You’ve probably heard of “King’s Bounty The Legend”, either as the sequel of a title long lost in the sands of time, or as a new game reminiscent of the “Heroes of Might & Magic” series. At its core, you’ll find a genre that used to be big on PC, a simple strategy-RPG. As of late though, this type of game has been far more prominent on home consoles and portables, with popular Japanese franchises like “Fire Emblem” and “Final Fantasy Tactics”. Most of these — excluding their Eastern style — have one major difference, as they only consist of battle scenes and story sequences, without giving players any opportunity for exploration. “King’s Bounty The Legend” however, remains true to its RPG roots, offering a vast fantasy world to explore, with a seemingly limitless amount of quests, and loot.

What the strategy part entails, is that while you will basically run around a fantasy world, exploring and questing at your leisure, combat is actually done in a turn based fashion, within small, hex-based battle arenas. This might remind you of console RPGs, where combat appears separated from the rest of the game, but here the encounters don’t occur randomly. You can actually see the wandering mobs within the game’s world and only initiate combat upon touching, or perhaps after conversing with them. The Hero character you choose in the beginning — out of a limited three cliche archetypes — doesn’t actually participate in battles conventionally. Instead, his statistics affect the strength of your recruited troops, while he also allows you to cast various spells.

Combat is a meaty part of the game, since even in the beginning there is a large selection of troops to choose from, as long as you’ve gathered enough gold to hire them with. The game also takes on a sort of collectible card game’s feel, since you can only bring a limited amount of troop types with you — five with two extra reserve slots to be exact. Many of them fare better, or worse, depending on the terrain and enemy types, so you soon learn to always consider what lies ahead during your rest in a safe haven, where you restore your troop supplies or purchase new gear for your Hero.

While combat is simply too deep to analyze outside a dedicated multi-page guide, it’s worth noting that, as the game progresses, you gain access to an ever growing pool of troop types and quantities. You can get anything, from the expected human knights and elven archers, to native beasts such as bears and snakes, strange types of undead creatures and demons, dwarves and orcs that use weird devices, and even mythical beasts like dragons. Some of them are more rare than others, so you’ll need to use them wisely if you don’t want to exhaust their numbers before you really need them. These are all complimented by your Hero’s constantly improving selection of gear, spells, and eventually some powerful summoned creatures with unique special abilities, which are called Spirits of Rage as they consume rage earned in battle, instead of mana.

The variety of your enemies is equally diverse. In fact, aside from a few special bosses, your enemies make use of the same troops you do, and your available troop types increase as you traverse new areas with new inhabitants. After all, if you find yourself in elven territory, it’s only natural to fight against such enemies, or be able to recruit elven units for your own army, perhaps after aiding some of the local NPCs.

Speaking of quests, while equally integral to the game, exploration and questing is a much simpler affair than combat. You simply click where you wish to go, avoid or run into enemies to do battle — pro tip: always check the enemy’s level before that via a right click — and click on NPCs to initiate conversations, buy various goods or troops, and choose from any available dialogue choices, to either learn more about the world and characters, or affect the course of a given quest’s plot.

This could all get boring in the long run, but the game manages to keep your interest with its involving quests. They still consist of RPG cliches like fetching items, defeating certain enemies, or saving damsels in distress, but you can often solve a situation in different ways, perhaps even by betraying the original quest giver if another NPC makes a better offer. If you don’t pay attention to the given text and simply click through everything, you just might get yourself in trouble, or lose a particular reward you would otherwise receive, had you chosen better. All in all, like a true explorer, you have to pay attention to get the most of this game. Even the world map promotes some thinking since only major points of interest get marked, while if you want to keep track of other locations, you have to mark them by yourself. On the other hand, the writing and humour, even with a less-than-perfect translation, complement that notion and ensure that your time has been worth it.

Exploring the vast and varied fantasy world is a very engaging experience. Hidden loot always seems to be right around the next corner, perhaps beside a wonderful castle to recruit new units from, a quirky character with zany quests — and rewards — or a funny, if menacing, adversary to defeat. The more you explore and quest, the more unique, hilarious, or just plain weird characters and events you will come across. Even many hours into the game, you will be surprised by occurrences you never saw coming. I’m tempted to list some of the memorable moments of apparent genius here, but I shouldn’t spoil them.

While there actually is a lengthy main storyline, with often hilarious progress and plot twists — especially by the time you get closer to the game’s epic ending — it seems to flow well with your own pace of exploration, opening more of the world up as soon as you’re just about ready for it, usually by introducing a new vessel for you to use, whether that is a ship or, well, something else. Even so, you rarely feel too restricted as most of the areas are vast, with room for the adventurous explorer to discover many secrets before moving on with the main plot and opening up new areas, themselves ripe for more exploration.

