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What's Envy?

Envy is the codename for Epic's next Unreal Tournament game, to be built on Unreal Engine 3 technology.

Is There a Release Date?

As of April 2005, there's another year until release, at the very least; only 3/13 of the 'milestones' have been completed thus far.

What can you tell me about it?

Here's what we know so far (information is courtesy of Computer Gaming World):
The Basics
"We're not trying to make a prettier UT2K4. We're really trying to make a very new game." - Steve Polge
Gametypes: ONS, DM, TDM, CTF, and a new mode called Conquest
The Skaarj will not be present
All levels are being designed prior to the incorporation of artwork
A big focus will be placed on AI; "voice controlled AI"


Races/Teams
Necris (The white-skinned gothic and/or undead - depending upon who you ask - guys from the original UT)
Nakhti (Originating from the UT2003 and UT2004 Anubans, this team is entirely Egyptian)
Juggernauts (The gene-boosted monstosities from UT2003 and UT2004)
The Corrupt (The team of Xan Kriegor's, who hails from UT and UT2004)
Iron Guard (The original and now reinstated team of assassins, again headed by Lauren and Brock)
Krall (The slave-race to the Skaarj, found in the original Unreal)
Jakob's Team (Possibly Malcolm's ThunderCrash team from UT2004, though the name is unclarified)
Custom Team: (The team a player will create in the Single Player ladder of Envy)


Eleven Confirmed Weapons
Dual Enforcers
Rocket Launcher
Flak Cannon
Shock Rifle
Link Gun
Sniper Rifle
Tridium Stinger
Replaces the minigun
Hails from the original Unreal
Canister Gun
Acts as grenade-launcher, mine-layer, and bio-rifle all in one
Ammo dictates firing mode
Translocater
AVRiL
Redeemer


Movement
"We use the gameplay of 2004 as a base. We wanted to start off with a known quantity so that as we made changed, we knew there were quantifiable improvements - it's not just different, it's different in ways we can point to specifically." - Jim Brown
For those of you skeptical about the movement changes, remember this: while there will be more close-combat fights, double jumping and distanced hitscan fights have not been eliminated. Think of the change as a movement toward the fast-pace of the original UT, not a removal of what makes the movement 'Unreal.'



Eighteen Vehicles
Nine 'Axon vehicles' [From UT2004 and ECE]
Goliath may have destructable treads
The Scorpion
Now has rocket launchers
Now enclosed; no longer open-topped
Now has rocket-boosters
Rocket launchers and rocket-boosters can be used to self destruct, kamikaze-style
Nine all-new Necris vehicles


Level design
Level editing will include the Kismet script sequencing tool


Community
Epic hopes to ensure Envy will provide a more profound sense of community/game interaction
Plans exist to correct UT2003 and UT2004's steep learning curve
Both newbies and competitive players should be able to thoroughly enjoy Envy
It's possible to have a newbie friendly game that still requires skill. How? "Reward people for expertise, but don't make it completely not fun for the novice player."
Think CS - anyone can get a few kills their first game ever, but it takes real skill and practice to be a fragging master, such as [winner of WCG 2000's UT division, and top CS player] Destrukt.
"Pregame lobbies" are being incorporated
"You can use your stats to find similarly abled opponents"
"People in the lobby can say 'Hey, I want to play a capture-the-flag match on this map.' and you'll set it up from there and boom, you'll all go off and play it." - Steve Polge
Ability to enter your Clan-ID in a stats server, to view the status of clan-matches in a "global rating system of how clans have done against each other."
Clan-pages and other sites will be able to be viewed from within the game
"Automatic downloading of mod content that you choose, perhaps in the form of a daily download..."
Console players rejoice! No more messy server-searching: "We have a quickmatch kind of thing, where you hit a button and it finds a server that's about the right level with the best ping and sticks you there."


Conquest
Currently exists only as a concept, and is considered Assault's replacement
"Potentially as large as three Onslaught maps, with assault-like objectives, and even a form of limited resource management planned."
Resource management:
Certain bunkers will house tridium resources
These resources determine how quickly your team can built vehicles, turrets, etcetera.
The more bunkers you control, the slower your resources regenerate; this fixes the problem found in ONS where comebacks are near impossible.
Remember that when you take territory from an emeny, it physically changes; these changes can be as drastic as a conversion from the Necris' neogothic towers to a lush and breathing landscape.
"Conquest will take advantage of the UE3 engines ability to seamlessly stream maps by putting you in a battlefield the size of several maps stitched together."
Players will battle on one of two teams, and each side's territory will look physically different. As you take a territory, it will convert to the other team's structures and physical surroundings.
"Conquest should appeal to a wider gaming audience, and provide a place where longer-term strategy, teamwork, and face-to-face fragging all meet."
While you'll be able to make forays into the other team's territory, a limitation on how long you can be there without losing health will keep combat focused on the front lines.


Artificial Intelligence
"You never want the game to feel like it devolves into 'Oh, I know the AI can't handle this tactic.' When you find a tactic that the AI can't handle, then the game is broken."
Through player-to-bot interactions, Epic wants to give the bots of Envy 'more personality'
These personalities dictate the particular skills and weaknesses of bots, especially pertaininig to specific goals and tasks
"So if you're doing a flag run, you can hear what's going on back at your base because guys are shouting to each other where the enemy's coming from and what they're doing to prevent it" - Steve Polge
"You'll be able to ask [the bots] questions about their status: 'Is there anybody down in the cavern?', 'No, cavern's all clear'. Or you could throw out warnings like, "There's a sniper on the tower. Go get the sniper.'" - Steve Polge
"You want the AI to do things that surprise you so that you feel challenged in terms of your reaction time, your strategies, and your tactical skills."


Miscellaneous
DM-Deck17 returns! "Because we knew that if we made changes and tweaked the movement, everyone would be able to see the difference and the improvement because they knew what the level felt like before." - Jim Brown
Epic claims that the AI and gameplay of Envy already surpass that of UT2004 and most other current games
A blend of new and old:
Epic designers aren't letting themselves be limited by previous games: "The original UT was on the threshold of being a great game. If we had done 2K4 without having to feel kind of in the box with what we had started in 2K3, I thought it would have been a much bch covers Envetter game than it was. We think there's alot we can improve." - Steve Polge
Lovers of old school UT rejoice, for Epic shall not abandon thee: "It's a wierd balance. You want to keep those who people who have been playing for a long time, but you still want to innovate and do new things for new people." - Jim Brown
"We'll keep going back and forth [between the old games and the new one], saying what we like and what we don't like about each in terms of balance, movement speed, those sorts of things."
Expect polish: "We want to have all [the parts of the game] working for probably about a year before we ship. I think a big part of the success of UT will be that we've had such a long cycle of playing the game and improving it based on the idea, 'This is fun, but it would be more fun if...' and then really refining it - tweaking weapon balance, tweaking movement, tweaking vehicles, tweaking gameplay mechanics." - Steve Polge