On Thursday, GameSpot News spoke with Raven Software's Dan Freed, project administrator for the recently announced Heretic II. Although the title was just announced, Freed reveals that the title was already in the works long before the official announcement.

　　GameSpot News: How long has Raven been working on Heretic II? Dan Freed: We've been working on the game since November. We started off with all the design stuff in November and then did the art in December.

　　GSN: So how is the game progressing so far? When do you expect to release Heretic II to the world? DF: So far, we're about an eighth of the way finished. Right now, we're expecting to release the game this Christmas.

　　GSN: What aspects of the original are still in the game? What are some of the major differences with the title compared with the original Heretic and the Hexen series? DF: Heretic II features the same character as the original, complete with spells like Morph Ovum (where you get to turn opponents into chickens). The major difference with the game that has stirred a bit of controversy is that we're using a third-person perspective instead of sticking with the standard first-person view. Since we wanted to emphasize the new character actions like climbing ladders, ropes, and vines, the only way to really build a game where we could emphasize that was through a third-person view. We felt it was a good time to do a third-person game since the popularity of games like Jedi Knight prove that a third-person title can be popular and entertaining.

　　GSN: Heretic originally was a deeper Doom game with less focus on action. What will Heretic II be like in the age of Quake?DF: Heretic II is way more than a straight action game, it has all the action but also all of the plot to build a much more rewarding game. The plot goes something like this: A plague has run rampant and those with the plague have been transformed into bad guys. Your character has the plague too but isn't affected as much as the others, you'll have to wait to see why I can't give away all our secrets.

　　GSN: You're building Heretic II on the Quake II engine. What features have you added to the engine? DF: First of all we're running the game with a 16-bit palette instead of the standard 256 colors that the Quake II engine runs. We also created a new bone system for the game that will allow the characters in the game to do torso twists (MechWarrior-like), and we're working on enhancing the AI. There will also be cutscenes in the game to help build a richer plot.

　　One new thing that we're adding is a new frame compression system. Since there are more actions in the game with jumping and climbing, there needed to be more animation, so we've figured out a way to do 1,000 frames of character animation to bring more movement to the game.

　　GSN: So how big is your team? Is there any of the original Heretic crew still around? DF: There are about 20 people working on the game right now. Two of the original members of the Heretic team, Brad Pellitier and Michael Raymond Judy, are working on the title right now.

　　GSN: So when can anxious gamers expect a demo? DF: You should see the demo out on the Web on cover discs sometime this fall, with three levels. But you can expect to see a demo of the title showing at E3.

　　GSN: From all the things that Raven is working on in the game right now, what is the one feature that you're most excited about? DF: The spells. There are some screenshots on the Web, and they'll give you a good idea of why.