On the technical side, the game seems to fare just as well. The graphics are not impressive like, say, “Crysis” or “Fallout 3″ may be, but they are certainly constructed with care and attention to detail. While obviously inspired by Blizzard’s art direction for the “Warcraft” series, the designs are far from cheap knock-offs and creativity is evident throughout the whole experience. Stating that the visuals are Blizzard-esque is a testament to their quality, which extends to most everything you see, with the various effects, animations, and amazing vistas. The music is of similar quality — though, perhaps not variety — with distinct, fitting themes for each area. The game manages to characterize races and locations, not just via their visual style, but also with excellent audio. The battle themes, while not memorable, serve their purpose too.

If I had to compare “King’s Bounty The Legend” with another game, I would be hard pressed to not mention “World of Warcraft” and other MMORPGs. The game obviously lacks the online social aspect, but the pace of the gameplay is actually very similar, and just as addictive, as your journey through a MMORPG can be. Even if it didn’t have its engaging quests and plot, as presented with the writers’ excellent use of humour where necessary, “King’s Bounty The Legend” would still be an addictive gem of a game. It simply keeps making you play for just one more battle, to get just one more level up or one more quest completed, finally ending with one more continent explored by the early morning — and it still keeps you eager for more. As a testament to that, I couldn’t even let myself begin writing this review before actually finishing the game, and I think this is the highest praise.

While I haven’t exactly spent a lot of time with it just yet, I figured some first impressions may be useful for anyone too eager to wait for actual reviews. You can see the visuals for yourself, so I’ll restrict myself in saying they’re even better, and focus on the experience.

I’ve spent about 30 minutes with this game, passed the first few levels and the first boss encounter (mostly what’s been seen in the trailers) and I have to say that I’m very pleased with it, so far. I can’t fully recommend it just yet, since I don’t know how long it is (word is that the length is that of “Lost Winds”, and then some), but I really doubt you’ll regret parting with your precious cash to experience it. Simply put, it’s really good so far.

The controls are similar to “Lost Winds” but since your powers aren’t based on wind (you can still flap and glide thanks to your wings), you can manipulate more solid objects, blocks, switches, fireballs spewed from traps, and other interactive elements, again as seen in the trailers. The world is more interactive with physics-based objects, traps, collapsing structures and other hazards that may hinder your progress. Another major difference is that the game’s not using a seamless, continuous world, but instead you pass levels in a linear manner, though many do include a little backtracking thanks to clever challenges.

The levels seem to provide a decent challenge and require making the most of the available manipulation abilities, as well as your platforming skills, to get through them – especially if you try to get certain bonus objects (I’m not sure if they unlock anything or are there just for show). Since, unlike “Lost Winds”, your divine abilities are separated from the actual character skills, you can also play it in a co-op manner, as one player controls the character with the nunchuck and a second player uses the remote’s pointer to manipulate the environment and aid the first. Timing may be tough to get right, but it’s fun.

As for the storyline, just don’t expect to actually learn anything about the “real” legend of Icarus, since it has been changed completely. It’s still charming and atmospheric, there are various real Ancient Greek quotes, yet it’s an all new tale. It’s all told in text and while it would have been nice to have actual voiced dialogue, with booming voices for the Gods speaking to you, it works well enough thanks to charming visuals, audio cues and music.

In short, so far so good. If you do take the plunge, I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I am.

Update: I have now finished the bulk of the game. It took three hours and seven minutes according to the in-game counter, which isn’t too shabby for the price. My initial positive impressions remained throughout the duration of the game, and there are a few more hidden goodies to find, which apparently unlock an extra level boosting the length further. I feel they could have done a little more with the storyline, especially since all it would take is some more text and static images, but the gameplay side did peak appropriately as the end approached. You may now consider what I’ve written here a review if you’re so inclined, and the verdict is this; if you like platform games, buy it. Good job, ‘Over the Top Games’.

Following in the footsteps of the popular “Last Scenario”, it’s one of the better freebie RPGs you’re likely to find on the www, and as such is well worth the download. Hit the jump for more.

“Exit Fate” is a surprisingly polished package with some great music tunes, and excellent custom character art which doesn’t betray its RPG Maker roots. The writing is of a consistent quality and even the few bits of the story I have experienced were very well thought out. All of the initial party characters are likable, with their own motives and goals, while the surrounding cast ranges from the guy you just know will turn out evil – though perhaps I’ll see a plot twist or two about that – to the subtle comic relief dude.

The combat system is quite deep, with a steep difficulty curve, unlike the recent commercial JRPG offerings. The first boss kicked my ass once, while on the second attempt only one of my three characters remained alive by the end of the hard-fought battle. It’s a good thing even the fallen comrades gain the experience rewards.

Interesting features include a bribery system which allows you to avoid the frequent random battles, as long as you can afford it. With how difficult the average enemy can be, and the fact HP aren’t restored after a battle – aside from the use of leftover heal spells at the end – you’ll be making good use of it.

