Rogue Spear Retreat

Interview With Travis Getz, Urban Operations Lead Artist.

It's fair to say that the Rainbow Six series just keeps getting better and better with each installment. With the release of the new Rogue Spear Mission Pack: Urban Operations, we thought it would be interesting to have a look "behind the scenes" at what it takes to produce the expansion pack follow-up to the series that has won back-to-back "Action Game of the Year" awards for the last two years.

We want to say a big thanks to Travis Getz, Urban Operations Lead Artist, for generously taking the time to do this in-depth interview that focuses on the creative process behind Urban Ops. Make sure you also check out his bio and Urban Ops designer log at the official Red Storm site.

Click to see larger picture

This interview was published in three parts over the course of the week that Urban Ops was released in April 2000.

Part 1: Urban Ops Questions

Urban Ops Locations
Urban Ops Story
Urban Ops Features

Part 2: Level Design Questions

Job Descriptions
Level Design Philosophy
Level Design Execution

Part 3: Game Industry Questions

Closing Comments

::Questions About Urban Operations::
April 4, 2000

: [ When was the idea for Urban Operations conceived] :

We'd known that there would be a follow-up mission pack pretty much since we started on Rogue Spear. We knew we were making a great game, and creating a mission pack was the next logical step. The decision to make Urban Operations have the "urban" theme related directly to the great fan response we got to levels like the Ruined City in Rogue Spear. The actual name for the mission pack was the result of a quick brainstorming session by the team.

: [ How long did Urban Ops take to complete? ] :

Urban Operations was completed over a six month period. However, if we don't include Christmas and some other "down" time, Urban Ops took about five months of actual "work" time to finish. Rogue Spear itself took about eleven months from start to finish. This is interesting to note, since some games take up to three years (or more) to produce. I think our level of professionalism, hard work and great leadership are the main factors in our being able to produce quality titles in a "compressed" time frame.

::Urban Ops Locations::

: [ How did you go about choosing the locations for Urban Ops? ] :

First, we had to ask ourselves, "What haven't we done?" Then we thought of what kind of locations would make cool levels and where in the world they might be located. Fan input was considered as well.

: [ In general, what sort of inspiration do you use to create new maps for the Rainbow Six series? ] :

Lots of inspiration comes from the people I work with and from fans. The team is almost constantly bouncing ideas off of each other, especially at the outset of a project. Fans give us a healthy dose of their ideas on the RSE Forums and through letters. Other than that, movies, TV, subscriptions to magazines like Cinefex and Smithsonian (about $24 a year - worth it) are really nice, along with a well-stocked library of quality reference books.

One of my most important (and free) inspirations is just looking around my environment. When I am driving through town or in a building, I find myself thinking, "Where would that look good in a level?" or "An interesting firefight could occur here if I built it in the game."

Also, we constantly try to convince management that we need to be sent to the different countries that we are designing mission levels for, but they always decline...

: [ Do you have any particular favorite maps in Urban Ops and why? ] :

Venice is my favorite because it is lots of fun to play in all game types and also because it captures the "atmosphere" of the city (which I have visited).

The London Subway Station is a close runner-up. It has a very solid feel to it and the gameplay is excellent. John Michel did a great job balancing gameplay and atmosphere.

::Urban Ops Story::

: [ We feel that the story is an integral part of any good game. How did you come up with the background stories for each of the missions in Urban Ops? ] :

The producer, Steve Cotton, and the designer, Brian Upton, came up with most of the story stuff. The mission briefings themselves are mostly written by our designer, Brian Upton.

A story is often fleshed out before we actually get working on the characters or play space. As a result, info might end up not appearing in the briefing that you might expect to find there. An example of this is the information regarding how the terrorists in Hong Kong got all that military-grade body armor. We justified it as they raided a military depot a few weeks before the incident, but that info never quite got into the briefing text.

