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Communications Report:

Game Vortex Interviews
Phil O'Connor, Co-Producer of O.R.B.
Jamie McNeely, Executive Producer
Christina Ginger, Public Relations

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On Strategy First's Upcoming title
'O.R.B.'

"Millennia ago, an empire spanning an unfathomable amount of the galaxy collapsed after a long and brutal war. Untold billions perished as entire solar systems were scoured clean of life; others reverted to barbarism destroying much of what the empire had built.

In the Aldus system, two races survived on two separate planets. With almost all knowledge of the old empire lost, the two planets quietly orbited their sun and both peoples were quite certain that they were unique and alone. These two races eventually discovered that they were neither. "

O.R.B., the acronym for Off-World Resource Base, is a 3D real-time strategy game that allows you to command a large fleet of ships in the void of space. You command the military forces of either the Malus or the Alyssians in a battle for supremacy in the Aldus solar system. Extracting resources from the asteroid belt that revolves around the two planets allows you to expand your fleet – but only if you can get your transports safely back to your spaceport. Researching new technologies allows you to upgrade the capabilities of your existing ships and build new models as well. You may capture enemy ships and steal technology to open up new research branches. There is also the opportunity to discover hidden secrets from the artifacts that may be discovered throughout the asteroid belt. All the while, you can watch the skills of the Squad Leaders develop, from scenario to scenario, as they carry forward and gain experience.

Quite often, game reviews compare and contrast one game with another. How would you briefly describe O.R.B. using only comparisons and contrasts to other games?

Homeworld is the best comparison for O.R.B. They are both 3D RTS games, and they are both set in space. But, that is where the comparison ends. The Homeworld story takes the player to different places in a vast galaxy. O.R.B. takes place mostly in one solar system, with planets and asteroids that constantly orbit the sun in real time. Therefore, O.R.B. has terrain that influences how battles are fought and what strategy a player chooses. Placing the game in a solar system gives a visual point of reference that helps the player understand what is going on no matter what he is looking at.

The asteroids are more than just obstacles, they are also interactive. Players may build mining bases on asteroids from which they extract the resources required to build their fleet. Eventually these mining bases may be converted to covert military installations from which they may launch guerilla attacks on the enemy.

In terms of story, instead of a "Battlestar Galactica" story, we have a war between two races that discover they inhabit the same solar system. Each race has their own reason for fighting and employs different technology and tactics to win. The war is for control of the solar system and it's to the death.

Finally, the designers have adapted the leader system that was used in our award-winning turn-based strategy game Disciples: Sacred Lands [Disciples, developed and published by Strategy First, was released in September of 1999]. Players can recruit leaders with unique attributes to lead fighter squadrons. As the leaders become more seasoned, their attributes increase. This rise in abilities affects the performance of the leaders and the fighters that serve in their squadrons. Leaders are carried forward from scenario to scenario.

According to the background information, O.R.B. will boast sophisticated 3D software technology employing Newtonian physics where units have freedom of movement in all three dimensions. To my knowledge, O.R.B. will be the first real time strategy game to attempt this. How will the gamer keep track of the locations of units which are behind obstacles?

The development team realized early in the project that full 3D space is not intuitive for all players. We knew that the interface had to be carefully designed to give players maximum information in an easily accessible format, so that at a glance they would know where all their units were. To that end, the team has created a 3D and a 2D interface that players may use to locate and give orders to their ships. Both interfaces have the same functionality, such as setting waypoints in 3D space, but they are complementary. People who are more comfortable giving orders in 2D may use this interface and see the results in the 3D window.

We have also set a "shortcut bar" to make it easier to access units and bases. By clicking on a leaders icon at the top of the screen, players can access their squadrons quickly and efficiently.

Is the camera angle going to be static (or semi-static), as in 'overhead' strategy games, or will the camera change positions to better spotlight O.R.B.'s 3D dynamics?

The camera view has full freedom of movement allowing the user to choose the best view for any given situation. In addition, the user can select certain predefined views by using simple keyboard commands.

The two races mentioned in the background information are the Malus and the Alyssians - two peoples that live on separate planets in the same solar system. If the Malus are basically a warrior culture, what attributes do the peaceful Alyssians possess that will help balance the conflict?