Later in the game you will be gaining control of large armies in standard SRPG fashion, with extra rewards given for your efficiency in regards to the time taken and the losses of your side.

All in all, “Exit Fate” is a great sucessor to “Last Scenario”, and is well worth your time. Using only two action keys for the whole game, it’s perfectly playable with the standard keyboard, though, personally, I’ve been using my Wii’s excellent remote, which adds to the classic game feel.

You can dowload the full game, for free (!), from this page. What are you waiting for?

Basic Premise
There’s not much of a story to “The Ship”. The mysterious Mr X has built a series of beautiful big ships and all the passengers received a free ticket to a luxury cruise aboard one of them. Upon boarding they discover that they are to take part in Mr X’s twisted idea of a game as their life and the lives of their families are at risk. Their only chance for safety is to win.

As the official website explains, this devilish game Mr X wants you to play challenges you to kill or be killed. Once you’re on board you’re given the name of another passenger whom you must find and secretly murder. Every passenger is at the same time the hunter and the prey and the way to victory is to outsmart both your victim and your assassin (though the rules may vary a little depending on the game mode).

A Look in the Engine Room
The graphics of “The Ship” are actually very nice. While the screenshots may seem simplistic, every room is modeled nicely with attention to detail and many different objects. Each of the six available ships is huge and has a style of its own, with a large variety of completely different looking areas to visit (more on these later as I get to explain the Needs system).

The characters aren’t on exactly the same high standard but they look good and have a nice cartoony style. The animations are exaggerated and often funny enough, but overall there’s nothing impressive about them. The variety does stand out, since every player looks different thanks to all the clothes and accessories you can use to disguise yourself with.

Most of the existing NPCs simply stand around and are used in the Needs system (again, more about that later) by chatting to you, selling you various items, or letting you withdraw cash to buy those with. The few that walk around have pretty bad AI, but thankfully there aren’t many of them and they aren’t involved in a large part of the gameplay.

Since I talked about the AI, I’ll mention that “The Ship” features an arcade mode which is basically a single player mode with bots. The inclusion is in my opinion wasted, as this is a multi player title and the surprisingly dumb bots really don’t make for a good player replacement. If you do not intend to play online, then “The Ship” has absolutely nothing to offer.

As far as the sound is concerned, you will probably not notice anything special about it. You won’t be annoyed by the presence or lack of any particular sound (perhaps with the exception of the low quality voice overs, though they aren’t too frequent) so I suppose that means things sound as they should, for the most part.

The overall performance of the game seemed to be on par with the rest Source powered titles which, to me atleast, was quite surprising given the size of the various maps. Loading times didn’t seem too long either, which is always a good thing.

Taking the Helm
The controls can take some getting used to but you don’t really do a lot of different actions, so you will soon have the hang of it.

A drag and drop system is used to let you move items from other containers and into your inventory, or place them in the equipment slots. You can also use them on the spot by placing them in the slot with the hand icon. Weapons can be selected with the number keys as usual.

Other than that, you can walk around, sprint, crouch (I don’t think that’s actually useful for anything other than very situational hiding or taking cover), and click to do various activities like chat to NPCs, take a shower, use the toilet or pick up the items you find. You can also right click on these to get a list of all the possible actions. The game can be a bit glitchy at times, mostly if you can’t find a server with a low ping, but in general it works rather well.

Of course you can also use the weapons you find. The majority are melee weapons and most of them handle like the “Half-Life 2″ crowbar, though with varying damage and speed ratings. The few firearms work as you would expect them to. The game certainly doesn’t rely on the combat experience, so don’t expect anything impressive about that aspect.

Let the Hunt Begin
Your first task will be to find a weapon. It will usually be a melee object like a hammer, crowbar, kitchen knife or axe. There’s also the odd revolver or other firearm to find if you are lucky. All of the weapons can be thrown at your target with the alternate fire function, while a variety of lethal traps, available for you to activate at the right time, complete the package. Death by lifeboat is my personal favorite!

After finding a weapon you like and knowing only the potential victim’s name, you will have to approach and examine all the passengers until you find the right one. The victim’s last known location will show up on your HUD (which only shows the information you need at any time) every so often, so that you can more or less know where to look. Once you manage to find him (or her), his appearance will also be shown at the bottom right of the screen, so that you can easily spot him in the crowd while you stalk him throughout the ship. At least until the next time he hides and changes outfit.

With another hunter on your tail, you will have to do that yourself quite often to make sure he doesn’t know exactly who you are. If you manage to find out who your hunter is (perhaps by a failed attempt to assassinate you or by seeing him pop up wherever you go) you can also attempt to kill him before he kills you, giving you some worry free time until he respawns and gets equipped enough to go after you again.

The ships themselves are huge and you will notice that in many areas there are security cameras or guards. When moving through these you will have to conceal any weapons you carry or you will be immediately arrested and put in jail for a certain amount of time (usually measured in seconds, the average time being 30 or so of those).

