CellFactor: Revolution. Intense, PhysX-based combat and mayhem--if you have a PhysX card, of course. Today is the launch for Artificial Studios' grand experiment in physics, but is it worth opening your wallet for one of Ageia's PhysX processors? I spoke with Julian Castillo, the game's lead designer, to find out more about the game itself in a final effort to educate players who are on the proverbial fence about whether or not to add a PhysX processor to their PC to take full advantage of CellFactor. If you're interested in learning more about the game's technology, check out my interview with Ageia's Adrian Jones.
Shack: What is the back story for CellFactor: Revolution?
Julian Castillo: CellFactor: Revolution is about a war. About 10 years ago, a series of events changed the earth as we know it. There are no nations, no countries, only two factions that fight for the control of the planet. One of those factions is LIMBO Corporation; they consider themselves the new humans, the next step in evolution, their main purpose is to rebuild the world over the ashes of the imperfect and rusted humans that now exist on earth.
The other faction is GUARD, an elite group that was formed by the United Nations to protect and defend the International Humanitarian Right. After the events, all big nations disappeared, leaving the UN as the only political and military presence in the world that refuses the LIMBO Corporation intention. GUARD became the only resistance armed power against LIMBO Corporation gaining power through time and transforming itself as an army so big and so powerful that can equalizes the war achievements of its enemy.
Shack: I was able to learn a bit about how the concept for how CellFactor: Revolution was born from producer Adrian Jones, but I'd like to learn a bit more from the man who conceived the idea. Can you tell us more about how the concept came about?
Julian Castillo: Well, initially, CellFactor was my thesis work. I was planning to make a little single player shooter with maybe two or three levels with a nice boss or something at the end, but my judges said a pure entertainment game wouldn't make it as a good thesis work, so they said to me that I needed to make a game with a deeper background. I reject the idea at first, but later I thought it would be a cool idea to base the game in something bigger. So I took my inspiration from "The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri, a book so full of images, characters and atmospheres that would be a very good start for a video game.
Later, when we created Immersion Games with my partners, we took the project as the flag project of our company and we developed a script with Miguel Posada, Lead Developer and Alejandro Alvarez, Lead Artist. The game became, at least in paper, a huge single player first person shooter with a lot of stuff that we always wanted to see in a game. It was later, when we met the Ageia guys, when we got the chance to make a CellFactor game PhysX oriented. Due to the fact that CF wasn't a game created to show PhysX, and that we didn't want to touch our single player CF game, we created CellFactor: Revolution
Shack: What sort of settings does the game feature?
Julian Castillo: The game is set in a futuristic, industrial war-torn atmosphere. There are five different levels each with a different tournament arena where the characters can battle each other. There are two industrial levels with minimal physics [that] are available for all players in skirmish modes.
There are three other PhysX-based levels. Proving Grounds is a Psi-power training area and the Fueling Station features a series of platforms ideal for air vehicle landing in the middle of the ocean. Reactor Processing Core [was] built inside a rock. It features molten metal, bridges over lava pools, and spider webs on a futuristic machine. Weapons System Control [is] an indoor map full of rooms with a huge cannon. Storage Facility [is] comprised of three huge structures, ideal for driving all the vehicles available in the game in multiplayer games.
The game offers five levels in the single-player campaign mode for PhysX accelerator users in addition to skirmish multiplayer modes. The final three levels in the campaign mode showcase "extreme PhysX" gameplay. In these levels, players will see a new level of physics not present in current games: cloth, fluid and the environment can be used and observed in new exciting ways. The player will experience everything from rolling clouds of toxic gasses, particle beams for weapons, dangerous lava that can be harnessed with psionic powers, and interactive cloth features, all of which are integral in the extreme PhysX levels.
Shack: What was the influence behind the art direction in each setting?
Julian Castillo: The game look and feel had to match the story line behind the game. It had do have a futuristic, industrial war-torn atmosphere. And I love industrial style for music, for aesthetics, for everything. So, the inspiration came from a lot of movies and games that have this style--the Quake series, [and] the Unreal series.
Shack: Can you tell us a bit about the multiplayer modes offered in CellFactor: Revolution?
Julian Castillo: There are four multiplayer "skirmish" game modes that support up to 8 human players via a LAN connection and up to 10 AI bots.
Death match: each player fights for himself or herself in a kill or be-killed game. Players must be aware of a dynamically changing environment and other players bouncing around the environment due to psionic propulsion.