The Malus are a warrior culture, a trait that is more useful in a duel. This is a war of technology, and unfortunately for the Malus, the Alyssians are slightly ahead in that category. The Malus have an advantage in numbers and will. This advantage will diminish if the Alyssians can buy time. Think of the pacific war - a people with a warrior tradition versus an industrial and technological giant.

O.R.B. is going to have an 'experience system', allowing squadron leaders to improve their abilities and gain prowess as they face challenges in the asteroid belt. Will gamers be able to gain experience for their favorite characters in the 'skirmish scenarios'?

At this point we do not plan to allow leaders to be carried forward from campaigns into single or multiplayer skirmish scenarios. Putting a feature such as this in the game has a great impact on play balancing, especially because we also have two races with unique tactics and tech trees.

However, the campaign editor allows players to make scenarios and to create experienced leaders that both races may start with or discover and recruit during the course of the game.

As a character's 'experience' increases, what sort of advantages will he acquire? Better aim? More health? Advancement? Loyalty?

There are a variety of attributes that each leader can upgrade. For example, leadership upgrades allow a leader to command more ships in their squadron.

Other examples are:

• Morale (boost entire squadron stats)
• Combat Bonuses
• Defensive Bonuses
• Stealth Bonuses

Does O.R.B. take into account the age of these characters and require 'retirement' at some point?

No it doesn't. For game play purposes the leaders wouldn't age enough to affect their performance. This is a fight to the death and early retirement comes only one way. :-)

Will favorite characters from the single player campaigns be usable in the multiplayer games?

This is related to the earlier question about using leaders from the campaign in skirmish mode. Due to play balancing issues, leaders will be limited to the skirmish scenario or campaign in which they were recruited.

What can you tell us about the multiplayer aspects of O.R.B.? How many players can play at once? Can gamers join / leave during a game, or do you have to wait until there are 'all' the necessary players? What types of multiplayer support will be provided for O.R.B.?

O.R.B. will be a 2-8-player game, with four players cooperating against another team of four players. We are going to assist the cooperative mode with a system of organizing and allocating fleets for each side. Our aim is to make each player responsible for a portion of that side's total forces. A number of parameters, such as division of resources, can be toggled in the multiplayer game setup.

It is still too early to promise a dynamic join feature, but we are looking into it.

Both planets' forces mine the asteroids for resources, develop new technologies, build and upgrade numerous units. Approximately how many variations are there for different types of units in O.R.B.?

There are about twenty distinct units that each side may build and some have between 2 and 4 variations. Certain ship types can only be built when a certain amount of related technologies are developed. But there is also the ability to upgrade and affect the performance of each unit. Most of these upgrades affect the ship's mesh so you can see the changes.

There are two other goals that players will want to achieve. When a player captures an enemy ship, they may choose to incorporate it into their fleet immediately or they may choose to research an individual system on the ship. By doing this, the player opens new branches on their research tree that were previously unavailable. There are also alien artifacts that can be found in the asteroid belt. These artifacts are pieces of spacecraft from a long dead race with vastly superior technology. You may research technology from the artifacts and open up branches in the research tree that are completely unique. Using the new technology you can give your units a new set of abilities and performance bonuses.

Are there any 'unknown' races that might show up later in the game?

Well, I'd like to keep the details a secret, but there is another race involved, and it adds quite a twist to the campaign.

What about the O.R.B. do you find to be the most exciting?

I find the asteroid belt really cool. The fact that it is constantly orbiting the sun and that it offers many hiding places is a really dynamic part of game play. I can't wait to hide a fleet in there and launch a devastating surprise raid against Jamie. [Jamie McNeely, the lead producer on O.R.B] He's in love with the namby-pamby Alyssians, and I want to prove the superiority of Malus tactics to him!

What was the most difficult obstacle so far in developing O.R.B.?

The main problem with developing an RTS in 3D space is giving the player enough control over the game. So many games include certain settings or camera views as a pure gimmick, eye candy that looks pretty but that is not actually tied into game play. We are trying very hard to seamlessly integrate game play, the combat system and the environment with the interface and setting. We want it to feel as natural to be playing the game in 3D, as it is playing a conventional RTS with the 2D isometric view.

Is there any chance that O.R.B. will be ported to any console systems?

At the moment we have no plans to port O.R.B. to any of the consoles. The biggest issue is one of input devices. O.R.B. requires a mouse and keyboard to play, so the player may give orders effectively in 3D. I have played RTS' like Dune 2000 on the PlayStation and it is possible to do so because they are 2D isometric game.