: [ In the Rainbow Six series, are the locations usually decided first, then the story built around them, or is it the opposite? ] :

In general, yes. What usually happens is that the spaces get decided on (maybe designed at this point), the story gets written up, then the levels and characters get made. Sometimes, the guy who writes the original story isn't always aware of what the final characters will look like, or what the gameplay will be like in the finalized levels, but the process generally works pretty well.

Sometimes, if the level creation process turns up some really cool idea that needs to be mentioned in the story (like the bus smashed through the front door of the hotel in the Hong Kong map), then this can be included in the mission briefing.

: [ In the previous titles, who creates the characters and writes their backgrounds? How do you chose which countries they come from? ] :

Generally, this is done by the producer and the designer

: [ Eagle Watch introduced four new Rainbow operatives taken directly from Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six novel. However, we were a little sad to hear there are no new Rainbow operatives joining the team for Urban Ops. Why? ] :

We were concerned about such a large pool of characters being available to the player. If you have a large number of operatives on your strike team roster, some people might use them like cannon fodder.

However, we did create new tango characters, just no new character models. This will probably not even be apparent to most players. What we did do was re-texture existing character models and tweak a few of the models to fit our needs. For example, we did create a new uniform, the biosuit, since it did not exist in Rogue Spear. We just stretched out the polygons in 3D Studio MAX to make it look like someone was wearing a gas mask. The reason we did this was because we couldn't justify spending a lot of time creating new character models considering the excellent array of models we had to work with from Rogue Spear.

::Urban Ops Features::

: [ When you set out to make this mission pack, what were the goals you wanted to accomplish? ] :

I wanted some very well-polished levels, good level design and some excellent multiplayer levels. Above all else, I wanted the game to look great. I think we achieved this.

: [ What's your favorite feature in Urban Ops? What aspect of the game are you most happy with? ] :

Those shells ejecting are my favorite "tweak" feature. The polished state of the final levels is my favorite aspect of the game overall. I feel that each aspect of the game reached an excellent level of completion.

: [ How did fan feedback play a role in making any particular design choices for Urban Ops? What are some specific examples of fan feedback that have been incorporated? ]:

Including the light machine guns was a direct response to fan requests from the RSE Forums. The five map choices for the "classic" R6 missions were based on the levels we saw fans playing most. The Urban Ops mod system and ejecting shells were also included because we knew the fans (and we ourselves) really wanted them.

: [ Your responsiveness to fans' suggestions is one of the major things that has really impressed us about Red Storm. Thanks for being so open to ideas from fans! ] :

That is one of the reasons we believe our games have done so well. Fan opinions and ideas are an excellent resource for game designers, and we would be unwise not to recognize their value when designing titles/levels.

: [ Has the Rogue Spear team had a chance to check out some of the mods made by fans? Any favorites? ] :

Nihon. Need I say more?

: [ What do you think will keep the Rainbow Six franchise ahead of the competition? (SWAT 3, Delta Force 2, etc.) ] :

Our excellent multiplayer component really helps with sales among hardcore gamers. The Tom Clancy name doesn't hurt sales among non-hardcore gamers. With Urban Ops, I think the incredible variety of replay possibilities will keep us ahead of the pack.

: [ While working at Red Storm, have you had the opportunity to meet Tom Clancy? Did you consult with him on any aspect of Urban Ops? ] :

Tom periodically "checks up on the troops." He visits our offices to see what's happening with new ideas and game designs. With the Rainbow Six series, we are at a stage where Tom trusts us to continue making excellent games and not bug him unless we have to.

::Questions About Level Design::
April 6, 2000

::Job Descriptions::

: [ We understand that you are the Lead Artist for Urban Ops. However, your name has appeared in the credits of a couple other Rainbow Six titles. Could you give us a brief look into what roles you played so far in the R6 series? ] :

Eagle Watch: Artist - Learned how things worked on the art side of an R6 title. Created objects for some levels (like the astronaut suit on the Space Shuttle level). Also, with the help of some friends in Europe (working as consultants), I took care of the Russian translation issues for the Shuttle level.

