Q&A:
3D Realms' George Broussard
George Broussard, president of 3D Realms, is a mainstay of the gaming industry.
GAMECENTER: Does the lead character in Shadow Warrior have a name?
George Broussard: Not yet, but he will have. It is very likely that
the character will have speech, but we want to do something a little different than Duke,
and we are playing with a few interesting ideas now.
GAMECENTER: We've heard he's biomedically enhanced. Does this mean the
character will have an advantage without his weapons? Will sharpened senses be translated
into the gameplay?
G. B.: All of these "story" items are up in the air. As it
stands now, the character is Japanese and that's about as detailed as it gets for now. He
can do things like climb ladders and ride vehicles. All the bio stuff was just for story's
sake and never really got off the ground.
GAMECENTER: What other enemies are in the game? We've seen screen
shots with reptile-like creatures...what else? And who or what is a Coolie?
G. B.: The enemies in the game result from being genetically
engineered by the main bad guy. That's as deep as the story gets for now. More refinement
will be added toward the end. Coolies are characters who walk around carrying boxes of
TNT. Their whole mission in life is to see you and make a screaming, yelling, kamikaze run
toward you, detonating their TNT when near. Once killed, their ghosts will rise from their
spilled guts and will also attack you.
GAMECENTER: So as of now, there are no monsters other than the
Coolies?
G. B.: We've been working on some others...An evil ninja will be able
to do anything the player can do. In fact, in Net play, we hope to allow players to choose
to be a good or evil ninja. The character can walk, duck, crawl, jump, swim, climb
ladders, duck behind walls to avoid shots, drive vehicles, shoot, and whatever else we can
think of. The evil ninja will also commit suicide (by sticking an Uzi into his mouth) if
you get him too low on health. And a baboon-like Ripper creature is also in the works.
They scramble around very fast, jump real high, and will even cling to walls, waiting to
pounce on the player. When you're close enough, they will hack and slash the player to
death, and if you get weak enough, they will rip out your heart. Expect 10 to 12
adversaries in the final game.
GAMECENTER: Is Kirin the final adversary in the game? He's
supernatural, but does he also have magical powers? If so, what kind? What kind of fight
can we look forward to in the final battles?
G. B.: Again, all the story elements are being worked on now. The main
bad guy as it stands is not really supernatural. He's more of an evil scientist who can
genetically alter things to do his bidding.