The official Q&A thread

[fb_joel]

Okay, folks. If you have a question about Shadowgrounds, post it here.

We will try to answer each question, but some things have to be kept secret in purpose.

[Qraft]

ok, here i go..

Will there be 5.1 sound in-game?

Have you found any publisher yet?

Any plans on a level editor?


many many more questions to come...

[hearts]

What's your inspiration for this game? Is it Alien Swarm?

[Qraft]

some more questions...

Any plans on release a dev diary?

when is the second trailer comeing?

Is there gonna be unlockeble stuff? like when you complete the game you get an extra game mode. Thats one thing i like about most comsole games.

When is the Newsletter gonna start (i know, i have alredy got one)?

how many interviews have you done? i onley know of one.

How many people is there Frozenbyte? And how many of them are working on the game?

is there more then one playable character?

is there a limit to the destructible environment? like you cant take down a building.

how will you find ammo? enemy drops or ammo crates?

thats it, for now

[dragon curse]

I want to know that is it gonna be like Max Payne whitout bulletime!? Or is there gonna be possible to players choose whitch route they go or what they do! (Esample! Some civilian tells u that u should call help but the marine says that if u do the aliens will use ur space ship to attack earth! Ur choise!) Or is it just that you go the same old route all the time! Is the multiplay gonna give us more than Co Op and deathmatch!!?

[fb_joel]

Players can freely choose their route. Some mission objectives are optional as well, although the story follows a linear path.

Co-op is not confirmed yet but it's possible. No other multiplayer modes, though.

Will there be 5.1 sound in-game?

I'm not sure about this, actually. There's been some talk about it lately and I think some parts of the audio might be in 5.1.

Have you found any publisher yet?

Yup, we have found publishers for some European markets, and are closing deals as I write this. I will update the news as soon as we have a couple of deals signed.

Any plans on a level editor?

The easy answer is no... but we have talked about it and it might be released after the game.

What's your inspiration for this game? Is it Alien Swarm?

Nope. Shadowgrounds has been in development since the summer 2003. I think Alien Swarm was first released in early 2004? Our inspirations are numerous but we haven't had a single inspiration source. I will detail them more in one of the upcoming developer diaries.

Any plans on release a dev diary?

Definitely. I think they're going to be more like "snippets" so we can make new entries once a week or so, instead of one large update every month...

when is the second trailer comeing?

Hard to say... we weren't planning to make another trailer until August, but since the response has been so good, we might do a new one in July.

Is there gonna be unlockeble stuff? like when you complete the game you get an extra game mode. Thats one thing i like about most comsole games.

I personally like that a lot, too. We will probably have some easter eggs you unlock when you complete the game, but probably nothing major. As a singleplayer-focused game, it's harder to make any unlockables that make sense (like new characters etc).

When is the Newsletter gonna start (i know, i have alredy got one)?

I would say next week. We had planned to do something for this week but it's been so busy that we had no time.

how many interviews have you done? i onley know of one.

There's two with the old name (cgonline.com and ggmania.com) and a few upcoming. I'll let you know (in the newsletter maybe) when the new ones are online.

How many people is there Frozenbyte? And how many of them are working on the game?

16 altogether, and all working on Shadowgrounds.

is there more then one playable character?

No.

is there a limit to the destructible environment? like you cant take down a building.

You can't take down a building. Basically we have focused on items and things that make an impact on the gameplay.

how will you find ammo? enemy drops or ammo crates?

You will find ammo laying around here and there. Most of the buildings you visit are somewhat military in nature, so it makes sense. And you will find a lot of dead soldiers, too... and some who are not dead and will help you.

A lot of questions.

[fb_artz]

Will there be 5.1 sound in-game?

This is official: Yes, there will be 5.1 sound!

[Qraft]

Will there be 5.1 sound in-game?

This is official: Yes, there will be 5.1 sound!

Sweet

Guess ill have to buy new speakers

[Qraft]

any plans on making a game poster?

[fb_joel]

any plans on making a game poster?

We might. It depends on how we could distribute it... we will definitely make some posters for our own use, but I'm not sure how distributing it with a magazine or something like that would work out (i.e. how much it would cost). In either case, I'm quite sure we can figure out a nice way to get you guys some posters and other cool stuff (a small "contest" or example). Probably around middle of July or so.

