So, lets beast them!
UFO: Aftermath has had a troubled past. Originally called UFO: Freedom Ridge, it was based on Mythos Games' cancelled game Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge. A few changes later, the publisher was replaced with upcoming Czech team Cenega, after Virgin flew the coop. UFO:A is a title based on a lot of the ideas presented in the X-COM games of old - and should certainly appeal to fans of the old X-Com titles. The game already has a pretty website.
We managed to snag an exclusive interview with Jiri Rydl, PR manager at Altar Interactive, the game's developers. Read on!
gaming.HEXUS.net: How long has UFO: Aftermath been in development
and how focused is the team in pushing PC technology within the game? Tell us
a little about your tools and engine.
Jiri Rydl: UFO: Aftermath is in development for more than 18
month now.
We are working on the game and its playability mainly, so there is no need to
push technology borders to next level as Doom III does. But it doesn't mean
we don't use new tools if we know they are useful. For instance our engine is
capable of generating tactical missions in completely 3D at random, which is
pretty unseen feature these days. That means there aren't two completely same
tactical missions! We strongly believe it will attract players even after finishing
the game.
gH: What exacly does a UFO: Aftermath player have to do? What's
the idea behind it?
JR: UFO: Aftermath is small squad tactical strategy game about
defeating an alien threat. Player is in charge of several last humans, trying
to find out what happened to Earth and how to kick aliens back to where they
come from.
gH: Turn based games are considered retro by most people.
Why did you decide to go against the flow of Real-Time-Strategy games?
JR: Our system is not classical turn-based as you may know
from Jagged Alliance for instance, but it's unique turn-based with simultaneous
turns, which features all of the best elements of both turn based and real time
combat systems.
It works like this: You give orders while the game is paused, to avoid the frantic
rush of a real time system. While paused, you can give your troops very detailed
orders, taking as much time as you like. Once you are finished, you simply tell
the game to start. Once the game is underway, you can pause the game at any
point to update or change your orders, and the game will automatically pause
when important events occur, so that you may modify your plans accordingly.
Be sure to note that all of the combat happens at once, combining the finely
grained tactics of a turn based game with the realism of a real time system.
gH: Where would you say UFO:A really innovates? What makes
it special?
JR: I already described our engine and turn-based system, and
also the run-time generated missions. There are also other surprises but we
shall leave these for the player to uncover.
gH: Strategy games are often considered a little hard to get
into by the casual player. Does UFO:A feature any systems to ease the player
into the commanding seat? Who exactly is the game aimed at?
JR: Yes, UFO: Aftermath teaches you on your way to victory,
first mission is a tutorial and there is always detailed help ready for you.
There are several levels of difficulty, thus we believe UFO: Aftermath is suitable
for the vast majority of strategy players. The choice of what to do in the game
is always up to you. You don't have to finish every possible tactical mission;
you even can loose the battle and still win the war. You can spend some time
by finding every piece of researchable artefacts, developing hybrid weapons
and manufacturing them or you can just take HK MP5 and try to win with them.
That's why I believe UFO: Aftermath is for every fan of tactical games.
gH: the Czech Republic certainly isn't the first place people
think of when talking about PC developers. How much experience does you team
have, and does coming from Eastern Europe pose any problems?
JR.: The only disadvantage I see is the size of Czech market.
We would like to discuss our ideas more with players from Czech Republic, but
we can't afford to develop games just for local market. That's why
we always find publisher with worldwide experience. There are many good teams
in here that you probably know of, e.g. Illusion Softworks (Mafia, Vietcong)
or Bohemia Interactive (Operation Flashpoint) and publishers already know we
are able to create competitive titles (Fish Fillets, Original War) and what's
important too - cheaper than is usual in Western Europe.
gH: How did you come up with the idea and game concept and
what has inspired you?
JR: UFO: Aftermath is a small squad tactical game where the
player combats an alien threat. As such, it was inspired by the games in X-COM
series, Incubation and also other turn-based games, like Jagged Alliance. Still
the storyline itself is original and was developed by our designers.
It's difficult to name specific source of inspiration, but of course games,
movies, books, board games and our dreams or maybe nightmares :-).
gH: So. Aliens invade. Does the player need to know anything
more than which way to ain their guns? Is there any special alien powers to
worry about, or deep worrysome reason for the invasion?
JR: Yes, the player has to find out what happened and how to
stop the alien advance, not to mention the biomass that is spreading all over
the world. It's your last chance to survive.
Yes, aliens have special powers like psi abilities and more.
Aliens usually use handguns as humans, but much more powerful, they have better
perception and use transgenants to serve them, so they very dangerous from the
beginning. Later you should be able to uncover how to win without too big losses.
Why are they invading is the questions you will ask yourself right after UFO:
Aftermath intro ends :-).
gH: What kind of weapons /resources do you have to blast the
aliens?
JR: The player starts with more or less common today's weapons
like AK47 or several types of shotguns. By researching alien technology you
can start to work on unknown technologies like laser or psi weapons.
The only resources you have are your bases. The more base you have, the faster
you can research artefacts, manufacture hybrid weapons and defend yourself from
alien attacks. Every lost of base is painful.
gH: Sum the game up in twenty five words or less.
JR: Deep strategy in post apocalyptic world full of empty houses
and aggressive enemies. Find out who is responsible for this mess and clean
it out.
gH: There has been a fair level of media attention over UFO:A.
Is there any particular reason the game's being published by Cenega rather than
more well-known teams like Infogrames or Electronic Arts?
JR: The only thing I can add is that we talked with almost
every bigger publisher on this planet. They are not interested in strategies,
which force you to use your brain more than fast hands. Some of them are not
interested in PC titles at all. We are glad we started cooperation with Cenega
Publishing and we believe UFO: Aftermath attracts the well-deserved attention.
We'd like to thank Jiri for his time.
Have some screenshots, for good measure! (screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen conceptart conceptart conceptart conceptart conceptart conceptart conceptart conceptart conceptart conceptart)
