Can you tell us a little bit about Neoshock, what are the main objectives?
Neoshock is about a fictional era of struggle set in the future about 60 years. It pits the human race against a mysterious alien force and a malevolent artificial intelligence. Players will be able to play on any of these three sides, and generally the objective will be the elimination of the other teams. Although we will be giving mappers a lot of freedom in creating unique objectives that are specific to certain scenarios. What you should know is that Neoshock is not a continuous or ongoing battle like in most Half-Life mods, games will be started with all players present and the assumption is that they will all stay in the game until its over. Our plan is for each game to last anywhere from 5 minutes to half an hour, so even if the objective is only to eliminate the opposing team the flow of the game is less like say Unreal Tournament and more like Counter-Strike or America's Army.

How will you combine FPS with RTS elements, and how will you incorporate this into game play?
Actually its a little different than that. What we are really doing is creating a RTS experience from a first person perspective. Automatically that means incorporating a lot of the features people are used to seeing in FPS games, but more than anything else it means the traditional RTS style people are used to is being changed dramatically. Creating a game that is tactical or strategic is easy when you can simplify things down a lot, but when you do it from a first person perspective you have to deal with a complex 3D environment and a much higher level of detail in everything. For instance, the traditional damage models in RTS games are simple attack power and defense power calculations for each unit, but in the FPS genre a much higher level of detail is expected when it comes to damage models. So thats how we plan to incorporate both genres into the game, exactly how we do it I don't think there's enough room here to explain. :)

Can you tell us about the three different races in Neoshock, and how will game play differ on each side?
The key feature to our game is the huge difference between races. On the human team, each player controls one soldier and must work together with a team of others to defeat the enemy. The playstyle for this team is a lot like the FPS games people are used to. On the alien team the player controls an overlord, which can spawn soldiers and control evolutions, what the player does is control soldiers and evolutions to continuously surprise the enemy and defeat them with cunning. The players on the final team, the AI, control individual robots that are assigned orders by an in-game AI, and each player completes the objective assigned using twitch skills and on-the-fly thinking. Overall, you could say that the most important skills required by each race are teamwork, strategy, and twitch respectively. Once balanced correctly, it will be interesting to see the best of each type of player clash against each other, something that I don't think has ever been done before.

What kind of vehicles will Neoshock include? How far will you take these and how will the player control them?
Only the humans will have vehicles available to them. We plan to make full use of all the options that the Source engine makes available to us when it comes to vehicles, so there will definitely be ground and air vehicles of the type you've seen on HL2 videos. Beyond that, we already have plans for a nice lineup of mechanized infantry, exo-suits, and transforming vehicles. How far we decide to take these ideas will be a production decision in the end, but at the least there will be some substantial level of customization available for vehicles including different armor types and weapon loadouts.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the Human tactical HUD?
The tactical HUD is really all about helping the human players work together as a team. It allows the squad leader to assign orders using either line-of-sight or a holographic 3D map. Once orders are assigned each soldier on the team will be provided with visual indicators that will (hopefully) help them work together and execute tactics on the fly without too much confusion.

Are Humans very dependant on each other or will there be room for solo play?
Well from what I've said so far, teamwork is obviously stressed a lot and will be key to survival. However, for each player there will be an array of movements available that allow him to jump, dive, roll, lean, and sneak around with a lot of freedom. I call this 'realistic motion' and I think its the next step in FPS evolution. Anyways, in the end it is a FPS game so individual skill will be a huge factor, but to not abuse all the direct bonuses we'll be awarding for teamwork would be foolish.

In what ways can the Humans utilize their equipment on the field?
This is what I think will be really interesting for the humans. Not only are they given realistic motion and a teamwork system, but they are given a huge array of futuristic toys to expand the number of ways they can operate. Firstly there are the vehicles that I've talked about already, but there are also a lot of other interesting pieces of equipment such as the Crimson Hawk's grappling hook that will hopefully bring back some of that old-school hook-mod action from Quake. Among the selection of equipment available to humans are jetpacks, cloaking devices, tracking drones, and a katana / shotgun combination.

What kind of classes do the Cyborg posses?
In our story the cyborgs are divided into soldier, commander, and manufacturing classes. Players will be able to play as soldier class cyborgs which are in general big robots that blow up stuff. However, depending on which and how many of the other classes are in the game the orders assigned to players will be very different, and they may also be able to respawn.

