Interview with the lead programmer of The Last Express
by Jordi "El Bárbaro"
7) The linguistic approach to the game is lovely, realistic, helps to get
the player inside the game... and sure it has been a terrifying work to do.
Tell us about how it was done, please.
8) The characters go up and down the train in a way it looks random, but
I've bet with a friend that's impossible, because there're plot constraints
and at least some people has to be in some places [or out of some other places]
to end the game. Who's right? How was implemented the
'wandering by' appearance of the characters?
Each character has a script or logic that they follow. Each character is
written as an individual, so they behave like real people. At dinner time,
they walk to the dining room, sit down, order dinner, eat, and then return
to their compartment. Later that night, they may go for a smoke in the
salon. In addition, the characters are responding to what the other
characters are doing, including the player, who is also a passenger on the
train. There are enough characters and story sub-plots that there are
always characters walking around, going about their adventures. Sometimes
characters try to arrange their action so that the player will see them if
that is feasible. Other times, characters will even go find the player and
talk to him!
9) Another bright idea was the fact you can [you must!] listen to other
people talks in order to get hints about what's going on. We're no only
supposed to do the common business [open chest, read notebook] of an every
day adventure, ears are very important throughout the game. But this means
The characters behave like real people. Since each character is acting
according to his logic, they have the conversations that one would expect
them to have. Each character talks to the other characters that happen to
be in the same room with him, whether the player is there or not. So,
unlike many other games, the dialogs are not just canned sequences triggered
by the player entering. This makes it possible for the player to come in
during the middle of a dialog, or miss a dialog completely. Since there are
more than 700 different dialogs and many subplots, there is enough material
that the player is constantly listening to something. There are many
dialogs occurring simultaneously and it is impossible to hear them all, but
that is what makes the game seem so rich. Of course, some dialogs are about
the player, so those won't take place unless he is there. The characters
also try and time their dialogs so that the player is more likely to hear
them, but that is only a guideline for them to follow if it doesn't
interfere with their agenda. So they use a combination of following their
script, reacting to other characters and events around them, and trying to
weigh events so that the player is more likely to see them.
I assume you mean the numerous languages that are in the game? The Orient Express in 1914
was traveled by some of the world's richest and most
eccentric characters and they spoke a variety of languages. We cast native
speakers of English, French, German, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Arabic, and
Turkish to make the game. Then, when the game was localized for various
foreign markets, we would swap out the English dialog and replace it with
the localized dialog, including Spanish, Italian, Japanese, etc. Naturally,
finding actors who could speak several of these languages was somewhat
challenging.
the computer is supposed to know what our avatar is supposed to hear from
every place and time... How it was done? Could this be also be done in a
more open world or dungeon, something like Hexen II or Ultima Underworld?
It helps create atmosphere in the same way as lightning or textures, but
it looks like most people don't notice enough it.
