Izvor: Playsomnia.com, 11.Jul.2011, 20:48 (ažurirano 02.Apr.2020.)
MinMax Games interview
You may not have heard about MinMax Games yet, but suffice it to say you're missing out. They're working on their first game, Space Pirates and Zombies, a space simulation/RPG hybrid with an added zombie element. We've recently had an opportunity to talk to half of the company and find out more about their upcoming game.
So tell us a bit about yourself. How was MinMax Games formed? Is it really just the two of you?
Yep, it’s just the 2 of us. We both worked together at an AAA studio for almost 5 years. After working on 100+ person teams with huge development cycles, we decided that it was time to work on our own ideas.
In a large studio, it is so hard to make a difference. There is always the ominous threat of random cancellation of the project that you are pouring your soul into. With indie development, you succeed or fail based on your own work, and although scary, it is also far more rewarding.
Where have you worked earlier? Were you by chance involved with some of the games we might have played?
We had both worked at Radical Entertainment prior to starting MinMax. The biggest project that we both worked on together was Scarface, and then the sequel Scarface 2, which was cancelled after two years of development. That cancellation planted the seed in both of our minds that we needed to get out of AAA development.
On to the game itself. Space Pirates and Zombies is your first game, could you describe it to us?
SPAZ is a top down space action RPG with strategic elements. SPAZ takes a lot of inspiration from the good old days of Star-Control and MOO, but gives it a fresh coat of paint and some nifty physics based combat. SPAZ is a combination of all of our favourite game concepts from the past that hopefully creates a new experience for people.
What were your influences while working on the game? It seems to have a lot in common with Star Control, for example.
Star-Control was a huge inspiration for us. We also took some inspiration from games like Diablo, constantly rewarding the player with shiny stuff. Mechwarrior 2 was the inspiration for our ship building systems and physics based combat.
How complex is the game? Can people with little experience with similar games pick up and play?
We spent an insane amount of time reworking tutorials and the interface for SPAZ. The game is quite complex by the time everything gets going, but we do a good job of dishing things out one at a time until the player is comfortable. There is also a great deal of optional stuff in the game you don’t have to do. SPAZ is easy to learn, but hard to master, just like games used to be J
How long is a typical campaign? How much of the content is procedural?
Right now the campaign is roughly 20 hours long depending on how you play. There is a linear storyline that is unlocked as you progress, but the rest of SPAZ is procedural and totally open. The galaxy and details of each star system are different each time you start a new game. Even the same story event can have a different enemy fleet layout from one instance to the next.
Adding zombies to games seems to be a popular trend lately. How does this work in SPAZ?
The Zombies evolved as a faction instead of being the core mechanic of the original design. Originally, we simply had a bunch of ideas from old games that we never see anymore and we started working on something called “Space Game.” What an amazing title, we know.
Over time, some factions were eliminated (the Rock and Plant races) and Humans split into multiple factions. The remaining faction which has a hybrid of the rock, plant and human factions became Zombies for lack of a better term. We have received some knee jerk criticism for having “Zombies” in our game, but they are a well fleshed out mechanic and in the end really make SPAZ unique instead of samey.
The Zombie faction’s main purpose is to create a modifier for other mission types. A procedural mission in an area infested with zombie ships or not makes a huge difference to the gameplay. By the time the zombies appear in the game, the player is already comfortable playing, and then we really change things up, and it gets quite difficult again.
The zombie faction creates their own ecosystem that is self replicating. Just like zombies, one or two are not really a problem, but once they start breeding, they will soon become an overwhelming force.
Are there any other versions in the works? Any love for mobile platforms?
For now we are strictly focused on finishing up beta, and then we’ll move on to a Mac version. From there we don’t have any plans, but we’re going to support SPAZ as best we can and try and make sure as many people as possible get their hands on it.
SPAZ is currently in beta testing. When is the final version expected? What else are you adding to the game until then?
We’ll probably be finished beta in early August. We plan to have some arena based combat events, specialist pilots you can hire up, as well as a few new ships. After beta we’ll still be supporting SPAZ with new features and content, so release is definitely not the end for SPAZ.
How do you manage a project of this size with only two people? Do you have any outside help or are you developing it completely by yourselves?
We put this whole game together by ourselves. We just bought an engine (Torque2d,) spent a week designing, and got to work. As for project management, we didn’t do a lot aside from always telling our families “just 3 more months!” We originally anticipated SPAZ would take 6 months to produce, and here we are 2 years later.
Did you develop the game from ground up or were you using ready-made tools?
SPAZ was developed using Torque2D. Any time you can buy a tool and it is reasonably priced we suggest that you do it. The time saved building content vs. building an engine is huge.
SPAZ has been getting a lot of attention lately. How is the game doing so far?
So far so good. We get a few pieces of mail thanking us for making SPAZ each day. It seems that some people have been waiting for a big space game for quite a while, and so were we, and that’s why we made SPAZ.
There is a lot of struggle getting coverage though. For about 10 emails sent, we get one reply. When we are able to get a reviewer to take a look at SPAZ, the response has been very positive.
A lot of players are asking for multiplayer. Have you considered adding this, or perhaps making an MMO version of the game?
Being a first time indie studio, we didn’t try and bite off the big multiplayer monster for our first game. SPAZ is designed as a single player experience, and we don’t have plans to wedge multiplayer in. That being said, if we are successful, then SPAZ 2 will definitely have multiplayer integrated into the game at a core level and be designed for it from day 1. We believe that designing a game around multiplayer is the only way to properly deliver on the multiplayer experience.
What are your plans after finishing the game? Any other future projects you can comment on?
We hope to support SPAZ for a long time to come. That means lot of free content packs, and maybe some DLC or expansions. We’ve talked a bit about doing a spin-off, or a sequel, but we’ll see. Beyond SPAZ, we don’t have any solid plans.
Any closing comments?
Thank you very much for the interview. We hope to see you and your readers on the forums. We have a very active with the community, and we’d love to hear what everyone has to say.
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, Andrew! SPAZ might be a bit difficult to understand, so you should definitely give it a try to see what it's about. If you're still on the fence, there's a demo version, and you can also find out more about the game on the official site.
