THE REAL
NEVERENDING STORY
E3 SPECIAL REPORT

19th April 1999

While you're walking the E3 floor this year, try not to let your disillusionment with the depressing number of 'me-too' titles on show get you down - head on over to booth number 7341, Kentia Hall, where 1999's best-kept secret is being shown behind closed doors. 

The Real Neverending Story is the first ever true 3D real-time (action) adventure game. Due for release in Germany in December 1999 and throughout the world shortly after, it will be a landmark title that'll take the PC games market by storm. 

Since December 1998, discreet monsters has provided media and fans of The Real Neverending Story (TRNS) with a 'monthly report', which is designed to offer a unique insight into the development of this landmark game. This E3 Special combines new material with some of the interviews and comments you may have missed.

Contents:
INTRODUCTION	2
MONSTER ENGINE	2
THE DEATH OF THE ADVENTURE GAME?	3
ROLL ON CHRISTMAS	5


INTRODUCTION
The Real Neverending Story (TRNS) is the world's first genuine 3D real-time (action) adventure game. One with a narrative as complex as the best book you've ever read, as beautiful as a Luc Besson film and as enjoyable as the best sex you've ever had - the only difference being it will certainly last longer. Gamers view the mythical world of Fantasia as if through their own eyes, interacting with its inhabitants and exploring stunning vistas, villages and individual buildings. The plot offers unprecedented player freedom, featuring a definite start and finish, though allowing users to complete the game in many different ways.

"Our game isn't based on the film," says Siggi Kogl, producer, president and founder of discreet monsters. "We've taken the characters and concept behind the original book, added our own slant and presented it in a way that those who are familiar with the story will feel as if they are in the Fantasia they imagined. And Neverending Story newcomers will be transported to a world which is rich in detail and history and where the characters within the game will feel like old friends." 

While many of you will be familiar only with the films - and, of course, the hideously grating theme tune; admit it, you'll be singing it all day now we've reminded you - the book itself is no kiddie tale, with a narrative that is as popular with adults as it is children. Indeed, such is its popularity that, in author Michael Ende's native Germany, it has sold more copies than the Bible. 

The implementation of the plot and narrative is unique. "This will be one of the very first games where the player actually feels a proper part of the story," adds Timon Herzog, creative director. "It has never happened in this way before - but we have to prove that it works. It's new stuff."


MONSTER ENGINE
The Real Neverending Story (TRNS) utilises discreet monsters' amazing MonsterEngine(r), which is capable of rendering in real-time the darkest of dungeons, the most verdant of forests or the busiest of villages - basically any location, indoor or out, with seamless transition between each. 

The Real Neverending Story 's world is unique. It's not as dark as, say, Quake II - though there are locations that are particularly foreboding - or as fluffy as something like Croc. It's a totally original world in which anything is possible - a living, breathing fairytale land.

discreet monsters' proprietary MonsterEngine(r) has been designed specifically for The Real Neverending Story (TRNS) and its subsequent derivatives. With his Quake and Doom mods, Sascha Otterbein, one of the company's five level designers and designer of top id add-ons such as Jailbreak and RTS, had to work with what he had - with MonsterEngine(r) the team can add tools and functionality to whatever they like. This - obviously - speeds things up.               

"If we have a design problem, we can talk with the software team and find out if there's any help they can give us by implementing new functionality to MonsterEngine(r)," Sascha explains. "With the Quake editor you have to work with what you've got. Though it's always possible to solve problems with the Quake editor, the way you have to do it can impede upon your design vision. Basically, this way it's much more efficient."


THE DEATH OF THE ADVENTURE GAME?
"If you think back to the last E3 and the other trade shows, there were many within our industry saying that the adventure genre is dead," says Timon. "That's rubbish. If you look at Zelda and the direction that Half-Life points to, it is clear to me that the adventure genre is not dead; we just need to find new ways to do things. Point and click adventures may be dead, but that is because the format has run its natural course. People are bored with this type of game, as there is really very little interaction with the game world. What we at discreet monsters are doing is giving the player the chance to take part in a living, breathing world. People like escapism, that's why the genre will always be around.

"It's important to highlight the differences between The Real Neverending Story (TRNS) and every other first-person game or every other adventure game you have played in the past. The most important being that TRNS is real-time. Take Half-Life, for example - we all recognise that it's a brilliant game. But the story is very linear. The Real Neverending Story (TRNS) is real-time - events occur within the game world whether you are there to see them or not. You experience an epic adventure on many different levels with many different branches. There are plenty of sub-plots and locations that you may or may not come across if you play it once. We want it to be an adventure that people experience in totally different ways."

"We have been very surprised that there doesn't appear to be anyone else trying to create a true real-time 3D adventure, which includes action, emotion based dialogue, jump & run, etc., based on a very huge interactive story," adds Siggi. 

The Real Neverending Story (TRNS) will be a landmark title for the adventure game genre as well as for the action adventure genre; a pivotal moment that will redefine the way people play adventure games. But with all its innovations and differences between it and the 'traditional' adventure, is Timon concerned that it will be such a departure to what gamers are used to, that some will be put off by its freedom? Of course not.

 "I think there is little danger of people being put off by The Real Neverending Story (TRNS) simply because it's the next logical step for the genre. And, personally, I think it is going to be much more enjoyable for people to play than a traditional linear adventure, mainly because you often reach points where you get stuck. Sometimes the puzzles in adventured games are far too complicated, and if you get stuck you cannot go any further. In our game, you can take a break from your mission and attempt another side of the game in order to progress. There's a much higher level of freedom. You can always approach things differently." 

And it's this real-life approach that should get games players the world over salivating. Although games are supposed to provide a certain form of escapism, there's nothing worse than being forced down a route or hitting a point where progression requires consultation with a magazine's tips supplement. Imagine life in the point and click adventure world, where every action - no matter how trivial it was - required such a convoluted and illogical solution for such a small outcome. Every time you wanted to take your car out for a spin, you'd have to find the key - probably stuffed inside a turkey or something - locate some petrol (with something to carry it in, obviously) and a hose or some such in order to refuel your vehicle. Sounds absurd, doesn't it - but it's life in the point and click genre. It would be a nightmare if we lived like that. And absolutely no fun.


ROLL ON CHRISTMAS
Hopefully we've given you an insight into the kind of information you'll find every four weeks or so in The Real Neverending Story (TRNS) monthly report. It makes the days until release much more bearable - check out www.discreetmonsters.com (www.discreetmonsters.com/data/press/monthlyreport.htm) every month for an update. Or to be included on the special media list and receive the copy in advance for publication in whole or part, e-mail your details to simon@bastion.co.uk
