Paul Wedgwood on Brink

Feature

Brink was one of our favorite games during GamesCom. We spoke to Paul Wedgwood to get more background information about the interesting features of this upcoming shooter.

October 1st, 2009 by Marjolein Verheij

Hooked Gamers: Hi! Thanks for participating in our interview. Can you introduce yourself to our readers and tell us what your job is on the team?

Paul Wedgwood: Hi! My name is Paul Wedgwood. I�m the CEO of Splash Damage, and Game Director on Brink. It�s my job to make sure that the studio�s Creative Director, Art Director, Technical Director, Audio Director, Studio Director, and Producer, all get what they need to make Brink. In turn, they have Lead Programmers, Lead Designers, Lead Artists, Lead Animators, Lead QA, and Production Coordinators who they each support.

Hooked Gamers: We had the opportunity to see Brink in action during GamesCom in Cologne last August. What would you say has been the most significant improvement to the game since that demo was first put together?

Paul Wedgwood: I really enjoyed presenting in Cologne and Seattle for PAX. It definitely feels very different presenting to fans that have paid to get there, rather than journalists who are paid to go. We�re currently pre-alpha, which means that we haven�t completed all the game�s features, so our main focus is on getting as much play-testing as possible completed, particularly the co-operative and multiplayer components, since balance is absolutely key.

Hooked Gamers: How will this game differentiate itself from other FPS currently on the market? Or will it just be another FPS with slightly different weapons at your disposal?

Paul Wedgwood: We started out with a few simple goals, and while they have been a real challenge to implement, we think they do a great job of advancing the shooter genre ahead of our past work.

Certainly the universe itself is the first and most noticeable aspect � Brink takes place on an immense artificial floating city called the Ark, which was built at sea as part of a contemporary green vision, but now exists around the mid 2040s. Having lost contact with the rest of the world, the Ark has degenerated into an isolated and horrific conflict � it�s essentially on the brink of civil war. We think the combination of this unique setting, allied with superb art direction by Olivier Leonardi who has realised a distinct look, has definitely achieved that goal in creating a world you�ve never seen before.

We also wanted a greater sense of persistence when playing. In our past games, any experience points that you�d earned were lost at the end of a campaign as we needed to level the playing field. We�ve solved that problem now, so we�re able to give you persistent experience points, that lead to permanent weapon upgrades, unlocks, new abilities, tools, items and gadgets, and then as you level up, you also earn cool bad-ass outfits that reflect your status to other players. You can then combine and customise these outfits to create a unique identity for yourself.

Of course this wouldn�t be much use if nobody else got to see your character, so we�ve also taken the step to blur the lines between offline and online gaming. Irrespective of whether you play online or offline, perhaps treating the game as a traditional single player shooter, playing cooperatively with up to seven friends, on online where everyone playing is a real human, you advance your same in-game character.

We�ve also made some significant advances in movement, with the addition of proprietary technology that we�re calling SMART. It stands for Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain, and we think it equally benefits newbies and advanced players, alike.