Rogue Spear: Artist - Under the direction of the producer, Carl Schnurr, and working with other members of the team, I worked on designing a majority of the levels in Rogue Spear. Designing the levels involved researching the real-world spaces we were interested in, developing floor plans that would work in our game (with technical direction of more experienced R6 artists), and recommending lighting, objects and textures for the levels. I also built and placed a majority of the objects in the game, textured levels, built vehicle models, weapon models, and fixed bugs.

: [ What were your responsibilities as Lead Artist on Urban Ops? ] :

As lead artist on Urban Ops, I created level designs for the single player campaign with suggestions from the producer, Steve Cotton. I was also responsible for art issues involved in the game. I had libraries of textures and models from the entire R6 series catalogued to use as resources for building Urban Operations levels.

I created one multiplayer space, Chemical Compound, which was my first "start-to-finish" map! I also created two single player spaces (Istanbul and Venice) and tweaked the Hong Kong level (originally created by John Sonedecker) with the help of some ethnic Chinese friends working as consultants. I also fixed lots of bugs and made sure the rest of the artists were getting theirs taken care of in the right order. I should mention here that I had a great team to work with for my first stint at lead artist.

: [ From what we can gather from the job descriptions seen in the Designer Logs, it appears that people working on Rainbow Six games are divided into two major groups: the engineers who work on the code, and the artists who work on the graphics. On the art side of things, what are the main differences between positions like level designer and texture artist? Are the job designations pretty clear cut, or is there usually a lot of overlap? ] :

Here are descriptions of some of the "standard" positions for R6 series artists:

Character Modeller: Models characters and gets the motion capture imported and other character type stuff.

2D Artist: Responsible for creating textures for the game and working on interface issues. Sometimes, a 2D artist will have some 3D skills that will allow them to do things like texture objects or characters (Thomas DeVries is an example).

3D Artist: Tasks can range from creating object, weapon, and vehicle models to designing and building entire levels. These artists are also usually tasked with applying the textures created by the 2D artists onto levels and objects.

Lead Artist: Deals with scheduling issues, oversees the art side of project, often designs levels with help of the producer. Often, lead artists will contribute a few levels to the game or work heavily on the interface.

It should be noted that any artist can switch between different roles or even do some of the more "engineering" type tasks like scripting missions (an example of this is Eric Terry, who worked as a 2D artist and mission scripter for Urban Operations).

:[ What levels have you designed in the R6 series so far?] :

Designs are a team effort, because no matter who does the initial design, everyone who works on that level has a certain amount of input into how it looks/plays. Also, I didn't design any levels totally by myself, each one had a good deal of input from the producer, leads, and other team members.

Here is a list of the levels for which I was tasked with creating the beginning design:

Rogue Spear: The Met, Oil Tanker, Chalet, TV Station, Docks, Nuclear Storage Facility, Spa, Opera House, Train Station, Castle, Nuclear Power Plant
Urban Ops: Turkish Bazaar, Canals of Venice, Warehouse District, Hotel & Crashed Bus, MP Chemical Compound

Subway Station is not listed here because we totally scrapped my original idea and John Michel is responsible for the design which made it into the game. We had a lot of help from our UK office for reference on that one.

[ Rogue Spear's Train Yard engine house concept art by Travis Getz ]

: [ Since we are discussing level design, Travis pointed out some related links. Click here to see more Rogue Spear concept art. Also, check out these images here to get an idea of the level design in Urban Operations. ] :

:: Level Design Philosophy::

: [ When designing a level, what is your philosophy for making a level work well? ] :

I had some good teachers for this, namely Carl Schnurr, John Sonedecker, Steve Cotton, Jonathan Peedin, Thomas DeVries and most everyone else involved in the series. These veterans really helped shape my ideas on level design.

I think that if a level is a solid design, it should be fun to play without any textures on the walls and no objects. Gameplay should be the main issue driving the design of levels.

