03/08/05 >> UFO: Aftershock
Genre: Tactical-action Strategy
Developer: ALTAR Interactive
Publisher: Cenega
Official Site
We had a chance to talk with Martin Klima and Jiri Ryd of ALTAR Interactive regarding their upcoming tactical strategy game, UFO: Aftershock. Gameplay Monthly thanks them for taking time out of their busy schedules to do this interview.
First, let’s talk a bit about UFO: Aftermath. Many fans were hoping Aftermath was going to be an updated version of X-Com. Sadly, some were disappointed by the differences between them. Granted, you weren’t making a remake of X-Com, but was it fair for the fans to be disappointed, or were they expecting too much? What are your thoughts?
Martin Klima (M.K.): There are two points I would like to make about this: for one thing we were always very forthcoming about the design decisions we are going to make and we went to great lengths to explain to everybody who would listen that this Aftermath is not a remake of X-COM. For the other, Aftermath got mostly positive reviews and many fans sincerely like the game. This is not to say there is no room for improvement, and we see the sequel we are working on right now, UFO: Aftershock, as an opportunity to implement some of these improvements.
How did Altar Interactive (and by extension, CENEGA Publishing) feel about the fan’s
overall reaction to UFO: Aftermath?
Jiri Ryd (J.R.): Overall we were very pleased by reaction of players, although there were people demanding X-COM, which, as was already said, we didn’t mean to deliver from the beginning.
Some have complained about Aftermath’s bad AI and pathfinding issues and the shallow strategic elements. Are these being addressed in Aftershock?
M.K.: I think we must distinguish two things: a good decision poorly implemented and questionable design well implemented. While e.g. enemy AI in Aftermath belongs to the former group, the streamlined strategic gameplay belongs to the latter. The solution to the problems in the first group is simple: we'll just implement them better. With the second group the solution is not so obvious and we try to balance the feedback from fans with our vision of the game. For example, there are people who say the player's characters should have some AI of their own and behave independently to some extent. However, we feel that this would reduce Aftermath (or Aftershock) to just another real-time strategy game and we are not going to implement it. There will be some improvements in the way the player controls his soldiers but he will still have to manage their every move. On the other hand, the strategic game was perhaps too simple in Aftermath and, by the popular demand, we are going to introduce more complexity to it in Aftershock.
Let’s talk about UFO: Aftershock now. What new features and improvements are being added?
M.K.: The most interesting features IMHO are:
- More RPG elements. Not only you can control the development of your soldiers (as you could in Aftermath), but you will also be able to train them in about dozen disciplines and each training will give a soldier a specific new ability, not present before.
- The player's soldiers will come from one of three humanoid races. Each race has some unique powers and capabilities.
- There will be bigger and more complex inventory. Beside conventional weapons (and there will not be too many of those), there is various special equipment: scanners, mines or remote-controlled drones. It will be also possible to customize weapons by adding e.g. muzzle breaks, sound suppressors, etc.
- The game mechanics will be better visualized for the player. It will be possible to see how e.g. a chance to hit is calculated, how much it is influenced by range, weapon accuracy, soldier's skill, obstacles, target's speed, etc. The fog of war will be visualized.
- It will be (finally!) possible to enter buildings and fire from them and into them. There will be more floors and the walls of buildings will be destructible.
- There will be resource management in the strategic part of the game, with many different buildings to be constructed in bases and huge technology tree to be researched.
- There will also be several factions (corresponding to the races mentioned above) and you will have to manage your diplomatic relationships with them.
- And obligatory 'feature' of powerful story, surprising plot and unique AI.
There are new enemies planned? What can you tell us about them?
J.R.: Yes, there are. Some of them are humans, who don’t believe you or their goals are different from yours. Another are aliens after they understand you don’t help them. And we have some surprises up our sleeve as well.
Tell us a bit about the Source and Base management system.
J.R.: This is one of most enhanced part of the game. There are territories on the map, which you can win by force or by diplomacy. After gaining every territory in a certain area, you can build a base there and you can start to harvest their resources for manufacturing weapons and equipment, research or for training your troops. You can manufacture or research multiple goods at one time if you have more than one factory or laboratory. Or you can build barracks for militia in that base and thus develop a military camp. And you need resources for that too of course.
Looking at the screenshots, the game seems to have a distinct cinematic quality to it. Is this the look you’re going for?
J.R.: We certainly want to have the player more involved in the game. To this end we want to have various in-game events, both in strategic and tactical parts of the game.
What mistakes that were made with Aftermath are being corrected for Aftershock?
J.R.: Rather then speaking about mistakes, I would say that there are some features that we wanted to have and weren't able to.
Was there any feature that was left out of Aftermath that is being added in Aftershock?
J.R.: For instance crawling or battles inside buildings.
What feature of UFO: Aftershock are you most proud of?
J.R.: For me personally the most favorite feature is the diplomacy system. I like to communicate with other tribes in the game, offer them gifts or help them with rebellious aliens at their doors.
What new weapons and items can we expect to see?
J.R.: There will be race-specific equipment: implants for cyborgs and psi amplifiers for psionics. Then there is a vast array of weapons (conventional, laser, plasma, warp, sonic, EMP…) and special equipment (mines, scanners, cloaks, …) I would also like to point out the remote-controlled drones: these are fully customizable units – you can select a chassis, a control unit and armament – and then use it instead of your precious soldiers.
Will a demo be released before the game ships?
J.R.: Or a few days after release.
Is UFO: Aftershock still on schedule for a Q3 2005 release?
J.R.: Yes, it is.
What would you say to gamers who may be hesitant to play UFO: Aftershock?
J.R.: Come to talk with us to our official forums, we can explain to you our point of view and then you can decide.
Is there anything you’d like to add?
J.R.: Even if not an X-COM remake, UFO: Aftershock is worth trying!
To learn more about UFO: Aftershock, visit the official site.
Interview by Alex Hammond
