August ‘98 Interview with Alex G
First off, I’d like to thank Alex G. for answering these following questions. He’s obviously busy beyond belief and I really appreciate his taking the time to send me back a reply. Anyway, most gaming magazines have covered all the ground about Homeworld itself, so I thought I’d ask about Relic and it’s people. All that and a couple of Canadian questions too. I’ve stuck some of my own comments at the end of the interview as well.
Relic seems composed of people from a lot of different companies/locations, how did you get all those people together?
I’ve been working in the video game industry for just over 9 years now. Over that time, I’ve met a boatload of talented people already working on games, and I’ve also had the chance to help a fairly large number of people get started. When I was setting up the team at Relic, I looked toward super-talented people who I was able to learn from when I was at other companies. At Relic now, we have what I consider one of the strongest development teams in the world. Every day I learn something new from someone here.
What’s a typical day at Relic like?
That’s a difficult one to answer. A typical day at Relic is different for each person here! We structure our development so people can work in the way that best suits them. You might enjoy coming into work at 7:00am and working until 5:00 or 6:00, then taking off. Whereas I might enjoy coming into work at 10:00am and working until 10:00pm. :) Either way, the only real stipulation is that you be available to contribute to design and technical issues as much as anyone else. We have a lot of little impromptu design meetings springing up everywhere. The free-flow of information is SO critical to the success of a game.
What’s next for Relic? Sleep? Seeing daylight? Or do you have something new in the works?
Relic already has “an undisclosed number” of titles cooking in the background right now. Sorry to be so ambiguous, but it’s important to me that we don’t pre-hype our titles ever. You’ll certainly hear about what projects we have cooking when they get closer to completion.
The publisher/developer relationship has never been well described before. What’s your relationship with Sierra like? Do they provide you with any resources/assistance beyond the financial aspects?
Sierra is quite unlike any publisher I’ve ever worked with before. We actually work directly with a division of Sierra On-Line called Sierra Studios. The Studios are run by a guy called Scott Lynch, and he’s set up a pretty unique model for working with the games. Despite the fact that the Studios are such an influential publisher, they are only responsible for 6 titles right now. Scott’s philosophy is that by keeping the product line-up a manageable size, they can concentrate on making each game totally fantastic. Further to that idea, the Studio concept is to hire only the best developers, then give them pretty free rein creatively. The only feedback we’ve ever got from people at Sierra on how we can “improve the game” (The dreaded publisher comment) has actually been fantastic! Some of our coolest development ideas have come from them. I am really really happy to have Sierra as a partner.
How’s the multiplayer mode shaping up? What are the maximum players, styles of play (deathmatch, co-op, anything else). Will it be available on any gaming services (WON.net, The Zone, and so on?)
I’m happy to announce that the multi-player aspect of Homeworld is pretty much done! There is support for up to 8 players over a LAN or over the Internet using Sierra’s World Opponent Network. As far as different game types, I’m not going to divulge too much about them because I’d like it to be a surprise. Rest assured that we’ve pushed the game styles as far as we’ve pushed everything else. :)
Another multiplayer question. How’s the TCP/IP play coming along? Will you avoid something similar to Unreal’s multiplay troubles?
Homeworld has a pretty robust Network solution thanks in large to the good folks at WON. They’ve helped us grow on their experience and I don’t think anyone is going to have any complaints about the multi-player aspect of the game.
Do you think there’s any difference in developing games/running a development house in Canada as opposed to the States, or Europe for that matter?
Not particularly. I’ve had a chance to visit development houses in pretty much every part of the world and with the exception of games that are targeted directly to a specific audience (a-la Virtual Puppet Reiko) games are made pretty much the same way the world over.
Do you think Canadian development houses have a distinctive style of their own, like European developers do?
Not yet. Canadian development houses are very young compared to US ones or European ones. We’re still carving out our niche and I expect that within a few years we’ll have been around long enough to have developed our own style. Right now it’s pretty ambiguous.
The sound engine works by combining different words or phrases, who was the poor soul that had to say all those thousands of words?
We actually had 4 professional voice actors do the voices. Poor souls that they are, they were well paid. :)
You’re including the mission editor and docs for Homeworld’s scripting language, what other elements of Homeworld can be edited/modified by an end-user?
You name it! I think we’re only going to allow people to create multi-player missions, tho.
What would you say is Homeworld’s coolest feature?
The attention to detail is probably the most important feature to the Homeworld engine. It’s what makes the Homeworld universe as deep and believable as it is. When you can zoom right in to an advance support frigate and see turret mounted gimbal guns turn to track some incoming fighters to lay covering fire for some damaged ships docking on it’s flight deck with real-time lighting and… You get the idea. This leaves the user with a feeling of depth we’ve never seen before. Get ready! :)
Can I drop by and visit some time?
Sure! Why not?
A lot of interesting pieces of info there. So it seems that the “No Hype, All Game” ad campaign is more than the work of Sierra’s PR department, it’s one of Relic’s design ethics. Personally I’m curious about what might be hidden on the back burner? Another RTS, or something in a different style?
I’d been wondering for a while as to why Sierra split itself into all of those tiny little divisions, it seemed ridiculous to me. In retrospect however it makes a lot of sense. Each division can work harder on making some incredible games, cause as we all know Sierra’s got a lot of great series, but it hasn’t had a hit on the likes of Diablo, or C&C in ages. Homeworld will hopefully be that hit.
I think I may breath a sigh of relief now. After Unreal’s release I think everyone was shocked at just how bad a great games multiplayer could be, especially in a genre like FPS where multiplay is what provides a game with it’s long lasting appeal. Having an entire crew of programmers who know how to get TCP/IP to behave in multiplay is a relief.
The CRTC will be happy now that I’ve hit my Canadian content regulations (Inside Canadian joke). Although Canadian development houses have atually been around for a while (Distinctive Software, now EA Canada) they’ve always been partnered/on contract with publishers in the states. A specific Canadian style probably won’t really come about unless a development house up here sets it’s eyes on becoming a publisher. Not impossible, but unlikely. Although with games like Homeworld and Baldur’s Gate coming down from above the 49th parallel, a Canadian style may be closer than I think.
I wonder who will be the group to take Homeworld engine and start making their own cutscenes? A new space-opera anyone? Seriously though, I take it from Alex’s response that Homeworld will have a lot of flexibility in the engine. What exactly can be done, I’ll leave to you programmers out there to figure out.
And as for my last question, well, I now have a good reason to visit British Columbia. I’ve been itching to go for a cross-country drive!
- Fireflight