Fragland has an interview with Chris Taylor, founder and CEO of Gas Powered Games. You can also check out 2 new gameplay movies from GamesCon 09 here and here.
1. Can you say something about the changes made on Supreme Commander 2?
We are taking the RTS genre to a new level. We are not happy to sit still. We have a brand new rendering engine, global illumination, a brand new path finding system, neural nets and all new designed factions. Incredible new units like the experimentals of Sup Com but now we have like 25, both mini and major of them. We’ve taken a part of the game that we really loved and we are blowing that right out!
2. If you look back at the first Supreme Commander, how satisfied are you with the product you delivered and how would you measure the game’s degree of success?
Most people measure a game’s success based on the units it sold, but for a company it's how much the revenue was. And yes we make good money… But we believe the success in this industry comes from continuing to evolve your games and to make them better and to build a momentum with your customer. Keep delivering more and more, building on things that they love. So, I think looking ahead to the future is where the excitement is right now for Supreme Commander.
3. We all know Square-Enix is known for their superb graphics and deep storyline. Does the cooperation with SE means the game enjoys a better and more detailed storyline?1. Can you say something about the changes made on Supreme Commander 2?
We are taking the RTS genre to a new level. We are not happy to sit still. We have a brand new rendering engine, global illumination, a brand new path finding system, neural nets and all new designed factions. Incredible new units like the experimentals of Sup Com but now we have like 25, both mini and major of them. We’ve taken a part of the game that we really loved and we are blowing that right out!
2. If you look back at the first Supreme Commander, how satisfied are you with the product you delivered and how would you measure the game’s degree of success?
Most people measure a game’s success based on the units it sold, but for a company it's how much the revenue was. And yes we make good money… But we believe the success in this industry comes from continuing to evolve your games and to make them better and to build a momentum with your customer. Keep delivering more and more, building on things that they love. So, I think looking ahead to the future is where the excitement is right now for Supreme Commander.
With the Square-Enix partnership we wanted to tell a better story about the characters that are caught up in this war. Most of the times in game developing art comes second, but with Square-Enix art and the art form of gaming comes first. And that’s a real pleasure, we are having a lot of fun!
4. I presume Supreme Commander is still about large scale battles. Has that changed in Sup Com 2? Has it became bigger or smaller? What kind of adjustments are there going to be?
There is definitely a focus how the game plays. We have fewer units, but we added a whole new Tech Three, which allows you to make a lot of awesome combinations which creates a lot of replay value. We’ve made some changes in our economy system, which is easier to understand and is less tricky.
5. The game is coming for PC and Xbox360. Are there any plans on releasing the game on another platform? Maybe a PS3 version?
So far there is no PS3 version in planning.
6. And last but not least. When will the game be released?
The game will be ready somewhere in Q1 or Q2 2010 ^^
