OLYMPIC SOCCER THE OLYMPIC SOCCER DREAM TEAM Rob Palfreman - Head of Development Mark Walden - Product Coordinator Giles Park - 3D0 Programmer. Rodney Mack - PSX Programmer. Andy Hersee - 3D0 Programmer. Neil Duffin - PC Programmer. Adam Polanski - PC Programmer. Dave Cullinane - Artist. Clare Warne - Artist. QUOTES "It always helps to have a love of football programs when you are writing them, especially the programmers but it is not essential. For the artists and animators, they just have to ensure the players and backdrops look as realistic as possible," Silicon Dreams. "As a flagship to our soccer game, the Playstation is perhaps the most impressive of the lot with its speed and graphical quality along with Gourad shading but saying that the PC running at 640 x 480 in Hi Res. is very impressive," Silicon Dreams. " Olympic Soccer is fun to play for you know that the moves you make will be realistically conveyed. As soon as you execute them they move and animate true to real life. You do not have to worry about not being in control , something that happens in most other games," Silicon Dream. "Our 3D engine is the most authentic one around at present. It allows great fluidity of movement which enhances gameplay," Silicon Dreams. "Olympic Soccer is impressive in that it has a great learning curve, you can just pick up the game and play but there is also a dazzling variety of moves and options so you can string together some really neat passing," Silicon Dreams. "A soccer game lives or dies on its gameplay. You can have the best graphics around, great sound but if the game plays badly then forget it. Olympic Soccer has everything," Silicon Dreams. Q: The first comparison people are going to make with any Soccer game is to place it up against games likes FIFA and Actua Soccer. How much research did you do into ensuring your ideas are new and you are giving the public something new? Did you spend time talking to the public, etc. taking note of what they like best from individual games and then starting from that point? A: We did not need to physically sit down and play and see all the games for we had done this over the years and had already formulated our thoughts on the games. We have a large testing department, where games are played and we spent a good deal of time talking to them in regard to the things they liked. We eventually came up with a concise list that everyone agreed on of what exactly should go into our own soccer game and even what aspects should be left out. What we have is an Olympic product, does have to be realistic and it is. Although looking at other games is subjective we believe that Actua has too many ideas that are unrealistic, it is not playable. The same applies to FIFA. On the higher spec machines, it is basically the Megadrive version that has been enhanced continually, particularly the graphics. It still plays very much like the original version. Q: Please describe the game as you see it. A: Every area of the game is vastly improved over the competition be it the graphics, sound, 3D engine, etc. The control system really adds to the game giving more excitement. Once you acclimatise yourself, you can activate any numbers of moves, be it slick passing, one-twos, an extensive number of ways the player can head the ball, powerful crossing, being able to bounce the ball on your chest, overhead kick, the list is endless. Being able to manipulate such a wealth of moves adds to making the game more realistic and exciting. As you become au fait with the controls and moves you will become totally immersed within the game. A learning curve to any game is essential and Olympic Soccer has that. This learning aspect is certainly lacking in other games. At the start being able to chest the ball and tap it on requires a certain amount of skill. This will come as you acclimatise yourself to the game. The AI in the program will generate instances that you do not normally see elsewhere. For example, occasionally a player will go to head a ball and miss it, this adds that margin of error that is realistic and true to life. Witnessing a computer v computer game is like watching the movements of a real match. The computers/consoles do not go straight for goal but back peddle, pass all across the pitch and execute moves that are realistic. Q: Will speech be available also on most of the formats. Will there be multi lingual versions? A: Yes, there will be speech on all the formats although it may be slightly reduced on some machines. The sound on all the versions, quality wise, is very much the same. We have been talking to some of the main European territories regarding foreign versions and this will eventually happen. The speech, by the way, can also be turned off if required. Q: Why did you choose Alan Green as the commentator? Why not a more recognisable TV personality? A: We chose Alan Green because commentators on Television are fine but for 90 minutes you do not see them, you just hear their voice, so why use a TV presenter? Alan has a cult status plus there is also the fact he is going to Atlanta to commentate on the soccer, we believed he was ideal. The way speech is implemented is very important. There are certain cases where speech on a program can be misleading. You have to have feeling in your voice - John Motson on FIFA is devoid of passion, for example. When you have someone like Alan, who is totally committed, you are then assured it will be implemented and coordinated perfectly. It is then you have an