On the other hand, I feel that creating an ambiance and atmosphere is also very important for levels in this series. The environments are an important part of the story. If you are supposed to be in Hong Kong, I believe it is important to surround the player with a level that really makes them feel like they are there. If you are supposed to be in a military facility in the Russian tundra, then everything around you should reinforce that, from the textures on the walls, to the slow grind of rusty metal blast doors. Lighting, sound, and visual effects can really help contribute to this feeling of "being there."

: [ What games do you think are examples of great level design? ] :

The Ruined City from Rogue Spear is my favorite level ever. I think it balances gameplay and atmosphere perfectly. It is missing things you might see in a real ruined city like street lamps or signs, but you don't miss them because the space is so well designed.

As far as other games goes, I like the opening level for Half Life. No, you weren't running around in that space killing stuff, but I don't think there has to be any killing involved to make a game level great. It was a great way to introduce you to the gameplay and had lots of little "extras" in it that are great. These made the level feel very "interactive" and real. Try getting a drink out of the drink machine, turn up the power on the microwave or attempt to open one of the locked bathroom stalls. Also, messing with the front desk guy's computer is great. The other characters really felt like they had "personality."

::Level Design Execution::

: [ What are the actual steps involved in designing a level for the Rainbow Six series? ] :

Level design changes from project to project (and sometimes, from level to level!). Here are the general steps:

1. Brainstorming - 2 days
2. Reference collection (from the Web, books, magazines, movies, etc.) - 1 week
3. Level design and review - 1 week
4. Level construction (with simple, placeholder textures) - 2 to 4 weeks
5. Level texture creation - 1 to 3 weeks
6. Level texture placement - 1 week
7. Level lighting - 1 week
8. Level object placement - 1 to 2 weeks
9. Level polish - 1 week
10. Level character creation - 1 to 3 weeks
11. Level scripting - 1 to 3 weeks
12. Default plan creation - 1 day
13. Testing - 1 to 4 weeks
14. Bug fixing - 1 week

Some steps might overlap, and others can be swapped. For example, often the textures are being created by the 2D artist, while the 3D artist is building the level. Some people prefer to place objects before they light a level.

: [ What was the average time to finish a complete level in Urban Ops? ] :

About 19 weeks is required to produce a quality level. Time required for each phase is approximate and changes depending on the level being created and the experience of the artists working on it. It should also be noted that often, more than two levels are being developed at the same time.

We had some experienced guys and some quick learners on the team, so it went a bit faster than the estimates provided above.

: [ What was a typical day like for an artist working on Urban Ops? ] :

Generally, we just sit around and drink beer while playing Rogue Spear all day and shouting obscenities at each other.

OK, so that's not really what it's like. Actually, in non-crunch time, artists are expected to put in an 8-hour day of solid work. No paid lunches and no 4-hour daily gaming marathon on the company dime. I say this because there is a perception that working in gaming is an "easy job" where you just sit around all day and goof off ... At Red Storm, this is not the case.

However, it's pretty relaxed, in spite of the professional attitude. You can wear pretty much whatever you like, be "unintimidated" by management (everybody uses first names, and has a healthy level of respect for each other) and there are no prima donnas, throwing tantrums or quitting a project cause their favorite feature gets cut.

As long as you are getting your work done well and quickly, and you are getting along with your co-workers things run great. Sometimes crunch time requires us to all work a little later, but it's not that bad on most projects, and we are constantly working on ways to produce a better game with fewer hassles.

: [ How does the development team keep focused on the project at hand? Do you ever just get tired of seeing the same project day in and day out? ] :

At my old job in Florida, projects lasted anywhere from one to three years, so getting a game out the door in nine months is no problem for me. Individual "mundane" tasks can get on my nerves sometimes, but they usually don't last too long.

What taxes the team members isn't working on the same project each day. Technical problems, like crashes and being unable to see your work in-game can wear us out.

