Nuckles87 had a one on one interview with weapons programmer Jeremiah Cauthorn on The Conduit 2.
What can you tell us about the changes in multiplayer?
We’ve added all new levels. We’ve also added six new weapons with an alt-fire mode on each weapon such as the TCP launcher. You can also lay out proxy mines so when people walk by them, they explode. You can also tag people with them. We support 12 player online multiplayer and local splitscreen with 2-4 player multiplayer. We’ve been working closely with Nintendo so we have this new rival system. So if you meet someone in a match you can click their name and add them to your rivals list.
So friend codes are done away with?
We still have friend codes. If you have a friend you haven’t met publicly, you’d still have to type in his friend code. However if it’s someone new in-game, you can add them to your rivals list so that help smooth that whole process out. Furthermore, we do have a pass from Nintendo so you can add voice chat with those people as well.
Is their voice chat with any multiplayer game or only with friends?
Only with friends or people on your rivals list.
So there’s no chatting with strangers?
Yea. That’s still the case.
I don’t mind that much. I’ve been on X-Box LIVE and there are a lot of annoying people on Halo 3.
(Laughs) Yea, you’re not gonna get as much swearing and people saying stuff about your mom.
I know you’re trying to do what the HD consoles do often. Does this game have any unique hooks? Things that you can’t find in any other first-person shooter?
Really that would be based around the control system. Outside of PC gaming, I find you get the best control with the Wiimote and Nunchuck. It’s as simple as aiming at the screen and firing the trigger. It offers a much more precise control that you just don’t get with the dual analog sticks. Also, we are pushing the Wii graphics pretty hard this time around.
Is there any support for the classic controller?
It’s not there yet, but we are looking into it.
Since you’re the weapons programmer, what is your favorite weapon in this game?
Honestly, I really like the ARC Eclipse. I’m a stealthy kinda guy and I like to go invisible and this weapon lets you go invisible if you charge it up. There’s actually a suit upgrade that lets you not show up on radar as well. So those two combined together let me sneak around and own everyone.
Are the suit upgrades exclusive to the multiplayer?
They’re not exclusive to multiplayer. They are in single player as well. Certain missions you do will allow you to aquire those as options that you can have.
How will you balance those suit upgrades?
There’s a pre-defined list of suit upgrades some will be locked from the start tough. There’s an invasion mode we have with one-to four player splitscreen in which you can acquire money, and there’s a store where you will be able to purchase new suit upgrades and use them in multiplayer. Now, each suit upgrade gives you a different bonus and other suit upgrades can counter-balance them. So online, it really gives you a different way to play the game. You’re not always gonna know how many shots it will take to kill someone.
What kind of suit upgrades will we see?
Suit upgrades include such things as extra ammo, faster run speed and unlimited sprint. Some of them are also specializations to certain weapons. For instance we have one for a turret which you normally have to hold down to fire, but this one will auto-fire by itself. So you can run around targeting opponents and the turret will just fire by itself.
Where you with High Voltage before The Conduit?
I was on board for Conduit 1. I came near the end. Polishing a few things, sprucing up some features and bug fixing.
The Conduit 1 had quite a few hacking problems, could you tell us why?
Why? Well, to put it bluntly, we weren’t prepared. We didn’t have any protection code. We left a file open on our route that was very vulnerable to just flipping a flag and cheats were enabled. We actually made it so you couldn’t use cheats in multiplayer originally, but with the Gecko system it was easy for people to load up our game and hack with it.
You told me earlier this game would have patches. How will you be able to do this on Wii?
We are working with Nintendo on a downloadable patch system. We have a lot of hack prevention code now, so if someone is cheating with unlimited ammo or health, it will flag them as a cheater and boot them out. Hackers are clever people. They will always find some way around something. So now, when that happens, we will be able to apply a patch and abate that for awhile.
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Good stuff! I hope this is the wii shooter the first should have been.