[Qraft]

sweet. i been planing on replacing my Neon Genesis: Evangelion poster that hangs above my bed


Maybe a "make a poster" constet would be a good idé.

or maybe making a tag line for the game. like:
Shadowgrounds - Extra-Terrestrial ass whopping

[fb_joel]

Hehe, yeah we'll think about it. We have some cool contest ideas of our own too, I just hope we (or I, to be more specific) have enough time to realize them.

[Qraft]

how will you controll your character?

[fb_joel]

how will you controll your character?

Directly with WASD and mouse. The final camera mode & controls are still under tweaking but either of our two modes will be fine.

[Guest]

We might. It depends on how we could distribute it... we will definitely make some posters for our own use, but I'm not sure how distributing it with a magazine or something like that would work out (i.e. how much it would cost). In either case, I'm quite sure we can figure out a nice way to get you guys some posters and other cool stuff (a small "contest" or example). Probably around middle of July or so.

Since the games roots go back to games from the early 90's (like alien breed) it would be kinda nice to have other stuff reminiscent of that time period. Back in that time gameposters were much more comon.

[MDK]

Oops! Forgot to log in. Didn't know I could post here without logging in first.

[EdwardOG]

I saw your presentation at Assembly05, and I have to say that I'm really impressed.

I know this would be a big hit in North America, so I'm wondering if it's going to be released over here, and if not if NA customers could at least order copies from overseas.

Any word on this would be great.

Thanks!

[fb_joel]

Shadowgrounds will be released in North America. Hopefully in late October but we'll see.

[Ransom Arceihn]

I'm curious; how dominant is the story? Is it a backstory sort of thing to give a drive to the gameplay, or is it a bit more developed (with cutscenes, characters and twists and such)?

[fb_joel]

I'm curious; how dominant is the story? Is it a backstory sort of thing to give a drive to the gameplay, or is it a bit more developed (with cutscenes, characters and twists and such)?

It's definitely more developed. Cutscenes and voice overs drive it forward, there's a few twists (not to mention very interesting mission locations in general) and the characters are varied. I think everybody will be pleasantly surprised by the story. This week I've been playing the last missions(integrating voice acting) and even I was surprised to see how well they worked.

(FYI, there'll be 4 new screenshots on the site tomorrow.)

[Wizard]

voice overs drive it forward

Are you using real actors for the voice overs or have you just picked someone from the streets to do them?

[fb_joel]

voice overs drive it forward

Are you using real actors for the voice overs or have you just picked someone from the streets to do them?

Professional voice over actors, of course. Nobody famous, though.

[Abram]

this game looks like it will be awesome! i'm not really happy with the direction gaming has been taking lately...but hopefully this title wont disapoint! We need to take a hint from the classics to see what made gaming fun in the first place! Anyway:

What are the system requirements?

What is the cpu/graphics hardware that you personally play the game with?

and finally...do you guys need to hire an animator?


-Abram
theabe(at)gmail.com

[Guest]

will the english version seem like a native english implementation? or will it be a last min hack job?

[fb_joel]

What are the system requirements?

What is the cpu/graphics hardware that you personally play the game with?

and finally...do you guys need to hire an animator?

The sys reqs are still not finalized... but these should be close:

Minimum specs:
Windows XP/2000
1.3 GHz CPU
384 MB RAM
GeForce 4 Ti / Radeon 9000
1 GB Free Hard Drive Space

Recommended specs:
Windows XP/2000
2.0 GHz CPU
512 MB RAM
GeForce FX 5700 / Radeon 9500
1 GB Free Hard Drive Space

We use a variety of cards here in the office, ranging from the minimum specs (and even lower) to the recommended and even to some high end stuff (like Athlon 3200+ & X800 XL). GF4MX cards are not supported...

and finally...do you guys need to hire an animator?

Heh... We are expanding a little in the future, so we do need new people also (animators should be able to use LightWave, though). But I must admit that we may be a bit hesitant towards hiring people who don't speak Finnish, simply because we don't know how to handle all the legalities and stuff... But who knows about the future.

will the english version seem like a native english implementation? or will it be a last min hack job?

The whole story/script has been written in English right from the start and has been checked with English professionals several times. So it's definitely not a hack job (nor is any of the localized versions).