To get past this, we might blow off some steam by taking a quick walk, going out to lunch, taking a quick spin in Steve Cotton's DeLorean, whatever. We don't do things like tearing down doors with axes and etc.

Occasionally, the company pays for a team "off-site" where we go out and have fun as a group. This often provides a pretty good morale boost, and any tensions can get worked out on the go-cart track or in the Laser Tag arena. Sometimes, we'll just all go see a movie together. It's nice to interact with people from the team away from the office.

: [ What kind of hardware do you use to do art for Rogue Spear? Do you use powerful computers like a Silicon Graphics workstation? ] :

We don't have a standard computer. People get different machines depending on their areas of influence on a project (i.e. 2D texture guy or 3D modeller or 3D level designer, etc.) and how long someone's been around. Newer guys often get hand-me downs from the veterans. These machines are plenty able to do the job, but might be a tad slower than the newer ones or have a little less storage space. Generally, we are working with PCs from 300MHz to 500MHz with NT for running 3D Studio MAX (if it's a 3D artist) or just Win98 for texture folks. Sometimes, we use paper and pencils, but this is very rare.

I have two computers: one for working on 3D models (3D Studio MAX) and 2D art (Photoshop 5), and one for testing in-game. I have a really cool mouse with a red, glowing light underneath that I don't have to clean.

: [ Some fans have requested that there be more in-game full-motion video sequences interspersed throughout the levels to carry the story. Is this possible? What are the limitations preventing you from doing something like this? ] :

Unfortunately, the movies in the game are some of the most crunch-intensive parts of making any R6 game. We barely manage to get one or two done! Perhaps in future projects, this can change though.

The game videos have all been created by Thomas DeVries with support from the team (for special models, textures, etc) since Rainbow Six. I think most everyone will agree that he does an excellent job.

Thomas' technique involves "scripting" the characters to do certain motions or follow certain paths in the mission editor. Often, these were done as "hacks" where an engineer might create a special executable that allowed Thomas to get the characters, vehicles, etc. to do what he wanted them to. This can allow Thomas to control a terrorist or team member himself to get them to do what he wants.

Videos take a long amount of intense work-time to do. Also, creating a movie isn't just getting some images moving around. These need music and sound effects as well. This is why we don't have more throughout the game.

::Game Industry Questions::
April 8, 2000

: [ What's your personal background? How did you end up at Red Storm? ] :

I was raised in Wilmington NC, on the coast of the state. From the start, my parents encouraged my artistic tendencies. I went to college and got a degree in Art/Design at UNC-Greensboro. However, they only offered the most rudimentary Photoshop stuff (this was in 1995). I taught myself Corel Draw on my own time doing T-shirts, flyers, and invitations for my fraternity (Pi Kappa Phi).

Out of college, I got a job doing Yellow Pages ad layouts for about ten months in my hometown (Wilmington, NC). Artistically, this was not the most stimulating employment, but it did give me some computer skills to list in my resume as well as access to some higher-end computers and printers than what I had at home.

I learned about a company in Jacksonville, Florida called LSI, Inc. that makes interactive computer-based training for several US Armed Forces' weapon systems. I saw LSI as a way to develop my skills and portfolio in order to get something closer to my "dream job." At the time, I thought this was probably going to involve something in the film/effects industry.

Working at LSI in DOS and Windows NT, I produced the majority of my graphics with 3D Studio R4 and Adobe Photoshop 4. I also used Autodesk Animator Pro and Corel Draw. While there, I worked on a few "classified" projects (which aren't as exciting as you might think...), helped train fellow employees in the above mentioned programs and created and maintained a library of 3D scenery, military vehicles and weapons built in-house.

With my vision of my "dream job" still involving something to do with film, I decided that getting into the gaming end of the entertainment industry would be a good next step. The first few tries were absolute failures; companies weren't even returning my calls or even my portfolios! But each time, I tried to get some idea of what was missing from my samples and what they wanted to see in my portfolio.

