Jagged Alliance 2 » Interview with Jagged Alliance 2 maker - Norman Olsen

"There was talk of multiplayer as a possible feature earlier in the game's development..."

Norman Olsen
Interview with Jagged Alliance 2 maker

Norman Olsen: I have been artistic since I was young. My interest in art continued to evolve throughout adolescence. By the time I was in high-school, I decided to try my hand at animation. So I attended a two year college course in animation for television, but upon graduating, I felt it was the wrong direction for me. So I decided to pursue something else that I was heavily interested in; video games. Throughout the last decade, I have been involved in many projects ranging from Jagged Alliance 2 and Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business to Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Rainbow Six: Vegas.

Currently, I am on hiatus from the game industry. In my spare time, I enjoy doing digital art, photography and most recently, learning website design / web programming.

Norman Olsen: I worked at Sir-tech for three years (from 1997 to 2000). In the course of that time, I had various duties, as I worked on various projects (aside from the JA2 series, I also worked on Wizardy 8). For JA2, my role mainly involved making environment sets. This ranged from building ground tiles like grass, sand, mud and water for example to making trees, bushes, house walls, windows, doors and roofs. I also was heavily involved in making props, like run-down vehicles, wooden crates, barrels etc.. Since the game is from an isometric/orthographic view, I (along with other team members) ended up doing modeling a lot of these items in 3DS Max, rending those models using an isometric/orthographic view port, and touching up those rendered images within Photoshop. Once the assets for JA2 were done, I ended up doing loading screen images (once again, using 3d rendered images as a base, then touching them up in Photoshop).

From there, I ended up going over to the Wizardry project where my duties involved modeling 3d environments and texturing them.

Norman Olsen: Lol no, not all are mine. The bulk of the environment / prop stuff was mainly divided between myself and another person (Eric Cheng). We both had enough different tile sets to do that had enough variety that we ended up doing equal amounts of generic stuff (like ground tiles, building tiles, trees, bushes, etc). Some specific tile sets were done by Eric, while others were done by myself. The game would have taken too long to build if I had to do everything ;)

It was challenging to design at times for sure.. Before I got hired at Sir-tech, the JA series had always relied on flat rooftops. When I joined the team, I started experimenting with peaked roofs. When I showed the roof concepts to the project designer & manager (Ian Curry) as well as the lead programmer (Andrew Emmons), they were both very interested in making a tiling peaked roof set. This part was tricky to get it right, but once I got it correctly, there were many different peaked roof tilesets used for various buildings (which made towns look more natural). But building anything had to be carefully sized (to make sure the objects occupied the proper widths, lengths and heights) so that they not only rendered correctly in the JA2 engine, but so that the programmers can enter the correct bullet collision data as well.

As for the team, we got along very well. Everyone had an up-beat sense of humor, and we really enjoyed working on the project together. We had an excellent core of artists and programmers who really got along very well together. Many nights, we would stay late (not only because of the amount of work to do, but also because the project went so smoothly overall and it was just so fun doing what we did and hanging out together). Towards the end, when crunch time hit, this is when the pressure started to build up. So there was a natural level of stress, but we held together and got the job done. It was my first crunch time ever, so it was hard. But the end product turned out exceptionally well. I definitely miss those days!

Norman Olsen: Ah, those screen shots bring back memories :)
The first set of images (pages 5 - 8) look to be early conceptual images for layout / design purposes. These must have been done after I joined the JA2 team. So Ian must have been working with another artist to brainstorm over ideas of how things should be laid out. Images on pages 13 and 14 are actually screen shots of the JA2 editor :) This is where the JA2 maps are created. Linda Currie (Ian's wife) was in charge of taking all the tile sets the artists did, and build maps from those. She would lay out all the rooms by simply selecting which wall / roof sets she wanted, then drag-and-draw the structure to the desired size. Then it was simply a matter of choosing which doors and windows she wanted and placed them strategically for game play purposes. Then she would select which props to insert into the rooms (desks, dressers, stoves, beds, etc..) and simply click where she wanted to place them within the rooms.

