Although the Game Developers Conference has always been a show first and foremost about game development and technology, there are always a few new games being shown around the show floor. One nice surprise at this year's GDC was a sneak peek at Croteam's Serious Sam 2, on display in the form of a brief non-interactive demo running at both ATI's and Microsoft's DirectX booths. For some insight as to what we were actually seeing, we caught up with Croteam lead designer Davor Hunski and lead programmer Alen Ladavac.
The demo itself was barely two minutes long, featuring lots of the spacious outdoor levels similar to those found in the first two Serious Sam games (the First Encounter and the Second Encounter), albeit with lots more detail. The demo (which was being rendered in real-time, and was not a movie) -- started off with Sam sitting on a bright, shiny, three-wheeled chopper, and then driving off out into the level. According to the Croteam guys, vehicles will play a part in Serious Sam 2, and will be used in some interesting ways -- in some points, Sam may need to outrun enemies to get to a vehicle first, as enemies will be able to use vehicles as well.
Another scene showed a motley cast of characters running through the level as a squad. Keeping in line with previous Serious Sam games, all the characters were bright and colorful -- in particular two oversized behemoths built and outfitted like NFL football players. At first, we thought this might be a display of co-op in action, but as it turned out, these were actually bad guys chasing Sam through the level. If you can imagine such a thing, imagine the Blue Meanies (from Yellow Submarine) brought to life in a rainbow of flavors -- and with heavy artillery -- and you start to get the idea.
As the camera panned around the chase, a lot of effects we've come to associate with the series - big, open spaces and bright sunny skies - were all in effect. As is the norm for many graphical tech demos these days, the Serious Sam 2 demo also contained demonstrations of the game's physics, starting with the now-standard human-pachinko-machine: a series of bodies dropped off the side of a cliff, bouncing around wooden planks protruding out the side. There was also a scene in which a dozen or so metal barrels were set up and knocked over with another barrel, sending the collection falling down a hill in every direction.
The end of the demo was a showcase for one of the oversized football player enemies close up, zooming in and rotating around the character to get a good look at the character's amazingly textured surfaces. From the shiny exterior armor to the small bumps on the football being held in its hand, everything was textured to a remarkably effective degree.
Beyond the short demo, Hunski and Ladavac weren't able to reveal much about Serious Sam 2. The team is still hoping for a 2004 release, although that date isn't set in stone and could still slip into next year. The basic formula clearly hasn't changed, with lots of huge, bright, colorful levels, minimal story, and tons of enemies to shoot. And to our delight, cooperative play will return, as it was one of the most popular features of the exisiting Serious Sam games.
Croteam has grown much since the release of their first games -- there were about 10 people on the original Serious Sam team, but they've now grown to over 20 people. As a team based in Croatia -- far from the center of the game development world -- the original Serious Sam demo was instrumental in building up a buzz around the game, and a demo for Serious Sam 2 will almost certainly be released before the game. When that might be is still a mystery, however - we'll keep tabs on Serious Sam 2 as the game continues development.
