Welcome to the inquisition Mr. Pickering! How's it been going now that you can finally take some time to relax?

It's been better, but I could use a few more weeks off before my brain recovers. I need a few days on the beach, a few days in front of the TV, and a few days in front of a computer to play the latest games. Then I hope to be ready build another game.

First off dude, all I can say is "wow". Reviews have been giving nothing but sweet love to the Battlezone revolution.

I guess I'm a little surpised by the extent of the sweet love. But I'm sure glad people are saying nice things, because I get pissed off when people say bad things about something we put so much into. We think we've made something really cool, it's great to see when people appreciate it.

Tell us a little about the graphics engine that you guys were using for Battlone. I know it started off as I-76 but changed dramatically. What did you personally add to the Battlezone environment?

We started with I76 and re-wrote piece by piece. George Sutty rewrote the terrain system and optimized all of the low level rendering code. Ken Miller put in all the cool visual effects (along with doing all the physics models, weapons, and a ton of other stuff). Jerry Waldorf re-wrote the networking code. I spent most of my time replacing the AI. I try to keep vehicles from falling off cliffs, bumping into each other, keep them following orders, etc. The AI still looks pretty stupid sometimes, but I'm happy with what we were able to accomplish.

In the future, what graphical enhancements are you looking for in the '3d accelerator age of computer gaming'?

I'd like to see a graphics standard that is a little more standard. I hate having to spend so much of our time getting graphics to work on every card, when each card/driver is slightly (or not so slightly) different. Once we get to this point, I guess I just want to see more polys/sec and higher resolution textures.

Tell us a little about the programming of Artificial Intelligence. What is the main goal when trying to lay out good AI routines?

The main goals are to make the enemy units fun to kill, and the friendly units as un-stupid as possible. The second goal is much harder than the first. The problem is that humans are so intelligent that it takes super computers and huge programs to mimic even the smallest piece of human intelligence. So I put a huge amount of effort into the simplest things like following a path. Other than that, the main design philosophy was to keep the rules simple - the principle being that if we can't make it smart, we should at least make it predictatable. When you give an order to a wingman, we would much rather have it do something predictably wrong than surprisingly wrong.

How long have you been programming? Are there any other games that we may recognize from Brad Pickering?

I've been programming for over 10 years, but only 3 or 4 years in the games business. I worked on the Mac version of Spycraft (with Andrew) before this.

What do you think about the original Battlezone? Did you play it much? Do you think that the Battlezone today was as revolutionary as the Battlezone arcade?

I liked it but I didn't have the quarters to play at the time. I love that age of games because they were less immersive and yet more addictive. It's hard to decide what is revolution and what is evolution, but I think Battlezone is just as ground breaking. We combined 2 very different genres and I think we found a great balance and a good interface to make it accessable. I think the original Battlezone was a great breakthrough in immersive environment and in technology. I'm sure I am not doing it justice though, because I wasn't really an arcade freak at the time. I was more of an atari 2600 person and I spent most of my time with Space Invaders

Are you a strategy player or a deathmatch player? And also, what unit do you play the most in death match and why?

I'm more of a strategy player, but surprisingly I'm not that good at either. I hope to get better at the game during my time off. I like the Thunderbolt because you don't have to aim too well.

Are you playing the McDonald's Monopoly game? Cause I have Park Place and I need Boardwalk! If you have Boardwalk, I'll give you $10 for it!

I tend to loose my pieces soon after I finish my fries. Too bad. I could use that ten bucks.

Finally, when they induct Battleone into the gaming hall of fame, what is your acceptance speech going to be?

They will push us off the stage before I get a chance to speak. Andrew and maybe George or Mike will get to thank their parents or their agents, but our 20 seconds will be up before I get a chance to say I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the incredible talent of the people on the team (like uber programmer Ken Miller).

Later,
Brad