Topic: WHITE GOLD Thread -- Update: 20 minute preview on this game (in Russian)

[MysterD]

Deep Shadows (makers of Boiling Point: Road To Hell) are back w/ a new game, White Gold

Interview here.

Introduction

Developer Deep Shadows and publisher Play Ten Interactive are actively working on White Gold, an open world first person action-RPG that is aiming to outdue the efforts of Far Cry. FiringSquad got a chance to chat with the dev team at Deep Shadows to learn more about White Gold.

FiringSquad: First, how did the idea for White Gold come about?

Deep Shadows: Our scriptwriter and designer were in Latin America a couple of years ago and they brought a lot of photos and ideas from there. When they arrived, we decided to do the game with an unique Latin American flavor, facetious conversions, beautiful landscape and original ending. Mixing action and RPG for this project seemed to work really well.

FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the game's main storyline and playable character?

Deep Shadows: Let the main plot be our secret for the moment. The action takes place in one of the small Caribbean countries of the year 2010. The political and military situation there is very complicated - the government is trying to smash the guerrillas, and drug mafia troops fight for control of coca plantations. Banditry and corruption are flourishing. The main character is a former officer of the US special forces, now working in a Private Military Company. He and his friends are hired to perform a certain high profile investigation, which would plunge them straight into the boiling pot of today’s Latin America.

Cool.

FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the game's island setting? Will the island be completely open for the player to explore in the game?

Deep Shadows: The action in White Gold takes place on various islands, from tiny atolls with only a handful of palms, up to huge islands with several towns, hamlets and bases of the feuding factions. The total size of the game’s map is over 140 square miles, and all terrain in the game will be absolutely open to explore. The world is seamless, so you will not see any loading screens in the game or anything that would deter you from playing. You can visit bustling settlements, crawl around windswept mountains and dark jungles, explore sandy beaches and underwater caves, and even venture into ancient ruins to learn some dark secrets of the America’s prehistoric past. All islands are unique and very diverse. The players will be in a familiar, but dangerous environment nearly all the time. But some things they can discover along the way will be so ugly, that even mutated giant mantis would seem to be quite nice critters.

FiringSquad: What sort of missions will the player have to accomplish in White Gold?

Deep Shadows: Players will find a lot of different missions in the game. Whatever you like - from simple “delivery” quests to difficult forked tasks where you have to hack into computers, hunt for the drugs and antique contraband and so on. Do not forget that White Gold has a free gameplay, so there’s a myriad of varieties in quests and ways to accomplish them. You will have both non-linear and linear missions. Every player would be able to choose the gameplay style that is the most appealing. We understand that in a game where player is given a complete freedom of action, where everyone can choose their own way to reach a particular target, it is easy to become confused. Therefore we’ll add a lot of helpful NPCs, hidden diaries, notes and similar things that would provide guidance. But we never force the player to make a choice; we only suggest.

Cool. Sounds like my kind of game.

FiringSquad: What kinds of weapons and vehicles will the player have to use in the game?

Deep Shadows: There will be more than 20 different types of carried weapons, from knife and pistol to grenade launcher and portable SAM. But you’ll find also some heavy-duty military stuff like gun emplacements, tanks, attack choppers and so on. Taking into consideration the wishes of many players, we've decided to make new types of weapons and equipment, including exotic arms and modern armor.
You can upgrade most weapons - improve accuracy, clip size, rate of fire, reloading time. Also, you may fit some of your guns with silencers, optic and laser sights and the like. All this costs money or requires various skills, of course. Many upgrades will be visible to you when you carry the weapons.

Nice.

There will be a multitude of items, from simple food and drinks, and to mystical Indian artifacts and some high-tech gizmos. Most of them will be either entertaining or useful.

You can control different kinds of vehicles, starting with compact cars and to big planes and ships. Naturally a significant part of the game takes place on the sea. All types of vehicles, furniture, objects, piles and some types of buildings work with the physics engine. So all of them can be destroyed, and moreover, usually they have a zonal damage system.

Nice.

FiringSquad: What sort of enemies will the player encounter in White Gold?

Deep Shadows: More often than not, these will be the troops and members of different factions, from communist guerrillas to mafia hitmen. But all of them will be very intelligent and extremely difficult to subdue. They will have a lot of reactions like straight attack, outflanking, tactical retreat, suppressive fire. They can throw grenades and request reinforcements, they can also encircle you to attack from the back.