As far as features that weren't implemented is concerned, I am only aware of one. At one point in development, Ian was considering adding flame throwers as one of the weapons. But if memory serves me correctly, we were running low on time. So if we did implement this, it would mean we would have needed to create burned objects for almost everything (burned furniture, trees, stuff like that). It would also have meant creating various animated fire (which would have been another challenge in such a short period of time). It would have been a very cool weapon, but we just couldn't implement it, as there was still much to do.

Norman Olsen: There was talk of multiplayer as a possible feature earlier in the game's development. There could be any number of technological reasons as to why it was not implemented. I can only suspect it perhaps had something to do with the JA2 engine architecture. This is a question better answered by the programmers than a tile set artist ;)

Norman Olsen: To be honest, Aside from Urban Chaos (which I have heard of but never tried) I'm not familiar with the other mods. Once my role in the development of JA2 was done, I migrated over to Wizardry 8. I had my fill of playing JA2 for quite a while given the amount of overtime / weekends and heavy testing spent during development. In fact, it took quite a while after JA2's release before I installed it at home and started playing it again. Since then, I fire it up once in a while to reminisce on the good old days. They're long gone, but brings back good memories.

Norman Olsen: I wouldn't say it was so much about 'financial problems' as it was probably more about being economical by creating a smaller scale, more focused gamed. Let's face it, while being able to wonder around and explorer is fun, JA 2's Arulco was a very large place. As far as I was personally concerned, I found it to be too large in fact. The amount of time to explorer the map would be insane. Add to the fact that a game that is larger in scope takes more design and programming work, I think the goal was to make things more linear and thus more concentrated. By keeping the overall exploration space smaller as well as reusing some existing assets, the development process was faster this time around. While it may have been somewhat frustrating from some gamers / fans, I don't think I can really blame Sir-Tech for going in this direction. Game development is not cheap. And since Unfinished Business isn't really considered a full-blown sequal as say JA 3, I guess it made sense to go in this direction to capitalize on the leverage we had (meaning reusing code and assets you have while minimizing the time, money and workload on newer aspects of the game).

Norman Olsen: I'm not privy to that sort of information. I left the company a few years before they closed up shop. This would be a question better suited for former management to answer.
When a ex co-worker (who was still working at Sir-Tech at the time) called me up to inform me that they were closing their doors for good, I was surprised to be honest. I didn't see that coming. So the only thing I can guess on is that the products didn't sell well enough to bring in enough profit to keep working on future games. It truly is a shame. It was a good company with good people making good products. Many companies in the game industry come and go, as it is an extremely competitive and cut throat business.

If companies are not being bought out or merging / partnering with others, it would take producing products of extreme mass market appeal that sells well to stand on their own in my opinion. As good as the JA and Wizardry series was, perhaps it wasn't appealing enough to more players. Contrast this to games like say Unreal Tournament and Quake for example, these products have a much broader appeal than niche market turned based strategy games. And this is perhaps what frustrates me on some level. In general, companies tend to stick to tried and true formulas that are just repackaged. Originality could come at a heavy price for smaller companies that aren't financially big enough to take their losses in the event those products don't sell enough. Perhaps Sir-Tech was victim to such an example. This is not to suggest that all small companies that focus on original niche market content will go bankrupt, but the odds are not in their favor if those products they make don't sell enough.

Norman Olsen: When Sir-Tech closed their doors, Ian Currie and the rest of the team eventually went over to Strategy First Inc (moving into a satellite office however, not the main headquarters in Montreal, Quebec - Canada). But obviously, Strategy First didn't own the rights to the JA franchise. But it makes perfect sense for Strategy First to get into the JA franchise, as those type of games fits very well within Strategy First's lineup of titles they themselves made and published (which is mainly strategy games). So while I'm not privy to what went on behind closed doors, obviously, an agreement was struck between Sir-Tech / Ian and SFI. Ever since, the JA franchise has been under SFI's reign.

Norman Olsen: Actually, I haven't. Truth be told, I haven't played any JA2 mods.
One of those days though, I'll have to pick some up and give them a try. Who knows… maybe I'm missing out on some good stuff!

