel the intensity of the gameplay is going to draw players to Painkiller.

As for other FPSs, aside from the graphics, we feel their gameplay is lighter. You will really feel the intensity of the fight in Painkiller when you are surrounded by dozens of monsters and are shot into the air. In most other games it's the other way round - it's just you shooting them.

With the Xbox version, are you comfortable with making it work on a joypad?

Poznanski: Well, we are hardcore Xbox players and we understand the differences, so we are preparing the game really well for Xbox. There will be a slight auto-aim feature to compensate.

Will there be offline multiplayer?

Poznanski: We are still looking into that. The game is intense on the graphics side so it will be hard to fit that in, but we are working hard to try and do that. The main focus is for the Live version, but we're doing our best.

Johnny Minkley