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Ravaged

Ravaged: Interview

In the future the planet has been Ravaged by natural disasters.

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Ravaged is a post-apocalyptic online shooter for PC that launched last month. There's a heavy emphasis on vehicular combat and team strategy, as two teams scrap it out over large and intricate maps, battling over precious resources in a barren vision of the future.

We'll be taking a much closer look at how the game's progressing in a future Frontline report, but for now here's our recent interview with Ravaged's executive producer, Joe Halper.

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Tell us about Ravaged, in a nutshell. 

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Ravaged is a vehicle and weapon based, multiplayer PC first-person shooter. It is set in a post-apocalyptic earth ripped apart by natural disasters and it chronicles the struggle between the "Resistance" and the "Scavengers" as they fight for vanishing resources, disputed territory, and their very survival. It is team focused, VERY fast paced and lots of fun!

You recently had a successful Kickstarter campaign. How did you find the process, and would you consider using crowdfunding for future projects? 

The Kickstarter experience was pretty amazing. Setup was clear and simple and since a lot of the game was already developed we were looking to gather funds to help us not only create more content for the game but also support us getting the word out there at conventions and other gaming events. Ravaged happens to be the very first crowd-funded game to be offered on EA's Origin site and we are really excited to be the first to break ground with that. We would definitely consider using crowd-funding for future projects.

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You raised nearly $40,000 through Kickstarter. How did the additional funding allow you to improve the game? 

The additional funding helped us to create more content for the game such as weapons, vehicles and environment assets. It also helped support our efforts for getting the word out at conventions and other game centric gatherings.

What inspired you to make Ravaged, and were there any major influences you'd like to tell us about? 

Some members of the team, including myself, have a history of making successful multiplayer FPS titles that focus on high-energy vehicle gameplay in interesting open worlds. Back in the day we worked on a highly successful Battlefield 1942 MOD called Desert Combat. It was a fast paced, high-intensity, extremely addictive infantry and vehicle FPS that was a huge hit with more than 3 million downloads and lots of awards. We gained the interest of DICE and EA due to its success and they contracted us to come up with fun gameplay features for Battlefield 2.

What made it into the game were features like the medic class abilities, squad systems, artillery, commander systems, satellite scans, etc. We also created a long list of items that didn't make it but were a blast to experiment with like different gameplay modes, heli rappelling, camera systems, vehicle upgrades based on class and a long list of other features. Our company, Trauma Studios, was soon acquired by DICE and we helped with the release of Battlefield 2 and started some other projects.

After DICE became an EA development studio we left to create Kaos Studios in NYC and then released Frontlines Fuel of War. With Frontlines there was a major investment into the single-player campaign but what really stood out was what we were known for - multiplayer. With Ravaged we wanted to focus on what we do best and that is a PC multiplayer team-based vehicle and infantry FPS title. We are extremely happy with what we have accomplished for such a small team on Ravaged.

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Vehicular combat is central to Ravaged. How have you balanced that side of the game to make sure that players who prefer to play on foot aren't at a major disadvantage? 

We have spent a lot of time working on the vehicle gameplay and we continue to tweak the vehicle mechanics based on player feedback. We are really pleased at where the vehicles are currently at and they will continue to only get better. The people on foot though are an integral part of the game and we spend just as much time tweaking and perfecting how all of the classes work with not only one another but also against the vehicles.

We have five different classes on each side each with unique weapons so there is plenty to do to keep you occupied while still having a great time. You can also modify the loadouts within each class depending on how you like to play. Each class has different choices that can only be selected by that particular class and on some of the maps it is more important to move around on foot rather than be in a vehicle in order to have the advantage. There is also the Weapon Specialist and Bodyguard. These two classes are specifically designed to be anti-vehicle. So if you see a heavy use of vehicles that are dominating the game then you might start seeing a shift to these classes to temper things down a bit. There are also currently 2 maps, IceBreaker and OilRig, that are infantry only and there is a lot of fast-paced gameplay action on those, especially when you have 32 players going at it.

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As expected, there are several different game modes featured. How have you made them feel unique, and what sets the game apart from other shooters? 

Our current version of the game has Capture the Resource and Thrust. The objective of Capture the Resource is to steal the other team's fuel and bring it back to a gathering spot near your home base. This game mode really does well with showcasing both the vehicle and foot chases in game and works with maps of any size. The Thrust mode requires you to take a wave of control points before you can capture the next wave. Your objective is to push the other side back to their home base. When a team captures all control points then they battle it out to capture the opposing teams primary spawn point. This creates a wave of intense gameplay and a bit of tug of war style gaming. There are also other game modes in the works.

At the moment the servers support 32 players. Are there plans to increase that number in the future?

Although we have played games with player counts higher than 32 in our beta, we are focused currently on supporting only 32 players.

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And finally, what kind of support are you planning on giving the game post-launch?

We are continuing development on more features and fixes and this will be ongoing. There is a significant collection of features coming up before the end of the year if all goes well. There will be additional weapons, vehicles, game modes and a ton of optimizations and gameplay improvements. We built this game for longevity so we are going to be continuing to listen to the community, building more features and tweaking gameplay to make it the most entertaining experience possible.

Ravaged is available to download now on Steam, and will set you back £6.99. For more information you can head to 2Dawn's official website.

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Related texts

Frontline: Ravaged

Frontline: Ravaged

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"Some vehicles have mounted turrets, others allow teammates to hang out the windows whilst brandishing machine guns."

Ravaged: Interview

Ravaged: Interview

ARTICLE. Written by Mike Holmes

"With Ravaged we wanted to focus on what we do best and that is a PC multiplayer team-based vehicle and infantry FPS title."



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