Only Human
On top of that, since the characters are not only hunters and victims, but also normal people, you will have to take care of the basic human needs for them. You will at times need to have a snack or drink, use the toilet, wash up, entertain yourself, socialize, and even sleep if you get exhausted. All the needs are interconnected as in real life except in fast forward. If you do not cater to them, some, like using the toilet, may have unpleasant consequences (if you have an “accident” your washing needs go sky-high and flies appear around you!) while others, like eating and drinking, can be fatal.

The above system is integral to the experience and means that every player will not only be seeking a victim and trying to avoid a hunter, but also moving through restaurants, bars, stores, game rooms, cabins and all sorts of areas in an attempt to keep their characters satisfied and healthy. The game uses this to really good effect, making the ships appear as living mini cities when a certain amount of players are in. Of course, the best time to kill someone is when they are trying to do just that, as they will often have to move in unsafe areas and do activities that leave them completely vulnerable for a small amount of time.

Just make sure that it’s your actual target. If it isn’t, you will end up losing points and even dying for nothing as once you attack someone they can retaliate and kill you without a consequence if you give them the chance. You also have to be careful and make sure that you have the advantage before attempting a hit. As I mentioned earlier, a smart “victim” may turn the tables and lead you in an unsafe area in order to kill you before you realize it’s a well planned trap.

Conclusion
I’ll end this now as I’m not writing a guide. That’s pretty much all the game is about. With the less than $20 price tag, I don’t think anyone expected the next “F.E.A.R.” or “Crysis” as this is the kind of pricing budget titles get.

The difference is that budget titles are usually made by established companies that actually intend to make a low quality game in order to sell it cheap. “The Ship” does not fall in that category as it is made by independent developers who drive ideas forward much more than most of the industry’s behemoths want to even try. The execution may lack in a few places because of their limited resources, but if you want to try something new and different it is worth that money. Who knows, you may actually get hooked while at the same time you support this kind of effort and hard work.

Some may argue that “The Ship” shouldn’t be sold because the quality does not surpass the quality of modifications that have been released for free in the past. Still, as a game it offers an experience that you can’t find anywhere else and if you want to enjoy that you simply have to purchase it. There are no perfect games out there after all.

In Short
Pros: A unique new experience, simple enough for everyone to play, with a budget price that is easily affordable. The ships look very nice and visual variety exists in everything within the game.

Cons: Character graphics aren’t the greatest, while the game can be a little glitchy. The weapons handling is simplistic and the gameplay may not appeal to everyone or for long periods of time.

I was able to send a set of questions regarding “SiN Episodes” and its development to Ritual Entertainment for the interview you will be reading here. First of all I’d like to thank Tom “ParadoX” Mustaine (Director of Development / Vice President) for setting the whole thing up and of course Levelord (Co-owner / Level Designer) and Steve “Badman” Hessel (Community Relations Manager) for the time they took to answer all these questions. Also for putting up with me being a pain in the neck. Read on for the goodies!

Q: Hello and thank you for taking the time to conduct this interview. You can start by introducing yourselves and telling us a little about what you do for Ritual Entertainment, and in particular “SiN Episodes”.

Levelord: Lo!`tis the Levelord! I’m one of the owners at Ritual Entertainment and, to the best of my ability, I try to remain a mere level designer. I started professionally with “Duke Nukem 3D” and then started Ritual with a few other lads. We have worked on many games, and helped on many others.

Steve Hessel: I’m Ritual’s online community manager and as such act as the Tribe’s interface with our fanbase. I’m also a pretty big “SiN” nut, so this project is particularly exciting to me.

Q: Since a lot of our readers are developers of “Half-Life 2″ modifications, what would you advise people hoping to, at some point, join a company like Ritual Entertainment? How did you manage to do that?

Levelord: This question always has the very same answer, just do it! If you are even asking this question, other than to ensure you are currently on the correct path to professionalism, then I doubt your passion for the career. This is the key word, PASSION! Many people believe they want to be a game designer, but they really don’t. If you want to be a level designer, make levels, many levels! If you want to be an artist, make assets, many assets! If you want to be a coder, make mods, many mods! Even if I had never been hired 10 years ago at 3D Realms, I would still be at home on weekends making maps for games. I never made maps to get hired, I got hired because I made maps!

Q: You have worked with many different game engines in the past. What was the reason you decided to work with the Source engine this time? Would you make the same choice again if you could return to the beginning stages of development?

Levelord: Many engines, yes, …and one of them being Valve’s “Half-Life” engine when we helped with” Counter-Strike: Condition Zero”. The “Half-Life” engine was the foundation for the Source engine, so we are very familiar with the technology. In addition, Valve has dedicated a large part of their long term strategy to continually upgrading the Source engine, keeping the technology from being dated. This is something that was very important to us since with the constant updates to the Source technology, our episodic content will remain technically advanced for years to come. It is a very nice package deal and, absolutely, we would make the very same selection if we could start over again.

