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High Voltage Software Reveals "The Grinder" online co-op FPS vampire killing game

hellclerk

Everything is tsundere to me
and werewolf and zombies OH MY!

Eric: Hector, Doc, AJ, and Miko all have different backgrounds that provide them with special skill sets. Hector is a bounty hunter who has tracked targets on both sides of the border. Doc wants to figure out what makes the monsters tick. AJ is an urban explorer who had a very bad experience and is looking for revenge. Miko is an assassin looking for a new challenge. They all bring something special to the table in terms of gameplay.

IGN: We can tell in screenshots that you're pushing a lot of on-screen characters. Tell us about this advancement to the Quantum 3 engine. How many characters can you push at once?

Eric: Right now we're pushing many highly detailed characters at once; better looking than almost anything else you'll see on the Wii right now.

Kerry: We call the technology our Imposter and Instancing system. We are able to take a single enemy and replicate him over and over again. Along with the replication, we can also scale, color, and otherwise modify each instance. This allows us to get an unprecedented number of unique enemies on screen at once at a fraction of the cost to do it otherwise. During our in-house testing, we have been able to see up-to 65 enemies on screen at once. These were initial tests… [Smiles]

Matt: Quantum 3 has once again been upgraded to pull off some majorly cool visual effects. It seems like we should be able to pull off even more on-screen enemies at some point. We never put a limit on our creativity. If it seems like it's worthwhile to have a cool feature in our games, we always find a way to make it work in the engine. It's pretty incredible to see so many monsters rushing after you in The Grinder. Each one is moving independently and doing its own thing. But all of them are trying to kill you.

IGN: Does the framerate take a major hit?

Matt: No, not really. We're right up around the framerate that we are currently at with The Conduit. I expect that it's even going to improve at some point, now that we've learned new ways to optimize our visuals.


Eric: The key is to let the gameplay determine how many characters you want and then start looking for tricks that will let you have the gameplay, the visuals, and the performance that you're looking for. Luckily we've discovered some very methods that allow us to have lots of characters on screen without sacrificing quality.

Kerry: If there is one thing that I can say about HVS it is that we are never satisfied and we will continue to push the hardware to get every last frame that we can.

Eric: At E3 you'll see dual-wield .45s, an SMG, a pump-action 12-gauge and an AK-47. We've added a new bullet penetration feature that allows us to punch through multiple enemies at once. For the full game we're developing some exciting new weapons that are much more imaginative. We get to imagine what people would want to take with them into a monster hunting situation and then build those weapons!

Kerry: We have a huge variety of weapons in the game. Some typical human weapons like an AK-47 and a combat shotgun, but we also have many non-traditional weapons. We were inspired by movies like From Dusk Till Dawn and John Carpenter's Vampires.

Eric: MotionPlus support and swords certainly seem appropriate for an assassin.

Matt: So far the co-op mode has been working out great, with zero lag while displaying tons of enemies on the screen at once. We've wanted this feature in our games for a long time and we're really proud to be bringing this feature to The Grinder. Oh and there's also split screen coop mode currently running in the demo, which is also pretty awesome for those who may not have access to play together using a Wi-Fi connection.

Eric: We think Left 4 Dead set the standard for this type of game and we fully intend to support four players.

IGN: When are you hoping to release the game?

Eric: The goal is holiday 2010 and our projects tend to ship on time more often than not!

some snippets. READ FOR YOURSELF, IT'S A REALLY HYPING READ.

and now screens:
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ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
...what... what in the...? That's got to be the biggest mish-mash of seemingly-unconnected game aspects ever. :lol Reading now.
 
Okay, I'm much more excited for this than for The Conduit OR Gladiator. Those games just actually dropped down on the interest chart in comparison to this.
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
WOAH!
So much more interesting than the Gladiator game. Thanks for revealing that one first! Reading the article right now.
 

Linkhero1

Member
IGN: Have you considered upping the cooperative mode to three or four players a la Left 4 Dead?

Kerry: Did we announce a limit? [Smiles]

Eric: We think Left 4 Dead set the standard for this type of game and we fully intend to support four players.

