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The Godfather II PC Developer Diary: TGN Exclusive
Electronic Arts and Total Gaming Network are proud to present a special exclusive today for all of you hardcore PC gamers out there. Wes Culver the producer of the PC version of Godfather II presents a look into how the PC version will stand out from it's console counterparts. Check it out:
Thanks to Wes Culver and the Godfathers II development team for this Total Gaming Network exclusive.
I don’t know if you guys can relate to this, but when I just graduated high school, all I did was play video games. I’m not even exaggerating here, it wasn’t just 1-2 hours, but probably closer to 5+ hours (not to mention the occasional marathon session). More specifically, all I did was play Quake (the original) online against other people. I remember the first time I was watching my friend playing the Shareware version. He was running around with other people and shooting at them. When he told me the people he was playing against were actually real people out there on the internet, I was hooked. I’ve always been a competitive person and this was the first I’ve heard of a game where you could compete against others online (before this revelation, I’d just go to arcades to play against other people in Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat). Yes, I was quite the ladies man back in my younger days!
Luckily, however, all of the work I put in Quake eventually paid off (despite my parents’ constant objections to my gaming habits). First off, I got good enough at Quake where I eventually went on to compete in the first-ever “Professional Gaming League” (which beat out the Cyberathletic Professional League – CPL – as the first, but subsequently went under). In addition, I joined the clan that was considered to be the best in the United States – Death Row – and also became good friends with other elite players in the clan such as Thresh, B2, Unholy, Reptile, Da5id, and Geiger. Our clan won numerous events in the states, including a $14,000 prize for a PGL teamplay competition. We also were flown to Sweden to take on their best clan. Death Row even got its own trading card!
The second, I strongly believe my hardcore gamer background helps me on a daily basis on my current job as a game producer. As the producer for The Godfather II PC version, it definitely helped me when we were nailing the controls, user interface, and other things to make the PC version feel like it was made for that platform (rather than a simple port). A big goal of mine was to make any PC gamer who’s played first or third person shooters to feel at home with this game. On the whole, I think we’ve nailed the third-person PC experience when you’re shooting up rival mobsters for GF2. As one example, rather than defaulting the game with auto lock-on enabled, we left it off since aiming with the mouse is much more accurate than using a console controller (however, we left this as an option, so you can enable auto lock-on if you’re weaksauce – I kid! I kid!). We also have all the usual options where you can remap your keys, invert your X or Y axes, or adjust sensitivity of the mouse.
Additionally, when you’re in the Don’s View, you can use the Mouse to pan & zoom by clicking and dragging (rather than moving an analog stick). It feels very natural on the PC (to me, at least). You can also pan through the map either using the keyboard or by pointing the mouse cursor to the sides of the screen (like most Real-Time Strategy games). Also, exclusive to the PC version are actions invoked by mouse gestures. When you grab a guy by pressing the left and right mouse buttons… you can headbutt him by quickly moving the mouse forward, threaten him by pulling the mouse back, or toss him around a bit by swinging the mouse left or right.
I hope you guys have the chance to check all of this great stuff out when the PC version is released alongside the console versions!
Luckily, however, all of the work I put in Quake eventually paid off (despite my parents’ constant objections to my gaming habits). First off, I got good enough at Quake where I eventually went on to compete in the first-ever “Professional Gaming League” (which beat out the Cyberathletic Professional League – CPL – as the first, but subsequently went under). In addition, I joined the clan that was considered to be the best in the United States – Death Row – and also became good friends with other elite players in the clan such as Thresh, B2, Unholy, Reptile, Da5id, and Geiger. Our clan won numerous events in the states, including a $14,000 prize for a PGL teamplay competition. We also were flown to Sweden to take on their best clan. Death Row even got its own trading card!
The second, I strongly believe my hardcore gamer background helps me on a daily basis on my current job as a game producer. As the producer for The Godfather II PC version, it definitely helped me when we were nailing the controls, user interface, and other things to make the PC version feel like it was made for that platform (rather than a simple port). A big goal of mine was to make any PC gamer who’s played first or third person shooters to feel at home with this game. On the whole, I think we’ve nailed the third-person PC experience when you’re shooting up rival mobsters for GF2. As one example, rather than defaulting the game with auto lock-on enabled, we left it off since aiming with the mouse is much more accurate than using a console controller (however, we left this as an option, so you can enable auto lock-on if you’re weaksauce – I kid! I kid!). We also have all the usual options where you can remap your keys, invert your X or Y axes, or adjust sensitivity of the mouse.
Additionally, when you’re in the Don’s View, you can use the Mouse to pan & zoom by clicking and dragging (rather than moving an analog stick). It feels very natural on the PC (to me, at least). You can also pan through the map either using the keyboard or by pointing the mouse cursor to the sides of the screen (like most Real-Time Strategy games). Also, exclusive to the PC version are actions invoked by mouse gestures. When you grab a guy by pressing the left and right mouse buttons… you can headbutt him by quickly moving the mouse forward, threaten him by pulling the mouse back, or toss him around a bit by swinging the mouse left or right.
I hope you guys have the chance to check all of this great stuff out when the PC version is released alongside the console versions!
Thanks to Wes Culver and the Godfathers II development team for this Total Gaming Network exclusive.
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