Q: What were the main reasons you decided to go for an episodic release schedule and online distribution? Do you have any doubts about the outcome, or are you certain that things will go well?

Steve Hessel: Obviously one of the major payoffs is the shorter development cycle. You can get your product out to gamers faster and at a lower budget. We’re actually self-funding this project, which gives us complete creative control, so over the course of the episodes, we’ll be trying a few new things to push the genre forward.

Another great advantage is that you can get feedback from your audience and incorporate it into the next episode. If a feature is well-received, you can expand on it in the next installment. If something isn’t liked, you can fix it or phase it out. This allows us to focus our development efforts on the things gamers really want.

Finally, having a smaller project allows you to really focus your efforts. We are using an iterative approach for “SiN Episodes”, so we build small sections of the game and playtest and rework them until they’re fun. This approach can be time consuming, but ultimately, it yields the best results for the gamer.

Levelord: Why use an episodic development paradigm? Because it makes brilliant sense with digital delivery systems like Steam. Having the power and ease of releasing a game with the simple click of an upload-to-server button means that we do not have to wait for enough time to pass, nor provide as much consolidated content to justify putting the product on CDs and in a box and then in a truck and then on a shelf it’s brilliant and it screams “go episodic”.

Episodic entertainment is a proven model for storytelling. From printed media (books, magazines, comics) to electronic (television, movies), almost all forms of media have used episodic storytelling. This is not new for games, either. The word “episode” has been in our gaming vocabulary for a long time. Games have always been divided into episodes. Ritual Entertainment is only using the new delivery system Steam and increasing the frequency of releases.

Episodic gaming is like episodic television. I think a great example we would love to follow is the television show “24”. Each episode is a solid 1-hour packet of entertainment that follows a larger developing story. At the end of each episode I am left wanting, craving actually, the next installment. This is a perfect example of great episodic entertainment. I can also point to soap operas to show you how long this can hold true. A dedicated audience, spanning multiple generations, has been watching shows like “Guiding Light” for over 50 years.

Let’s remember the shareware model used by game developers not so long ago. It was actually an episodic delivery paradigm. With shareware, we would release the first episode, usually before the completed game was finished. Then the full game would be released, which usually was the second and third episodes. These would then, if the game was successful, be followed by a series of add-on packs, each of which to be called another episode. For the most part, this is the very same episodic delivery of a game that we are “starting” with “SiN Episodes”.

We also believe delivering a game like “SiN Episodes” as an episodic series is a great idea because we intend to cast the story down a long timeline. When we say episode here, please remember that the most important aspect of this new paradigm is the partitioning of what used to be considered a whole. What would normally be delivered as a 3-5 “episode” or “mission” game as one piece, requiring at least 2 years to produce (and wait for) and around $60 to buy (not an insignificant price for most of us), will be delivered by us as the same content but in smaller, quicker, and cheaper parcels.

Q: The original “SiN” game has a rather strong fanbase and most everyone is excited over SiN Episodes. How is it for you, the developers, to finally return to the familiar setting after all these years?

Levelord: We selected “SiN” because it’s a known game IP, and we’ve wanted to continue the story of “SiN” ever since the release of the first game, back in 1998.

Q: Ritual Entertainment often runs polls regarding the fate of certain games or features. Why is community input so important to you? How has it helped you with the development of “SiN Episodes”?

Steve Hessel: “SiN” has had a huge cult following for many years, so we frequently try and get the fans’ input, both via surveys on our website and the Question of the Week threads in our forums. One of the impacts that feedback has had is that we decided to split up some of our larger levels after running polling the community on level loads and how frequently / long they would like them to be.

We’ll definitely be monitoring the forums closely after the release of “Emergence” and gather feedback for the next episode.

Q: The first “SiN” included a much loved multiplayer mode. Why did you decide to only focus on the single player aspect for the first of the “SiN Episodes”? Will any future multiplayer mode be sold separately or come as an update to existing Episodes?

Levelord: Again, one of the advantages to episodic development is fast progress. With this in mind, we wanted to focus all of our attention on singleplayer. Multiplayer will come soon after.

Steve Hessel: “SiN” has such a rich universe and characters that starting the single player game first was always sort of a foregone conclusion. That said, multiplayer is definitely on our list, and we have several unique ideas for it that we’re eager to get out there. We haven’t finalized our plans for distributing the multiplayer yet, so I can’t comment on that.

Q: What have you tried to achieve with the first episode as it will reintroduce the “SiN” universe to the public, and how do you plan to continue evolving the concept and gameplay ideas?

Levelord: Only the basics so far, such as main characters, location, motives, etc. We expect to pull in more detailed references and such, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we do a prequel or three in the future.

