Awhile back, we posted a rather controversial review that was written by an anonymous cgi artist in which he described KILLZONE 2 as a graphical smoke and mirrors experience.  Due to the surprising nature of the review, many spoke out about the validity of his findings. After listening to the concerns of readers, we decided to get down to the bottom of this, to find out whether or not this cgi artist knew what he was talking about in his review.

ThEvolution Network recently had the opportunity to conduct a Q&A session with Lead Producer Nick Schreiber of Shadows In Darkness studios. Mr. Schreiber has 10 years of industry experience to his credit while working on blockbuster hits such as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Dragon Age and many other great titles. Mr. Schreiber was gracious enough to answer many of our questions and was also able to lend a wealth of insight into the technical accomplishments of KILLZONE 2.

ThEvolution Network’s Interview with Shadows In Darkness, Lead Producer Nick Schreiber;

ThEvolution Network: Mr. Schreiber thank you again for allowing us this opportunity to speak to you, we understand that you have been quite busy.

Schreiber: Yes we have been really busy the past couple of weeks completing some deadlines but we’re always glad to answer some questions.

ThEvolution Network: Who are you currently developing with and what is your poistion with them?

Schreiber: I started as an artist but I am currently the Lead Producer with Shadows In Darkness. For your readers our website lists some of our work(wwwshadowsindarkness.com). However, the majority of our newer work is not shown or listed due to NDA’s. We will be updating the site after GDC.

ThEvolution Network: Nice to hear. We look forward to that. Could you tell us which well-known triple A titles you have had the privilege of developing on?

Schreiber: We have worked on many great games for some great developers, some of the most recent ones that I can mention are Call of Duty 4 and Dragon’s Age. We are currently working on several others that I can’t mention yet, but keep checking the website.

Call of Duty 4; Modern Warfare

ThEvolution Network: What was the first title you worked on?

Schreiber: We started out doing pre-rendered cut scenes for games TV, then we moved strictly into real time assets  and animation for games. One of the very first games we were involved in was Witch Haven which was under a different company.

ThEvolution Network: Are there any titles in the works currently and if so, can you speak of them?

Schreiber: Yes, of course! But can’t say yet what those are.

ThEvolution Network: I had to try, right(smile). No problem I understand. What is your work schedule like, do you find game development to be extremely time consuming?

Schreiber: We try to keep normal hours but there is a lot of crunch time. When something is due it is due, if you need to kick in some extra hours then you do what it takes. So it varies but we try to make everyone aware of when extra hours are needed. Another time consuming aspect is staying on top of all the techniques and engines used in today’s game industry.

Dragon Age

ThEvolution Network: Is there a particular genre that you find more appealing than most others?

Schreiber: I like first person shooters, third person action and survival horror.

ThEvolution Network: We recently posted a review of Sony’s latest sci-fi shooter, KILLZONE 2 which was wrtitten by a cgi artist and in the review he stated that the game contained what he called cheap shadowing tricks. He also went on to state that KILLONE 2 displayed poor normal mapping, poor texturing and there were also some comparisons made to other shooters that painted an inferior light on KILLZONE 2. Now as you know we only write about games, we are far from being hands on developers like yourself however, when we initially read the review we were a bit shocked. From our experience with KILLZONE 2 it is clearly the most impressive shooter we have seen and played this generation. Were you able to read this review?

Schreiber: Yes I read it.

ThEvolution Network: What were your immediate thoughts?

Schreiber: My first thoughts were this is not written by somebody in the industry, or if they are they are very green. There are so many invalid, inaccurate and just false claims made by the article that I really believe it’s nothing more than flame bait by a non-industry person. Someone that is actually in the industry couldn’t deny the technical achievements and graphical strengths of the game.

ThEvolution Network: Could you expound on why his findings are accurate or inaccurate?

Schreiber: The author insists on Killzones’ use of graphical cheats somehow diminish the quality or technical achievement of the game. This leads me believe that the author has never worked on in-game assets. Video game graphics are based on industry techniques that are in essence cheats. New cheats, or techniques, is what is the basis for progression. Normal maps and bump maps are cheats techniques that most next gen games use, it is standard stuff. Normal maps itself are a technique that cheats the player into seeing depth in an object that isn’t really modeled into the in-game geometry. Also lighting models, skinning system, post process screen effects, all cheats. Techniques developed  that can achieve better graphics, more realistic lighting and shadows, better FX, smarter AI are the reason why games have evolved to the point they are today, and you can have 60fps on 1080p. Seriously that’s the essence of videogame graphics.  Movies employ cheats as well, they film on blue (or green) screen, they fill in scenes with 3d environments and characters, and they use miniature sets instead of blowing up a real town. Again these cheats are techniques that have been used and created to achieve a standard and also promote an evolution of the media.