Clearly opponents from different factions will have varying weapons, equipment and clothing. By the way, it will be possible to take these as trophies after winning the fight. But it won’t be too easy to achieve. The enemies can attack alone or in groups, they will use military vehicles and heavy guns. Some of them are masters of hand weapons. Probably it would be a clever idea to keep good relations with at least some factions, then you’d be able to get help from them too. Really smart players could go through a bigger part of the game without any bloodletting at all.

Ooooh....that'd be cool if you could get through the game w/out any violence...

Besides humans, there will be a lot of hungry fauna specimens preying around. You may find them problematic, and not only for your mountain hikes or jungle trips, but also in sea and for underwater missions. There will be some secret opponents, but we’d rather not tell anything about them just yet. But we can promise they will be quite unusual for a modern setting.

Okay....

FiringSquad: How does the game's RPG elements work and how do they influence gameplay?

Deep Shadows: The main elements of RPG in the game are perks which help the player to do the quests and progress through the plot. The system for developing the character is based on them. When you get to another level, you’ll have an opportunity to receive a new one, or you can upgrade the ones that you’ve taken already. In White Gold, you will see various perks that touch almost all aspects of in-game activity. Focusing on a set of them, different players will improve their characters in a certain direction much more than in other ones. They will be able to create a hero that is a master of weaponry and nothing else, or they will have one that is good in running, jumping, diving and so on, but won’t be able to do anything against a machine gun nest. The main part of the character stats is quite typical for any RPG - life points, armor, weapon damage, encumbrance, etc.

Accomplishment of quests and communication with NPCs are two other RPG elements that have a lot of influence on the gameplay.

Okie dokie.

FiringSquad: Will the game have any multiplayer features?

Deep Shadows: Certainly we want to do a multiplayer mode, but now we are mostly focused on the single player part. Whether the multiplayer will be included in the final build or not, depends mainly on timing, and in essence, on a worldwide publisher. There's a good chance of having a robust team play and other niceties, but we have no intention to turn the game into a MMO.

Oh, good....we don't need another MMO, do we....?

FiringSquad: What other sort of unique elements will White Gold have?

Deep Shadows: The main unique feature of the game is a blend of RPG and Action in a modern setting. There aren’t many titles around that were able to do that successfully. Another one is the use of military vehicles to accomplish all kinds of quests – from fire support to sneak attacks. Economic system in the game will allow a complex circulation of goods and take the Caribbean specifics into account. One of the things that we never saw before in any such game is the use of sea and underwater as an active gameplay zone. The plot of the game and the overall background also make it stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Okay.

FiringSquad: The game will use Deep Shadows' latest version of their in-house gaming engine. What can you tell us about the new graphical features that will be included for White Gold?

Deep Shadows: We are utilizing our internally developed engine called Vital Engine 3. This is due to the key feature of the game - a huge seamless world where you can go wherever you want. The engine supports streaming; this helps us to create large but very detailed terrains. It supports shaders 3.0, all the modern post effects, such as motion blur, High Dynamic Range and others. Most of the objects in the game are destructible; moreover, they usually have a zonal damage system and will break in parts according to physics. Another notable aspect of the technology is that it is fully compatible with Xbox 360 and allows the console player to have the same experience as on modern ultra-fast PCs.

Ah, so it likely will come to the X360, as well, I bet....

FiringSquad: What is the current status of the game's progress and when will it be released?

Deep Shadows: In terms of content, almost everything is done in the game. Now it is time for testing and polishing. The worldwide release is planned for Q4 2007.

That soon?!?!?!? Wow...

I hope it don't wind up as buggy as many said that Boiling Point turned out.

SCREENIES!

[Quemaqua]

Funny, it looks... exactly like Boiling Point.

[idolminds]

BLOOOOOOM!!!!

[MysterD]

Funny, it looks... exactly like Boiling Point.

And hopefully, not nowhere as buggy as BP turned out...

[Jedi]

BLOOOOOOM!!!!

My eyes!!!!

[MysterD]

Preview from CVG
Interview from CVG on this thing.

Deep Shadows' Blog w/ info on their upcoming games, the game designers, pictures, screenshots, etc etc....
Their Blog.

Game's System Requirements
Requirements link

System requirements:
Miinimal requirements: AMD Athlon XP 3000, 1 GB RAM, GeForce 6600 GS 128 MB
Recommended requirements: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4G (E6600) 1GB RAM, GeForce 7600 GS 128 MB

White Gold's "Trailer Song" Released for FREE Download
This song is found in their official trailer for White Gold -- it's been made for free download! Click me!

Official Trailer #1 For White Gold
I must admit, the trailer looks pretty good. Let's hope this game isn't pushed out the door WAY TOO EARLY, again.

[Xessive]

It seriously seems like "Well, we tried Boiling Point and we blew it so we're taking another crack at it."