Steve Hessel: “Emergence” is definitely all about introducing the main characters and setting up the plot. We’ve been very careful to make this game accessible even to people who’ve never heard of SiN, so anyone can jump right in and feel at home. We’ve learned a lot while developing this first episode, so expect future episodes to introduce new and even more daring gameplay mechanisms.

Q: Some people have expressed their skepticism thinking that “SiN Episodes” is looking a bit too much like “Half-Life 2″. What do you have to say to that and what measures have you taken to ensure that the gameplay feels fresh?

Levelord: Well, to be honest, I myself would be honored to be called too much like “Half-Life2″. To date, that is the best FPS ever made. As far as “SiN Episodes: Emergence” goes specifically, I know it is pleasantly different than “Half-Life 2″, like strawberry ice cream is different than chocolate. Expect the game to have a similar feel; it is in the very same engine, so there will be comparisons. This is our game, though, so the levels and art and AI and, many things, are different.

Steve Hessel: I think a lot of this came from the fact that we were in fact using “Half-Life 2″ assets for placeholder purposes. The last of these placeholders are being replaced with original material as we speak, and the game truly feels like a “SiN” title now.

Q: One of the things “SiN” became famous for is the amount of interactivity found within the different maps. The Source engine will obviously allow the use of realistic physics for such things. In what new ways have you tried to make use of that?

Levelord: We are using the physics system, and we are making every manner of object interactive. This is a Ritual game!

Q: What are some of your favorite weapons and why?

Steve Hessel: My favorite weapon is probably the secondary fire on the Magnum. It launches a depleted uranium shell that can penetrate most materials and whoever’s hiding behind them. A close second is the shotgun, which has a really good feel to it.

Q: “SiN Episodes” seems to boast a new partner for Blade in the form of the beautiful Jessica, at least in certain parts of the game. How has that addition affected the game design?

Steve Hessel: Jessica has always been in our minds as sort of a sidekick for the player that (unlike JC) actually goes on missions. Jessica will obviously help you dispose of bad guys, but we’ve got a few areas in the game where the player has to work with her in order to progress. The car sequences were also developed with Jessica in mind as the driver, and a lot of work has gone into making that fun and interesting.

Q: What can you tell us about the locations Blade will find himself in? Which one is your favorite so far and why?

Steve Hessel: We’re really leveraging Freeport City for “SiN Episodes”. Freeport is like a futuristic mix of San Francisco, New York and Tokyo & it’s a giant city housing 27 million people. Early on, we sat down and mapped out the entire city and came up with landmarks and other interesting areas. While you won’t get to visit all of these in the first episode, you’ll be able to spot them in the distance. Chances are, if something looks cool or interesting, you’ll get to go there in a future episode.

I don’t want to give away too much about the locations in “Emergence”, but I can tell you that it starts out in an older part of the docks district, as Blade and Jessica prepare to raid a suspected U4 lab located inside an abandoned overturned oil tanker.

My favorite location is the lighthouse area in the docks level as it’s extremely atmospheric and I like just walking around in it.

Q: Another new addition is the vehicular combat. From what we’ve seen so far, Jessica gets to drive a car while Blade has to fend off enemies with his trusty weapons. Will these sequences play out exactly the same every time (on rails racing), or is there actual and varied A.I. guiding the driver and car? Will the player get to control a vehicle on his own at any point?

Steve Hessel: The car sequence is very much an evolution of the on-rails helicopter sequence we had in the first game. The vehicle still moves on spline paths, but now we have branching in our paths, so depending on your actions in the level (like knocking over a pillar or blowing up a bunch of barrels), different branches are available for the AI to take.

Plus the path is really just a general guide and the AI can actually go off it. It is aware of obstacles, so it will back up and go around them if they block the car’s path. On top of all that, you can also move around the car freely and lean out the windows.

I think it’s safe to say that this sequence will be as interactive and non-linear as it can get without you actually driving the car, and it will definitely be one of the most memorable moments of the first episode.

As for being able to actually drive vehicles, this was a huge part of “SiN”, and while Emergence won’t put you behind the wheel, we’re planning on bringing usable vehicles back in future installments.

Q: As you mentioned above, players will be able to easily change their position within a vehicle, in order to get the best view of the enemies or, presumably, to dodge their fire. Could you explain more of how this will work?

Steve Hessel: You can move around the inside of the car using mouselook and your directional keys. So looking at the passenger seat and pressing forward will move you up front. Leaning out the windows works in a similar fashion. It’s a really intuitive system that you will have no problem getting used to.

Aside from moving around the car’s interior, we’ve also made everything in there useable. You can open the glove box, turn on the windshield wipers, use the radio and even mess around with the transmission, although Jessica might not take too kindly to that.

Q: Some very interesting enemy designs have been shown. Which are your favorites so far and why?

Levelord: Favorites, HA HA! I love them all!

Q: How different will the A.I. of the mutants be compared to the human enemies? Will all of them be able to use squad tactics and attempt to outsmart Blade?

