How will the game be balanced with all of the variations of the game's units?Great question. A lot of people who first try the game think, "I'll just max everything out to level 10 and nothing can beat me." Well, think again. A ship maxed out to 10 on every component is the most useless piece of junk you can possibly design. We use the concept of efficiency to achieve rock/paper/scissors balancing. As you increase one component's capabilities, other components become less efficient. You can see how efficient each component is while you're designing a ship, so you'll know if all those high-powered weapons are going to drain the power from your shields leaving your ship too vulnerable, or if all that cargo space for storing resources is going to make your ship too heavy and slow. The best ship designs are generally the ones that let a ship specialize in one specific kind of mission.
But the strategic depth goes further than just getting a good ship design. It's even more important to design squads of ships to work together. For example, you could have one ship that jams enemy shields and another ship that lays waste to the enemy after his shields are down. Another example is mixing military and civilian missions. You don't want to do that too much or you get an inefficient ship design, but you might want to put just one builder on all of your military ships. That way, after they finish killing off the enemy to take over a new planet, they can immediately dock on the planet and order the builders to start building a new space station to secure territory. That way you don't have to wait for separate builder ships to travel from your home planet. There are countless combinations like these that can make a big difference. I'm sure players will come up with combinations we never thought of.
What are the development team's favorite types of units to create in the game?
Honestly, it's a pretty mixed bag. Personally, I like the simplicity of the example I just gave you, using one ship to lower enemy shields and another to blast at it. But I also understand there are much better designs than that. Some people really like using the computer shocker. The AI programmer tells me that the AI will sometimes tell the ship to self-destruct because it thinks the ship is permanently "dead in the water" when really it's only temporarily paralyzed by a computer shocker. I'm not sure whether to think of that as a feature or a bug, but however you look at it, it seems popular with some people.
I will say that the designs people like for dogfighting are very different from those for taking over space stations. Space stations are tougher to bring down, partly because they can actually repair themselves in the middle of battle. That's where people like using shorter-range weapons like drills, pulse weapons, and autoemitters. But those weapons aren't as useful when dogfighting with other ships, since getting close to another ship can be difficult while it's flying all over the place. Of course, that's why tractor waves are also useful.
What other gameplay features does Shattered Suns have?Oh, geez, I'm not sure where to begin. Orbiting planets and moons is definitely an interesting feature. It means your map is constantly changing, which also affects your decisions. For example, if you invade a planet that's getting farther away from your home planet, your reinforcements will have to travel farther and farther over time, making it harder to be successful. Or, if you time the invasion when the target planet is getting closer, that can work to your advantage.
Other than that, I guess the most often overlooked feature is diplomacy. We don't usually brag about it much, so it doesn't get much attention. But the reality is that the diplomacy feature is very good. The UI doesn't looks very good from a visual standpoint, which is why we don't talk about it much, but the actual game play is exceptional. You can see all sorts of stats on all the factions in the game, including how much each faction respects or likes every other faction. More importantly, you can do a lot of things that are usually only available in turn-based strategy games like negotiating contracts with other factions. Contracts can include one-time or regular payments of resources or units. They can also involve more interesting treaties than usually included in RTS games. For example, I can sign a contract with Faction A that requires Faction A to make Faction B its enemy. I don't have to require Faction A to be my ally if all I really want to ask for is that Faction A go to war with Faction B. Of course, contracts are made to be broken, so just make sure you don't pay the other faction everything up-front, since you might get taken to the cleaners if you do.
What can you tell us about the game's graphical features?
Honestly, the beta testers have spoken and the word is that the graphics are "good enough." They're not, "great" and they're not just "OK." They're simply, "good enough." We don't expect to win any awards for stunning graphics. We're just too small a company to compete on that battlefield with the likes of EA, Activision, and others. But that's also exactly why our focus has always been on innovative game play. If you want stellar graphics that bring your NVIDIA 8800 card to its knees, there are lots of other games that do a better job than Shattered Suns in that department. But if you want truly revolutionary game play features like deep unit customization, action-oriented 3D space combat in an RTS, orbiting planets and moons, and an interactive IM-like campaign with epic story depth, we're the only game in town, at least for now.
