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Reactor
Interactive
All three members of indie developer Reactive Interactive were
present - Drew Clerk, Ryan Buhr and Brian Linton.
They took the time to show the latest demo of their game, Sector 13,
which already looks impressive, and has been continuing to grow and
improve over recent months.
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Drew did the presentation, while Ryan played
in the background, giving us all some eye candy to watch while
Drew filled us in on the thinking and history of the game.
Their plan had arisen due to a lack of games in this style.
Sure, there were space shooters, but they were often
integrated into something that involved a lot of flying to and
from various locations. What Reactor Interactive wanted was
something fast and frantic, something multiplayer - something
that was the space shooter equivalent of a death match held in
a first-person shooter. |
With that in mind, they
set out to make their game. They coded it themselves, building their
own 3D engine - even including bump mapping, which makes the
asteroids, with their roughened surfaces, very impressive on
close-up.
| Although the game is meant to be quick and
accessible in play, they didn't skimp on giving it some depth,
thinking out a back story that goes behind the events in the
game. They have also worked on some very impressive "beauty
renders" as well as impressive in-game graphics. The story
relates to a section of space, the Sector 13 of the title,
which was divided up among various companies, with a written
agreement that there would be no governmental / federal
interference in events there, basically giving the companies
full control. |
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Over time, the companies
warred with each other in border disputes, taking and re-taking
various systems, and ultimately only 5 companies survived. Each
company has its own unique look to its ships, and each ship has been
designed to counter a particular threat that arose from another
company's developments or activities.
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The Thunderbird ship, high res
version... |
....and the low res as used in
game |
Indeed, the ship designs are one of the first aspects of the game to
really jump out at you. You can tell a lot of thought has gone into
them, and they have tried to create the ships in such a way that
every player will have a favorite - and that they will almost
instantly be able to decide what that favorite is, just by looking
at them!
A careful mathematical formula was used to
rate each ship, which factors in the elements of speed, armor,
weaponry and so forth. Each ship ends up with the same final number,
ensuring there is no unfair "super ship." The differences in the
ships then comes down to style of play, whether you want a slower
but more heavily armored and armed ship, or something faster and
more nimble but a little more frail when it comes to taking damage.
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The dagger |
The Grimbolt |
Designing the spacecraft was easy, according to Drew who worked
on that aspect of the game. He finds trueSpace and gameSpace so
intuitive that he doesn't even create sketches first, but instead
dives right in to modeling with the idea in his head, and quickly
brings it to life inside trueSpace or gameSpace. This means that the
spaceship goes from concept to high-poly model to low-poly model and
from there right into the game, all within just trueSpace or
gameSpace.
So efficient and smooth is the process, that Ryan can be testing
the game, and if something shows up as needing changed on a model,
Drew can rework it, save it, and Ryan can just load up that new
model right into the game, greatly enhancing their workflow.
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The story extends to describing the individual
ships and their development, as well as describing the various
different areas of space in which combat takes place. All this
is presented in a very slick and professional interface that
equals any commercial game already on the market. Reactor
Interactive also worked hard on the flight controls, wanting
to make them accessible and fun, yet retain full control for
the player. It will play well with just mouse and keyboard,
but truly shines when used with a joystick, letting the player
immerse themselves in controlling their craft. |
Brian is the latest member of Reactor Interactive, and he has
mainly been working on streamlining code for maximum speed and
efficiency. The division of labor between the three members works
well, with each specializing in a certain aspect of the development,
though each is capable of taking on any role if need be.
| The game has come a long way, and is already
very polished and professional. This leaves Reactor
Interactive at that difficult point for a new developer with
their first game - even though they have taken the game much
further than many "proofs of concept" ever reach (it's already
playable, with a working multiplayer mode), they still have to
find a publisher willing to take them on, and some investment
to let them see the game through to completion for release.
They also have many more ideas here than just what they have
produced here - in a way, this is just the "flight and combat"
part of a bigger picture. |
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Drew outlined how they have plans for more game play, taking
place further down the timeline from the current Sector 13 game. In
this development, the closest thing to a "bad guy" in the current
game has triumphed, and moves on from Sector 13 to try and control
the rest of space.
Clearly, Reactor Interactive is a developer with plenty of good
ideas. Much more importantly though, it is a team that can actually
bring those ideas to life and has shown they can do that in a very
real and practical way. All too often games never get beyond that
"good idea" phase, but with Sector 13 even as it stands now, the
team has shown they go beyond just the idea, to the game play
balance and mechanics, to the intricacies of a 3D engine and
real-time effects, to great modeling, to a superb interface that
holds it all together - nothing overlooked; everything it takes to
make a finished, polished, professional game.
All they need now is that backing.
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