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Take...me out to the baaalllll game!
In NSport's first exclusive interview, we had the pleasure of speaking with Ed Gwynn, Senior Producer at 3DO, about the the company's latest title. The name of the game is High Heat 2002, and it'll be the first ever baseball game released for the Game Boy Advance.
NSports: Can you describe how you went about attempting to create life-like sound effects in the game?
Ed Gwynn: The sound in the GBA is one of its nicest features. We were able to take
some existing sound samples from our other High Heat versions and just
bring them over to the GBA. It really does sound pretty good.
NS: Are there any plans for any color commentary?
EG: As such, there is just no room for color commentary. Remember, this
is a cart, not a CD :-)
NS: From what point in time have the player's individual and team ratings been
derived?
EG: We have the starting rosters from opening day this year.
NS: Is an EEPROM used for saving progress or does it use passwords?
EG: An EEPROM is used for saving progress for such features as options,
playoff state, season state, exhibition setup, and homerun derby scores.
NS: Has developing this GBA version been made easier by the fact that you're
simultaneously developing High Heat Baseball for the GBC?
EG: Yes, the GBC version got us started on the GBA. However, once into
development, the GBA version quickly surpassed its GBC predecessor.
NS: Will there be any sort of feature that allows you to control the pitch
after it is thrown? Can you describe the typical pitcher/batter
confrontation?
EG: Control a pitch once it is in the air - this isn't very realistic!! As
a player you will select the type of pitch and the desired location and
then you will hope your pitcher can nail it. There is a random chance
that the pitcher won't quite hit the desired location and then you just
have to hope the batter isn't paying attention. Pitchers do fatigue the
longer they throw so you'll see more and more missed locations. Batters,
on the other hand, pretty much just swing the bat. There is some timing
involved as early swings will pull pitches and late swings will push
pitches. If the batter is feeling really good, they can press up-dpad
while swinging and they might just go yard, provided they don't swing to
early or hit it off the end of the bat.
NS: What is being done to ensure that games will always remain competitive?
By that I mean will the teams be balanced, or can a player pick the
strongest team and simply breeze through the game?
EG: This has been an ongoing concern as we wanted a fun game that performed
like real life. Any batter can hit a homerun if their timing is just
right and the pitch is in the right location. The downside to this is
that the better batters almost always do very well, so certain teams will
be easier to win with than others. However, a good player will be able to
take any team and defeat any other team. To answer the question, there
will be matchups where one team 'could possibly' breeze through the game,
but there is no guarantee.
NS: Will players have certain characteristics? Or is that not possible with
the GBA?
EG: It might be cool to have individual characteristics except that they
might not come out too well on the small screen. What we ended up with
was a baseball game that pretty much performs based on statistics and it
has actually turned into a very playable, fun game.
NS: What is your opinion of the GBA so far?
EG: As a handheld unit, it is alot of fun. The 2 big negatives are the
non-backlit screen and the high reflective surface of the screen. Because
it isn't backlit, everything appears dark and you need a good light
source. Because of the high reflective surface, a good light source is
usually reflected right into your eyes and you spend all your time trying
to get the unit at a playable angle. Despite these, it is a great little
unit that already has some great looking software for it, and High Heat
MLB 2002 for the GBA will be another great looking baseball game to add to
it.
NSports would like to thank Ed Gwynn and 3DO for this interview.
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