Having said that, let me say that we do have some interesting visual design themes in Shattered Suns. One is that we wanted to bring out the rich colors of nebulae. The campaign's story takes place in a small section of a galaxy that the locals refer to as the known universe. That section of the galaxy is located at the crossroads of several large nebulae which provided the source material for life in numerous star systems. So, the game play generally takes place in levels surrounded by colorful nebulae.
The three main nationalities in the game also have their own artistic themes: the Statians, the Qalani, and the Trexites. The space stations and ships belonging to each nationality are very distinct. The Statian ships were inspired by the sleek lines of the manta ray. Their culture is very balanced between both form and function. The Qalani are more weighted toward function with little concern for form. So, the Qalani vessels are often very lopsided looking and have sections where the technical guts of the vessel are showing because they didn't care about covering them up. The Trexite culture is very hive-like. Their ships and stations are inspired by insectoid themes found in nature. They're a blend of both organic and technological themes.
So, I guess you could say that, although we don't have the latest and greatest shaders, lighting, and other technical features that could make the game really pop visually, we have put a lot of depth into the actual storyline background and artistic themes behind the graphics.
You are currently beta testing the game. How can people join the beta test? We are running a beta test. It's our second major beta. The first was in the summer of 2007. Unfortunately, we're not really seeking additional beta testers anymore. We're currently in that no man's land between the last beta and the gold master that will make the public release. We'll keep existing beta testers informed and probably put out another build for them, but we're not actively seeking any new beta testers at this stage.
Is the game still scheduled for an August 2008 release and will the game be released to retail stores in addition to downloads?Absolutely. It's August 19. We've been plagued by no less than three release delays on this project, but the third time is definitely the charm. I'm glad we delayed when we did, because the quality of the game has really benefited from the delays, but it's clearly time now to let the game go out the door. The beta testers from both betas have really helped us make a better game, but there's one group that will help us improve the game even more than beta testers, and that's customers. We've gotten to a point now where there's a whole class of beta testers out there who are just fed up with waiting. They like the game as it is now, and they want it to come out now. Honestly, that group has started becoming borderline irate, so I view the August release date as a matter of personal security as much as anything else. Seriously though, we've gotten to the point where we feel like we'll be punishing those who already really love the game if we delay just one more time.
After the game's release are there any plans to release additional content?Absolutely. I'm a big fan of Stardock's Brad Wardell and his anti-piracy approach. I think of it as using more carrot and less stick. I'm all for stopping piracy, but I'm more concerned with making customers happy than making pirates unhappy. So, we won't be including any annoying DRM software with Shattered Suns. We won't require inserting the DVD to play the game. The license will allow installation on up to three machines for personal convenience. But, we can't offer these conveniences to legal customers without opening ourselves up to piracy. So, the way we combat piracy is simple: We offer each legal customer extra content and upgrades that we'll continue developing post-release. You'll have to have a valid serial number to get this content and each serial number can only be associated with one e-mail address. So, the only ones inconvenienced will be the pirates, not the legal customers. Also, the ones we'll be listening to when we decide how to improve the game post-release will be legal customers. Although it's hard for me to predict at this stage what extra content customers will demand most, I can say that we plan on making significant updates likely to include substantial new features, new game play levels, and more campaign content in addition to incremental enhancements.
Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Shattered Suns?
Yes. I'd like to send a shout-out for Sins of a Solar Empire. Ironclad and Stardock did a great job with SOASE and I think their game along with Shattered Suns will expand the space RTS genre as a whole. I think some people are under the misconception that Shattered Suns is a competitor to SOASE. But I don't see how anyone who actually plays both games could possibly see it that way, since the games approach the genre from completely different angles. When I want a huge-scale game that lasts for a week, spans a vast map, giving me control over an enormous empire, and focuses heavily on strategy over tactics, I play SOASE. When I want a story-driven campaign and an action-oriented RTS game with tactical battles in all three dimensions, along with the sandbox feel of custom-designed units, I play Shattered Suns. Personally, I love both games, but for completely different kinds of game play. That's why we think both games will expand the genre as a whole. So kudos to Stardock, Ironclad, and all the fans of both games who really drive the future of space RTS games.
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