Rainbow Six Lockdown PC: Producer Blog
by: Stuart White 12/05/2005

Hi Guys,

My name is Stuart White and I’m the producer for Rainbow Six: Lockdown PC. I have decided to start writing this blog to give you, the fans, an inside look at what it is like to be involved in the whirlwind we call game development.

As you might expect, we here at Red Storm have recently been swamped. With the launch of Lockdown being slated for first quarter 2006, things have been a little hectic around here. I personally just got back from a week long press tour in Europe. I visited 4 different countries and talked to a countless number of press about Lockdown. Overall, it was a very successful trip and I am sure it will be beneficial for us to get out there and let people know how excited we are about the game. When I got back, there were a ton of items on my plate. That is what being a producer is all about juggling 15 different things even when you are in a different part of the world

As with all games, when it comes down close to Gold Master (when the game leaves the development studio to get published), all focus is towards bug fixing and polishing. Currently, we have 25 people dedicated to solely bug fixing. This ‘bug fixing fest’ usually lasts about 6-8 weeks and we’ve been going strong for about 3. Dinners and late nights with the team become a staple of life when the team goes into crunch. We have a good ways to go, but we are certainly making progress.

One of our main focuses of Lockdown is the AI. We want to make sure that the enemy AI is challenging and the player’s team AI is intelligent and helpful, not a hindrance. Currently, we have 4 full-time engineers ensuring that our focus is translated into performance and visible results in the game. Our job as game developers is to provide the player with a fun, entertaining, and rewarding experience. The team has been pushing to implement techniques and strategies that will cause the AI to give the player this experience.

The development team has also been hard at work on localization. For those that do not know, localization is changing the game’s contents to meet the language and cultural needs of a country or a region. We are getting the game ready to ship to the world including USA, Germany, France, and Spain/Mexico.

Thanks for reading and your support. I’ll write back later in a couple weeks.

Great news! Keep it up!

So you're in your 3rd week of "bug fixing fest" and it takes about 6-8 weeks.
So that leaves a minimum 3 weeks or maximum 5 weeks before it's gold.

To hell with x-mas gimme Lockdown

This message has been edited. Last edited by: deosl,

yay!!! news.. thank you..

keep us informed pls, much appreciated.

awsome! keep up the good work!

BTW, razz, can we have a link to the blog?

I belive this is the only place it's posted. On the Lockdown PC site it links to the forum.

ah, ok, i thought it would be like a 1up blog or something.

quote:

Originally posted by Stuart White 12/05/2005
This ‘bug fixing fest’ usually lasts about 6-8 weeks and we’ve been going strong for about 3.

So basically, there is no chance we will have any say whatsoever in what goes into the game, because it's already finished.

All the posting done in the last few weeks, all the realization of what Lockdown actually is and how we might be able to salvage whats left from the traditional PC gameplay of what we've known as R6 the last 7 years, doesn't make a difference now?

Yea... great news.

quote:

Originally posted by MD_Sennet:

quote:

Originally posted by Stuart White 12/05/2005
This ‘bug fixing fest’ usually lasts about 6-8 weeks and we’ve been going strong for about 3.

So basically, there is no chance we will have any say whatsoever in what goes into the game, because it's already finished.

All the posting done in the last few weeks, all the realization of what Lockdown actually is and how we might be able to salvage whats left from the traditional PC gameplay of what we've known as R6 the last 7 years, doesn't make a difference now?

Yea... great news.

I believe it all goes back to Deke Waters in his interview with Kimi stating that the PC version will be a port of the PS2 version.

Might as well just all save our breath and try and make ther most of a hopefully good game. I'll buy it play it for a week, if it's no chop back to EB it goes, disban the clan save some money on hardware and geta new hobbie.

I wonder if this is going to turn into what the "LIVE" team was for RVS. Make one statement and disapear for good.

I have mostly refrained from the "feature request" posts since I had a feeling that it was probably futile. I guess that the last few weeks of discussion was just that, discussion amongst ourselves. The game was already pretty much feature complete a few months ago. Now they are in the process of polishing up and now bug testing. Hopefully they can do a better job at finding the bugs in the PC version than they did in the console Q/A. Any one who has played either the Xbox or PS2 versions will know what I mean and how serious I am about that.

