Alpha Protocol Dialogue Equal To Combat

In an extensive and intriguing interview with Alpha Protocol’s designers over at Iron Tower, Obsidian Entertainment’s Matt MacLean and Chris Avellone have talked up the game’s inventive timed-dialogue system. Instead of the traditional “dialogue trees” system found in such games as the Mass Effect series, Obsidian instead decided to present the player with options and a timer. The result? A game that is true to its spy genre: tense, urgent and an experience that can quickly explode at a moment’s notice.

The dialogue system will also present some nerve-wracking moments, with the developers equating some of the conversations within the game as invoking similar emotions within its play-testers as when they were engaged in actual combat.

“The goal was to create a cinematic spy experience with a sense of urgency, and the dialogue system accomplishes that. A timed dialogue system is more true to the genre (sense of pressure, commitment of your decisions, and spurring the player to make sure they’ve done their homework before going into a conversation they can’t take back).

Like 24, we want you to feel tense and on edge, even during conversations. In focus tests we’ve done, it’s certainly worked. During EmSense testing (a testing procedure that puts sensors on people’s heads, then tracks their brainwaves during playtests) the amount of engagement the player had during a dialogue in Alpha Protocol was comparable to a combat sequence, something other RPGs hadn’t exhibited before, and that’s a good thing.”

The interview is massive and contains numerous nuggets of new intel regarding the upcoming espionage RPG. For instance, through the use of a “hubs within hubs” structure, the possibility of saving the game ten minutes before the end and then experiencing its multiple endings is completely out of the question. Your decisions throughout the game forge a particular story-arc that will persist until the game completes.

Alpha Protocol is due for release on the 360 and PS3 on May 28th.

Source: Meodia