Steve Hessel: Our human enemies usually work in teams, so one of them might lay down covering fire, while another chucks a grenade in your direction. Mutants are much more straightforward, they have little use for teamwork and generally tend to just charge you. All of our enemies are aware of what’s around them, so they will kick and throw items at you if they can.

Q: How long after the first Episode do you hope to be able to release the second? Will you aim for 3-6 gameplay hours in all of them or are you hoping to be able and increase that with every future release?

Levelord: We expect the second episode to require a little less development time. Much of the time on Episode 1 was used to set the foundations and development support. I anticipate receiving much feedback related to this topic. Was the new model worth it to the gaming audience? Did the players get their money’s worth? We will be using this feedback to home the new development paradigm. We will also be looking at the turn-around time.

Q: Will any tools like a level editor be released for “SiN Episodes”? Many fans would like to be able to create their own “SiN” stories, what are your feelings about this?

Levelord: We have ALWAYS been big proponents of tool distribution! This is how most of us got in the industry!

Q: How many episodes have you planned so far? How much will player decisions be able to affect your already written plot?

Levelord: Planning and pre-design on the next episode are already being developed. However, these are only very fundamental and basic so far. Feedback from “Emergence” will have great effect on episode 2.

Q: If there’s anything you would like to add about “SiN Episodes”, or other projects you’d like to tell our readers about, feel free to do so.

Steve Hessel: “SiN Episodes: Emergence” is on the home stretch now and we can’t wait to get it out to you guys!

That’s it for now, I hope everyone enjoyed this interview and is now even more excited over “SiN Episodes”! Visit the official website for more about the game. Don’t forget to also sign up on the official forums as there’s an active community to be found and the developers often respond to their fans’ questions. “SiN Episodes: Emergence” is scheduled for release sometime in the first quarter of 2006 so keep those pennies in check!

I recently had the great opportunity to interview Erik Johnson, Valve Software’s Project Manager. Many things are discussed in it and while not all of my questions were answered (which is, of course, more than understandable, but also the reason some of the questions may appear a little disjointed), there are more than enough juicy details here to sink your teeth into whether you are a player or developer. Read on!

Greetings, and thank you for taking the time to do this interview. This opportunity is a great honor for me and Mod HQ. I hope the questions I’m presenting will also be questions many of your other fans would like to have answered.

Q: I’m sure many of the aspiring game designers out there would like to know what it’s like to work for Valve. Would you share a few hints on how to get noticed?

A: Nothing will get you noticed better than going off and making a MOD. We’re always keeping an eye out for talented people by keeping a close eye on the MOD community. We tend to follow MODs that have shipped the most closely.

Q: Looking back after all this time, would you wish to change anything about the “Half-Life 2″ release, or do you consider it a success that couldn’t have gone better, considering some of the things that happened prior to that.

A: We’re all happy with the way that “Half-Life 2″ was received, and except for about 6 hours of trouble with Steam shortly after the release, the launch went very smoothly.

Q: The Steam platform received mixed reactions at first but it’s certainly been a success. Other companies such as EA are now working on similar distribution systems. How did the idea for Steam first come up?

A: The idea for Steam was in many ways a result of us taking a look at some of the inefficiencies in the way we were doing update releases to “Counter-Strike”, “Team Fortress Classic”, and other games in the years before we switched to using Steam. Back then, updates were an enormous event where it would take close to a week for the community to get updated. Even with all of the pain associated with this method of getting content to our customers, the community continued to grow. This was one of the lessons that started to make us think that having a more direct connection with our customers would be a good thing.

Q: Most people would think that after the completion of a huge project like “Half-Life 2″, the developers would finally get to relax somewhat. Valve however, has been working on several projects seemingly non stop since its release. “Half-Life 2 Deathmatch”, “Counter-Strike: Source”, “Day of Defeat: Source”, “The Lost Coast”, and the expansion “Aftermath” to name a few. How has this affected the crew, if at all?

A: Internally, we looked at the release of “Half-Life 2″ as the beginning of a new way that we could develop games. The approach we’re taking is to opportunistically add new technology to the Source engine (like HDR), while having most of the team iterate on building fun game play in the same way they did during the last part of the “Half-Life 2″ development. Given Steam, we have a distribution method to get this content out out to our customers, and a shorter development cycle makes a lot more sense. We also spent a fair amount of the last year working on “Day of Defeat: Source”, and “Half-Life 2″ for the XBOX. Splitting people off onto smaller teams would not have been possible during Half-Life 2′s development, and we’ve produced more in the last year than we ever have.

Q: The last Steam weekly news update stated once again that “The Lost Coast” will be released soon. Still, many would like to know more about the “Counter-Strike: Source” and “Day of Defeat: Source” content mentioned in the same announcement.

