Posted: 07-06-05 In: Interviews By: Munro2 |


Halflife2.net: Hello, please introduce yourself and explain what your role is in the making of Troy: Divine Playground.

Kiroke: Hi, my name is Francois, a.k.a. Kiroke and I’m the team leader / lead game designer for T: DP.

Halflife2.net: Most developers tend to stick to the traditional FPS when creating a MOD. What influenced the team to create such a unique game? How long did it take for you to realize that this would be a sure-fire hit?

Kiroke: We were looking for a software project that would be an interesting challenge. Going for the same old Counter-Strike clone would not represent any challenging job for coders; it would only be a job for mappers and modellers. We didn’t realize at a certain point we would create a sure-fire hit, but we did realize we had the potential to create a unique kind of mod.

Halflife2.net: Following my previous question, properly creating a MOD such as Troy: Divine Playground is a hard thing to accomplish. How do you think the development team is handling the situation?

Kiroke: The coding part is a well understood part for the core team: We are used to dealing with software projects such as this one. Managing a project with external resources from around the world is quite a different game though; you cannot make precise estimates as to when a particular task is to be finished. We are thus looking for partnerships with art schools. Students that are credited to work on a project have a deadline, plus they have an additional motivation to do a great job (their final score).

Halflife2.net: The battle system in Troy: Divine Playground looks absolutely phenomenal, tell the readers more about the battle system.

Kiroke: The battle will oppose the Trojans against the Achaeans (the Greeks). Players are the messengers of the gods; they influence the battle by controlling one soldier at a time. Depending on the class a player chooses to play, the kind of battle he will live will be very different. A shade will prefer sneaking around, while an Olympian will be the main fighting figure. The Hero class will lead other soldiers into the battle, buff them with auras, and will try to defend his soldiers.

Halflife2.net: One of the more interesting aspects of the gameplay is that users will be able to assume the role of two playable forms; Human form and Spirit form. Tell us a little more about each class.

Kiroke: The two forms are not “classes” but rather two ways of seeing the battlefield. There are three kinds of spirits: the Shade, the Olympian and the Hero. While in spirit form, you cannot influence the battlefield; your only goal is to choose the next soldier you will control. This choice is based upon the soldier’s position, health, current weapon etc. Once you’ve selected your soldier, you will possess him and gain control of his body. This is the “human” form. It is also when the kind of spirit you’ve selected will become important: you will be given different abilities depending on the selected spirit. The Spirit form is third person, while the Human form is First person.

Halflife2.net: Although this is a pretty self explanatory question due to the title, what type of weaponry will be available? Will it be a spawn-to-buy basis, such as CS: Source, or will the weaponry be available in the battleground?

Kiroke: The weapons will be as you would expect them to be in that time period: swords, bows and arrows, slings, etc. They are described on our website in the weapon section. The interesting part about the weapon system is that players will get the weapon of the AI soldier they chose to possess. Players will also be given a divine usage for each weapon; a secondary attack if you want. This divine attack can be pretty deadly: a javelin can be thrown with such strength that it will pin down an enemy to the wall.

Halflife2.net: The battlefield is home to hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers. How many NPCs will be included on the battlefield at once?

Kiroke: At the risk of breaking some illusions about the mod: there will not be thousands of NPCs running around. The Source engine focuses mainly on details rather than on large scale battles. While we are trying to add as many soldiers as possible, we want every AI soldier to be smart and to react normally. Add the load of managing the AI to the load of computing the ballistic weapons on the server and you’ve got a very concrete limit to the possible number of AI soldiers. We do want to focus on players’ immersion though, and we think we’ll be able to do this with appropriate sound effects and map design.

Halflife2.net: I just have to ask: Will there be any vehicular combat?

Kiroke: There will be siege machinery, but no combats between players in vehicles. Some maps will focus on advancing a battering ram up to a certain point. We might also allow ourselves to differ a bit from historical accuracy and add some catapults and ballista.

Halflife2.net: Since not every character will be used by a player, how will the abilities of an AI character and a Human differ? Which will be stronger?

Kiroke: The players will definitively be stronger. They’ve got a divine usage of the weapons, have distinct skills, and we expect them to make slightly better decisions than AI soldiers!

AI soldiers will be really important though and are at the base of the gameplay. They are your spawning points, so you obviously want them to be alive. The more AI soldiers you’ve got helping you pushing a battering ram, the faster it will move. Players will most often have to protect their AI soldiers in order to make any progress at all on the maps.

Halflife2.net: Troy: Divine Playground's time period is so far down the timeline, creating a soundtrack to compliment the gameplay would only enhance the gameplay experience. Are there any plans to include a soundtrack? If so, who will be featured on the soundtrack?

Kiroke: We do plan to create a soundtrack for the game and currently we have two active composers, and I must say their work is impressive up till now.

Halflife2.net: As we all know, the Source engine is a very flexible engine. Are you proud that you have chosen to use the Source Engine?

Kiroke: We certainly are proud to have chosen that engine. The physic is interesting, plus we’ve got constant engine updates coming from Valve. We are especially looking forward to work with the graphic shaders soon.

Halflife2.net: Although this may be a bit early; when does the development team anticipate a release date of Troy: Divine Playground?

Kiroke: The school project officially ends on December 2005. We should be able to release a public version at that time, or else our evaluation shall be in peril!

Halflife2.net: Is there anything I have left out that you would like to comment on?

Kiroke: Only that we do want to bring you guys an entertaining and funny game - not just some school project technology demo!

Halflife2.net: Thank you for taking time of your busy schedule to answer these questions!

Kiroke: You’re more than welcome!

For more information on Troy: Divine Playground, then please visit their website, here.