added dimension to a game. He has put many ideas forward and added his own lines which we had not thought off, so it has been an added bonus on top of an already well formulated idea. We believe that, because of this, the commentary has originality which is like a breath of fresh air. Commentary on games can sound very samey but on Olympic Soccer that certainly isn't the case. His style is very different from anyone. A radio commentator's job is a lot harder than one on TV for they have to describe everything going on in a very concise way, with TV you can actually see the events as they take place. Q: Did Alan Green influence or help you during development? A: Very much so. We only had a very preliminary list of phrases for him to say, around 400, but at the end we estimate there are around 1700 phrases in the game. With this base of phrases you can then have an endless list interchangeable phrases. You have various connotations of the same word, phrases that could be strung onto another and so on Q: One of the problems of Championship Manager 2 from Domark, who use BBC's Clive Tyldesley, is that the speech, despite featuring "4 hours" of speech, becomes repetitive. After half a dozen matches you tend to turn it off and play the game without this feature which results in a major chunk of the CD you just paid for lying dormant. How have you tackled things so there isn't constant repetition? A: It is rather spurious how companies total up the exact amount of time given to a commentary. Having spent time listening to soccer games commentary, we certainly have more free comments and ones that are more applicable to the action. On certain games, when a player shoots, the commentator will say, "shot" every single time and that gets very boring this certainly does not happen on Olympic Soccer. The engine written will produce a healthy list of parameters to ensure you do not get the same comment. We understood that many people are put off by repetition of comments that really appear to be there just so you can say you have a live commentary was a good basis to start with. Some programs can come over as having a very robotic feel to them. We cannot use real names but that adds to the game as opposed to using real name players. If you are have real players then speech must be limited to them, people understand that certain named players react in certain ways. We are not limited in that context, so any number of phrases can be applied to any of the players actions as it happens. It is only by utilising sound and speech properly, which we have done, that can you ensure that it does not sound robotic or even boring! Q: Regarding the moves available - exactly how will they be implemented and how will they be strung together? Explain the interface and why that method is utilised rather than any other way. A: The way the control system works is that there are three main buttons on the pad you are using for any of the machines - not the PC, though, this uses a joystick. Those three buttons throughout the game, what ever you are doing, have the same functionality so you will not get confused. All the three main consoles have three buttons. Assigning moves for the wing buttons will be implemented for each machine. You have one button that is assigned to shooting. Another is totally associated to passing, which encompasses a range of passing, be it the one two, shot passing along the floor and a wealth of slick passes. You have the third button that is used for long ball passing. This is constant throughout. It then is a question of using the combinations to ensure fluid control of passing and shooting. The direction of the passing is executed via the directional wheels on the appropriate console pad. We have used this method rather than any other because they tend to restrict your movements and options depending on where you are on the pitch and the situation which is occurring. With our interface you are free to do what you want to. If, for instance, you are moving down a wing you are not restricted to merely crossing the ball but you can chip the ball or short pass. If the ball is coming from high above you can chest it back up and execute an overhead kick or even head it from a chest rebound. We obviously have all the moves other games have, it is a question of expanding on them, giving the player more scope and allowing complex strings of moves. The old clich‚ of the more you play, the more you improve really is important in Olympic Soccer. The more you play the more you get out of it. A lot of games work on the premise that the ball is never free. You will kick a ball and it will always end at another player's feet, which is very rigid, a bit like being on rails. Later on in the game when you start knock long balls around or drop one into the goal mouth for an attacker to run on to or try to split the defense, you will find that the ball will not automatically go to a player but to an area you hopefully want the ball to fall into. This option does not appear in many soccer games. Q: What viewpoints are there available during play? Are viewpoints fixed or do they change dynamically and does certain machines have limitations regarding this factor and that of scrolling, frame rate? A: There will be six distances/viewpoints which you can select. Right back from a blimp view - ALA Sensible Soccer - to one right next to the touchline. Each of these views can be seen from three angles on the side of the pitch which gives an equation of 18 positions. You