A: While we haven’t done a significant release for “Counter-Strike: Source” in a little while, we’ve been continuously building content for it. There are two new maps on the horizon for “Counter-Strike: Source”, de_nuke, and cs_militia, which will bring the total number of maps we’ve released to 18. The team has also been busy working on getting the rest of the player models built, which we’ll also be releasing soon. November should be a fun month for “Counter-Strike: Source” fans.

On the “Day of Defeat: Source” front, we have a few maps currently in development. There will be a mix of new maps and a Source adaptation of an original “Day of Defeat” map coming before the calendar year is over.

Q: With “Day of Defeat: Source” we saw for the first time the anticipated HDR and most people fell in love at first sight with it. We also know that all future Valve products will include this technology. Are there plans to add HDR in already released products such as “Counter-Strike: Source” and “Half-Life 2″ itself?

A: “Counter-Strike: Source”, definitely. We’ll be rolling out HDR versions of the maps over time starting very soon. As for “Half-Life 2″, not in the short term, but possible at some point.

Q: The Steam platform has also evolved a lot since it was first released. We know that the next step for what you called Steam 3 is to overhaul and activate the Friends system. What other plans do you have in store to help improve the consumer’s experience?

A: We’d like to take a look at storing persistent data along with statistical information. It would be cool to know what is the most common class people choose in “Day of Defeat” for instance.

Q: We know that the “Aftermath” expansion will let us learn more about Alyx and possibly her relationship with Gordon. Something that hasn’t been talked about much is the subject of enemies. Since many people were disappointed with the enemy variety found in “Half-Life 2″, can we expect to fight more types of Combine and possibly the return of more “Half-Life” alien species, as well as new aliens?

A: “Aftermath Episode 1″ does contain a new enemy type, and we plan to continue adding to the variety of enemies (and other challenges) that players must deal with.

Q: The Source Engine seems to be the most popular engine to develop a modification for. This results in a rather large number of very promising projects, possibly already surpassing the original game. Do you think that this will affect their success within the community, as it seems to be very similar to how the industry works where often excellent games go unnoticed or are ignored by the audience.

A: Fundamentally, I think the people who play MODs are an efficient group for measuring quality. It is impossible, or unlikely at best, for a MOD team to fail based on exposure alone. While distribution for MODs is still something that could be improved upon, word of mouth within the community is still a very powerful method for getting people to play a given game.

I think the real mistakes are happening on the individual MOD teams themselves. They are becoming far too hesitant and conservative in their approach to how they design, develop, and release their games. If you go back and look at the first versions of “Counter-Strike”, “Team Fortress”, or “Day of Defeat”, you’ll see rough games that focus around a single game play idea. The first version of “Team Fortress” for “Quake” only had 5 classes, and wasn’t even a Team game. In the first version of “Counter-Strike”, it was virtually impossible to tell the CTs and the Ts apart. The goal of all MOD teams should be to go out and learn from the community as to whether or not your game idea is a good one or not, and plan on releasing as often as possible. Right now it appears that too many MOD teams believe they have to build the next huge hit with their first release, which is a plan that is pretty likely to fail.

The thing that the successful MODs all had in common was that they all had a single idea that they were going to use to drive their game design forward, and it was a good one. No amount of execution, art quality, PR, fancy websites, or time is going to overcome a bad idea for a game. Second, and just as important, they shipped as fast as they could and then continued to ship and ship and ship. Successful MODs measure their success after each release and use what they learned to form the ideas for the next one. If an idea fails, they remove it from the next version, if an idea succeeds, they continue to iterate around that specific element.

Sometimes it feels like the MOD community is becoming more and more like the “professional” game community, where products are being approached as something that should take a long time, ship once, and then everyone moves on to the next big project. MOD teams that are approaching building games from this perspective are throwing all of the advantages they have out the window, and are just competing with every other game developer in the world.

The one MOD that seems to have taken a more iterative approach has been “Garry’s MOD”, who I think has shipped close to 9 versions of his MOD in less than a year. “Garry’s MOD” proves not only that people will find out about a MOD no matter how unusual a product it is, but also that the quality of a MOD can become extremely high as a result of frequent releases.

Q: We know from previous announcements that Valve will be increasing its support for modifications. A first step was taken with the redesigned Browse Games section of the Steam client. Could you tell us in what other ways Valve is considering to help promote modifications?

A: We try to mention any MOD that has shipped in a Steam news item, and we’re always ready to provide feedback to any MOD that is released.

Q: An SDK update is also expected in the near future. Will this be what developers need to add HDR to their projects? What other possibilities will it enable or make easier?

A: There will be plenty of information over at the Valve Developer Community (http://developer.valvesoftware.com) for the SDK when it is released.

This is where it all ends, for now. I would like to once again thank Erik Johnson for his time and, of course, Valve for the many hours of great gaming they have graced us with. I can’t find any other words to express my gratitude so I will leave it simple and genuine. I hope everyone enjoyed reading this interview and that at least some of you will stick around to see what Steam Lab will be offering next. Stay tuned.