Dave Braben, co-creator of legendary 8-bit space-adventure Elite (an old, space flight/trading sim thatrocked us about 20 years ago)has opened up about The Outsider, his forthcoming title for PS3 and Xbox 360.
Braben, famed for his non-linear games, hopes to make this spy story as open-ended as possible with every path and event being explorable at any time, rather than tying the player into pre-set scripts and events.
"With this new approach all the characters exist in the game from the start and are going about their lives trying to achieve their objectives," Braben explained to Xbox World 360 magazine, "and their future actions are not predetermined. Their involvement can be shaped or even pre-empted by the player."
What's more, the game's characters can be influenced not only by what you do, but also by what the NPCs have seen, as Braben explains, "If the player conducts a brutal killing, but manages to also kill all the witnesses and makes it look like someone else did it, then the player may still be perceived as a 'good guy'."
It sounds exciting, doesn't it? David certainly thinks so. "If you are a contrary gamer like me, who always wants to go down the side route, to shoot the character giving the long speech to camera, to do the unexpected, then this is the only way forward."
February 22, 2006
