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Chat With C:CTP Programmers; October 3rd, 1998

Note on the nicknames: in orange are the nicks of the members of the CTP team: Patton(Mark Lamia, Producer), MrOwl(Steve Mariotti, Lead Programmer) and MrOgre(Joe Rumsey, Networking and Game Engine Programmer). In white are the operators, who asked the questions: MarkG(Markos Giannopoulos), DanQ(Daniel Quick) and akula(Derek Lande).

Session Start: Sat Oct 03 21:14:24 1998

[akula] Ladies and gentlemen, we shall now moderate this channel so that MarkG can say a few words... [akula] please direct any suggestions for questions to any of the ops [MarkG] Well, it's about 8pm gmt, so we can start.... [MarkG] First , I would like to thank the guys from Activision for this chat... [Patton] Good to be here...thanks [MrOgre] Happy to be here! [MarkG] We have today Mark Lamia(Patton), Producer [MrOwl] My pleasure. [MarkG] Joe Rumsy(MrOgre) netowrking and game engine(or state?) programmer [MrOgre] Rumsey, and you can call it game whatever-you-like :-) [MarkG] and Steve Mariotti (MrOwl) Lead programmer [MrOwl] Thanks for spelling my name right. Not everyone does. :-) [Patton] Including me :-) [MarkG] :) [MarkG] The ops are MarkG(Markos Giannopoulos), DanQ(Daniel Quick) and Akula (Derek Lande) [MarkG] To start, please tells us what are your reponsibilities on the game. Patton? [Patton] I'm the business guy. I manage the teams operations. It is my job to aquire the resources necessary to impliment the vision, manage it and do whatever it takes to keep us moving forward according to plan. [MrOwl] He makes it all happen. [Patton] Too kind [MrOgre] He brings us donuts! [MarkG] So, are you the big boss? You have the final word? [Patton] Thats more like it [MrOwl] He mans the cattle prod. [MrOgre] Excuse me, doughnuts. [Patton] If if comes down to that. Usually we are able to work things out. Cecilia is the Director, and she has the final word on the creative. [Patton] But they need the resources from me :-) [MarkG] Ok, MrOwl? [Patton] And I get to pick out which doughnut we eat [Patton] :-) [MarkG] Oh, that's power! [MrOwl] I'm the lead programmer. That means I lead the programmers. I help Mark make sure everything gets written, and keep tabs on who's doing what. Oh, and I write all of the code that no one else wants to write. [MarkG] So, I guess you deal with every part of the game? [MrOwl] I've had my hands in just about every system at one time or another. [Patton] He is also the glue that keeps all of our code together at all times [MarkG] And MrOgre? [MrOgre] I'm responsible for writing and maintaining the game state, meaning the rules of the game and all the data behind units, cities, etc. I'm not the only person who's written code for the game state, but I am the person primarily responsible for it now. I am also the network programmer. [MrOgre] I've also written a tiny bit of the AI code, mostly something no one else wanted to touch, diplomacy. [MarkG] Speaking of units, will the units have different attack and defence values in various grounds?? Is it possible? [MarkG] For example to show that a battleship would have a greater chance of surviving a cruiser attack rather than a cruise missile attack. [MrOgre] There are defensive bonuses for various terrains, but not on an individual unit basis. [MarkG] Oh, so I guess the combat system is the same with civ2, or has something changed? [MrOgre] There are some provisions for units defending against various types of attacks, but it's still up in the air what we're going to do with them, if anything. [MrOwl] Actually, it's changed a good bit from what they had in Civ2. [MrOwl] It's TONS cooler. [MrOgre] Our combat system pits groups of units against each other instead of one unit at a time, it makes for a much greater variety of possible combats [MarkG] Like everything.... :) [MrOwl] Yeah, Civ2 didn't really have stacked combat. That's a pretty significant change. [MarkG] Stacked combat? [MrOgre] Stacked movement too. [MrOwl] Up to nine units can fight against up to nine units at the same time. [MarkG] Can you explain that a bit? [MrOwl] Another satisified customer. [MrOgre] You can take up to nine units and group them together, so that they move as a unit and fight as a unit. When they get into combat, you can see a screen (it's optional) showing the results, and all the units are involved at once. [akula] If I may say a word could all those who submitted questions please do so again [MarkG] Oh! Nice! :) [MarkG] So, will the damage be shared in all the units? [MrOwl] During stacked combat, assault (hand to hand units) and support (ranged attack units) are handled differently. [MrOwl] You can have a front line of tanks with a bunch of artillery units behind blasting away. [MarkG] Hmmm, that might complicate(in a good way) things... [MrOwl] Well, it makes you want to think hard about how you build your stacks to maximize their effectiveness against, say, a city. [MrOgre] Damage is done on a one-on-one basis still, but every unit may be fighting several other units at once. [akula] When you stack units together will they take on a new graphical form of the whole army or just show the "top" unit. [MrOwl] They show the top unit, but also the stack size. [MrOgre] One stack or the other always wins though, there are no ties. The winner is whoever has at least one unit left at the end. [akula] Will it be possible to name your units and or stacks eg. 31st Air wing [MrOgre] There's an optional screen to show the battle as it happens [MrOwl] No, no naming of stacks. [MarkG] MrOgre, what kind of screen? [MarkG] What will we see? [MrOgre] Shows the units lined up on both sides, shows who attacks who, shows who dies and why, lots of pretty animations, our artists are too cool for words. [MrOwl] Big firey balls of death. [MrOwl] I love the sound of the cannon blast. [MrOwl] Especially with the subwoofer on. [MarkG] Sounds Great! :)

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