The Cyborgs seem to have a lot of strange features such as Full movement characteristics, intelligent weaponry and transformation. Can you tell us a little bit more about these?
To facilitate the speedy blowing-up of objects, a cyborg really needs to be able to move. Some cyborgs will have jetpacks, others extra legs to change direction easily, and others have the ability to transform into travel modes and be able to cross distances at neck-breaking speeds. This is the place that will really distinguish one cyborg class from another, and the different types of twitch players will be able to find the class that will best fit their styles. Intelligent weaponry means AI driven weaponry as well as situational equipment. It includes a carrier class cyborg that can release a swarm of drones to attack the enemy as well as equipment such as force-fields and saws that can manipulate the environment.

The Alien race have a micro-management based real time strategy system, what can you tell us about this?
Usually in FPS/RTS hybrids, you have an RTS system that is based off of resource control and gathering. The difference in our game is that all teams start the game with all resources. What the alien player does is allocate resources (biological) and chooses different behaviour strains which will change the AI of soldiers and also evolution strains which will change the properties of soldiers. The alien player controls soldiers in tactical ways such as which directions to attack from, where to lay ambushes, and which enemies to target.

Aliens have the ability to evolve over time, is this something thats constant or an triggered event?
Like I mentioned above, its all about resource allocation. It takes some time to evolve from one form to another, but an overlord (player) can trigger an evolution at anytime and the alien soldier will start to change. Evolution is all about adapting to an enemy, as the alien team starts off with base soldiers and the player can gradually evolve them into creatures that are very specific in the enemies they are made for.

How will you implement Alien AI-controlled soldiers into a multi player game?
We will be relying heavily on Valve's technology and example code for AI that they will provide. Since their AI already recognizes players and other soldiers in the environment and make decisions based upon that, it will provide a great foundation to the multiplayer factor we hope to implement. Of course, all the alien soldiers will also be receiving some guidance from a player so the AI required does not go all the way to the top.

Having these three different races in one game seems pretty hectic, how do you feel this would work out?
Well, its not our plan to enforce a 3-race 3-team battle for every game. Players can mix and match any of the races and any number of teams they wish to, but in the end I think people will really be able to enjoy the new challenges that come from facing players from radically different gaming backgrounds using their own skills.

When do you expect to release a playable public version of your mod?
When its done! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Just kidding, phase 1, which will be human team only with infantry squads should be out about 4 months after the release of HL2.

Subspark, Director of CG

Can you tell us a little bit about your function in the team?
I came aboard earlier last year as a 3D modeler. I provided my work to be reviewed after a small job with a games company and quite to my excitement I made CG Director for the project. As director of CG I do a number of important things. I review my department's work before it is finished up to the final stage and make decisions about how they look and how they work with our theme. I have the responsibility of providing my department with documentation and feedback also. The documentation I write up is basically guidelines and briefs. Through these two types of documents I provide the team with a better understanding of what it is that I require them to do and how they are to go about this. Fundamentally it takes a load of my back also as team members have what they need when they need it rather than me giving them information as we go. On a more finer point, these guidelines and expectations I provide give my guys a solid foundation that helps them feel like there is structure to the whole thing. As the department head my role also includes building their confidence as productive members in the team and giving support at any time they need it.

What kind of tools do you use, to create the Neoshock CG?
We have a wide range of tools and software that we use in the development pipeline. These tools are specific as we try to limit how much software we need to learn and become proficient with. We find that one tool in a software package can do the job of 3 or four in another. We use industry standard tools that cover a fair bit of ground. To name a few, we use Maya, 3Ds Max, Softimage XSI and Zbrush 2. Tools that we are looking at using in the near future include, RealVIZ Imagemodeler and Stitcher, @Last Software's SketchUp and the list keeps growing. Tools such as these, for example sketchUp give us far more control over our artwork and geometry than other more lower-end software provides. In the case of SketchUp, we will be building the architecture in our levels using the software's incredibly versatile toolset giving swift results on the fly and saving a lot of our time. More specifically we can use this software to create our brush based geometry that will be imported into hammer. I am not sure if we will need our guys to write an exporter yet but we have our fingers crossed none the less.