Finally, I made some contacts in the gaming industry here in NC, and asked those individuals for some concrete advice on what I should be showing potential employers. I attended E3 in Atlanta and made some additional face-to-face contacts with people at individual companies. Finally, I got a few interviews set up in the area and, after weighing my options, ended up here at Red Storm, doing some "grunt work" for "Eagle Watch".

: [ How did you get the opportunity to work on the Rainbow Six series? ] :

I knew I would have been happy working on any of the projects here at RSE; it just happened that the Eagle Watch Mission Pack needed another artist. My main job on that game was to learn how things worked to make me a better employee on the next game, Rogue Spear.

: [ Do you have any advice for people who want to work in the game industry? ] :

If you want to get into the art side, you should first be a pretty good artist. You should have a healthy well-rounded understanding of perspective, lighting, drawing, color theory, architecture, and figure drawing as a base. Then you should build your technical know-how to showcase these skills. A great portfolio doesn't hurt and these are best presented (in my opinion) as web pages. As far as education goes, a college degree is only as good as the talent that's there to back it up.

If you want to get into the engineering side, Scott Williams (an engineer at Red Storm) recommends having good generic programming skills plus an interest in games. He says it's also a good idea to explore a lot of the free toolkits out there like DirectX, and play with the code to see what you can get it to do. These are the kinds of things that make some applicants stand out from those who just got good grades in college courses. An engineering degree is great, if possible, but self-taught applicants are not unheard of.

It's important to remember that there are other types of jobs in gaming. Like many companies, game companies have sales/marketing, quality assurance, design, operations and financial departments. Regardless of the position, folks have to be ready to work in a team environment.

: [ What are some of the games you like to play and admire? ] :

I love playing multiplayer Rogue Spear and Urban Operations with the folks here at the company and my family. Why? I guess because it's very relaxing and makes us all laugh when someone gets a really good kill or we win a co-op mission.

Half-Life and Opposing Force were really fun, I loved the solid feel of those games and the great story, but all the puzzle stuff gets on my nerves after a while.

I like the look and feel of Homeworld. Great training and credits on that game!

One of my all-time favorite games is the cabinet-style arcade version of Battle Zone. I also really enjoy the arcade games "Rampart", "Wing Wars" and "Xenophobe" from the late '80s. "Hydro Thunder" is a great arcade boat-racing game that really rocks. Great atmosphere and graphics on that one!

I don't generally play a lot of games actually. If you had the option of playing games or making them which would you choose? Some would say "do both" but I have a life and a wife and other hobbies that I enjoy.

::Closing Comments::

: [ Is it true that you play engineers vs. artists at the office? Who wins? ] :

Yes. Generally, the engineers win because they write something into the code that makes us unable to kill them.

: [ Where can we catch you playing multiplayer? IP? The Zone? What's your handle? ] :

I don't play a lot, but when I do, I play on the Zone as "Getz_[RSE]".

: [ We gotta try asking: What's can we expect in Rainbow Six III? ] :

Sorry, but I cannot comment on future unannounced products!

On behalf of the RS Retreat, I want to sincerely thank you for taking the time to answer all our questions! It has really been a treat for us to have this interview with you!
- Brian Chew (CR6), RS Retreat News Editor

Team Patton" is the name of the team that worked on Urban Operations. Here's a picture of them having just enjoyed a company-sponsored trip to see the latest effects-laden action movie. Pictured from left to right are: Travis Getz, Gary Stelmack, Steve Cotton, Jeff Friedlander, Eric Terry, Joe Sauder, Jeff McFadyen (kneeling), John Michel, Thomas DeVries, John Sonedecker and Rick Campbell (kneeling). Not pictured: Chris Kemple.

Travis and the rest of the Urban Ops team have now moved on to other projects and we are looking forward to seeing their work in the future!

Finally, we want to also thank Travis for graciously giving us permission to post a link to his outstanding portfolio website at http://www.geocities.com/travisgetz. Check it out!

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