BeyondUnreal Interview - Glen Dahlgren, Project Director, Legend Entertainment
World Press Preview Event: November 7, 2002
Chantilly, Virginia, USAQAPete: Will you be coming out with some docs to help modders and mappers?Glen Dahlgren: Yup. Well, that's the intention, anyway.QAPete: How did you feel when multiplayer was pulled out? Mixed emotions?Glen Dahlgren: Well, it depends on what hat I'm wearing. As a designer, it would have been nice to explore that, but as a project director, it was the only decision to be made. The Unreal franchise is built a certain way at this point. Unreal Tournament is their hard-core multiplayer franchise, Unreal is their singleplayer, storytelling line. So, why compete against each other? From a project director's standpoint, I was very happy to focus on what this game wanted to do well. In WoT, we really were trying to create two games, singleplayer and multiplayer, like every game of its ilk. It would have been nice to be able to focus on one of those two things.QAPete: Down the line, do you see yourselves releasing bonus packs, mission packs, etc.?Glen Dahlgren: Very possible, but I can't be definitive.QAPete: Are you working on another game?Glen Dahlgren: Right now, no. We are totally dedicated to getting Unreal II done and out the door.QAPete: Is there anything else people should know, aside from 'come spend your Christmas money on our game?'Glen Dahlgren: Well, the thing I think people haven't been able to get so far, because all we've had is E3, where we can show off the cool graphics and some of the gameplay, is the story. Legend comes from a real history of adventure gaming. We've got real writers on staff, real schooled designers. The story is very, very important to us, and so we've done everything we can to get a real story into a first person shooter. Actually, we've succeeded pretty well. The characters that are there are not one-dimensional; they've got real histories and real relationships with each other, not just with you.QAPete: You learn this as you progress through the game.Glen Dahlgren: Yes. You interact with the characters, they'll talk to you about how busy they are, etc.QAPete: Do they become more integral to the success of your missions as time goes on?Glen Dahlgren: All of them do. Ne'Ban is piloting your ship, Isaak is giving you new and better weapons as time goes on and modifying the ones you do have...