IG Fansite.com - Imperial Glory Support & Imperial Glory Mods

Pre Imperial Glory interview, (Page 2/2)

How well you can manoeuvre ship is affected by a lot of factors. Did you take in account things like wind, tide, drift, and such? Are damaged ships harder to manoeuvre, and can they be repaired?

FC: The naval battles are not as difficult to play. The factors that are taken into consideration are the wind, the experience of the crew, and the type of boat. Ships with more experienced crews will react better (manoeuvrability, rate/accuracy of fire, etc). There are three different type of boats (the most powerful being the slowest), and each of them being able to load their cannons with different type of ammo, depending if you want to shoot at the crew, the sails or the hulk. It is a simple system that gives a good immersion thanks to the graphics and to the diversity of tactics you might use. You may board ships, or destroy the sails for the boat to loose speed and manoeuvrability. Ships will be repaired at port.

Will we also see a combination of naval and land battles where you, for example, attack a port with your ships and bring the units inside on land and continue the battle but now also have attacking forces on land?

FC: Land and Naval Battles are fought separately, so there is no interaction between forces on the land and on the sea.

Will the game be open for modding? We are sure there are enough talented map designers and modellers who can bring the community to a higher level with the help of some history buffs. A game is never too complex for modding. What do you think?

FC: The level of exigency we have on graphics and on gameplay pushed us towards the decision of making all maps by hand and not generated, as in other RTS games. All strategic points, tactics and all gameplay mechanisms are developed with an internal and very precise editor that would need a lot of time to master for people willing to make a mod. This complex yet precise tool is not something we’ve considered getting public, at least at this time. This does not mean that the community will not get anything from us. We are already planning a few things.

What are the system requirements?

FC: The minimum specs are not totally final yet, but the general idea is that you won’t need the latest PC on the market with the very latest graphic card to enjoy that game. As all games of this genre, we’re aiming for something like a Pentium III 1 GHz, with 256MB RAM and 64MB GFX card

When will we see a demo, and what do you plan it to feature?

FC: We have just sent the demo to the printed magazines, and the online version will follow shortly. The demo features two land battles, a presentation of the manage model and a Naval battle video. The first one is set in Hanover with an easy initial setting for gamers who want to play a bit with their units, get easily familiar with the controls, the tactics, and a second one in a North African map (that means sun, sand, sand storms, etc..) that will be much harder, to experience the full leadership with a big army.

I want to ask IG for Xmas 2005, will Santa bring me a bug free, well balanced game?

FC: Firstly, Santa only brings presents to people who have been good all year long. That’s a risk only you can assume. Secondly, you can ask Santa to bring you Imperial Glory on Xmas 2005, but my intuition is that you won’t be able to wait almost 8 months after the release of the game. If I were you, I would ask him for a Commandos Strike Force.

IV: We are working on the two games that you already know: Imperial Glory and Commandos Strike Force, on two prototypes, one for PC and another for the next gen consoles (PS3 and Xbox 2) and we are developing the first ideas for a fifth one.

The prototypes are not related to Commandos in any aspect. The one for PC will not be a strategy game, but it will belong to a genre that we have not worked on in the past. I would say that it is very original, and again we will try to surprise with something good. The one for next gen will be a very excited action game.

Long time ago we heard some rumours you were working on a game called Heart of Stone. It looked very promising, but unfortunately it landed in the freezer. Any change it will ever hit the shelves? Will you start from scratch, or continue where you ended?

IV: Yes we were working on it, and we had to put it on hold due to other priorities. This happened sometime ago, and was not the first time that we had to stop working on it. Right now we don’t have plans to continue working on it immediately so we cannot say other thing than: yes, unfortunately it continues in the freezer.

What does Pyro Studios aim for in the future?

IV: Our plans are to keep growing in order to make even bigger productions (the ones demanded by the market) and to be among the most respected developers.

Things are getting tougher and tougher for the development companies, specially in Europe, and specially for the independent ones like us, but we will continue fighting our way.

Feel free to use the blank space below to add anything you feel our readers should know.

IV: People should know that we do our best to make good and fun games, and that we do care about their opinions and about what they write in e-mails and posts. We may not be able to answer to everything or to make everyone happy, but we never forget that they are the ones that let us do what we like, which is to make videogames.

We would also like to thank our fans for their support (and for their critics too, as they allow us to at least try to improve things) and specially to thank the TAFN staff, for their work and for their patience.

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Participants : François Coulon and Íñigo Vinós.
Interviewers : TAFN Staff + Community Questions
Additional Credits : Simon Wells and his Eidos colleagues