F.E.A.R. 2 Creators Talk Engine, AI Details and the Future

In case the prickling hairs on the back of your neck haven’t already served you as enough indication, the release of F.E.A.R. 2 is lurking around the corner, and according to much discussion on Monolith’s game production team, its updated terrors will not disappoint.

Michael Beckett: Our Fearless Hero in F.E.A.R. 2. Ain't he pretty?

The game starts about thirty seconds before F.E.A.R. ends, and the players will be put behind the new eyes of Special Victims Unit member Michael Beckett. Set in the usual mission-gone-wrong scenario, Becket fast finds himself on a mission to destroy Alma “before she destroys everything.”

According to a promising review of a F.E.A.R. 2 preview, Luke Guttridge assures gamers that F.E.A.R. 2 will deliver all of the best parts of F.E.A.R., and improve it to an even higher level of horror. Here’s a taste of what Guttridge had to say:

“The emphasis [in F.E.A.R. 2] appears to be firmly on improving the best aspects of the first F.E.A.R., while tightening the gameplay fundamentals to compete in an FPS genre jam-packed with quality. The plot looks like it’ll be more important, told through non-intrusive snippets, breaks in the action, that are also used at times to make the title’s characters seem more than one-dimensional. The Japanese-inspire [sic] horror motif has also been expanded; Monolith’s Dave Matthews tells us that the horror can be used to add pacing to the game, ensuring that players don’t get tired after endless gunplay.”

A recent video release of F.E.A.R. 2’s engine details discusses the specifics behind the game’s enhancements, including real-time volumetric rendering of light in multiple mediums, motion blur, and depth of field.

In a previous interview, developers discussed their improvement of combat spaces. F.E.A.R. 2 designers literally got on their hands and knees in places such as nuclear facilities and hospitals to add that extra touch of realism needed to immerse the player in the full horror of gameplay. “The key thing to keep the player on the edge of their seat is to surprise them,” Craig Hubbard, Principle Game Designer of F.E.A.R. 2 said, “and not let them get too comfortable.”

Comfort is clearly not an aim in F.E.A.R.’s sequel. A strong component in making sure of this is one of Monolith’s most prized creations in F.E.A.R. 2: The evolution of A.I.s. And I’m not just talking about their impressive reaction to fire.

G.O.A.P.S. will allow for more varied A.I. interaction

Monolith has implemented a Goal Oriented Action Playing System (or G.O.A.P.S.) to give their A.I.s more varied and unpredictable responses in gameplay. In G.O.A.P.S., The A.I. has a list of set goals that it wants to accomplish, for example “kill an enemy” or “get cover.” It can carry out this to-do-list in the most logical fashion that the situation asks for.

In an interview with Gamasutra, John O’Rorke, engine architect and principal software engineer of F.E.A.R. 2, admitted that there is never enough time to fit every developmental nuance into a game that you want to. Developers of F.E.A.R. 2 understood this, and focused on “understanding long-term priorities” or chief projects, like that of A.I. development.

According to O’Rorke’s co-worker and senior software engineer Matthew Rice, however, the future for A.I. development may not be so bright. With technology in a constant state of expansion, he says, the demand for A.I. production will reach impossible heights.

“We’re supposed to be able to push more polygons; we’re supposed to have more shaders on the screen. The problem with that being that you now have to have artists create X amount more content. So I think we’re going to start seeing, in terms of graphics, you’re starting to see a slowdown. Between the PS1 and the PS2, there was a huge leap, I feel, in graphical fidelity; and then less so between the PS2 and the PS3. And I think we’re kind of reaching that same point with AI.”

Whatever the future of A.I., game developers and reviews agree, F.E.A.R. 2 and its graphic developments are sure to prove worthy of the title: The scare that we’ve all been waiting for.