Meet the Designer

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An Interview with Tony Zurovec, director of Crusader: No Remorse

Q: Where did you get the inspiration for Crusader?
A: Back in 1980, when I was about 12 years old, I was playing computer games on my dad's Apple II at work. There was one I really liked called Castle Wolfenstein, which was the predecessor of the 3D game eventually done by id Software. It was in 2D and arcade style — you'd wander around, pick up things like guns, grenades and bullet-proof vests, and explore rooms, and there was even some rudimentary German speech. Although the technology was simple, the game was exceptionally fun to play.

Q: Was Crusader a hard idea to sell?
A: I was asked if there had ever been any similar games on the market. It's ironic, but these days, there are only a handful of those kinds of games still being made. I said it was reminiscent of games like Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure™ and Syndicate™, but that there were no games really like it. Maybe it's not a totally original concept, but it is a very original implementation. The difference is, I was going to take advantage of new, state-of-the-art technology, utilizing things like SVGA graphics and the full power of the Pentium processor — all the bells and whistles. The relentless action and the game design in general was a definite departure from the games that ORIGIN has traditionally done. In the end, though, people were sold on the idea that regardless of the genre of the game, it would still maintain ORIGIN's high standards ... that it would still be at the top of its class.

Q: Describe your game designing process.
A: I'm sure it varies from person to person. For me, I identified things I would enjoy in a game — like a large selection of weapons and usable objects, burning bodies, lots of different ways to kill enemies, detailed art, an environment that could enhance the visual realism of the fire fights, and a variety of terrain types — and worked them into the design. I had just worked with Richard Garriott on Ultima® VIII. I approached him with the concept for Crusader. He had faith in the project and gave me the go-ahead.

Q: Who else worked on the project?
A: I looked for a lead designer and lead artist and was lucky to find Mark Vittek and Beverly Garland for those roles. I think they did a phenomenal job. Jason Ely developed the music system on his own time at home. It's a digital instrument format that does what most of the higher end sound cards do with wave table synthesis. The big benefit is even people with $40 cards get phenomenal sound. People with general MIDI also get good sound, although we're not fully utilizing their hardware.

Q: Now that it's out, how do you think it turned out?
A: About six months from the end of the project, I asked myself, "Is this game fun?" It's amazing how much objectivity you can lose while creating a game. At this point, the overall reaction has been very positive, so I know I've come up with something other people are enjoying. It's reassuring that a lot of people have bought into a lot of the same concepts that have gone through my head before. From a programmer's perspective, I look back on Crusader thinking to myself, "If only I had added this or that little feature." It's great to strive for perfection, but in reality you have to shoot for realistic goals and put something out.

Q: Are there any parallels between the game and real life at ORIGIN?
A: One of the floors in the game is reminiscent of a floor in our old building, thanks to Melanie Green [Now Melody Yenawine — Editor]. There are a couple of people's names who made it in. My favorite number is 16, which pops up here and there — there are 16 screen shots on the back of the box. Eric Wilmar created a secret room that's modeled after his room at home — it contains a Commodore® 64. He also put in a picture with a pink background that's actually a touched up picture of Jason Ely from his high school yearbook. There are more hidden things.

Q: What's in store for the future?
A: This basic concept can obviously be expanded into a variety of different environments. I want to make other games that adhere to the same attention to detail. The important thing is ACTION, ACTION, ACTION! It might seem strange, but I don't particularly care for pure shoot-em-ups...the action games I want to do will always reward intelligence. Whether this is due to a strategic element, a variety of ways to accomplish your objectives, or whatever, the important thing is that you have to involve the player — or at least give him the opportunity to interact on more than a purely reflex-based level. The exact mixture of these different elements varies according to the game. For a game like Crusader, players should always be inundated with new things — monsters, puzzles, maps. I don't want to create a game that leaves people wandering around with nothing to do — except to maybe find one red keycard — once they've killed all the enemies in a maze. That's why most of the maps in Crusader are linear. I won't be lead programmer again — there are only 24 hours in a day ... I will continue to direct, and will become the game's producer. Jason Ely, the game's other system programmer, will become lead programmer, and Terry Manderfeld will become the lead artist. Mark Vittek will remain the game's lead designer.

Q: So Crusader doesn't end here?
A: For starters, I'd like to do an additional missions disk with new flicks, weapons, terrain, and enemies. [Crusader: No Regret, a self-contained game using the original Crusader engine, was released August, 199 6 — Editor] But I'd like to see a Crusader II with a 100 percent new engine and rewrite. This game was a learning experience — it was my first independent project. Now that we have implemented the technology, I think we now have a strong idea of where it can go in the future. For example, from the start, we'd make the engine multi-player via modem or network. The background art will be texture mapped to allow for light sourcing and rotation of the room — you'll be able to enter a room wearing infrared goggles, take out the lights, and have an advantage over an enemy who can't see in the dark. The art quality will get even better, the map will be able to be rotated on 90-degree increments, enemies will become far more devious and intelligent, there will be more variety in the mechs, weapons, and usable items, the Crusader and other characters will have more special maneuvers that they can perform, and a whole host of other improvements. I would also like to add some more flicks so that players can get more feedback when they accomplish their missions and have more branching in the storyline to allow for different outcomes. We can use more sophisticated drawing routines that will allow for a wide variety of interesting visual effects, but the character animation will likely remain bitmapped. A primary issue will be to conserve a lot more art space so that it will perform better on machines with a minimal amount of RAM.

Q: Are there any patches in the works for this version?
A: We'll likely do one for Gravis Ultrasound and the Gravis Ultrapad. [Patches available at http://www.origin.ea.com/english/prod-support/crusader/index.html — Editor] Depending on our feedback, we'll also do joystick support. If enough people want it, we'll give it to them. If players have really good ideas, we'll implement them — especially in the next version, where we can add people's ideas for new weapons and enemies. I would really like to hear from people who have played the game ... what they liked, what they disliked, what they wish would show up in a sequel.

Q: Will this version come out for other platforms?
A: We're hoping to get Sega Saturn™ and Sony Playstation™ versions out. [Released December, 1996 — Editor]

Q: What do you do when you're not designing games?
A: The other three hours of the day, I sleep.