I had a chance to speak with Alex Duran (one of the programmers) about the tools that are being used to develop the game. When asked to
compare the scripting language for the game with previous iterations of Unreal technology, he replied that they have designed system of
objects similar to the Dark gamesys utilized by the two Thief games and System Shock 2, which relies on the interaction of objects' properties
instead of compiled code. He is being careful to keep the new system UScript compatible, but the UCC files, though still in use, contain
little more than defaults now.
Those of you who wish to avoid minor spoilers will want to skip this section
Nothing was said regarding the overall storyline and suchlike, but a few tidbits were dropped. Versalife is back, and one of the three demo
levels involved fighting your way into an installation of theirs. Another level was set in a branch of the Mako corporation (no known
reference to Final Fantasy VII), a weapons manufacturer that is apparently supplying Alex with weaponry. The final level is a location in
Trier, Germany, where the player has to deal with one of the game's main factions, the Templars. These "human purists," in the words of
Ricardo Bare, are strongly opposed to nanotechnology, which would tend to put them at odds with our protagonist.
You are helped throughout these missions by transmissions from an even-more-hideously scarred Tracer Tong, and a new pilot named Sid Black,
who is one of two new pilots that you'll be able to hire.
The introductory sequence described in various previews was played, in what appeared to be its final form. As far as I could tell, it was
identical to what was detailed in the descriptions, but the sound was drowned out by a silly man with a microphone who was near the booth, so
it's impossible to say for sure.
The game is set for a Fall release, so the team still has a fair bit of work in front of them--Spector points to Alex's idling animations
during a conversation and says "that's why we're not shipping yet." Even so, the game has a very elegant, finished look to it, and I can
hardly wait to play it.
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