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  Saturday, Feb 9, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
New Release Using The Unreal Engine
- Posted 5:48 PM By Squirre1
EMail News to a Friend  Printer Friendly Version    0 Comments | Add 
Westka Interactive is picking up the newest Unreal Engine and seeing if they can make something of it. In a press release they outlined their plans to create a new game called The Y Project. Click on the Read More link for the full press release.
Source: UnrealCenter
 
Full Story:
WESTKA INTERACTIVE UNVEILS THE Y PROJECT

PC Title Features the Latest Unreal Technology,
Allows Players to Experience the Game Any Way They Choose

February 2, 2002, Cologne, Germany - From the top gaming minds in Germany to the desktops of gamers around the world, the creative masters at leading German game developer Westka Interactive today announced The Y Project. Featuring the latest Unreal technology from Epic Games, the game combines action-adventure with RPG elements, and is based in a science fiction / fantasy setting. In addition, The Y Project empowers the player with a unique option to take control of the gaming experience. Set on a formerly peaceful alien planet 200 years in the future, and crawling with monstrous insects, The Y Project is scheduled for an early 2003 release.
"We have big aspirations for -- and big development and design talent behind
-- The Y Project," said Thomas Schaefer, industry veteran and project manager, Westka Interactive. "Our goal is to go beyond the typical German-bred game and create a top 10 game for the U.S. and therefore, global, market."
The Y Project will deliver an entirely new twist on the traditional PC gaming experience. Contingent on the player's strategic approach and personal passion, he can either join with a military faction and assume a combat position, or join with a scientific faction and use logic and puzzle-solving to complete his mission. Then, during the action, players have the ability to switch factions multiple times, allowing for an action/adventure experience, RPG/strategy experience or both. This unique game-play approach adds numerous layers of depth and puzzle solving, and provides for more than 40 hours of single-player play.
The Y Project complements its innovative game-play elements with breakthrough graphics, visual effects, and illustrative realism. "We are very impressed with what Westka's development team has done so far with the latest Unreal Engine technology," said Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic Games. "When The Y-Project is released I expect that people will be blown away by its attention to detail and engrossed in its compelling story. This will definitely be a game to watch for."
"Working with Epic's Unreal Engine was one of the best decisions we have made regarding The Y Project," said Thomas Schaefer. "The power of Unreal Engine has allowed us to bring our vision to reality."

Gameplay/Features
The game follows the story of a hero who must stop a genetically altered race of insects from destroying the entire human population of a formerly peaceful alien planet. The game takes place in a large monolithic city and a part of the surroundings outside of the city. The player gains access to the world gradually. After a player has explored a part of the world, he is free to move around in any areas already explored, unless an environmental situation, such as a fire, prevents re-entry.
As the player moves through the game he will be armed with up to 16 different types of weapons. These weapons are upgradeable, providing the player with even more weapon options.
The world of The Y Project is infested with dozens of varieties of deadly insects. As the player battles his way through the game, the insects become fiercer and more difficult to defeat. Another important feature of The Y Project is the sophistication of the game's AI. All NPCs have a memory and some of them also have a form of group AI. For example: if a NPC belongs to one of the factions he will remember when the player thwarts the goals of his faction and also behave appropriately towards players that have aided their cause. This element of the game increases in importance as the player switches factions. The superior AI also extends to the monsters. They will be able to see and hear signals from other insects and act accordingly, thus forcing the player to develop appropriate battle tactics.

Game Design and Direction
"At Westka, it is not only about using the best technology, but also about creating the best game experience. That is why we are putting professionals, including architects, set and costume designers, cameramen and accomplished musicians, behind the artistic design and direction of the game," said Schaefer.
Westka is going to excruciating detail to create what it terms, "illustrative realism." For example, in the creation of the killer insects, the designers were true to the differences and complexities in entomological body definition and muscle movements. In the structure of one insect's body, there are over 6,500 polygons. This attention to detail allows the game designers to create the most realistic bugs ever attempted in a computer game.

The Backstory
The Y Project takes place 200 years in the future, 70 years after humans on board a large spaceship landed on a foreign, yet peaceful alien planet. After landing, the humans began settling the planet, and the development proceeded quickly and without problems. However, before the humans had landed, a mutant type of insect was accidentally created in a lab on the spaceship in a genetic experiment called "The Y Project."
At the time of landing, the insect escaped and proceeded to multiply into a race of hostile, giant mutated insects. Due to the rapid evolvement of the bugs, the humans were forced, for their own protection, to move into a monolithic city under a glass dome. As the game begins, the glass dome over the city has been destroyed, the insects have entered the city and most of the humans have been killed, leaving chaos and destruction in place of peace and prosperity. Now it is up to player to save the humans from near certain extinction.

Westka Interactive, based in Cologne, Germany, was formed in 1993. The company has developed numerous titles for the commercial marketplace - among them also several top sellers in Germany and has assembled an impressive team of experienced industry veterans, who formerly worked on titles such as Rayman, Settlers, Battle Isle and many others. Westka is the interactive entertainment arm of German media companies Brainpool TV AG and VIVA Media AG, both publicly quoted on the German "New market".
 
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