can select the vantage point you want to play the game or set one where the machine will display the best view. What we want to ensure is that stating you have a wealth of views will actually mean what is says in a playable form. Q: Re. Sound effects - is there a wide variation of crowd noises/chants/etc.? Give me a variety of examples. Are there any spot graphical effects in the game? A: There are many spot graphical effects. When you score a goal you will see the word GOAL spinning into the screen all done via some extra animation's. We have captured the sounds from real live matches and even went to the England V Holland match to get a nice variety. We have compiled a large selection of sounds from many different locations. The one thing you must do is to ensure they are not too recognisable. If you are playing a game and hear certain chants that are applicable to a team in England then it really isn't appropriate to Olympic Soccer, so we have to be very careful on what we use. The crowd noises are very vague and nondescript so that they do not interfere with the gameplay but at the same time still adding to the ambiance of the match. As the players move closer to the goal the crowd noise will rise culminating in the pertinent sound for the end result. A miss could trigger a sigh, whilst a goal will result in thunderous applause. The sound is fully dynamic. Q: Who did the music? Do you think a techno track is what a football match requires? Wouldn't a complex array of crowd singing be more appropriate? You could have favourite songs sung by particular team's crowds. A: Techno sound is certainly a part of the youth culture and to some degrees the type of people that will buy the game. It was after listening to the various music on all the football programs from Sky Sports to the BBC and then deciding on the style that would be most effective and enjoyable. We have tried to get away from the usual music you hear on sports programs. As regards to crowd chanting and noises these are incorporated within the music tracks. With whistle sounds and a wide variety of sounds you would associate with being at a soccer match, we are very pleased that the end results. Q: Because the game's time is selectable - have you made sure that certain events are more likely to happen in a five minute game that would naturally happen in a 90 minute game? That is: the game `encourages' certain incidents in the five minute game to provide incident and excitement? If so, what? A: Attention has been paid to the different incidents and situations that would occur in different time lengths of a game. The goalkeepers, which are computer controlled, have a very high degree of Artificial Intelligence and will react accordingly and will let less goals in per minute in a 90 minute game as opposed to a nine minute game. The players will react in a different manner as well. You will be able to move around at a fast pace if a game is not very long but if you were to do this with a full 90 minute match then the players energy will be drained and they will become less effective, the last option is on the discretion of the player. Q: Are there any rule changes in the Olympic arena over normal FIFA-type matches? Do you know if there are any experiments in this tournament such as kick-ins instead of throw-ins or the much mooted larger goals? Are there options for these just in case? A: No, although we have added an option to turn on or off the offside rule. Q: Please explain the provisional plans for a full international tournament. What does this mean? Is this a fictional league or one based on a recognised format? A: We were thinking about putting a league of 16 out of the 30 plus nations competing so you could have a knock out competition but now we are gearing it so you can place any number of 16 into a league so you can vary the level of the league. You can choose the least strong 16 sides or strongest which means you have varying difficulty factors. All the teams are seeded. Q: Re. the multi-player game - can the game be played over a modem? Is there a play-by-email option? Explain these options if they exist. How does the multi-player option work? Can you run the game over a network? A: There are none of the above options. We are presenting a full blown soccer game and the amount of information we are shifting a modem could not handle it. We are probably going to write an additional patch for a network version. Q: How have you utilised FMV? How was this developed - did you use blue screen or `tween' single images or some other method? Where does FMV occur? How does this affect performance? A: We have an FMV sequence at the beginning of the game, which is about a minute long. This has been designed on a Silicon Graphics machine with the aid of the program, Soft Image. We are using this intro. to complement the game and nothing more. The FMV are actually rendered sequences, not video footage. This offers more that real video shots would. We believe that the constant stream of FMV sequences in a game become too repetitive and would start to annoy the user when all they really wanted to do was to focus of the soccer game itself. There are goal celebration animation's, though. Q: Are there any goal replay options (angles, etc.) or is it automatic? A: There is a full and extensive array of replay options. This can be switched on to automatic if requested. You can also replay any part of the game and the user will be able to watch a full minute of play that will