Team death match: teams of 2-4 players (8 players maximum in one round) join forces to fight another group of players.
Assault: the objective is to take the bomb to the enemies' base and arm it. When detonated, the bomb emits Psi forces, transforming the area into a psionic vortex as it pulls objects into a black hole.
Capture the flag: to capture the flag, players must use Psi powers to move it. If the player takes the role of the Guardian who does not possess such abilities, he/she needs to ram it or use different tactics to manipulate the flag.
Shack: Will more levels be released in the future?
Julian Castillo: We're hoping so. But probably from the modding community. To support the modding community, CellFactor: Revolution will launch with full editing tools, which allows the development of new and original game scenarios.
Shack: What character classes are available, and what abilities do they possess?
Julian Castillo: There are three character classes, each with different abilities.
Bishop: genetically altered by L.I.M.B.O. to hypercharge her psionic powers, she can manipulate any environmental object to deliver deadly kills without weapons. All of her abilities rely on physics and using the environment around her as a weapon, including basic commands like Psi-pull: gain control of an object/enemy, pick it up and smash it into your opponents. Examples of Bishop's more advanced Psi-powers: Psi-ammo: successively cue up debris and fire the pieces rapidly one at a time; Psi-rift: opens a small gravity well in front of you that that sucks surrounding objects in and holds them together in a dense cluster. The ball of objects persists until you launch it at another player or object.
Black Ops: this U.N. Soldier was L.I.M.B.O.'s first genetic alteration experiment using psionic power; he offers a mix of psionic abilities, unique weapons and vehicle abilities. Black Ops can also use the environment as weapons and one of the moves is Psi-cache, which stores up Psi energy for a single powerful push. The push kills a nearby enemy, deflects bullets and destroys everything in its path.
Guardian: L.I.M.B.O.'s ultimate mechanical soldier can wield two weapons and strike his victims down with quick assault. To put the Guardian in a maximum impact run, he can tear through anything in its path. (This move is affectionately known as road kill when it comes to mowing down an opponent.)
Shack: What weapons and abilities are available, and which characters can use them?
Julian Castillo: Bishop uses Psi-power to manipulate the environment in either defensive or offensive manner against other players. She can pull, push or lift objects, crush them and even hurl them at her opponents. She also uses psionic abilities to propel herself around the levels. Specific psipowers include: Psi-pull and Psi-push: gain control of objects, pick it up and pull or push it into your opponents. [Some examples] of Bishop's more advanced Psi-powers: Psi-ammo: successively cue up debris and fire the pieces rapidly one at a time; Psi-wave: charge up Psi-power and use it to part a sea of objects in front of the player, killing anything to the right and left.
Black Ops and Guardian can wield four weapons: R2-Phlegethon sniper rifle, R5-Styx assault rifle, R-3 Acheron rocket launcher that delivers three simultaneous shots, and a close range single-shot R-4 LETHE pistol. Black Ops also has access to two secondary weapons: gravity grenades draw in anything in the immediate vicinity and a proximity mine can be stuck to any object the player throws it at and detonated when the victim draws near.
In addition to controlling two weapons, Guardian's brute force abilities include a maximum impact run, enabling him to tear through anything in his path and maximum impact jump, catapulting him across the level. Black Ops can operate four unique vehicles.
Goliath: a mechanized power suit which has dual gatling guns, and limited-use flight boosters.
Death Stalker assault car: armed with a 360-degree gunner turret, it delivers battleground mayhem via 20-mm gatling machine gun and rocket launchers
Dusk Hawker (Vertical Lift Aircraft): a gunner-controlled 20 mm gatling machine gun spreads a heavy wall of lead on opponent; pilot and gunner-controlled missiles are available to take out aerial and ground opponents
Hover Mech: wield dual 30-mm cannons and rocket launchers while piloting six-axis flight controls to pin down and shred enemies.
Shack: Why should players who don't have a PhysX card go out and get one? What, in your opinion, makes this game worth the purchase of a separate card?
Julian Castillo: This game is all about physics. Much of the hard action that can be experienced with the card has been turned off in software: only modes. With the PhysX card, gamers will experience an enhanced level of mayhem: better kills, more objects to manipulate, crush, destroy.
Shack: Thanks for your time.
CellFactor: Revolution launched today for the PC.