Matt: With so many monsters attacking all at once, you're going to need somebody covering your back. The Grinder will make the most of its co-op mode, so you can expect to hear about lots of cool multiplayer features as more information becomes available.

Nice..Nice :D
 

MarkusRJR

Member
Andrex said:
...what... what in the...? That's got to be the biggest mish-mash of seemingly-unconnected game aspects ever. :lol Reading now.
It's not that complex...? It's pretty much just Left 4 Dead but with vampires and werewolves. :D
 

Kevtones

Member
methodman said:
These guys are doin' work man. Read the entire article, sounds like a very good idea for a game.


I know! I think Nintendo needs to jump on the HV train and make them a 2nd party!
 

ivysaur12

Banned
IGN: Nice! Will the Grinder feature the same level of customizable controls as The Conduit?

Kerry: No, it will have even more customization options. The Conduit set the bar with the level of customization for console games and we plan to leap over that bar. We are looking at giving players even more control over how to play the game.

:O
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
EmCeeGramr said:
Okay, I'm much more excited for this than for The Conduit OR Gladiator. Those games just actually dropped down on the interest chart in comparison to this.

Seriously. I'm still a bit more excited for The Conduit since it's coming out in less than a month, but otherwise yeah... this is made of win. It's like taking the best mode of CoD5 and building a Wii-game around it. Awesome.
 

sprocket

Banned
just a rundown ..

- 4 player online co op

- motion plus support

- swords and guns

- wii speak support

- newer engine version than the condiut .. does more.

- werewolves :D
 

Foil

Member
Unlike The Conduit and that Gladiator game this actually sounds pretty decent. Art still could use a lot of work, but the concept and potential gameplay with motion plus could be really enjoyable.

Is Sega publishing this one?
 

Eteric Rice

Member
Looks damn cool so far. Needs a little more darkness, though.

Hopefully the enviorments aren't bland looking like in the Conduit's screens.
 
IGN: The music samples we've included are amazing. What kind of mood are you hoping to create for the title?

Eric: We want to capture the sound of Trent Reznor and Ennio Morricone in bar room fight after watching Dusk Till Dawn, Dawn of the Dead, An American Werewolf in London, and Tremors and doing copious shots of tequila. Our phenomenally talented audio team is going for lots of Skinny Puppy / Coil-style ambience and music that that adapts to what is going on with gameplay. We're trying to alternate between creepy music that generates tension and all out frenzied tracks for the times where you're mowing down hundreds of vampires.

:D yes yes yes yes yes!!!! live up to this guys.
 

laserbeam

Banned
sprocket said:
just a rundown ..

- 4 player online co op

- motion plus support

- swords and guns

- wii speak support

- newer engine version than the condiut .. does more.

- werewolves :D

-Zombies

Fixed :D
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
SPLITSCREEN CO-OP!!!

Matt: So far the co-op mode has been working out great, with zero lag while displaying tons of enemies on the screen at once. We've wanted this feature in our games for a long time and we're really proud to be bringing this feature to The Grinder. Oh and there's also split screen coop mode currently running in the demo, which is also pretty awesome for those who may not have access to play together using a Wi-Fi connection.

YEEEESSSSS
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
sprocket said:
just a rundown ..

- 3 player online co op

- motion plus support

- swords and guns

- wii speak support

- newer engine version than the condiut .. does more.

- werewolves :D

....and I... in my pants...

Edit- And splitscreen?? Oh my.
 

Amir0x

Banned
This one definitely seems better than that Conduit crap, and a little bit more...developed...than that Gladiator game, so it's on me to watch list.

Still can't anticipate anything of course until they release something good. A little too early to say that Nintendo should pick them up :lol
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
If everything they are saying is true, then all my worries are pretty much relieved. Especially with this quote:
We're also done a lot of work under the hood to ensure that our monsters, weapons, and pickups spawn in unique locations each time you play the game.
 
Fantastical said:
If everything they are saying is true, then all my worries are pretty much relieved. Especially with this quote:

Wow. This is definitely meant to be their own version of Left 4 Dead, which does the same thing.
 

Jiguryo

Aryan mech phallus gun
HVS is on a roll these days. Can't wait to see more of these titles.

Oh, yeah, next week. I remember now.
 
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