WF – Questions & Answers
I wrote the Amiga rasterizer myself, drawing inspiration from many people who came before me. Optimizing it for different processors was challenging. People will hopefully be pleased to hear that I’m happy to release the source code, because it could help make many other games multiplatform, just like I doing.
Q: Everyone’s probably wondering: when will the game be finished?
A: Personally, I’d like it to be as soon as possible, but I also want the game to be high quality, both visually and in terms of gameplay. So there’s no exact date yet. My goal is the end of the year, but it depends on whether we manage to raise the funds and work on other things like sound and art.
Q: Do you use AI? And if so, how much of the work does it do?
A: Yes, we used AI mainly to generate the first versions of the ship models. We try to stay authentic, but AI can speed up a lot of things. For example, if you need several versions of a ship with different levels of detail, it can easily create simpler ones from a detailed model. That saves work for people, who can then focus more on the creative side.
Q: What about the code?
A: Sure, everyone loves hand-written code, whatever it looks like. I wrote the Amiga rasterizer myself, drawing inspiration from many people who came before me. Optimizing it for different processors was challenging. People will hopefully be pleased to hear that I’m happy to release the source code, because it could help make many other games multiplatform, just like I doing.
Q: Which versions of the game are you planning?
A: Amiga, Linux and Windows are a given, and they won’t differ much from each other. The only real difference is that the Linux and Windows versions will support any resolution. I’d also like to add OpenGL rasterization and rendering, which could allow the game to run at resolutions like 640×512 even on setups such as PiStorm or Vampire. Besides the classic Amiga, we’re also testing the game on MorphOS and AmigaOS 4 and working on a native PowerPC version. An ARM Linux version isn’t out of the question either; it depends on community support.
Q: Will the game support network play?
A: The original idea was to allow something like that, but it turned out that network overhead on the Amiga is quite significant, and it's hard to keep the game playable. Realistically, it would only be feasible on hardware like PiStorm or Vampire, and elsewhere only with difficulty, which isn't what we want. So, if there's interest, we have something like an offline network game up our sleeve: the game will exchange save files, generate statistics from them, and also let players leave messages for each other.
Q: What about the game's content – dialogues and so on?
A: I'm building the content partly from templates (job offers, news, etc.) and partly as dialogues that contain not only jokes but also side stories and Easter eggs.
Q: What do you expect from the fundraiser?
A: I want to raise funds to improve the 2D and 3D graphics, but above all it's about the sound design, which we have a certain vision for. If there's a chance to hand it over to a professional, that would be the best possible solution.
Q: And what about a boxed version?
A: If we manage to raise enough funds, I'd like to make a boxed version too. But there are a few catches, and one of them is the cost of shipping. Producing a pressed CD, printed materials and nice packaging isn't that much of a problem, but when the shipping costs are, say, as much as the boxed game itself, that's a bit sad. And that's shipping within the EU, not to the US, for example.