What prompted you to take the series from first-person to an overhead perspective? Do you feel that the change in look offers the same sort of urgency people are used to from the PC games?
Even though the game was inspired by the PC games it is in no way a port. It was built from the ground up for the PSP. We tried to keep the same easy to use interface that made the most recent PC games so accessible but we knew we needed to modify the game in some ways to make the transition to the PSP.
One of the things we had to work around was the control scheme. With only one analog stick and two other teammates to command it was obvious that an FPS was going to be challenging. Almost immediately we decided to shift to the overhead view. This is nothing new for us. SWAT 2 used a similar angle back in the day and it was a really fun game. This shift to a more classic, isometric angle allows for greater visibility of the area around you and makes commanding your officers a whole lot easier.
How are you dealing with controlling several characters at the same time given the PSP's limited number of buttons?
Ah, yes. There are only a few buttons on a PSP compared to an entire keyboard and mouse on the PC so we had to be smart.
We started with a context sensitive controls scheme. This allows for a lot of commands with the press of a single button. The game usually knows what you what you want to do based on the situation. For example, if you point to the floor the default action is fall in, if you are on a door that changes to open and clear. If you want to do something other than the default action you just have to press the triangle button to bring up all of your other available options.
Moving your team is also very easy to do. By holding down the left should you activate the command cursor. Simply move it to any spot in the world or place it on a door. Again, you can issue a default command or select from the available options. You can also move the team individually or as a group.
What do you say to the people who look at the game and suggest that it's nothing more than a present day Killzone Liberation? What sets your game apart from other similar looking games?
I thought Killzone was a really fun game so it’s not the worst thing to be compared to but we aren’t the same. We do share a similar camera angle but their are only a few camera angles to choose from. If we would have remained an FPS people would probably be comparing us to Rainbow Six. No matter what the hook it’s what we do with the action that separates us.
And the action is quite different. As I mentioned there are always two teammates to bring with you on a mission and their goal is not always to kill everyone. There are usually a number of civilians in the way that you must protect, hostage situations that need to be resolved, and sometimes you need to subdue hostiles and bring them in alive. After all, SWAT is a life saving organization. Sometimes that means you have to kill the bad guys to protect the innocent and to save a city but that’s just another day on the job for SWAT.
We'd like to thank Paul for taking the time to answer our questions and to Michael for coordinating the interview.
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