Some more quotes from Paul Jaquays

Nothing new that hasn't been said before, but still a good read:

I think the intent was to shift fairly seamlessly between editor and game. I don't know if that will be realized ... but they have time to work on that. Will be interesting though, because now id enters the position of the editor being part of a commercial software package and the expectations that go along with that.

I don't think the game will function in the editor window ... that still requires a compile function.

In Q3:TA, Ken Scott did indeed build the jump pads and several textures as models first, then lit them in lightwave and exported the rendered picture as his starting point for the final painted textures.

In Doom 3, the process begins similarly. The "bump" information that forms the base for the Doom 3 textures on is generated by processing the hi-poly model used to create it. Unlike the stuff Kenneth did for Q3A, this doesn provide light and shadow info. The diffuse layer, which is essentially the only layer in a normal Q3A surface only supplies color information. That can be as complicated as the artist wants to make it, but it remains just that ... color information ... not painted shadows and highlights. That all comes from the bump layer.

-Paul Jaquays

The possibility of doing extensive outdoor terrain areas (extensive in "id" terms, not say, EverQuest or Dark Age of Camelot terms) exists within the the Doom 3 engine. However, how it gets done will definitely be different than the way it was done for Q3A. That's pretty much all I can safely say on that topic.

Maybe I miss the "limelight" aspect of being at id just a little. However, I don't miss the "fishbowl" aspect of working there. By that I mean the desperate peering of the press and fans (and prowling lawyers) into anything anyone at the company says or does as they look for "news" or justification for their opinions or whatever it may be. Having everything you say online be dissected to the nth degree (like folks are doing with every morsel of Doom info) gets old eventually.

-Paul Jaquays

Just got back from E3 ... trying to think good thoughts about LAX airport ... but not succeeding.

The downloadable movie is a teaser video they had running OUTSIDE the Doom 3 booth, not what was shown inside. What they showed inside ran for 11 minutes and was nothing but real-time in-game sequences. I talked with one of the producers at Activision and was able to get myself and a couple other ES guys in for a showing (evil line jumper ... that's me).

There were quite a bit of new material and features being shown ... stuff that wasn't in development when I left. Visually, it was all very impressive, but it really confirmed for me at least one of the reasons I left id. It's far far far more dark and gruesome a project than I want to be a part of. Ever.

Since the DL video features Trent Reznor in it, I guess it's safe to say that he's working on the audio aspect of the game (I really don't know the details ... so don't ask). I felt that the combination of his (Trent's) soundscape and Graeme Devine's audio engine (you got a taste of some of his early audio engine work in Team Arena) really created an impressive effect.

Regarding the appearance of high-detail in what are obviously lower polygon models, remember this: it's all about creating convincing illusions ... adding just enough detail to get you to suspend your disbelief. John C developed a clever way to make lower polygon models (they're really not "low" poly in the sense we're used to) appear to have substantially more surface detail. It does involve creating both low and high poly versions of models. Just given that, you can get an idea of the amount of work going into the development pipeline just to make a single model.

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-Paul Jaquays

Here's some freebies: Max or Lightwave will work with Doom. I've built several map models with Max that should appear in the game. The art staff tends to use LightWave because they like it's polygonal modeling tools.

The editor will be built into the game code. When final game system requirements are established, plan on having a more powerful machine than the minimum spec if you want to map.

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-Paul Jaquays

Kenneth tends to be a very private person.
Just because he doesn't go to trade events or participate in the community as much as his pre-ion/id days doesn't mean he is not involved in the product. If anything, he is the guiding hand on the look of the game, acting as conceptual artist, high and low poly modeler, and texture maker, and skinner. If memory serves me correctly, only one of the character models seen in the E3 demo was done by someone other than Kenneth Scott.

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Paul Jaquays

I can answer that one. No. You will need a professional modeling package or two to make texture and map model content. The art team has been using Lightwave. There's also 3DS Max support. And of course, Maya, or a tool that can output Maya files will be needed for animating.

Since Doom 3 is likely to be popular with modders (despite the high learning curve to make content), I suspect that there will be some freeware and plug-ins that come along to allow less expensive modeling and animating tools work with the game.

As far as sound content goes, assume that the tools in the editor are for placement of pre-made sounds in game ... probably something more robust than in previous id games. But you should probably plan on having some kind of sound editing software to create new sounds.

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Paul Jaquays

Dima said:

Nothing new that hasn't been said before, but still a good read:

That's right....thanks Dima !

Paul Jaquays said:
The possibility of doing extensive outdoor terrain areas (extensive in "id" terms, not say, EverQuest or Dark Age of Camelot terms) exists within the the Doom 3 engine. However, how it gets done will definitely be different than the way it was done for Q3A. That's pretty much all I can safely say on that topic.

Yay !

Hooray for big outdoor area!i gonna see how the landscape of MARS will look like

Yay Mars landscape!

See, I told ya!

Dima said:

Having everything you say online be dissected to the nth degree (like folks are doing with every morsel of Doom info) gets old eventually.

Yeah - stop dissecting things to the nth degree.

It's always better to dissect things to the (e^n/2)th degree.