[MysterD]

It seriously seems like "Well, we tried Boiling Point and we blew it so we're taking another crack at it."

It looks like Arnold Vosloo's going to be the lead character, again.

BP's actually good, w/ Euro Patch 2.0 installed. How Atari let that game out so early, in an "Alpha" state, it's way beyond me....

I'm hoping White Gold don't get released too early like how BP was...

[Pugnate]

Why do developers love "Bloom" so much? For some reason, I find it often cheapens the game.

Also this is the first I've heard of any of these games.

[PyroMenace]

Funny, it looks... exactly like Boiling Point.

I was thinking Farcry.

[Quemaqua]

Well, Far Cry wasn't a... um, far cry from the look of Boiling Point / White Gold.  But these are set in slightly more urban environments, so you get the car driving aspect and stuff I think more than the vehicle stuff from FC.

[gpw11]

IS it just me or does this look like it's going to be a bad game?

[MysterD]

Well, Far Cry wasn't a... um, far cry from the look of Boiling Point / White Gold.

Agreed.

But these are set in slightly more urban environments, so you get the car driving aspect and stuff I think more than the vehicle stuff from FC.

If White Gold is anything like Boiling Point -- you'll be doing a lot of driving to get around.

In BP, you can, later on, drive cars and boats. I just got the manual for aircraft, so helicopters are probably there as well. BP is definitely a cross b/t both GTA and STALKER; you'd expect that, since some of these guys at Deep Shadows worked before-hand on STALKER, when they worked at GSC Game World. I'd expect White Gold to be more of the same w/ vehicles and stuff, as well -- especially given what we know about White Gold, already; it looks to be Boiling Point's "spiritual successor", basically.

About the urban environments, definitely there in BP; plenty of them. From screenies of WG, looks like some of that, too. Probably plenty of it, if it'll be anything like BP.

One of BP's biggest themes is that -- everything is corrupt in this city of Realia (which basically is a fictional version of a Columbian-like Southern American country) and money rules everything in the society. The Police, The Guerrillas (Revolutionaries), Mafia, The Gov't, The Bandits -- all of the factions are corrupt, in some shape or form. The only group that this isn't corrupt are the Natives/Tribesman, which are way outside of the city. Since it looks like in White Gold that there'll be some of the same faction/groups that were in BP, we might expect more of the same.

IS it just me or does this look like it's going to be a bad game?

I think like BP, the scope of the WG game looks huge -- w/ a huge open-ended game world, loads of factions with loads of missions to do, huge environments, vehicles, etc etc. I just hope it don't get released by the publisher too early like BP did -- b/c two buggy games in a row could really hurt their already-damaged reputation.

[PyroMenace]

IS it just me or does this look like it's going to be a bad game?

No its not just you. John Woo really had his time, but thats pretty much it, any resurrection or video game translation there of usually boils down to a shallow mess.













Anyone see what I just did there.

[MysterD]

CVG preview w/ White Gold.

White Gold
Format PC
Developer Deep Shadows
Publisher
Genre First Person Shooter, Role Playing
PC Zone Magazine
22-May-2008 Preview: Boiling Point devs go the Caribbean
5 Comments

While it was largely for the wrong reasons, Boiling Point: Road to Hell was a memorable game to play.

A clunky engine, hovering leopards with two frames of animation moving at the speed of sound... the game had a level of brokenness that genuinely made its innumerable flaws charming rather than infuriating.

Bleh @ the game being released basically in an Alpha state.

Patched up, it's now more than worth a play, but on release it made a dimple on the gaming landscape when it should have made a crater.

BP Version 2.0 is fun and good, actually.

It's voice-acting is passable, but still -- the gameplay's a good cross b/t GTA and STALKER. And the gameplay is pulled off well, w/ Version 2.0 running.

Now the crazy Ukrainians who created its open-world oddness are back with two offerings, and they reckon they've nailed it this time.

I hope so.

"Even right now we can say that White Gold and Precursors look and play better than Boiling Point when it was shipped," explains Sergey Zabaryansky, Deep Shadows' director.

I hope you're right.

"We consider free-form gameplay to be the genre of the future. Recently linear shooters have become boring and samey. A lot of developers are trying to surprise players with amazing graphics or great effects, but not necessarily with new ideas or unique gameplay."

I think in recent years, after the success of GTA and many open-world style action games (such as STALKER and Just Cause), we'll see A LOT more of the free-form gameworld action game genre.

Beyond Boiling
Boiling Point itself was heavily researched and set within real-world Columbia and its troubled drug-tinged politics, but the country was renamed Realia for the American and European release - with a fair amount of near-the-knuckle elements replaced with slightly safer placeholders.

