So far how have sales of the game been like since its release last week?

Sales have been going pretty well so far. When we launched the game, there wasn't really much anticipation in the market because we hadn't been promoting it at all, so initially most people hadn't heard of Project Aftermath. Now that we're getting a bit more exposure, the sales are beginning to increase steadily, day on day.

Are there any plans to expand the game via new content?

Yes. We're planning on adding a skirmish mode to the game with a series of smaller, quicker levels to play. These will be separate from the main campaign mode. We're also planning on starting work on a multiplayer version of Project Aftermath to allow co-operative and competitive play. A lot of the game mechanics were designed with multiplayer in mind so I think it'll work really well.

How do you guys feel about the PC game industry as a whole, which some have said is healthy and other feel its being hurt by piracy?

I think the PC industry is really strong at the moment. Digital distribution has changed the rules quite a bit, as have some of the more creative business models that people are trying. I know retail sales in certain territories are flagging a little but you just need to look at the success of digital distribution portals or subscription-based MMOs to see how much money is swilling about. Also, the PC tends to be the natural home for Indie developers and therefore the natural home for innovation and risk-taking. I think we'll see the PC market continue to grow strongly over the coming years. I really don't see piracy as an issue if dealt with properly. Largely, the people pirating the games aren't lost sales because they wouldn't have bought the game anyway. Some people pirate games to 'work around' restrictive DRM, and I think this is a mistake on the part of the publishers. For this reason, we chose to not use restrictive DRM; it's best to trust your customers rather than punish the honest ones in an effort to get a few extra dollars from the dishonest ones.

What is Games Faction next game going to be like? Any hints at all?

Well, we have a few game designs on the table at present, so no firm decisions have been made. I'm pretty sure it is going to be another Arcade-RTS though. I like to think we've hit on something a little different with Project Aftermath and we really want to try and push these ideas a lot further.

Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Project Aftermath?

A thing I haven't mentioned so far is the scoring mechanism we've come up with. We wanted to replace the resource-gathering in usual RTS games with some kind of 'currency' for buying new equipment and also to give a solid reason for the player wanting to replay levels. What we came up with is a unified system where we give you a set number of points (we call points GOOP - Genetic Outfitting and Operational Plasma) per level for you to spend on heroes, troopers, weapons, armour, augmentations and special weapons. We don't limit you to that number though. If, for instance, a level has a load-out budget of 50,000 and you spend 100,000 then no problem, you just start the level on -50,000 GOOP. On the other hand, if you only equip 30,000 worth of equipment, you start the level with 20,000 GOOP. You then gain GOOP in level for killing enemies and completing objectives, and lose points for resurrecting your heroes or casting Morphid Field Effects (special weapons). This way, if you just want to have a bit of fun blowing things up then you can equip whatever you like. On the other hand, if you want to try and challenge on the high-score tables, you'll need to optimise your load-out carefully so as to get the highest possible score. Hopefully your readers will try it out and see for themselves what we are trying to do.

Download the Project Aftermath demo from Big Download right now