Nightdive Studios’ The Factor: Remastered is now obtainable on consoles and PC. The improved model of the 2002 game serves as a sequel to the legendary John Carpenter film. To be taught extra about the way it was lovingly touched up, ComingSoon spoke to Nightdive’s Director of Enterprise Growth Larry Kuperman and Artwork Director Joel Walsh.
“The 2002 third-person survival horror shooter that serves as a sequel to the genre-defining 1982 movie is again, remastered by Nightdive Studios to carry this revolutionary mix of quick paced squad motion meets survival horror to the fashionable period. Together with Antialiasing, Per Pixel Lighting, 4K Decision and as much as 144 FPS,” says the official description.
What was it about The Factor (2002) that made Nightdive Studios wish to give it such a loving remaster?
Larry Kuperman: The sport really offered effectively when it was first launched in 2002, promoting over one million copies. It was praised for being revolutionary and but by no means reached its full potential due at the least partially to the technical limitations of the time. Which makes it a great title for a remaster. Once we had been capable of get involved with members of the unique growth crew, Ron Ashtiani and Mark Atkinson, and so they had been keen to assist us, the mission was a go.
The fear-trust system in The Factor: Remastered so distinctive and captures the theme of the movie rather well. What can new gamers count on from that within the gameplay?
Joel Walsh: New gamers can count on improved squad AI and simpler navigation by the squad menu. Ron additionally redrew the overhead icons so that they’re simpler to know and Mark fastened the damaged blood screening take a look at. That was a serious grievance of the unique. Character lessons are the identical – soldier, medic and engineer. So, on this regard, the remaster is like the unique, solely rather more thrilling. You possibly can principally do no matter you wish to a better NPC crew, however simply bear in mind: nobody survives alone.
The Factor: Remastered appears to be like phenomenal. Loads of enhancements had been handcrafted by Nightdive, similar to textures, character mannequin tweaks, and animations. How is it discovering that stability of staying true to the unique recreation’s feel and appear whereas additionally updating it?
Walsh: We had a couple of 12 months of planning, so it wasn’t too troublesome. I acquired an invitation from Stephen to affix Nightdive after wrapping two options: Hawkins and Mullin’s Reefer Beast and Salisbury’s Resident Evil Romero doc. That’s when the prep work for artwork started – halfway by Turok 3. I believe Kaiser jumped on code across the identical time.
We began by monitoring down belongings that Artworks used and recovered round 70%. After that, Stephen, Joe and Larry invited Ron and Mark to affix, and so they provided the remainder. That put us over the end line. So, visually it’s largely the identical recreation, solely larger decision. On common, each floor is stretched 400-800% with out relying closely on upscalers. In a couple of cases, just like the hangar door on the climate station, the feel high quality was too low, so we needed to remake it. It was case-by-case, very respectful.
For 3D edits, Ron wrote an in depth information crammed with unbelievable artwork and suggested the crew the entire method by. Similar for Mark. They each had a direct hand in growth, and doubled for QC. For fashions, Jon Poljo, the studio’s artwork director, got here up with a plan to subdivide faces and enhance the character’s polygon depend to make them look extra pure. Albert Mairin-Garau dealt with these and labored carefully with me on environments. We additionally had entry to larger poly enemy fashions and skins. A couple of folks tackled animations.
The Factor has solely grown in recognition prior to now 20+ years. Is it thrilling getting to point out this story, which serves because the sequel we by no means acquired within the movie world, to a brand new viewers and in the absolute best method with the remaster?
Walsh: Completely. We’re all followers at Nightdive and Atari, so it was very thrilling to accomplice with Common Merchandise & Experiences and share this remaster with the world. If new gamers expertise a fraction of the nostalgia we felt 20 years in the past after watching Carpenter’s masterpiece and enjoying the unique, then we’ve executed our job.
The lighting and 3D rendering has seen an enormous overhaul in The Factor: Remastered. What was the most important problem in bettering upon the ambiance of the unique?
Walsh: All rendering was executed internally by Kaiser and KEX crew in KEX engine. Lighting and grading went by a number of iterations with Ron Ashtini on the helm. We additionally added regular and spec maps. Brendan McKinney did the preliminary move with Ron, then Jon did a last move after I left for Digital Eclipse to work on Tetris. As an apart, Kasier and I got here up with the concept so as to add movie grain to emulate ’51, ’82 and ’11, which is a selectable choice within the menu and my most well-liked method of enjoying. That system was borrowed from Shadowman.
The Factor: Remastered is now obtainable on PC and consoles
