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"Game Revolution in Asia" , a TV program which focuses on Independent Game Development in Asia, featured "Quest of Persia" in their episode dedicated to game development in Iran. Included was the first "Lotfali Khan Zand" hands-on demo session and interview with the developers. This program aired on US Gplay channel in late November.
A Persian Kind of Game
Jam-e-Jam Newspaper did an interview
with "Roozbeh Edjbari" the Lead Level Designer of "
QoP: Lotfali Khan Zand", here are parts of that
Interview:
Q: In Iran people mostly think, foreign products are
usually better than the one made in Iran, is
that the case for games?
A: Surly, game development is very a new industry in Iran. "The End of Innocence", our first game two years ago was the first Iranian 3D game. Naturally we won't be able to compete with world class games for the time being. But developers are working hard to close the gap. Although world class games are sold very cheap here, Iranian gamers are still eager to try Iranian games.
Q: Did you have any sponsor or publisher for the "Lotfali Khan Zand" Game? Or did any governmental, or non-governmental organization help financially with this game?
A: No, we didn't have any sponsor for this game, and developed this game totally on the money that we made from our other software projects. Governmental helps were very few, and selective, and surly they didn't include us.
Q: Tell us about the "Lotfali Khan Zand" gameplay?
A: It's a third person sword-fighting game, with a range of weapons, and combos. It also includes additional mechanical puzzles, cannon, and rifle gameplays.
Q: How is "Enemy AI" in this game? Has it improved comparing to what you had in the first game?
A: Yes, This time we have an AI agent that controls the behavior of each enemy agent in the level. It will allow enemy agents to communicate with each other and plan the best possible way of attack. Additionally each enemy uses a model based approach to predict its own sequence of action in advance. Once it finishes the evaluation it will take the best possible course of action.
Q: Are you using your own "QoP Engine" for this game like "The End of Innocence"?
A: No, we bought a license for an
already existing engine, and wrote our gameplay on
top of that. But even with that the amount of work
that has been done for the gameplay of this game was
considerably more than what was done on the Engine,
and the gameplay of the first game. You will be able
to see the result in the "Lotfali Khan Zand"
gameplay.
The Last Zand Swordsman ("QoP:
Lotfali Khan Zand" Exclusive Preview)
Unlike "QoP: The End of Innocence", "Lotfali Khan
Zand" is third person sword-fighting game with a
historic theme. What started as a simple Tech-Demo
has turned into a full action sword-fighting game. "Lotfali
Khan Zand" has a good variety of gameplays from the
main sword-fighting to mechanical puzzles. Although
the developers have passed the borders of Persian
game industry in a considerable way, but the game is still
not in the level of games such as "Prince of
Persia", or "Assassin's Creed".
Ability to use variety of swords with different
characteristics is an exciting side of the game.
Each sword has health, damage, speed, and angle
parameters which are helpful in choosing an attack
strategy.
A good gameplay in a third person action, needs a
strong Artificial Intelligence. The most important
challenge of the development team was to design a
perfect AI. They have spent a fair amount of time
researching different techniques which have been
used in recent games, and came up with a very solid
AI for friendly, and enemy NPCs. Overall, the fights
are taking advantage of different moves for various
characters, and shows a good variety of sword-fighting.
Although we saw some collision detection problems
when large of NPCs were involved in the fights, but
the AI looked very acceptable. The development
team is working hard to solve the remaining issues
until the game's release.
"Lotfali Khan Zand", will have two boss fights which
will take advantage of Key-Stroke animation, Stealth
Kill and other gameplays which is available in QoP2.
Although, these gameplays are exciting to see but
might not reach the level of world class games such
as "Resident Evil 4", or "God of War".
In terms of Level Design, and Environment, QoP2 is
close to the level of world class games. In-game
animations, are also very enjoyable to watch and
realistic. Physics is taking major role in some
the levels of QoP2. Throwing barrels and boxes
around, breaking walls, and falling scaffolds made
QoP2 a very dynamic game.
The game's graphic without a doubt is in the level
of the good games of the last generation. The game consists of indoor and outdoor levels. The
lighting looks better in indoor levels. The Lighting
and shadows in some of the outdoor levels are not
very realistic. But the main problem that we faced
was dropping the frame rate, in some areas of the
game. The development team is working hard to
overcome these issues for time of the release.
The music has a sad theme which conveys Lotfali Khan
Zand's feelings at the time. When we were doing the
preview the sound effects of the game were not final
so we will review that in a later time.
Overall, we can say the efforts of the
development team for "Lotfali Khan Zand" considering
their budget and the size of their team have been
successful. If they can solve some of the issues
mentioned above by the time of release, the final
product will be in the level of the 2002-2003 world
class games, which is a success for an independent
game developer with no support.
Copyright © 2008, Puya Arts
Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
