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August 29, 2003 
Within certain fragments of the early church, the baptism ceremony once incorporated the gift of a lighted candle or taper as a representation of the recipient's new spiritual Illumination. Such individuals came to be called Illuminati. Around 1575, the same title, although capitalized, was applied to a sect also known as the Perfectibilists. Its guiding doctrine was the pursuit of perfection through prayer, a condition many of its adherents claimed to have obtained, whereupon they rather ironically forsook sacraments, good deeds et al as no longer necessary. Two centuries later, the name was used again. This time, it referred to members of various associations that started up in Europe. Their goal was quite similar in nature but broader in scale by far; they sought to promote social reforms aimed at raising both humanity and society to a state of grace. By the year 2080 wherein developer Taldren's Black9 takes place, a new generation of Illuminati has arisen. Nine powerful, manipulative cartels, each with its own agenda and interests, are now locked in a tense, Machiavellian struggle for control of Earth. Not surprisingly, it is difficult if not completely impossible to tell right from wrong. As a result, the player, in the role of a mercenary, must chart a path through an environment defined by shades of gray and fraught with the constant possibility of duplicity and betrayal. Using the Unreal engine and the Karma physics code, the third-person title is said to blend tactical action with RPG-like character development. In this Black9 Interview, we learn a lot more from Director Erik Bethke, Art Director Tim Cox and Erin Hoffman whose duties include writing and quality assurance. Action Vault: Since we usually begin with an introductory question, what's Black9 about at the basic premise or concept level? What inspired the idea for the game, and also for including the character development element? 
Erik Bethke: In Black9, you assume the role of a high-tech James Bond-type agent in working for a variety of all-powerful Illuminati, of which there are nine of these big bad boys in the year 2080. Each of these Illuminati has their own great, grand plan for the future of humanity that puts them in the driver seat. My goal was to create a believable world based on our own history and current affairs, envisioning a plausible future that offers trips to the Moon and Mars on a daily basis. I love technology, politics, economics and history; I brewed them all together to develop the back stories for the nine Illuminati: Genesis, Soceiti de Illuminaire, Zubrin, Tea-Drinking Society, Glimmer A.G., New World Order, Black Dragons, and Earth NOW! Another key goal for me was to layer a role-playing system over an action game, as I have a terribly strong urge to create and define my own character when playing game. I do not like to play nice with a static character like Lara Croft. 
Action Vault: Without spoiling too much, what more can you tell our readers about when and where the game takes place, the major themes that drive the story, the backstory, the main plot and the ultimate objective? Erin Hoffmann: The game takes place in a variation of Earth's future, plagued by a collapse of world governments, the end result of rabid unchecked consumerism, and nine superpowers that give the game its title, the Illuminati. Each with a unique goal of its own, these organizations control just about everything worth controlling in the Black9 world, and they also hire freelancers to take care of some of their dirty work. The result is an action RPG in third person where the player controls a mercenary recently hired, if unknowingly, into the ranks of one Illuminatus. The immediate goal is the goal of any merc, money. The ultimate objective gets a bit more complicated. Action Vault: Overall, what kind of look and feel will the game environment you're creating have? To what extent are you using futuristic interpretations of actual locations? How faithful are they to their real counterparts of today? 
Tim Cox: The combat-based sci-fi action games, as I see them, tend to have a grungy and gritty plate-metal photo-real industrial aesthetic. (Laughs - penalty for over-use of needlessly hyphenated words?) Black9 boasts a cleaner, more stylized feel, though some of that industrial stuff is still present. The game world breaks down to three basic locales, the moon, Mars and Earth. Earth breaks down further into three sub-areas, Shanghai and Macao, China, and Seoul, Korea. We're visualizing a not so distant future that I hope people will relate to easily. There will still be shopping malls, gift shops, cafes and restaurants. Color and lighting will play a key role in establishing the uniqueness and feel of each area of the game. I'm excited about the contrast between the old and traditional style architecture of Shanghai against the more high-tech and futuristic areas of the Genesis HQ and the Mars colony. 
Erin Hoffmann: The locations are as realistic to their real world modern counterparts as they could be made, or as any are when science fiction is involved. I think one of the coolest options a developer has when creating a video game is to really chock a title full of all of the little tidbits of knowledge possessed by the studio as a whole, and a lot of us here have interests in geopolitical history and technology in general. Each individual person (especially in the geek sector!) carries around random bits of trivia and brings something different to the project. Black9 weaves together all of our ideas, giving the game a solid personality, compelling identity and immediately visible, unique visuals.Action Vault: Does the player have choices with respect to the starting character, and if so, how do they differ from one another? How does the advancement system work with respect to improving abilities and adding new ones as the game progresses? Erin Hoffmann: The player has a choice of four main character bodies. We have assigned a nickname for each of them, but the player is encouraged to name their character whatever they choose: Sahara, a spunky human female; Jake, a hard-edged human male; Ylsa, a catlike genemod female; and Gruber, an ogre-like genemod male. As the player advances through campaign missions, they earn credits that can be used to purchase nano-enhancements such as strength and dexterity augmentation, increased speed, etc. This is the primary vehicle for character advancement. 
The player also chooses nanoskills that add entirely different attributes, such as a nanite (microscopic robot) implant that generates intense heat in a ball of fire in the character's hand to be used as a projectile. All of the equipment and game skills are designed with an eye for reality; the traditional science fiction touch that doesn't just pull stuff out of thin air, but tries to conjecture what the future might bring us.Action Vault: What kind of combat system are you using, and what is the balance between fighting and other types of gameplay such as stealth? What kinds of weapons and other items will be available and how will they be acquired? 
Erik Bethke: Black9 is a third-person game with a handful of exceptions such as the sniper rifle. The weapons in Black9 run from weapons we would readily recognize today such as submachine bugs to exotic new weapons that take advantage of nanotech such as the Blit Sword. Combat is mostly ranged combat with weapons and nanotech (essentially our spell system). The combat system is an extension of the RPG system where the player's strength, dexterity, constitution and agility are all expressed in the physical actions of combat such as running and jumping (agility), aiming and nanotech use (dexterity), weapon restrictions and melee (strength), and health (constitution). Players will generally acquire weapons by purchasing them in the headquarters between missions; we do also, however, plant special weapons throughout the game for players to discover. We have some sneaking around, hacking, use of nanocloaks and a cool Spiderman-like magnetic grappling hook for getting around enemies without destroying them. Continued: NPCs and AI. |
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