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Dark Ore Interview
We thank Brandon Marlowe from Raylogic
IGZ. Dark Ore is an ambitious project. How strategy and action will be combined?
B.M. Both the strategy and the action combine very smoothly. The strategy will
involve the player building his station to make it the most productive with
the least cost. Also, the player will have to decide which shipment orders
to gather materials for to make the best profit the quickest. The action
comes into play when the player has to gather the materials for his order.
Some of the materials will be positioned near the competitors space
stations. When the player is ready to gather those materials, he must
prepare for the chance of being attacked. As he is gathering the minerals
he need, he might also have to use his weapons to try to destroy attackers
to escape safely. The player will also have the freedom to attack his
opponents stations to try to slow down their production.
IGZ. Strategy and action? Which one will be more important?
B.M. To be honest, both are almost equally important. However, if I had to pick
one, I would say action is more important. Because of the ability to attack
other stations, the player can give himself an advantage. The players
station also can have weapons, so the action of defending his station/area
can be very important.
IGZ. What about multiplayer? There will be a cooperative mode? How many
players will be able to fight for the same base?
B.M. The initial release of Dark Ore will not have multiplayer with it. This is
mainly due to time constraints. However, a free multiplayer version upgrade
will be available a couple of months after release. We feel that this will
actually be an advantage to the players because they will have that time to
get used to the game and master their skills. Don't worry about the game
not being challenging in single player mode. We are incorporating an
excellent A.I. program to give the players the most realistic game play.
IGZ. What about spacecrafts? We will be able to customize everything or just the base?
B.M. In Dark Ore the player will be able to customize his ship and his station.
The player only has one ship to choose from, but there are many weapons he
can add onto his ship. Some of those weapons include basic lasers and
missiles, (my favorite) rear-eject canisters, light-speed cannons, anti-air
missiles, stationary bombs, decloakers, and the shockwave that is an
electromagnetic wave which can destroy sensitive electronic equipment.
There will also be plenty of anti-weapons that the player can use to protect
his ship from specific attacks.
IGZ. I'm really curious to know some of the weapons we will able to mount in our bases.
B.M. We have created some great weapons for the bases. Here is a list of what the player can choose from:
-Close Range Turret: fires twin projectiles (small)
-Short Range Turret: fires particle beam
-Flack Gun: launches heavy explosive charge
-Anti-Air Missile: homing warhead
-Shockwave: spherical, outward expanding electromagnetic wave
-Neutron Emitter: emits streams of neutrons, destroys sensitive electronics, no structural damage
-Mine Launcher: launches 3 mines into surrounding area. Sends new mines as
needed. Mines chase vehicles within 200 foot range. Mines are not visible to opponent
-Early Warning System: Warns when opponents enter site, including recon.
IGZ. There will be the possibility of changing difficulty level?
B.M. Although we haven't decided on adding that feature into Dark Ore yet, there
is that possibility.
IGZ. Which game or games inspired Dark Ore?
B.M. The unique thing about Dark Ore is that it is a completely original idea. The president of our company loves to follow news about NASA and space. Originally we were going to make a game based around the NASA Space Program,
but then we decided it would be much more fun if we added action into it.
That's how Dark Ore was created.
IGZ. At least I'd like to know the most played game at Raylogic.
B.M. I wish I could say it is one of our own games. Since Dark Ore is Raylogic's first game, it can't be one of ours. Once Friday hits though, we try to play a few levels of Unreal Tournament against each other. It's a
great way to end the week.
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