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 Can
you introduce yourself to our readers? What is your position in the development
team? What other projects have you worked on?
My name is Bartek Paul. I’m a designer at Techland. Before Chrome, I was
working on the Crime Cities project and several other smaller Techland
productions.
Firts of all, what is Chrome about? Tell us please more about Chrome's
story...
Chrome is a tactical FPS game. The plot takes place in a 22nd century
world, on one of the distant planetary systems. The colonization of the
Valkyria system attracted many settlers in search of a new home as well
as all kinds of criminals seeking refuge. Bolt Logan is the main character
in the game, once a member of the elite Special Forces unit, some say
he was the best. However, certain events changed his life forever and
now Logan is a mercenary trying to get away from his past. Along with
his partner Carrie, he arrives in the Valkyria system in searching for
a job. One of the jobs gets him involved in a struggle between giant corporations,
pirates, colonists, and many other parties.
What sorts of levels and settings will be featured in the game? How
many levels in total?
During the course of the game, the player will visit several planets in
the Valkyria system, as well as several moons that were possible to colonize.
We wanted each planet to have its distinct, unique climate and conditions.
The player will encounter some tropics, deserts, snow, mud, and fog. Some
parts of the game are located in futuristic interiors of orbital stations
or industrial complexes. There will be 16 levels available in the game.
What sort of person is main character Bolt Logan?
Bolt Logan is a mercenary, a former member of the Special Forces, and
an expert in military equipment and combat techniques. He is a very tough
person, cold and a bit bitter, sometimes cynical and grumpy. He is very
skeptical about everything. That is the first impression of Logan, but
the events in Chrome will show his true nature.
There should be some implants/upgrades to enhance Logan. Can you reveal
some of them?
The player will be able to use several implants, each designed to fit
a different purpose. Everything will depend on the situation,  the kind
of weapon and equipment the player will be using, and of course on the
tactics chosen. Aiming Enhancement System might be a good example. Combined with an appropriate weapon (e.g. plasma rifle - it has great
range and it is very accurate itself, although it is not equipped with
a sniper scope) it allows the player to eliminate the opponents from large
distances, practically with 100% accuracy.
Reflex enhancer is also very interesting. This implant accelerates Logan’s
reactions. While using this implant the enemies seem to move and react
slower, while Logan’s pace remains unchanged. It is very impressive. This
implant allows the player to get out alive from a fight with four opponents
at the same time. In normal conditions, this would mean certain death
for Logan (although in the game the player might find other ways to deal
with such situation). The number of available implants will increase as
the game advances. The player will have to choose them wisely, because
the implants have an effect on Logan’s nervous system. Too many implants
activated at the same time might cause an overload.
Your press materials says there will be over 18 kinds of weapons. Can
you describe a few of tem? Did Techland design any original weapons?
Every player, who likes to shoot a bit occasionally, will have plenty
of weapons to choose from when playing Chrome. Take CAFS Assault Rifle
for example. Its main feature is its versatility. When playing Chrome,
the player cannot carry too much equipment, so the choice of weapons is
very important. CAFS does exceptionally good in outdoor combat. It is
very accurate (especially when used with a proper implant). It also has
great shooting range. This assault rifle is very effective in close combat,
for example in narrow tunnels of the colonies or space stations.
dCaster AT Heavy Pistol would be another good example. It comes equipped
with thermoelectric projectile acceleration system. It fires only seven
shots, after which the battery has to recharge, so the firing rate is
not that impressive, but the firepower of this gun has no match, even
among rifles. The accelerated projectile goes through walls, boxes, crates,
and most of the armors.
Which vehicles will appear in Chrome? Will be all playable or controllable?
Vehicles play a crucial role in Chrome. Sometimes they will be an essential
means of transport (on land and in the air) used to travel quickly across
extensive terrain, in other cases the weaponry mounted on the vehicles
will be important. The vehicles can be found in most locations in the
game (their number and diversity will depend on the mission) and they
will be available for the player, as well as the AI. The player will be
able to drive most of the vehicles found in the game
What kind of enemies will be in Chrome?
 The player
will have to face many opponents in Chrome. Some of them will be humanoid
(mercenaries, corporation soldiers, cyber agents, all sorts of criminals,
etc.), and some of the enemies will be robots and vehicles (wheeled, walking
or airborne machines). The animal and plant life on the planets that Logan
will have to visit will not be too friendly also. The player will encounter
some local predators as well as some dangerous plants. Logan will have
to fight the most important antagonists, so called bosses, in the key
stages of the game.
Even the opponents of the same category will look and behave differently
according to their weapons, charisma level, their goals, etc. That is
why we can say that the list of enemies will be very long.
