Appeal: Franck Sauer is the Art director, Yann Robert and Yves Grolet manage the software development. Regarding game design, Yann wanted to focus on the action side, because he wanted to have excellent gameplay for immediate entertainment. Yves has tried to confer a long life span upon the game, and worked on the strategy and adventure elements. Franck managed to combine our approaches and created a highly realistic world for Outcast. His goal was to go beyond the concept of beautiful graphics, and create rich and living scenery.

What drove you to create Outcast?

Appeal: We tried to imagine what would be the logical evolution of action games. After several discussions, we began to find the solutions to create the evolution we had developed. Then, we began producing Outcast, trying to create an adventure/action game, which was as avant-garde as possible.

What is revolutionary about your game?

Appeal: The main factor is the way we have harmonized all the elements of the game. Indeed, it's extremely difficult to mix several types of gameplay that players are used to seeing individually. Consequently, we tried to create something new and very focused instead of a mix of genres which would disappoint all the players.

What will make Outcast stand out from such games as the Tomb Raider(tm) series?

Appeal: Tomb Raider(tm) created the concept of the hero in video games - it was the first time a player could control a very realistic character in a whole game. We think that the next revolution in this type of game is to place the hero in a highly interactive environment. For this reason, particular attention has been paid to the world around Cutter Slade. The realism of this world doesn't relate only to the graphics, all characters act to create a living breathing universe. Many other projects try to implement living characters, but Outcast is the first game to use the concept of "behavioral legibility". The idea consists of making all opponent behaviour quickly understandable by the player. Indeed, it would be no use simulating social reactions if the player couldn't hear the opponents conversation or understand what they were doing.

Is Outcast mission or level based?

Appeal: There will be 6 huge worlds to explore, with some of the entrances being hidden. But you've got only one mission - come back into the real world with the probe. The main idea is to introduce a small economy in that world, so you can earn or collect money and then buy new weapons or exchange information. We want the player to understand the story behind Outcast as it smoothly unfolds while playing. It is, like any good game, reward based. Any time you succeed, you get rewarded by understanding how you can go further in your quest.

Do you think your original soundtrack sets a new level for game music?

Appeal: The music had to complement the fantastic atmosphere of the game. For this reason, we chose symphonic music. We contacted the American composer Lennie More, a specialist in movie soundtracks, who introduced us to the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. In June 97, after 6 months composing and orchestrating, the 55 minutes of soundtrack were recorded. We use DirectSound for sound effects, which allows us to play 3D sound conforming to the users configuration.

You have made a new 3D game engine for this game. Why is it different?

Appeal: We use voxel technology for background design, which allows us to build graphics which are more precise and complete than a polygon engine allows. We also use an implementation technique which is very different from everything that has been produced before. Indeed, all the voxel geometry is smoothed in order to hide the angles. We also use a special mapping technique to create very accurate rendering. The game also uses a high performance polygon engine for characters and all dynamic objects. One of the biggest strengths of our engine, is the introduction of Bump Mapping allowing very detailed display with a low number of polygons.

Character animation is also driven by a special engine, which can mix two motion-captured animations on the same character - one for the arms and the other for the legs, for example We can also apply an infinite number of procedural animations to our motion captured moves. They consist of algorithms driving any part of the character in order to adapt his movements to the environment. For instance, the head can look in any direction, while the arm aims in another. Feet position is adapted to the ground thanks to the technique of inverse kinematics. All these animation techniques are linked to a ¥cross blender', responsible for the fluidity of movements co-ordination.

You don't use hardware acceleration such as 3Dfx, but Outcast still looks great. What reasons do you have for not to using acceleration at this stage?

Appeal: We find 3D cards too restrictive and all the products using this technology will probably have the same design. This situation may change in the next few years but for the time being, 3D hardware doesn't give enough freedom to game developers. The two problems with 3D cards are:

A lack of texture mapping preventing the creation of a realistic world with highly detailed scenery. Intel is aware of this problem and that's why the AGP bus will be released next year. Unfortunately, the first games using this technology won't be available for more than a year.

3D cards display 2D triangles, but they can't cope with the calculations of 3D object display. This task is still the responsibility of the main processor and it limits the complexity of the scenes that can be displayed. Indeed, drawing an object made of small polygons can be slower with a 3D card than with software. The dedicated 3D chip power requirements are time consuming for the main processor and proved worthless when having to deal with small polygons.

Consequently, the games using 3D cards are used to display scenes made of large polygons, which will limit the design and prevent the representation of complex outdoor scenery. This problem will also disappear over the next years, because new generations chips will be in charge of the 3D calculations.

So will Outcast require a state-of-the-art PC to run?

Appeal: No, a mid-range PC like a P166 with 16mb RAM will be sufficient. But to truly enjoy the experience, with true colour textures, the vast universe, symphonic music, numerous characters and animation, you'll probably need a bit more memory and MMX. This is what the PC is about - to create experiences you couldn't have on consoles. If developers continue to provide consumers with PC games that are the same on a $200 console, why would he spend $2000 on a high-end PC? That's why we want to create a really different experience with Outcast.