Norman Olsen: Ah, JA3... I completely forgot about that! I wasn't actually involved on that one (as I have since migrated over to Wizadry 8 at that point). I know the team started working on an early prototype. I do recall the M.E.R.C Shadow being modeled, unwrapped and textured..(and from what I recall, he was starting to look damn cool!) I also recall very early prototype level stuff.. The team was testing destructible walls as an example (it was all so early in the development stages that it wasn't even a game at that point.. more of a matter of getting the engine up and running [I beleive the engine was proprietary If I'm not mistaken] while some of the other staff set out to work on bringing some of the good old JA clan into 3d [as mentioned, Shadow for example] as well as getting some basic buildings done for testing).

My understanding was that there was going to be some repeat characters from JA / JA2 along with some new characters. But the project was so early in development, I never got a chance to see how it turned out.
When I left the company (it was on good terms as I had nothing against the company or anyone... I left to move to western Canada and see what the western part of my country was like), the team was still working on the prototype (up till Sir-Tech closed its doors I guess). So things like maps, weaponry and what not was completely unknown to me. I do think that the idea was to really add new and exciting stuff that didn't make it into JA 2 (there was early talk of the flame thrower again lol).

And unlike JA2, the user would be free to rotate the camera around to get a good look at their surroundings and therefore be able to 'plan in 3d' as opposed to being stuck viewing the world from a fixed camera angle in 2d.

Norman Olsen: Well, whether they are going in the right direction or not is admittedly subjective. When I saw the video footage (I believe the video was from E3 2007), it looks like it is going to be 'faithful' to the JA series as far as how it looks and plays (again, only going on what I have seen). They seem to have kept the interface looking somewhat JA2-like. The environments look like they have inherited the general look of JA2's as well. I can only imagine that fans won't complain about these aspects. I know I for one am very curious to see how JA3 ultimately turns out. It looks to be heading in the right direction in my opinion.

I do hope however that the developers do add some ingenuity, as I feel that while JA2's formula has worked very well, the franchise can certainly use something refreshing. Whether this is in the form of new and interesting weapons, and / or new merc capabilities as well as some very creative environments, there definitely has to be something new added into the mix. If the game stays too close to JA2 without new elements, I don't think it will necessarily be a bad thing, but I have a feeling that after all this time, fans of the series may be expecting more. It will be very interesting to see how JA3 turns out.

Norman Olsen: Indeed, I will be checking out the newest release (assuming my computer is powerful enough to run it). As for the JA crew, it has been a long time for sure. I am not really in contact with them anymore. Seems we all drifted and went our separate ways. I would image some of us still stay in contact, but it has been ages since I spoke with any of them. Life happens, you know? People move away, or priorities change. But they were a fantastic crew for sure. Since Sir-Tech as a smaller, more focused company, people were not simply numbers there.. Everyone was heavily counted on, and everyone contributed in pretty large ways.. and along the course of development, we really got to know each other and worked so well together. Who know.. perhaps some day, some of us will converge. You never know what the future holds.

Norman Olsen: I would definitely be up for it. As already mentioned, they're a great group of guys. I enjoyed Sir-tech as it was a small company with focused people making great games. It would be nice to revisit those glory days again.

Norman Olsen: All I can really say is to have faith and give the forthcoming franchise game(s) a chance. Even though it isn't developed by the original team, I think we can expect some good things. I for one am very curious to see how things turn out. It is an excellent franchise that deserves excellent sequels. But like the rest of you, the only thing I can do is wait until the next release! :)

Norman Olsen: Thank you guys for the interview. It made me think about the JA franchise as well as the people I worked with all over again. It was a nice trip back through memory lane :) To the fans, I (like you) look forward to JA3. Thanks to the fans for all the support for the franchise throughout the years. It is much appreciated! The game industry needs to hold onto those kind of games, as they keep things fresh and interesting! I'm very curious to see where things go from here for JA. Lot's of potential and unexplored territory just waiting to be discovered!

Thanks again for everything guys. It's been a blast!

Cheers,
Norm Olsen