be stored at any one time on any of the machines. You will be able to fast forward the replayed action, watch it frame by frame, rerun it, etc. There is also a selection of cameras to watch the replayed action as well from above the action to even from inside of the goal. Q: Describe the scanner option? A: The scanner is the small box in the corner of the screen which will highlight all of the players. The ball of course is marked so you can keep track of play. When you have a close up view camera displayed, you cannot see all of the players around you - this is where the scanner will come into its own. It is there to aid the user to see where the others players are so you can ascertain the best player to pass to or how the opposing players are positioned. Another facet of the scanner is that, when you change the angle of the camera view, the angle of the scanner will change accordingly. Q: What strategies are included in the game? How do you allow the game to alter the strategies themselves? Do you restrict player movement depending on the formation? How have you catered for the increasingly flexible strategies utilised by modern day football teams? A: If a player starts to wander around the opposing team, controlled by the computer, will take this into account. Although it will endeavor to keep it structured, it will take into account any special moves being made by the opposing teams. The strategies included in the game are the most commonly used: 4-4-3 ; 5-3-2, etc. In total there are eight formations to chose from. Within those formations each player is assigned a task to perform within that game. A default task is to stay within a certain zone or, depending where the ball is on the pitch, a defender may be told where to stand on the pitch. There are other players who may man mark players, push up field, etc. Q: How do the conditions affect gameplay? What are the Atlanta options on the Conditions selections? If you have adverse weather conditions, are there hot spots on the pitch that will scuff up and will play mirror the effects, i.e. the wet ball will start to skid? A: The "conditions" refer very much to the pitch. If it is dry you will get the ball reacting very differently to the way it reacts on a wet surface, where it will skid and move faster, the direction of the ball, when passing, will be less precise too. The wind will also play a part in the way the ball reacts. If the wind is strong the kicking distance is reduced especially if it is against you. The direction of the wind will also effect the flight trajectory of the ball. The heat will play a part in the stamina of the players in that their energy will be sapped a lot quicker if they are very active. The scuffing of the turf is cosmetic and that will be implemented. Q:Do the different stadiums affect play in any way? A: No. Q: Is Olympic Soccer more of a game or a simulation? Are there any other manager-type options? A: It is definitely a game but is has management options purely by the extensive options you have to set up your team. You can really play the game the way you feel most comfortable with. To get the full enjoyment out of the game is to employ all the options and strategies available. If you meet a team that have been set up to send their defenders forward and you are playing the standard lone forward style, your strike force you will constantly be given offside. It is here where you must use some strategic forethought to ensure this does not happen. The formations and strategies can be changed at any point in the game by pausing and going to the special screen where you can change your players tasks. Q: Have you chosen the team for the Olympic games and are their options to customise team, players, etc.? A: The actual countries who are at the Olympics are included in the program along with some others. As regards the players names they are all fictitious. It is not actually decided until May 6th which teams will be present so we have included a good selection of teams. Q: With so many soccer games around, can you focus on and explain some of the features you feel are innovative or ones that will capture the public's imagination? A: The fluidity of play along with the true 3D environment. You are not restricted to certain views. We do not rely too heavily on graphics. We have a mixture of the best elements, along with top spec animation. Q: What is the average frame rate of the game? Speed is important to a game and that is where is it hardest to gauge what is best. How have you managed to ensure the game is fast without being overly so whilst ensuring the game flows and you have full intuitive control? A: The speed of the game is very much geared around the 3D system we have written. Everything is based around natural time so it does not matter what machine you are using. Everything is attached to a clock so that it all happens in real time. The display cycle will slow but the actual gameplay does not. Running at 640 x 480 the game is very quick. The average frame rate for the machines, and that includes the PC and PSX, is 30 frames per second. The frame rate can fluctuate and even move up to 41 per second. Q: Is there an option for Glue shoe where the less skillful will enjoy the game? A: We have gone for a comparable glue shoe approach. The ball only runs away from your feet if you stand still and stop after making a run or if you change direction. If you rotate a full 180 degrees and do not time things correctly then the ball may run away.