As far as the 5 weeks or so left, you can't forget the prduction time of duplication, packaging, and shipping to retailers which will add a few weeks onto the time. Sounds like they are on target for a early Feb release IMO.

At the very least we all know that it will hit soon, and hopefully there will be a demo for both single player and multiplayer so we can check the game out. Since I really didn't care for the xbox or PS2 versions, I for one will be holding off purchasing until I play a demo and I can see first hand the changes that were made portin.... er I mean "converting" it to PC.

Lockdown (along with the new Ghost Recon) looks like it will be OK for me and my buds. These are the only 2 games that I'm fairly excited about for the next couple of months. I'll be getting both within a few days of their release.

Saw the new screenshots of the PC version...still no helmets? We have dreadlocks though. Tangos dread dreadlocks.

Give us our helmets back and get rid of the stupid "begging for a headshot" teammates. Obviously you didn't check the demographic for the people that actually play the previous games in the series. We want something close to realistic, and teammates with makeup and their hair done turn me off (of playing that is...)!!!

quote:

Originally posted by deosl:
I belive this is the only place it's posted. On the Lockdown PC site it links to the forum.

I'm working on getting a new section up on the site for these blogs. We'll be seeing them about every two weeks, at least until launch and probably a while after.

Hi UbiRazz *winks* long time no see my freind how are you??.

Thanks for the Blogg, the update is truly appreciated. The fever pitch about LockDown is along the same line as when we were all banging heads over the release of SHIII, lol.

The good ole days return !

I hope though with the same enterprising commitment to fanbase as SHIII received.

If Mr White reads this forum then he will find ALL that he wants to know about the games requirements from this forums avid followers for inclusion in this game.

Please keep up the good work UbiRazz like you did for the SHIII community in keeping us all updated with the new title of LockDown.

ps. Big issues over Rainbow operatives wearing face masks is of paramount importance.
It needs to be addressed before going Gold.

Just a bit of programming required, shouldnt take too long to fix.

Best regards.

...does anyone get the feeling that this should have been started oh...about....when the game was conceptualized and started on?

just another swing and miss but at least they swung (in other words tried)

This would have really helped us help you guys (RSE) shape the game into a formidable Rainbow Six Game instead of letting it boarder on the line of no return and good by any hopes to seeing what was one of the best series on the market to date get another great addition


only time will tell if ubi(and its studios) will screw up and then have to backtrack to the loyal fans because I'm definitly positive that CS players and BF players are not interested in a rainbow six game...why?

because they are just point click (twitch gamers) and another reason is because of simply Rainbow Six has a LONG LONG LONG HISTORY OF BEING SIMPLY A Realistic Tactical FPS

Link to the blog post on Rainbowsixgame.com
Blog post #1

And whats up with the diffrent sites on rainbowsixgame.com? So tired of checking all the languages us, uk, fr & de for any information.

Ain't there going to be a better & site like Raven Shield had? Just useless console info on rainbowsixgame.com

Some feedback for ya

OK. if anyone knows me around here they know I am a hard core UBI critic, in paticular to what they have done to Rainbow 6 and their utter lack of communication.

I for one take this (I have to) as a postive step in the right direction.

May Lockdown be the game we all want it to be. Please. For the love of God.

no offence, but lockdown isn't gonna be the game we all want it to be! Simply because we aint making it. This doesn't mean that this can't be a kick-*** game. Let's not buy the game and look/SEARCH for all the little/big things ubi messed up. Because, there will always be someone who like's it. It might not be you, but there's nothing you can do about that.

Expecting to much of this game will only disappoint people, witch will lead to alot of unnecessarily complaints, witch will, again, infect the community.

cure: Think Positive, i you can!

doylle

Hopefully it will be like ravenshield where we got to choose the speed of the game + way the rets were....Im sure this game will be just a EDIT as ravenshield but I still love the game..Not because of how it play but the community that plays it makes the game enjoyable. One day Ubi will listen to us and we can have the best of both worlds Good soolid gameplay + the community that keeps the game alive.

How can this game be going through a huge bug testing stage and yet the game looks so uncomplete from the ss's

Do not bypass the the filter!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GSG_9_Rage,