id Software's Steve Nix on Wolfenstein, Rage, Doom 4 and id Tech 5.

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Rage screenshot

VideoGamer.com: Is there any update on how Rage and Doom 4 are shaping up and when we might be likely to see something from them?

SN: They’re id titles. They’re in development. It means we develop the technology while we develop the game. So I don’t even know when Rage or Doom 4 are coming out. You’ve seen the screenshots and the video. The game looks fantastic. We expect it to be one of the best-looking games that ships, but we’re really not saying much about that right now.

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VideoGamer.com: What about the id Tech 5 engine?

SN: John has, throughout the years, proven that he can come up with breakthroughs again and again, and we think with id Tech 5 he really has done it again. Getting rid of texture limitations is a huge thing. It’s been a massive problem in game development for years. So with that you can put unique textures on every single object in the world and not have to worry about… I mean the normal process is you develop a game and then everyone is over budget on their memory allocation so spend the last half of the game development ripping all the stuff that makes the game look great out so you can ship. With id Tech 5 that’s not a concern. So you can just make the game look as beautiful as you want to up until the point where you say, all right we’re done, it looks great let’s go ahead and ship it. It hugely frees up game development.

VideoGamer.com: Fans have a lot to look forward to from Rage and Doom 4 then?

SN: Oh absolutely.

VideoGamer.com: id’s engines are almost as much of a star as the games, which puts you in a somewhat unique position.

SN: Yeah. John’s a genius and I think it’s showed up over and over again in the technology.

VideoGamer.com: Despite the fact that Wolfenstein is a multiplatform game, it’s probably still considered a PC-focused franchise. How do you think it’s viewed by your average console-owning shooter fan, maybe a Halo or Gears of War fan? Is there a challenge there convincing them of what Wolfenstein is all about?

SN: Peter you’re more that demographic than I am. How would you answer that question?

PS: That’s one of the challenges of developing a game like this. You have the old school fans that are so passionate about the franchise. But the genre since 1992 when 3D came out has evolved so much. It’s acquired so many new fans. They may never have played Wolf 3D or Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Games these days like Call of Duty are so popular, Halo, there are just a ton of new games out there that have brought new people to the genre. In terms of development it’s a careful balance of keeping what makes Wolfenstein what it is – fast-paced combat, the supernatural Nazi dark occult theme – as well as bringing in those new people who have never been to this universe before. What can they expect to see, what they have to look forward to, what new things can we show them that are really cool that they’ve never experienced before?

VideoGamer.com: What do people expect to see from shooters now, since Wolfenstein last came out?

PS: To me it ultimately boils down to being fun. A FPS has to be a fun game. Nowadays it’s so competitive, you’ve got to try a lot of new ideas and come up with really, really cool things that gamers haven’t experienced yet in the genre. Since it’s been around for a long time there are a lot of ideas that have been utilised. So you’ve got to keep thinking outside the box and come up with new ways to impress people as they play the game. That’s one of the great things about Wolfenstein. It’s WWII, but there’s so much supernatural stuff going on that it allows us a lot of creative freedom when coming up with new ideas on how we can show gamers something they’ve never seen before.

VideoGamer.com: Co-op seems to be an in-vogue thing for shooters. Did you ever think about adding it to Wolfenstein?

SN: It was seriously discussed but ultimately we were like, you know, B.J. is really the lone badass. He is the one guy you call when the chips are down. When the Nazi’s are doing some crazy shit, you’re like, all right, who’s the one guy who can go in there and deal with the situation? It’s B.J. What, are you going to have two B.J. Blazkowiczs? The biggest badass in the world – you’re going to have two of those guys in the game? It just didn’t make a lot of sense. So ultimately we decided no, for the single-player it’s just going to be one guy and that’s B.J. As far as multiplayer, we haven’t talked about it too much, but if you liked multiplayer in Return to Castle Wolfenstein it’ll feel very familiar, but we’ve added the Veil powers this time around.

Wolfenstein is due out for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on August 7, 2009.

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