Interview
mit Ian Currie:

Interview by: UnionJack

Take an addictive tactical engine where you can do virtually anything from crawling stealth like behind bushes, to climbing rooftops to operating vehicles. Add a rich story line most RPG's would envy. Then add a good dose of a war enthusiast�s knowledge of the various implements of destruction, not to mention a strategic twenty four-hour real-time campaign. That�s Jagged Alliance 2 from Sir-Tech. Well, to be fair that�s only the first impression. Jagged Alliance 2 features some truly bizarre characters and loads of options that cross over various gaming styles. Fans of this great game have followed its development for quite some time as at long last it is nearing completion. Being a rabid JA fan myself I felt this was a perfect time to ask the men responsible for this killer game, Ian Currie, Shaun Lyng and Chris Camfield a few questions about Jagged Alliance 2. Enjoy everyone.

Ian: Sir-tech Canada is just a developer and it is not our function to do Marketing and public relations - that is the function of a publisher. When we lost our publisher (Sir-tech Software Inc) last fall, we lost advertising. We're a very small company and have our hands full trying to get JA2 finished. Ian: There haven't been too many design changes. The sci-fi elements were half the game when we started, but we scaled them back about a year ago because while we knew they would appeal to many, certain hardcore JA fans were upset by the idea. Then we had the notion to try and make everyone happy by making it an option. To make it an option, we had to reduce how much there was of it for game balance reasons (this is the reduction I just mentioned a year ago). More recently we made other changes to it to refine game balance. Going into these details would only be confusing as you haven't played the game yet and also I don't want to spoil too much. Chris: Well, actually, I'm extremely happy with the way the game has turned out. It's my hope that nobody will regret the design decisions that we've made. For instance, we've had requests for extremely powerful weapons, like miniguns, or for that matter, tanks. It's my feeling that giving the player access to such powerful weapons would make the rest of the game very difficult to balance. And I think there are some fans who will be happy with nothing short of tactical nuclear weapons! Ian: Well, in refining the game balance, we too thought knives should get a little more usage, so we've removed all of the automatic weapons (burst fire) from the game and drastically shortened the range of all the rifle-class weapons. We've also limited sight ranges for mercs and enemies so that now most of the battles are fought within close proximity. When you're already close, you're more likely to run up and either stab or punch someone. While this may seem disappointing on the weapons side of things, we felt overall it gave a better sense of game balance - and the end result was more fun. Also, instead of scrolling around to each merc, they're usually all within the same area (along with the enemies) so battles are tight and exciting! And now, you use your knives! They're so deadly - we had to add lower class knives so that you can build up to the better ones later in the game. For example, you can explore towns in Arulco and find typical kitchen knives - even a butter knife which doesn't do that much damage, but with enough stabs can kill.

Another thing I should point out is that entire paragraph above is bunk -I'm just waking up after a long marathon a work session yesterday and I'm Indulging in some fun. I really should get more sleep! Anyway, hope you're All awake now! Seriously, we've tweaked the knife formulae such that we Think it's much better. We've added "critical knife" hits, so you'll like Knifing more in the full game than you did in the demo.

Ian: Critical hits are hits that cause more than just "health" damage - they can cause a victim to lose points in a category such as dexterity, agility, etc or have other effects such as making the victim fall. Ian: Hmm. To be honest, I can't recall - I don't ever remember the complaint, but since everything has been tweaked (how can we resist playing with crucial numbers when it's so much fun?). Ian: Tsk tsk. You shouldn't KNOW about the rocket rifle! Grrrr. Well, I should probably tell you that the hacking of the demo is the real reason the game is late - we had to change all the weapons so you guys would still have some surprises; and of course to tell you what they are would defeat the purpose... Ian: No, we didn't realize. When we did we were pissed (at ourselves for making it so easy) and for the patch we encrypted it. Ian: Well, I guess the obvious one that comes to mind is "buy it, play it, enjoy it, rave about it, etc., buy another copy for your dog" type thing so we get to make another one! Ian: I'm not sure the Soldiers at War comparison is fair. They have not attempted to inject personality into the product such as we have with JA, and this alone would make JA stand out. However, they also have made those games very quickly (if I'm not mistaken) and therefore haven't been able to spend as much time on things like interface and game-balance. JA is also a true hybrid of gaming styles whereas many other products are not. I don't the market has seen a product that is direct competition with JA yet (but I'm sure we will); whenever I'm asked to describe JA and compare it to another product, it's always difficult as I have to mention many products and point out which aspects of them are similar - there's no easy answer. Ian: Well, I think the reason we're all making games is because we like the idea of providing entertainment for people. It's a form of interaction. We don't do it to get paid - we do it because we like games and we like to please. That last part is very hard to do these days because expectations are always so high. The harder you work at trying to please, the higher you set your sights, the more obstacles (problems) you have to deal with and, inevitably, it takes longer to do - which is a dangerous catch-22 because the public's sights are set even higher. But because making anything for other people is a form of interaction, it's only natural that we try and interact with the public before the product is finished so that we are truly building a product for them (as well as ourselves). We have to like it (to be passionate about making it) and so do you. I know we've succeeded with the former, and very soon we'll know about the latter. Ian: They were supposed to do a preview.... yes it was an old beta, not even close to the final version. Shaun: Not really. The sci-fi was scaled back because we started to notice a bit of an uprising on the Terra Virtua JA forum. The purists didn't seem too keen on it. So, we decided to make it an option. Once it was an option, we couldn't justify putting in the complex design and creature evolution that I had created. The animation requirements alone were astronomical. So, it was more a case of cutting out a large chunk of work, rather than having to rework anything extensively. Shaun: We did a count at one point, unfortunately I can't remember exactly what it came to, but it was definitely more than 10,000 line of dialogue. It was an intimidating amount of work, yet I was lucky enough to have Brenda Garno and Josh Mandel help me out by writing some of it. Both are extremely talented writers, whose contribution made the project feasible.

