GamingBolt got the opportunity to speak to the game’s senior environment artist, Jason Sussman, to know more about the game. Read the full interview here.
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Leonid Melikhov: One of the coolest things that I found about Destiny is that you guys are using real world environments. Different planets have different raw materials, for example Venus has sulfuric acid and so on. What kind of research have you guys to accurately simulate that in the game?
Jason Sussman: We did a lot of different research looking at different planets. Even for Earth we did a lot of reference for different areas and we took some of that research and that’s kind of the foundation of the game and then we broaden that to kind of this mythic science fiction. We wanted to make everything a-bit more fantastic, so we just put our flare on it. When the travelers came things changed so we wanted to be able to show that in a lot of different ways, but still grounding it in kind of a reality for those destinations.
Leonid Melikhov: Will Destiny have micro-transactions in the game? Will the game allow to pick up all the weapons or upgrades via grinding? How are you balancing it?
Jason Sussman: So currently there are no micro-transactions, everything is in-game. As you play the game, you’re finding different equipment thats coming out of different enemies or treasure chests or even within the tower you will receive different rewards that you’re rewarded within the game. It’s all built within the game.
Leonid Melikhov: Destiny takes place in these wide open worlds. How are you making sure that players are encouraged to explore them?
Jason Sussman: Oh! in a lot of different ways. #1 The spaces that we’re building are some of the largest we’ve ever built within the studio. They’re really large with a lot of places to explore and even people within the studio keep finding nooks and crannies to explore. Within those spaces there are public events that happen and there is even rare events that happen within those spaces.
There is always something new and fresh happening and we’re keeping those spaces alive with seamlessly having players pass through the spaces that you gonna encounter as you’re playing. All these destinations are very open on how you get around, you don’t always have to enter a space the-same way. There are a lot of activities that cross through the same spaces, so there is just a lot to find and see.
Leonid Melikhov: Can you tell us the player cap in PVP?
Jason Sussman: Right now we’re doing 6v6 and we’re still balancing some things out. We’ve worked really hard in trying to figure out what the right number was for multiplayer and after a period we determined that 6v6 is just right for the kind of game we’re making. And there will be 3v3 and Free-for-All.
Leonid Melikhov: For multiplayer modes we’ve had Control which is where you kill enemies and capture points. Will there by anything like just pure deathmatch or snipers only? Something not similar to Halo, but sort of mods list where you put on certain conditions for that particular multiplayer type. Are you guys doing anything like that for Destiny?
Jason Sussman: We haven’t really talked about any other plans. We absolutely want to broaden the multiplayer and we have things ready to go.
Leonid Melikhov: So you guys have stuff planned but just not ready to talk about it?
Jason Sussman: Right, exactly.
Leonid Melikhov: What about the PC version?
Jason Sussman: Wouldn’t that be awesome?! Dude, I honestly like playing PC games.
Leonid Melikhov: Seems like a PC-friendly game.
Jason Sussman: Absolutely, and my wife works for Valve, so I absolutely love PC games.
Leonid Melikhov: Oh really? So how’s Half Life 3 going on?
Jason Sussman: (laughs). But honestly we’ve been so focused on delivering the game on four consoles and it’s such an undertaking. It’s the most inclusive thing that the Bungie has been working on. We’ll see what the future holds, but for right now we’re focused on these four consoles.
Leonid Melikhov: Furthermore, how are the last versions of the game shaping up? They’re at the point you want them to be?
Jason Sussman: Oh yeah absolutely, we’ve been really pleased. Yeah and they’re getting better and the Alpha was a test of that and the Beta is gonna be another test of that. We’re always growing forward, we’re always going up and we’re trying to constantly to improve. I think in some ways it looks better than what people played in the Alpha.
Leonid Melikhov: What made you want to make as a co-op game from the beginning, what was the inspiration for co-op?
Jason Sussman: It doesn’t have to be co-op, so you can play single player. We wanted to make something that was actually a game set for all moods. Depending on what mood you are in, if you wanted to go in and just play by yourself you can do that. If you want to go with your buddies you could do that. If you just want to do multplayer you can do. If you wanna do some really complex and challenging missions then you could do the Raid or Stride.
It’s not always co-op, it doesn’t have to be, you always see people in the world, but you don’t have to join them up with them if you didn’t want too, but we did make that seamless if you did want too. Too really answer the question. We did it that way because we wanted the world to feel alive, we wanted the world to feel like there is always something new happening to it and to do that is opening up to all people to just be able to come in and join along with you.