The writer also refereed to what he called  “shadow cheating” personally I have never ever heard that term used, it is actually called  light baking and ,  unlike the writer suggested, it is not painted by hand  into the scene by artists wherever they see fit.  The engine creates what we in the industry call a light map, in addition we can also render ambient occlusion maps for use in various techniques. This light map is multiplied across the level geometry to render  shadows based off of real lights set up in the scene. Nearly every engine in the industry uses this technique including the Unreal Engine 3 which is used by Gears of War 2. It is an excellent method of placing overall shadows on your level geometry. Real-time lights that use real-time shadowing should be reserved for key scenes in your environment. This is not “cheating” it’s a fundamental principle of game development and a standard technique that is used by most developers. The reason to use industry proven techniques is called resource management. Also as far as I am aware this technique was hardly used on a PS1, seeing as the system does not really have the required system specs to use it efficiently. I believe vertex lighting was used more often.

Another thing the writer found, in his words, “annoying “ was the high level of detail seen on the player’s weapon.  Someone that is actually experienced in the industry would not question why an asset that is visible on the screen 99% of time and  takes up 25% of the screen real-estate would have a high level of detail. It makes sense to give greater detail and pixel resolution to the assets the player will be able to see up close and more often. You wouldn’t give the same detail to a box that is way in the background in which the player may never focus on (well…… maybe the un-named writer of the article might)

KILLZONE 2

The writer also suggests that Killzone2 does not use normal maps. At this point I am going to suggest the writer has no idea what he is speaking about at all. The article states that it doesn’t because it’s too CPU heavy. This is also untrue seeing as normal maps are handled by the GPU. In fact the game uses a view space normal map that collects all the normal data of the a frame and uses it for post processing as illustrated in Guerrilla Games’ White paper on deferred rendering method. http://www.develop-conference.com/developconference/downloads/vwsection/Deferred%20Rendering%20in%20Killzone.pdf

The rest of the article is just not worth going into. It is his opinion on the game so he is allowed to have them. I don’t agree with the writer and feel the writer went into the game already knowing what his opinion of the game would be, and it shows in his article. No matter what system a game comes out on we need to remember to give due credit to all the developers that work very hard on these games and constantly investing in  new and better techniques to advance gaming. Compare today’s game from the Atari 2600 – we have come a loooong way in a short time, thanks to cheaper technology and cheats!

ThEvolution Network: From your professional point of view, what are your thoughts on KILLZONE 2 from a technical standpoint?

Schreiber: Outstanding, and I think we will see more games using some of the techniques used in KILLZONE 2 just as KILLZONE 2 used techniques standard across the industry.

ThEvolution Network: Do you consider KILLZONE 2 to be the best looking console shooter on the market?

Schreiber: It’s definitely the best game I have seen on my 65′ HD. I also think Gears of War 2, Drake’s Fortune, Call of Duty 4 and Dead Space were great game and had some great graphics and use of technology that also put them aheads of the pack in my view. However, I do feel the techniques used in KILLZONE 2 brought something extra that put it in the number one spot for me right now. The multi-pass rendering adds a lot of realism to the game and gives it that movie feel. The sound FX and use of surround is also very well done and lends its part to immersing the player into the game. I still am amazed every time I play the game. They did a lot of nice techniques, the animations are very solid, characters and weapons have excellent weight, the game is intense and for that I think it is a game I’ll always remember.

ThEvolution Network: Well it is obvious that you are enjoying your time with KILLZONE 2, what would say needed to be added to the KILLZONE 2 experience?

Schreiber: That is always a tough question. Usually features added to a game also involve adding more resources, money and time. So, while we would like a game to have everything it just isn’t possible, which is why we have sequels. For the next KILLZONE maybe I would like a co-op campaign or maybe some more vehicles and crafts to pilot, those are always fun.

TheEvolution Network: Mr Schreiber you have been very thorough and giving of  your time with your busy schedule and we really appreciate it,  but we have one final question, I promise (smile). What would be your professional rating of KILLZONE 2 on a one through ten numeric scale?

Schreiber: I love the single player campaign as well as the multiplayer game. I don’t try and tear games apart if I play it and like it. So on my enjoyment of the game, the immersion and the intensity of the action, plus inclusion of a very solid multiplayer and the graphics, I would give it a 10. I think Guerrilla put in a lot of work and they did an excellent job. I like to give credit to all great game developers out there. But then again I don’t pick apart games. I play them, nothing is perfect. Any game that can get me to play to the end and enjoy every second then to me it is a great game.

ThEvolution Network: Mr. Schreiber thanks again for your time.