As for the amount of time it took to write the characters, it's hard to say, since I do so many other things too. But JA2, as a whole, required roughly 18 months of my time.

Shaun: There is more than one possible ending. As for winning, well... the goal of returning the country to its people must be completed, but like all JA games the way the player goes about it is limitless. The game is truly non-linear. Shaun: Yes. Most definitely. With each game in the series, I've learnt from my mistakes. And when I didn't, somebody was kind enough to point them out to me. ;-) Every time you finish a product, you sit there and almost immediately think of the all the things you would do different if you had the chance to do it again. Being able to go on to do a sequel allows you to implement them. Shaun: The vehicle aspect of the game is important for transport, as Arulco is a rather large country to have to walk around in. Vehicles serve their purpose, but due to time and animation limitations were not exploited to their full potential. Shaun: Actually, we tried to keep all the old favorites. We even did a survey on the newsgroups to find out who the favorites were. Roughly twenty of the old mercs made into JA2. To qualify, they had to be a favorite and somewhat useful. But don't worry there's plenty of new wackos to choose from. Shaun: Somewhat the same as the first JA. A premise, a goal, and an non-linear gaming environment, which pretty much allows the player to create their own story as they attempt to return Arulco to its people. Of course, there's plenty of side quests and the player's actions, as always, do have an impact on the story possibilities. Shaun: It's been slightly altered. Two new attributes are leadership and strength. Characters can also have up to 2 skills, ranging from night ops to knife throwing. Chris: At the beginning of the game, you receive an email message inviting you to use an on-line "psychological profiling service". (Remember that the game includes a "laptop" system where you access in-game email, web pages, and so forth.) The answers to these questions - which are extremely funny, by the way - allow us to determine the skill traits and personality of your custom merc. You are then allowed to choose your merc's stats and skills using a points-based system. Chris: Well, I can mention a few. They range from Heavy Weapons, which gives the character a bonus to hit with mortars, grenade launchers, and so forth, to Night Ops, which gives the character some improved ability in night battles, to Electronics, which really helps a mechanic who has to deal with an electronic item or lock. Chris: We did do some research into allowing the player's vehicles to be used in combat, and determined that we would have to invest a lot of time to get them to work right - in addition to the balancing issues I mentioned earlier. But the Jagged Alliance games are first and foremost about individuals fighting, and in the end we decided that our time would be better spent on other aspects of the game. Chris: Well, your custom merc only has so many points to spread around amongst the different attributes. You can make a character who's a very competent marksman or doctor for instance, or a jack-of-all-trades, there's no way to start with a character who is great at everything.

You could TRY to give your alter ego the best equipment you have available, and run around playing solo hero, but I'd wish you lots of luck, because you'd need it!

Chris: You get money from mines that you control, according to how popular you are in the towns near the mines. So you have to defend your towns and the mines from outside attack. Also, there are both honest and unsavoury characters around the country who might pay you for various reasons. Chris: Yes. At the beginning of the game, you'll be faced with "Administrators" -goon squads stationed in all of the towns to keep the population in line Once the queen realizes what you're up to, though, she'll start sending the army against you. And yes, she also has an elite force waiting in the wings...

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I want to thank the whole Sir-Tech crew for speaking so candidly about this fine game. The fans surely know that a developer this close to their fan base is truly rare. I would like to conclude by lifting the first line from the Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games manual: "load your Uzi�s and prime your grenades - It's "SOON" time to lead a band of quirky mercenaries into battle. I for one can't wait.

Union Jack

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