An Interview with Strategy Informer

[Zaimat]

I had a nice chat with Joe Robinson over at Strategy Informer a short while ago, he had some really interesting questions for me. You can read the Interview here:

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/hori ... rview.html

[Ashbery76]

The tactical combat view looks a little strange with that side on view.Why not have the top down moo2 style?

[Anguille]

It was interesting to read...was hoping to see some new artwork/screenshots though...will be waiting a little longer then

[Zaimat]

The tactical combat view looks a little strange with that side on view.Why not have the top down moo2 style?

The view is 2.5d (isometric) and it is a lot more interesting than just flat top view. You can also show 3d depth this way, so planets are further back, the sun even further etc with parallax scrolling. So you get that space depth without rotating the camera.

It was interesting to read...was hoping to see some new artwork/screenshots though...will be waiting a little longer then

.
Yes, this was done right after the press release for the publishing deal so they used the same screenshots.

[Martok]

Nice article! I enjoyed reading about your design philosophy for Horizon, your motivations, etc.


The article also answered a question I've been meaning to ask for some time now (but I've kept forgetting), which is whether Humans will be the only playable race. (I suspected the answer was "yes", but I wasn't sure until now.) It's a somewhat risky choice IMHO, but I understand why you're doing it, and I can see how it might make for a better game. Here's hoping it works out that way!

[Zaimat]

The article also answered a question I've been meaning to ask for some time now (but I've kept forgetting), which is whether Humans will be the only playable race. (I suspected the answer was "yes", but I wasn't sure until now.) It's a somewhat risky choice IMHO, but I understand why you're doing it, and I can see how it might make for a better game. Here's hoping it works out that way!

Do you want the game to come out this year?

I can think of a few strategy games off the top of my head (Galactic Civilizations I, Starcraft 2) which had one playable race on launch. I'm sure there have been others!

For many (not all) 4x games the races are as the saying goes "lipstick on a pig" with different racial traits (there are exceptions but with much fewer races). The races in Horizon are a little more unique and have a story! You will still be able to customize the humans traits and select different racial abilities belonging to the other races.

[Martok]

Hey, I'm not criticizing the decision, as I personally don't mind. I'm admittedly concerned it could hurt sales, but I also recognize why you made that design choice -- as you said, adding playable factions besides the Humans would greatly delay the game's release.

[Traker]

Doesn't bother me either. I very rarely play any other races in the games besides human anyway, just as long as we can do some tweaking with our race stats i'll be happy. One question is are we going to be able to chose different ship set or hull styles and if they will be able to be modded or added to in any way, or for that matter how moddable is the game going to be. And about the races can always be added to in expansion packs down the track.

Any videos or more screenshots coming soon.
Can't wait to see.