Chrome is being compared to succesful Halo. How do you feel about such
comparisons?
Halo is a great game, so such comparison is a compliment. Both games have
a lot in common, e.g. possibility of viewing extensive terrains is almost
a visual revolution among FPP games. It should be mentioned that our programmers
went much further, because in Halo watching is usually all you can do,
but in Chrome, those open terrains are constantly used to maintain original
playability.
The basic difference lies in the type of playability. Halo is mostly an
arcade game, whereas Chrome requires effective tactics and creative thinking
from the player. Chrome introduces a much more realistic world, where
you have to fight several enemies at once and for you need a lot of luck
or skills in using the implant system and other equipment.
Did you inspire with any games, movies etc.? How did the idea for the
main theme come to your mind?
A lot of books and movies influenced the background as well as the plot
of Chrome, although the game does not explicitly relate to any specific
titles. The game was influenced by several books (cyberpunk classics and
hard Science Fiction), many movies (definitely Alien series, a bit of
Star Wars), as well as several comic books.
What will make Chrome different from the other first-person shooters?
What is your main goal?
 Three basic
elements make Chrome a unique game and that way make the game different
from other FPP shooters. The first and the most important element is the
tactics element with a lot of focus on the implant usage. We believe that
the players will come to like the environment of the game that tries to
get away from the classical narrow and very limited locations. The environment
is not only very extensive, but also mysterious. The player will have
to cope with perilous jungle, sunburned desert canyons, and dangerous
snowstorms.
Three basic elements make Chrome a unique game and that way make the game
different from other FPP shooters. The first and the most important element
is the tactics element with a lot of focus on the implant usage. We believe
that the players will come to like the environment of the game that tries
to get away from the classical narrow and very limited locations. The
environment is not only very extensive, but also mysterious. The player
will have to cope with perilous jungle, sunburned desert canyons, and
dangerous snowstorms.
The game is powered by your own in-house engine. Can you tell us more
about it?
One of our main goals Chile developing Chrome was to create vast, open,
forested terrains that would contrast with the futuristic buildings and
interiors. We decided that the best way to achieve that would be developing
our own engine. That is how the Chrome Engine was created.
The environment is presented as a map indicating terrain elevation. That
system has certain limitations, but these can always be avoided by simply
placing 3D objects on the terrain. The combination of polygon algorithms
used for terrain visualization at a given view with innovative methods
of sending these to video cards enabled very wide rendering of such terrain.
The results are very realistic regardless of the viewing point, whether
you are crawling on the ground (that way we can see all the fine details
of the environment), or watching the ground from the bird’s eye view (we
see vast terrain and many objects).
Chrome uses a very interesting method of storing information about millions
of plants found in the game. This information is basically the density
of a given species in different parts of a given location. A real-time
algorithm generates a list of plants that should be displayed in a given
view. This method saves a lot of memory during the game and enables smooth
display.
What can we anticipate about AI of enemies?
We focused on the „perception” of the AI, their group dynamics and the
use of the environment by the AI. We wanted the opponents to act appropriately
to the situations created by the player. The AI was created to act differently
even in very similar situations, that way the game becomes more unpredictable.
Chrome’s AI is very sophisticated and it will be a worthy opponent for
any player. Intelligent positioning during the attack, covering, changing
weapons according to the circumstances, the use of implants, these are
just some of the AI’s possibilities.
Tell us about the multiplayer game modes. How many players will be
able to involve?
Chrome includes six multiplayer modes. These will be deathmatch modes
as well as team modes, focused more on tactics rather than arcade. Up
to 32 players can play at once.
How do you plan to support the mod community?
Chrome’s architecture was designed in a way that enables modifications
of the game itself as well as construction of completely separate mods.
The difficulty of such modifications can be compared to the same actions
in HalfLife or Unreal Tournament. We have not decided yet whether to release
all the necessary tools with the game or shortly after the Chrome’s release.
In the latter case, we would have more time to make the tools user-friendlier.
Will there be public playable demo of the game released before it comes
to stores?
Yes, of course. We do not know the exact date, but before the final version
of Chrome hits the stores, all FPS fans will be able to get a taste of
it.
more screenshots in our gallery
What system HW specifications will Chrome require?
Chrome will be running without any problems (what is important it will
look good) on P1GHz and GeForce2 . These requirements are not so high,
especially when you consider the fact that some of the upcoming titles
require at least P2GHz.
Is there anything you would like to tell our readers?
 We are very
interested in any opinions or suggestions from the players interested
in Chrome. If you would like to share your comments, please use our forum
or write an e-mail (info@techland.com.pl). Thank you and have a nice day.
Thank you for your time.
Chrome downloads: Teaser
video, ECTS
2002 trailer, E3
2003 trailer
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