The Conduit

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High Voltage Software's Josh Olson, producer on The Conduit, says that the developer's upcoming Wii exclusive FPS is both the best-looking game on the console and will offer the best online experience on the system. He's pretty confident, then. Read on to find out why...

Can you give us a quick overview of what The Conduit's about and when and where it's set?

Olson: The Conduit is set in a near-future Washington, D.C. where things are going horribly awry. There's a virus that's decimating the workforce and missing persons reports have skyrocketed. Domestic terrorist attacks and assassinations are commonplace, and the government has declared martial law.

No one seems to be able to do anything about the rapidly deteriorating situation except for an enigmatic government organisation known as The Trust. As Agent Michael Ford, a new recruit for The Trust, you find yourself thrown into the middle of the growing chaos and work to uncover the truth behind everything that's going on.

Why is Wii the best platform for The Conduit and what does it have over other platforms as a host for FPS games?

Olson: Much has been made of our tech and rightly so - we feel that that we're the best-looking game on the console. It's really all about the gameplay though, and in targeting the Wii we focused very heavily on the unique controls. We feel that with The Conduit we have a perfectly viable 'third scheme' out there for FPS games and we look forward to throwing ourselves into the never-ending debate between the relative merits and shortcomings of the dual analogue and the mouse-and-keyboard among fanboys.

I don't think that previous Wii FPS titles have made a compelling argument that the pointer and Nunchuk belong in the discussion. With The Conduit, we think we absolutely belong, and hope that more developers look at developing Wii-exclusive FPS titles that take full advantage of what it offers.

What's your view on the current - albeit small - crop of shooters on Wii?

Olson: Thankfully, a few titles have gone before us and been a huge help in showing us what works and what doesn't work using the pointer and Nunchuk. The biggest lesson learned has been the intelligent use of the accelerometers. They're a powerful tool - and can add a lot to the experience - but you need to be very careful as well to avoid a gimmicky implementation that ultimately detracts from the overall gameplay.

We use the motion controls where they make sense, and in our case, think that a more restrained approach is the way to go. We don't have any shake-it-like-a-Polaroid-picture moments in our game, and it's all the better for it. It's a lesson that we learned to some extent from looking at the other FPS titles on the console.

Along these lines as well is the fact that with only a few exceptions, shooters on the Wii have been ports from other consoles. To be really successful, you need to develop exclusively for the Wii and truly take advantage of what it offers rather than trying to make it fit within the limits of an existing game mechanic or functionality.

More core-focused, mature titles are now starting to crop up on Wii. Why is this and do you think the trend will continue?

Olson: Our Wiis were gathering dust. Wii Sports is fun to play with my parents and family, but what do I do with it, as a core gamer, after I've bowled my hundredth set in a row? Until now, the answer has been: not a whole lot. There's a huge install base for the Wii - I think there are something like 8 trillion of them out there - and we don't believe for a second that everyone is content to play these more casual games exclusively. There's plenty of room for us on the Wii - we'd be content if only a trillion of all of the Wii owners bought our game.

Sega is leading the charge with MadWorld, House of the Dead: Overkill, and The Conduit. We certainly hope that the trend continues. We believe that the market exists. We want to continue to make these kinds of games for the Wii.

How far have you managed to push Wii with your Quantum 3 engine and what exciting results have you had?

Olson: We're confident that it's the premiere Wii development engine out there. We push the hardware pretty hard and have had to develop a lot of tricks to do things that the hardware may not have been explicitly designed to do (and we've managed to limit our melted dev kits to only a handful in the process). We're very pleased with the state of the engine but there are still a lot of further improvements and refinements that we're working on to squeeze even more out of it. The best is still to come. The Wii's a pretty capable system, and we think that The Conduit demonstrates that.

The Conduit includes a load of customisation features - can you give us some details on its tuneable gameplay options?

Olson: We're not so arrogant to think that the game has to be played a certain way. Every gamer is different - with different tastes and preferences - and one of our goals with this title is to make sure that we allow the player to play the game as he/she sees fit.

Very early on in development, we decided that we needed to give the player options. It's a somewhat PC-centric approach - console games up to this point haven't allowed for the kind of customisation that we're offering - and fan feedback has really confirmed for us that this was the right approach.

There's not a whole lot in the game that isn't customisable - button presses and control motions are all completely mappable, and we have sensitivity sliders for the pointer and motion controls as well. You can scale the bounding box as you see fit, as well as turning speeds and horizontal and vertical look maximums. You can turn using the pointer and bounding box, or use the Nunchuk instead. You can move HUD elements around the screen to wherever you like, as well as control the HUD transparency.

All of this can be set either through the front-end or in-game dynamically. It's really a mini-game of sorts, and I constantly fiddle with my settings to ensure that I'm the optimal killing machine. There are folks around the studio who guard their settings very, very closely.

Will the game support MotionPlus and what will that add to the package?

Olson: We looked long and hard at Wii MotionPlus - and have a working prototype melee weapon that employs it - but in the end we decided that unless it was an integral part of the core experience, it didn't make sense to include it just to have a blurb on the back of the box.

We're primarily a pointer game - not a motion control one - and we want you to keep the pointer on the screen. It is something that we're interested in, however, and we continue to look at and evaluate it, but it won't be included in The Conduit.


What's inspired The Conduit stylistically and what can you tell us about the variety of the game's environments?

Olson: Our influences are varied, but we really strived for realistic visuals on a console known for more stylized treatments of characters and environments. D.C. is a great setting as it has so many iconic landmarks and areas (and we want you to kill aliens in as many of them as possible). We think we have a nice mix of settings and environments among the D.C., alien and Trust influences. There's always something new and interesting to look at.

Is there anything standout in The Conduit from an AI perspective?

Olson: We've spent a lot of time on our AI and are very pleased with how it has turned out. Nothing kills an FPS more quickly than bad or predictable AI. Our AI is based on enemy type - mites can be pretty cowardly while scarabs look to close quickly and stomp on your head - and can be adjusted depending on the situation. They're not mindless either - our AI looks for cover and will heal itself when available. It will throw grenades and use weapons' secondary fire. We offer five difficulty settings in The Conduit and I don't think you'll be disappointed - our AI is very competent and will challenge players of all skill levels.

Wii isn't renowned for offering great online play. What can you tell us about The Conduit's multiplayer modes, the amount of maps and players they'll support?

Olson: We're not quite ready to talk about our multiplayer offerings in any great detail, but suffice to say, there's plenty to do in multiplayer. We'll hook players with our single-player campaign, but the multiplayer will give us legs and keep people coming back again and again for more. We've spent a lot of time making sure that the multiplayer is the best available on the Wii. We don't think you'll be disappointed.

Gamers playing online shooters these days are accustomed to modern features like rankings, clan support, vehicles, automatic matchmaking, class creation and perks. What will you offer that makes the multiplayer side of the game current?

Olson: We will offer the best online experience on the Wii. Beyond that, I can't say much more. We'll be announcing more details very, very soon.

Will the game support Wii Speak and how important is this?

Olson: You can't have an online shooter without voice chat. It's non-negotiable. The Conduit fully supports Wii Speak.

Tom Ivan