First, Games Faction's web site looks like it was formed by former members of Deep Red Games. Why did you guys want to leave to start your own company?

Yes, that's right, both Malcolm and I worked for Deep Red Games. We had both been in the games industry for quite a few years and had both reached a stage where we were tired of making games for other people and felt we could do a better job ourselves. That happened to coincide with digital distribution becoming a viable way of delivering games, so it seemed like the perfect time to go it alone.

How did the idea for Project Aftermath come about?

I've been a big fan of RTS style games for many years, but I've always felt it possible to do something a little different with the basic principal and make them more accessible. After a bit of thought, we realized that RTS games tended to be most fun, for us at least, when you had finished with the first wave of base building and resource gathering and were ready to start fighting. So, we set to work thinking of ways of removing these two elements but whilst still retaining the same overall feel.

The game is a squad-based RTS game. How hard was it to get your initial design to work?

The most difficult bit to get feeling right, by far, was the way that the hero/trooper relationship works. We really wanted the game to feel like you were commanding just the heroes and, in turn, the heroes were commanding the troopers. It took about 5 or 6 iterations of the code to get it feeling how we wanted and I was quite surprised by how tricky it was.

What sort of development issues did the team have to deal with as they worked on the game?

Well, I suppose the single biggest issue was the overall size of the task the team took on, building the whole game from scratch. There were only 3 of us developing Project Aftermath, so it required a huge effort from each member, lots of long hours and lots of blood, sweat and tears. There were no real stand-out issues, apart from the final balancing which was very challenging, but I'd say the biggest continuing development aspect was the design itself. We started off with a really solid game design then, as we went through the development, we came up with other ideas, some of which meant changing initial design. The process was very organic but I think the game is much better for it.

The final game looks very impressive on a graphical standpoint. What engine did you use or did you create your own?

Thank you. We actually decided to build our own engine from scratch. That way we get to build it precisely the way we want, and it is something we have experience of doing in the past. Our main objective was to keep the technology pretty simple to ensure it works on a large number of machines. The credit for the final look of the game should really go to Malcolm, our sole artist; it's down to high quality models and textures rather that fancy shaders or effects.

Overall are you happy with the final result?

Yes, very much so. It's extremely satisfying just to finish a game and have people play it, let alone one that has occupied every waking moment of our lives over the past 2 years. It's especially satisfying that we managed not to compromise our initial vision.

How did you get the game to be sold via Steam?

Well, we were lucky enough to be selected as a winner in Penny Arcade's PAX10 competition this year and that brought us a lot of exposure. Shortly after the PAX10 announcement, we were contacted by Steam themselves saying they were interested in the game. Once they had played the game themselves, the deal was done. Technically, it was very easy getting the game set up on Steam, and it has been a joy to work with.