The Press, Christchurch March 3, 2009 7

Gun happy: Steven ter Heide and Eric Boltjes, of 2.If you die and restart, the artifical intelligence is different. Killing the competition

Gerard Campbell: So, the game’s in test it in game’’. The whole immers- ter Heide: It also comes down to ter Heide: At certain times it is Gerard Campbell the bag. How are you feeling now ion and being in first person really replayability. If you die and restart maxing out the PS3, but I think in caught up with the game is finished? started to work for people. It sounds and the AI is predictable and moves five or six years time people will be Steven ter Heide (senior producer really simple but a lot of other games in the same way, that’s a problem. doing things on PS3 that people Steven ter Heide at ): We’ve been are branching out to other genres, We wanted the AI to appear (can) not imagine now. It is still early working on this for a good long time but we just wanted to go back to the natural. We wanted every play days. and Eric Boltjes of now and to finally have a boxed copy basics and polish it until we could see through to be different. in our hands is a good feeling. our faces in it and give an experience GC: Who is harder on game top game Killzone 2 that was fun. GC: The first Killzone was hyped up developers: the media or gamers GC: Who put more pressure on as a Halo killer (Halo being the themselves? to talk about self- you to succeed with Killzone 2: GC: The original Killzone seemed successful first-person shooter on Boltjes: Gamers can be brutally imposed pressure, yourselves or executives? an ambitious title for the ageing Microsoft’s Xbox platform). What honest and very vocal about it. If you ter Heide: I think it was the general PS2. So, what in that game was sort of pressure does that put on a read a review it’s kind of nuanced, game designers public, actually. At the time, in 2005, broken? company? but if you read a forum it’s kind of when we released that trailer that ter Heide: One of the biggest sticking ter Heide: That’s not something that offensive and you take it personal. playing with showed what Killzone 2 was going to points was the artificial intelligence we actively set out to do or look at Sometimes it’s hard to not take it be about, it was initially done as an (AI). other games and say ‘‘we want to be personally when they’ve been handicams and internal piece and this is what the That’s so important for game play better than that game’’. attacking something you’ve been vision for the game is about. because it’s all about shooting In the games industry we have a working on for two years. internet forums. But that was presented as what targets, and if they don’t behave lot of friends in other game comp- ter Heide: . . . and they don’t give the PS3 is capable of, and all of a properly, then the game doesn’t anies. We all go to the similar events, any arguments, they’re just blunt. sudden there was all this huge work. That was probably one of the all face the same problems when Gamers are so much more vocal. expectations on what Killzone 2 was biggest things we wanted to fix. trying to get a game out the door. There is a very vocal minority that going to be all about. It also had repetitive speech and We face the same fanboy rivalries. you have to ignore. It’s kind of a blessing and a curse, visuals that were not up to scratch. There’s a lot of shared emotions but, of course, you want to live up to among the developers. ❑ Killzone 2 is out now on those expectations. GC: Is realistic AI hard to get right? We’re just very honoured to be PlayStation 3. And internally we are probably ter Heide: Absolutely, absolutely. It’s named alongside other big games. our biggest critics ourselves and all about balance. If you throw a We are still a very young company ❑ Gerard Campbell’s trip to wanted to make sure that it was very, grenade and they (enemies) always and are very honoured to be named Auckland to talk with ter Heide and very good. run away, but you have to kill them alongside games like Metal Gear Boltjes was courtesy of Sony Eric Boltjes (senior online designer with a grenade, where’s the fun in Solid and Halo as they are very big, Computer Entertainment New at Guerrilla Games): We make the that? You want to make sure that established franchises. Zealand. games for the fans and if the fans even though they look realistic and Boltjes: The expectations for Killzone don’t like it, then you feel as if you start running away, you can still kill 2 were high, maybe unrealistic at ❑ Eric Boltjes was one of the players haven’t done a good job. It’s as them, given the right circumstances. times, but I think we’ve delivered on who dealt to Campbell during a simple as that. And that’s important to get right. those expectations, and the game special online session of the It should never be the player’s delivers on what we said. multiplayer portion of Killzone 2. GC: What was your overall vision problem that something doesn’t ter Heide:Sometimes I still get You can see it here: www.stuff.co.nz for Killzone 2? work. sweaty palms from playing it. This > blogs > gamejunkie ter Heide: Our initial vision still holds that we wanted to create an intense, action-packed rollercoaster ride – the buzz words that people picked up from the trailer. We wanted to look at the basics. We wanted to have immersion and the cinematic experience so you felt in the centre of the action. We removed the heads-up display so that it doesn’t feel like a game. We maintained everything in the first person – such as when you do the lean-and-peak action – so that when you peek the camera doesn’t pull back and all of a sudden this character is there that is you. A lot of people said that was not Boltjes:InKillzone 1, the AI was very game is our report card. And even Artificial Intelligence: The AI in what other games were doing so it scripted: move here, do this, do that, though the grades wouldn’t matter Killzone 2 is more realistic. was a problem. and that inherently limited the game that much, they do sort of, and we But one weekend, one of our play. For Killzone 2 theAIiscreated want good grades. A six would be a designers strapped a camcorder to in such a way that it decides for itself letdown but getting nines and 10 is a his head and from behind the what it wants to do, just like if you surprise. kitchen table did this first-person throw a grenade rather than use a shooter lean-and-peak, bought the weapon, it reacts to that. GC: I’ve heard that Killzone 2 tape back and said ‘‘This could work. It is reacting much more to the pushes the PlayStation 3 to its Let’s let the animators look at it and player than in Killzone 1. limit. Is this true?