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Shack: Do you feel that the limitation of only having access to two levels without a PhysX card will hurt your prospective user base?

Adrian Jones: Well, not necessarily, not for this game. I don't think prospective user base is an issue. The game is free, and I think that it's gonna be a riot for anybody who downloads it. It will be really fun and really novel. Anybody who picks it up should get hours and hours of enjoyment.

Shack: What led to the decision to release CellFactor: Revolution, originally announced as a standard retail game, for free?

Adrian Jones: It's really to everybody's advantage. I think [our developers] are interested in the leg-up. None of them have ever released an original game before, and they're really excited about getting their names out there and having everybody see what they can do. We really want to show two things. We want to show how fun it is to play a game with PhysX, and what the PhysX card can do.

Shack: Many gamers feel that CellFactor: Revolution isn't actually "free," since a PhysX card is necessary to fully take advantage of all that the game has to offer. How would you say that the use of a PhysX processor compares to an engine such as Source that has been highly optimized for physics? In other words, why not just use a pre-existing game engine instead of essentially mandating a PhysX card purchase?

Adrian Jones: It's interesting. The Source engine... it's not an apple-to-apples comparison. The Source engine has done a good job of giving programmers a good interface to physics. The game programmer can do a lot of things with PhysX. Psi Power is a lot like [Half-Life 2's] gravity gun, but the gravity gun can't pick up and smash thousands of objects around the game world simply because the processor doesn't have the horsepower. It's very possible to take the Source engine and modify it to use the PhysX card and have the best of both worlds. The PhysX card just enables very, very rapid calculations.

Shack: What are some aspects of the game that you feel are particularly adept at demonstrating the power of PhysX cards?

Adrian Jones: Lately, I've really been enjoying the reactor processing core [level]. There have always been pools of lava, right? And we've always been able to push guys into pools of lava and watch them die, and that's fun, but in the reactor processing core, we can actually take lava and push it into players, which is really fun. I wait for a guy to come through the door, and then I just pour lava onto him with my Psi powers. I've been having a lot of fun late at night just being malicious. The fluid system is really, really nice, and quite beautiful.

Some levels are covered in spider webs that are all simulated via cloth, so I watch people walk through the webs, or better yet, I watch the webbing to see if anyone has passed. I can make sure that I'm not walking into [an ambush].

I'm not a physics rocket scientist. I'm a good programmer, and I understand mathematics, but for me, it's all about the gameplay that PhysX empowers me to do. I really like the visceral feel of things, like the spider webs floating around. On another level, Proving Grounds, I didn't want the artist to put in flags. Physics-wise, flags are pretty tired. But the guy absolutely insisted. He really wanted to make [the level] look like a gladiatorial arena. For him, that was a really important thing in making the world real, and the thing I like about PhysX is, we're able to do a lot of things that aren't just static geometry. The way the flags billow is just beautiful.

Shack: What are some of the weapons and items that will allow us to interact with our environments? To cite an example, the way you used lava against your opponents.

Adrian Jones: The big one is Psi Power. I won't go into an explanation of where Psi power comes from in the game, but basically, you're able to use--the Bishop character, especially--is able to [telekinetically interact] with the environment. You can do basic things, like pick up a pipe and smack somebody with it. He can push a huge pile of objects. And he can pick up a large number of objects and throw them, one by one, at [other players]. But the best ability is Psi Rift, where she draws all objects in the area into a ball and throws it. The Bishop can't use any weapons, but when she picks up all of the objects, they'll tear off the walls and form a big ball, and that's a really good [alternative to conventional weapons]. It's also a really good defense, because the Guardian might have a rocket launcher, and that can lock on, which is definitely a huge pain in the ass. But when you've got a huge ball of objects in front of you, it also forms a shield. Now, the objects are breakable, so the rockets will break apart the ball you're holding, but at least you didn't die. Now, when you eventually launch that ball of objects at a guy, he's going to have a hard time. In Proving Grounds, for example, the ball of objects is usually comprised of lots of knives, wadded up in a huge ball of cloth.

The Bishop also has a power called Psi Wave, and that takes all of the objects in front of her and parts them like the Red Sea. She's got an Overcharge, and on some levels, you can nearly knock every single object on the level all around, whacking people with the objects.

Shack: I know it's a generic term, but your answer prompts me to ask how destructible the environments are in CellFactor: Revolution.

Adrian Jones: Well, it depends on the level. Some levels are more sturdily constructed than others. It really depends on the design of each individual level. For instance, when you're playing Capture the Flag on [some levels], it can be a pain if you can't fly, because all of the environment is destructible, and you may find a platform underneath you by something that the Guardian [character] did. You can't get [up onto the platform], or you may even find yourself under it. A level like Fueling Station is pretty sturdily constructed, and you're going to find yourself able to get around pretty well, but it might be pretty easy to get tossed off the edge of the level.

Each level has a certain degree of destructibility that's been sort of preset for that particular level.

Shack: Would you say that certain levels are more suitable for certain character types?

Adrian Jones: Yeah, everybody has their "home." The Bishop's home is Proving Grounds, and that's a big gladiatorial arena. It's filled with knives, and it's an open area. Even though the Guardian has rocket launchers, he'll never beat her in that area, because he needs a place to hide to shoot rockets from, and he needs range to hit the Bishop.

Shack: That's interesting, because potentially, the Bishop could just tear away objects just to get at him, correct?

Adrian Jones: Yeah, but the Bishop needs a certain amount of range. The real home of the Black-Ops is the Eastern Weapon System Control. That level is really hard for the Bishop to function in, even though it's destructible. She can tear objects off the wall and try to hit people [with them], but the Black-Ops also has some Psi abilities, as well as some sneaky things. He can place proximity mines, [as well as] an alternate fire on the sniper rifle that really ends up working well. We were hoping that his [the Black-Ops] home would've been on Fueling Station, simply because that's a really great place to drive vehicles, but he ended up just dominating on Eastern Weapon System Control.

Shack: Have there been any aspects of CellFactor: Revolution's development that have been particularly challenging?

Adrian Jones: The biggest challenges... there are two. There were a lot of visions for CellFactor: Revolution, and bringing them all together into one vision was very challenging. Also, I didn't have any experience with PhysX, and really, you have to get your hands dirty [with it] before you understand it. Experimenting with PhysX was very exciting, but bringing that together into a game, it's almost disappointing to ship it because there's so much more I want to do with PhysX. The learning curve was a bit steep, but it was pretty darn rewarding. I'm really looking forward to the next game.

Shack: Thanks for your time.

CellFactor: Revolution is due out for PC on May 8, 2007.