This time round, with White Gold, we're in a similarly vague area - but certainly within a real-world setting: a part of the Caribbean which is packed with tanks, helicopter gunships and crystal-clear waters into which hopeful NPCs will dangle their fishing rods before getting back to their daily AI routine.

Sounds like Far Cry and Crysis type of setting.

With White Gold's play area consisting of six large islands and 50 smaller ones dotted about them, you might think that you've seen similar free-roaming fare with games like Just Cause.

Oh, and add just Cause to that list, too -- that was a fun one, BTW.

What sets White Gold apart though, is its grounding in roleplay. You may well be able to drive tanks and nip around on quad bikes, but this Caribbean jet setting will be complemented by an inventory system straight out of Deus Ex and a full set of roleplay perks and experience.

Cool.

Whereas Boiling Point had a tendency to bury its stats, this time everything is simplified and upfront, with three upgrade slots for a myriad of different abilities - whether it's to do with chatting to the locals, skinning wildlife, better sniping or the sudden knowledge of how to throw a jar of jam into an enemy's face and watch him get covered by jungle-sized insects.

Okay.

The plot sees you getting to the root of a new variety of drug that proves fatal after a couple of uses that European kids are crazy about.

Okay.

This doesn't mean that there isn't space for arsing around in the tropics for an extended period of time though - you can even find an architect, get him to build you a house and pay him afterwards through Animal Crossing-style installments.

Oooh, that sounds good.
Hope I can store like weapons and items and stuff there, too.

Once you've filled him up with your hard-earned cash you'll then be in a position to demand your own little pier for boats and a chopper landing pad.

Nice.

Jungle Fights
In all honesty, the combat and environmental destruction within White Gold is unlikely to match the likes of Crysis - but the charm of Deep Shadows' fare is more in their love of dropping you in at the deep end and having you working out just how far you can push the invisible boundaries of its make-it-up-as-you-go gameplay.

As with Boiling Point, there are many factions jostling for position within the playing area - and most NPCs will be allied to them, even if they're not machine-gunning each other.

Shop owners, taxi drivers, local punks - all will judge you depending on your standing with the local cartels.

The flora and fauna, meanwhile, is mostly there to look pretty or shoot at: sharks, leopards, snakes, piranhas and big scary spiders will chase after you, but parrots, chickens, rats and the like will also make an appearance.

Sounds pretty cool.

So, are there any fears of an unfinished game appearing? "With Boiling Point there were lots of difficulties that kicked in during our beta stage, which were largely overlooked by our publisher who rushed the game into production," laments Sergey.

"We've now learned how to properly plan our tasks and identify possible difficulties so we can advance day by day with all our projects."

I hope the publisher don't get in the way of the game again.

B/c BP seemed to be fine in Version 2.0 (Euro) on my current system, but was running it on a 128 MB GF 6600 GT, performance-wise (on the framerate-wise). Didn't run into any bugs in it, either. I wonder how it'll run on my new vid card. It's a shame BP was released originally (Version 1.0) in a what many thought was a Alpha state.

What's more, fans of Boiling Point will be relieved to hear that the ability to walk into a bar, get steaming drunk and then stare lop-sidedly at a scantily-clad lady will remain an important part of the game. God bless freedom in gaming.

Amen!

[MysterD]

Requirements for White Gold have been revealed on Deep Shadows' blog

WG elaboration is coming to the finish. Work over game engine is finished, all architecture is built, all quests are written and weapon is altered… There are only couple of months for beta testing (closed one). We want to announce different system requirements for the game.
Get to be ready;)


Will be enough for game loading:
CPU: Athlon 3000 or similar
RAM: 1GB
Video Card: GeForce 6600GS 128MB or similar

For good quality:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 or similar
RAM: 1GB
Video Card: GeForce 8600GS 256MB or similar

All inclusive!
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4G (E6600) or similar
RAM: 2GB
Video Card: GeForce 8800 512MB or similar

Also, the game will be running on Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2 32/64 bit, Windows Vista 32/64 bit

And couple more words:
Video card must support pixel and vertex 2.0 shaders or 3.0 better
Minimal screen resolution in game is 1024x768
Display with nonstandard side ratio(16:9, 16:10, 5:4) will be supported
Live For Windows servise will be not supported.

Enjoy!!!
Tags: wg

[MysterD]

For those who speak Russian, you can understand what's being said here.

20 minute interview video with Deep Shadows, that also show off a lot of in-game footage of the upcoming White Gold: War In Paradise (aka Xenus 2).