Where do you base your work on? Do you start from the drawing board yourself?
As every other artist in our team I work from concepts and use as much reference as necessary. Me being a 3D Modeler for the team as well as director of CG, I require the concept artists to provide me with a set of drawings, more commonly known amongst our team as line-ups. These lineups include a set of four images or more depending on detail. For the most part we use four images similar to the four viewports you see in a 3D application. Front, Back, Side, Top and occasionally an isometric sketch provides myself and the other modelers with a good range of information that they can create the 3D geometry from. If the model has extra limbs, tails or a detailed head (usually the aliens) more often than not we will have an extra set of images for these extra parts of the model. The same goes for character equipment and accessories.

What about the technology used in Neoshock, will the models use any special shaders?
For the most part we use either Maya or 3Ds max to create our low resolution mesh. We design our models with as much accuracy in low resolution as possible before we move on to Zbrush. Once all of the detail has been added and we have a High Frequency model approved by both Pin and I, we then use it to extract our normal maps (poly-bump textures) so that when you see the low polygon model in the game, our lights react in a way that gives the illusion that we are displaying our high resolution model instead of their low resolution counterparts. On another note, these normal maps can effectively be used for displacement of terrain and bullet holes in walls. This is something I will push further down the production line.

How is communication with your team coordinated?
Strong communication I believe is key in expressing what you want and understanding each other's ideas and opinions. There is nothing more damaging than a lack of communication as it leads to poorly coordinated management of work and leaves people running blind which is unacceptable in practically every industry. When dealing with a large group of individuals each turning over a high body of work each day you really must be able to express to them what you are after and be able to ask them what they feel about their tasks. Most importantly of all is being able to communicate as a whole and not just a small portion of a large production group. I must say I have learnt the hard way in the past with poorly coordinated management. Nobody knew what they were supposed be doing and the entire production basically ended up on its back. Knowing that and having been through this experience, it is very important that a team can talk to each other on a regular basis, get along and respect each others feelings. To round it out and to keep everyone in sync, our team uses a wide range of mediums including email, instant messaging, voice chat, sms and online meetings using our own chat server. I recommend this to you all as a solid means of communication.

How do you feel in the Neoshock team? Do you have great expectations for things to come?
As always I uphold a strong belief in our team members. From the moment I came aboard I immediately saw the potential this project had under its shell. I knew i could help this mod progress further to becoming a reality with the experience I had at the time and the interest I had in this project. Up until now I have been pushing our development processes further and our team as a whole have become progressively better at what we do and twice as fast. We are all learning and I have no doubt in my mind that this mod will be one of the most successful games available for Half-Life 2 and with Steam's super delivery system who knows how far this thing could go. Above all else we enjoy what we do and look forward to what's in stock in the time to come.

Is there anything you and PinFX would like to share with the Half-Life 2 community?
PinFX: Hopefully I've painted a somewhat clear picture of our project, but I always love to read what people think about our project and my ideas, so if any readers want to comment, they can reach me directly at pinfx@neoshockmod.net. HL2Fallout is a great site and I hope to have more stuff to show you guys next time. Thanks for having us ShaDoW!

Subspark: To the many mod developers out there I would like to share some advice. Coming from the industry myself, I have always kept a strong working attitude presnt as I complete my list of things to do. For those of you interested in getting into the industry yourselves and working for different companies around the world I can tell you one thing and that is now is the best time to be in this industry. There are so many changes happening and the slow merging of the film and games industry in my opinion we are in what I like to call the legoland of opportunity. New and better ways to go about things are always being pursued and realised, faster more streamlined software is being released every week and most of all you could never get bored with all these changes and advancements going on. This industry is more dynamic now than it ever has been and I personally want to be in there for that. Another key piece of advice that you that you can quote me on is that you wont get very far at all if your waiting for the right opportunity. Take every opportunity like its your last breath because as far as my experience takes me my friend, the perfect opportunity just doesn't exist.

Thanks for dropping by guys!
Our pleasure. It's always nice to escape from my mouse and sit by the computer eating a raspberry split icypole in one hand and typing with the other. I'm not worried I get outdoors whenever I can. Ahhh the sun... it burns!!!

related links

• Neoshock Website (http://www.neoshockmod.net/)
  
• The Horde - Neoshock music track by David John (http://www.hlfallout.net/files/NeoShock_TheHorde.mp3)