What external factors influence your character design?
Wells: I like to look at other cultures when I'm working on a character. For example, in Unreal Tournament III, Akasha... what I wanted to go for with her character was a more of a Mediterranean/North African feel where she has henna all over her face, and some of the ornaments she has on here armor are indicative of that culture.
Other ones, like the Ronin, tend to take from more oriental styling. In general, the Necris also have a more... I don't want to use the term "Borg," but there's the real feeling of it being a power-suit, a suit that's powered by pipes and so forth.
Unreal Engine 3.0 - a blessing or a curse for your imagination and creative flair when it comes to character design?
Wells: For me the biggest challenge is really what I can think of. There's so many options open to how you want to make the character and how he'll look finally that it's really limited by your imagination. It took a while to arrive at certain looks for certain characters. But when it's all done and worked out, it's really rewarding.
What's the difference in level detail of characters between UT 2004 and Unreal Tournament III?
Wells: It's pretty big. That's one of the things we wanted to push. With each character, each environment and each weapon you want to show what the technology can do, right?
Is the high level of detail necessary in a fast-paced multiplayer environment? Are people really going to stop and appreciate the work that you've done?
Wells: You can always see the character in the character selection screen. And you can also see it in cinematics as well as... screenshots or what have you.
But you'd be surprised. You do notice a lot of the detail when you're playing the game, and the game's tuned just to the right speed where it's not completely overwhelming but still feels fast-paced. You definitely notice it.
