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An archived Hellgate: London feature. See the Hellgate Archives for more.

Interview: Thirty questions with Ivan Sulic, Chris Lambert, Brennan Plunkett, and Pat Harris.
Date: September 19, 2006
Source: Edited transcript by Mythor. Direct mp3 download mirror 1 and mirror 2.

Hellgateguru Podcast Interview

Question 1: No specific guild features yet, have you made any plans as to how guilds will be incorporated into the game?
Answer 1: No, not yet, stop asking.

Q2: Can we expect some of the newer buildings in London to be in the game, not just 50 year old icons of London?
A2: Probably not, as people outside of London should be able to recognise it as London, and things like Big Ben, the Thames etc are what people think of. (Ivan? It's pronounced Temz, not Thems.)

Q3: Will regions be segregated?
A3: As per last podcast - everyone will be on the same server, similar to Guild Wars.

Q4: Are there going to be any 'real world' weapons, upgraded with 'future' technology and/or magic.
A4: No, though same may be 'close' to modern weaponry it will mostly be future-tech and mystical weaponry, as standard weaponry was ineffective against the demon hordes.

Q5: Are there any uber and/or unique items that can be found, as in Uniques/Sets in Diablo 2?
A5: Yes, there'll be Sets and Uniques.

Q6: How do you plan to balance the items to be usable by every class in the game. Will some items be so powerful that entire classes will be built around specific items?
A6: Too early to say. They want to have a robust item system, but they want to make sure it's balanced. They're bearing in mind the Buriza Do Kyanon (spelling?) fiasco though.

Q7: Do monsters drop the items and/or equipment they were using, like in Titan Quest?
A7: No.

Q8: Is armour customisable/moddable?
A8: Not currently, but they do want to have it be so. (Expect it in an expansion pack methinks.)

Q9: Will there be destroyable items/environments, as in Diablo's barrels or explodable items where they can damage the monsters?
A9: Yes! But it won't go so far as destroyable walls and so on.

Q10: To what extent is dismembermant in the game? Can you dismember zombies? What about big siege fiends? What about screams of agony and pain?
A10: You can chop heads and arms off zombies. (Legs?) The technology that allows this would allow it to work on other monsters though, so more dismemberment is definitely a possibility.

Q11: What type of objectives are there in the game's missions? Just the usual street sweeping? Defend a subway station/fortified post? Capture the flag? Race against time? Time based hostage rescue missions?
A11: A couple of the above are available as random quests and/or storyline quests. There's also a mission in Act 1 (presently) where you direct troops in a battle of some kind. It won't just be Kill All Monsters in Area X.

Q12: How many character slots will a game account feature, or will it be unlimited? Will it be one account per cd-key, or will you be able to create multiple accounts per key?
A12: There will be a limit, but the exact number is currently undetermined.

Q13: Are there going to be any joke items? Such as Nerf bats/guns?
A13: The first or second "sword" in the game is a cricket bat, so yes. The Holy Grilled Cheese Sandwich is still in the game at this point. And there's planned to be more. Possibly not entirely seperate weapons, because it would require first and third person models plus animations, etc. But mods and so forth are a good bet.

Q14: Will there be any NPCs with real world names in the game?
A14: Yes. But Ivan doesn't like it and it's not a goal going forward, but it may happen in some instances.

Q15: How will trading work?
A15: Auctions, player to player personal screens, no "seperate realm" just for trading.

Q16: When you die do you have to retrieve your body to retrieve your items?
A16: Death penalty is still up in the air, different styles will be tested during alpha/beta. They claim that if it was left solely up to the players, then there'd be "NO DEATH PENALTY!!!"

(Commentary from Mythor: They don't seem to have done their research here - if it's put to the public the answer won't be "NO DEATH PENALTY!!!" Check any other game where it has been put to the players what style of death penalty they want. A *majority* do say no death penalty (because 99% of the alternative penalties suggested suck!) but there's usually a healthy minority who'll cop a monetary loss (/item repair fee) and/or temporary stat reduction, a small portion who are happy to lose one or more items (permanently) and an even smaller proportion who are happy for those items to be lootable if the death was in PvP... And then a handful of nuts who want permanent death, even in non-Hardcore modes.)

Q17: Will there be in-game in-engine cinematics? Will there be mechanics to prevent players from being penalised for choosing to watch?
A17: There are no in-game in-engine cinematics. There are pre-rendered cutscenes at the beginning of the game. There are narrative scenes at some points in the game, including the end/start of Acts. They will all be skippable.

Q18: Can you do "boss runs" for items over and over?
A18: All of the "bosses" are tied to storyline quests or random quests. So you will probably have to do the quest over and over in order to do so, or possibly have to do the whole quest chain again, or possibly have to do a simplified version of the quest. In other words, they don't know yet.

Q19: Runewords as in Diablo 2?
A19: No. There are no mod combinations that you have to put in in a certain order to get a special effect.

Q20: Given the setting, people may be expecting an equal mix of technological and magical aspects. But so far it seems to be more of a dark fantasy set in the future with some limited tech/sci-fi aspects. Will there be more technological aspects in the world as development continues?
A20: Yes.

Q21: AI - will the AI have advanced tactics like falling back, taking cover, flanking, etc? Will groups contain a group leader, and will taking down the leader of a group weaken the rest of the group?
A21: The AI will have more tactical options than simply rushing the player. What those options will be is still TBD. And there will be strategic decisions to make such as taking out certain enemies before others. Perhaps they're buffing/healing nearby foes, perhaps they're jumping in front of bullets, etc.

Q22: Will there be a way to transfer items between characters on the same account?
A22: Yes. (Presumably the shared stash from the previous podcast.)

Q23: Will there be robes and will they have realistic cloth animations?
A23: No.

Q24: Will you be making the females unsexy? (ie; "realistic")
A24: No. Sort of. Some armours will be less sexy than others, if that's your preference. But the "sexy" armours and looks are staying in the game.

Q25: Will there be a storyline reason for the layout of London changing from reality?
A25: No! It'll just be changed.

Q26: Will there be a ranking/stat tracking system and what will it be like?
A26: They want to have one, but they have no idea what it will be like and no idea if it will even be in the game.

Q27: Will there be any in-game books to discover and read to find out about the backstory? Is the background story fixed at this point, or is it still in development?
A27: No. The background story has been outlined in full. The first Act is fully written and nailed down, the second Act has a rough draft and the third Act has been outlined.

Q28: Can I preorder 980,000 copies of Hellgate?
A28: Yes, just send all your money/cheque/slaves directly to Ivan and he'll sort it out for you.

Q29: If I preorder the game from the Flagship site, will I get it before the retail release date, or will I be waiting a couple of days?
A29: At present, the preorder button doesn't work! But the details will be sorted out when they get a preorder partner. It should be in line with other preorder systems though.

Q30: How can I send Ivan money, propositions from attractive single women, cookies and other goods?
A30: His address is on the website. Just put the ***** in the box and send her via FedEx. They don't check the contents!