Games Fusion interviews James Schmalz, founder and creative director of Digital Extremes on their forth coming First Person Shooter title, Pariah.

Q. For those who don’t know can you start by telling us a little bit about the storyline of the game and introducing the characters?

A. In Pariah, you play Jack Mason, a military doctor in the year 2520. You are a brilliant doctor, but are currently at a bit of a low point in your career and have been demoted several times. You have been called upon to perform a routine sick prisoner transport on earth. The lowest of the low jobs for Mason. But, of course, things are not as they appear and as you are transporting your prisoner off planet, there is an explosion and your ship goes crashing to earth. You and your prisoner, Karina, survive only to be confronted with new challenges and mysteries as the story unfolds.

Q. Why did you decide to make the main character a doctor? And what benefits will this bring to the player throughout the course of the game?

A. He is a doctor specifically for story reasons. We wanted someone who wasn’t your typical muscle bound hero that we see in every game. We also found it more interesting that a doctor would be placed in a situation such as Jack’s where he must fight and kill for survival.

Q. How much cooperation will there be between DR. Jack Mason and Karina during the game? Can we expect to see them working together as a team?

A. Both Jack and Karina are central to the story and key storytelling elements. They work together in the game in some instances, but for the most part they are storytelling tools.

Q. What will the levels be like in Pariah? And can we expect to see a predominantly indoor game, outdoor game or a good mix between the two?

A. There will be a combination of indoor and outdoor areas. The game takes you from areas of deep dark forest, to full on desert to desert canyons. From a futuristic train to an ominous place called the Anvil. Lots of variety and hopefully environments you have never seen before.

Q. The depth of field blur and water reflection effects, which have been featured in various still images portray some of the most beautiful visuals of the game seen so far. What other visually exciting effects will there be?

A. We are very pleased with many of the technology additions we have made to the engine, both in terms of performance, physics, memory and visuals. We added in the Havok Physics engine to give us great physics. We added in bump mapping on many of the objects in the world, including vehicles and weapons. We have added post effects like bloom and distortion as well as a great deal of performance increases such as a super fast decal system, fast per polygon collision and more. Overall we are really trying to take advantage of the hardware in every way possible.

Q. What weapons will be available in the game? And what special characteristics will they have?

A. We have a wicked new weapon system that affects single player and multiplayer play by allowing the player to customize their weapons and upgrade them as they play. So as you play through the game you can select which weapons you want to upgrade and improve. As they upgrade they gain different features and powers. It’s very cool and makes combat in multiplayer very unique. So we have a core set of traditional weapons such as an assault rifle and a rocket launcher, etc. and then we have some really unique and new weapons.

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