Team Gas Powered Games Not a day sits without work. February 12 – three weeks before the premiere Supreme Commander 2 – The head of the studio Chris Taylor presented to the public the following project – "Epic RTS for RS and consoles", Kings and Castles.
Although he “introduced” – loudly said. From a short video placed on YouTube, you can find out how to catch chickens, chop wood and tame horses, but there is not a word about gameplay, kings or their castles. “Creating a video game – pure romance. This is not like television or cinema. Ideas come while you are engaged in ordinary things, ”Chris explains, slyly glancing at the lens. – Feed the horse with carrots. Make a game. No connection ".
Large ambitions
Is there any connection or not-Chris offers you to figure out you with you. In weekly video blots, developers allow everyone to follow the formation of the future hit – from “conception” (ideas) and up to “birth” (release). This approach is really a novelty. As a rule, the official announcement occurs after the completion of the main work. A playful version was collected, an agreement with the publisher was signed, the estimated release date has been approved – now you can chat with the press. GPG has special methods. When exactly Kings and Castles will appear on store shelves, no one of the mortals. In the process of personal communication, it turned out that the “dad” Supreme Commander and Demigod did not even know how many fractions will be in the game: “Two or three. But definitely not four. Just now we are trying to solve this issue. Probably, after all, two are kind and angry. ".
Too banal? We don't think so. The virtual world was created from scratch, which allowed to avoid the cliche inherent in the genre-such as the separation of separation into orcs, elves, people and other semi-rises familiar to fantasy-strategies. Not racial affiliation is important, but specialization. “We have archers and infantrymen. Cavalry and knights. And this is just the beginning, because at any moment you can move the camera away and switch to siege machines, ”says Chris. Large -scale battles in which giants are attended along with ordinary soldiers is a distinctive feature of the latest games from GPG. In both parts of Supreme Commander there were gigantic sizes experimental robots, in Demigod – demigods, Kings and Castles tries to keep up with.
Take, for example, dragons. These are not just expensive and powerful units, these are almost children who need to have and protect. Having spent a lot of time and funds to educate a manual monster, we hardly risk leaving a pet without cover. It is difficult to resist associations with Black & White, but no one was hoping to shake the audience only with winged lizards – in the arsenal Kings and Castles there are trump cards more serious. A rare ruler will refuse to perpetuate his image in a statue, but in Kings and Castles acts of self -praise have a completely practical goal. Several magic passes, and the colossus comes to life. From the stone double in the battle, there is much more sense, and to risk health once again – in the case of loss you can always score a new statue, but after the death of the "original" the game ends.
My fortress
They figured out the kings, in line the castles. The general concept is borrowed from Stronghold. We start with a plain house. A little patience and investment – and the modest monastery is transformed. As spacious halls arise by magic, tall towers pull the spiers to the clouds, walls grow around the perimeter (arrows are traditionally bent).
“Construction is the most important component of the game. I'm not talking about some tiny wooden fort, but about a huge bastion, from one look at which is breathtaking, ”Chris comments. Attacking a huge forehead is absolutely pointless. With a storm, you can not do without cunning devices. Someone will take advantage of the stone-shaped machines, the other is the nicer than the beast, ready to break the fortifications, others will prefer to intelligently water the enemies with uncleances from the side of the flying ship.
So, we have a completely new game from Chris Taylor, in which the epic scope of the last unbearable corner of military strategy finally captures the epic scope for GPG. Supreme Commander had huge units. Demigod has epic maps in Demigod. Well, now enormous bases and the corresponding scale of the assault will be added to them.
Brief story Gas Powered Games
Chris Taylor
Chris Taylor is one of the most famous, recognizable and charismatic characters in the video game industry. Like many current "mastodons", he began with different small things. Insurancelide arcade about baseball, stupid racing, boxing for children … In the mid-90s, the young specialist moved from Canada to the United States (by the way, Chris received an American passport only a couple of months ago) and got a job at Cavedog Entertainment. For the first time in his life, he was able to truly realize himself, heading a large project.
The first success
Glory found a hero in the fall of 1997 – immediately after the release of Total Annihilation. Fans of the genre met a strategy about robots with unanimous enthusiasm. Accustomed to severe minimalism Warcraft 2 and Command & Conquer players simply did not believe their eyes, sending hundreds of walking, crawling, flying and floating units on the attack. The detachment who took a height shot further, and the flight speed of artillery shells depended on gravity. While competitors were limited to patches that correct certain errors, Cavedog generously distributed digital content, increasing the popularity of the game.
Alien territory
The prospect before the pension to “work for uncle” was not satisfied with Chris. In 1998, he finally opened his own business. The pilot project of the GAS POWERED Games studio has become … Action-RPG about knights and magicians. However, the surprise was pleasant – Dungeon Siege managed to partly repeat the success of Total Annihilation. A pretty picture, a seamless world and attention to the details turned a Diablo Crane into a platinum hit. The sequel was not so successful. Dungeon Siege 2 was in its own way, but the standards changed-what looked perfectly in 2002 in 2005 caused poorly restrained irritation.
Excellent degree strategy
Chris of those people who can not be angry for a long time. For Supreme Commander, we forgave him everything. The game performed in the traditions of Total Annihilation proved that even ten years later a brilliant concept was not outdated. The cunning economic system, the abundance of tactical techniques, convenient management, large -scale battles with the participation of giant experimental units – a dream that has become a reality. Forged Alliance additions have fixed the leadership of the original; Many still consider Supreme Commander the best RTS in the history of computer games.
The first failures
The premiere of Space Siege gave rise to a much smaller resonance. Critics rotated to the angular graphics and a monotonous gameplay, the “Diablomans” jammed the next ton of “meat”, and no longer the right game disappeared into oblivion. A similar fate is prepared by Demigod. The battles of powerful demigods on magic arenas failed to captivate a sufficient number of players. In commercially, it was a failure. “Perhaps my children will never go to college due to Demigod,” Chris joked gloomily on the recent Dice Summit in Las Vegas.
New page
It is possible that this is why Supreme Commander 2 was not quite the same as we expected. Many simplifications brought the wrath of fans to the GPG and magically expanded the target audience: the tactical depth has been preserved, but many hardcore elements fell under the knife. Supreme Commander and Forged Alliance ports have not earned millions on Xbox 360. The second part was originally created with an eye on the “multi -platform”, and Chris has high hopes for it. What awaits SC2 – time will tell.
Para Bellum
The economic model, however, remains the same. It is based, almost like a castle from the surrounding screenshot, on three whales – wood, stone and gold. The peasants obediently chop the Christmas trees and carry blocks, but the reserves of yellow metal must be replenished in battles. They fought, loured – received an increase in the treasury. Chervonets will come in handy for hiring elite units and for research: “We fell in love with the“ technological tree ”Supreme Commander 2. Here the player in the same way opens troops and improvements. It is necessary to decide what is more profitable: to purchase more units or spend on science?»Do not be afraid to might in the routine. This is not a clone The Settlers. Base arrangement and resource management – deeply secondary things. In an effort to make our life easier, Kings and Castles automates many actions (if the farm burns nearby, the worker will not stand stupidly nearby), releasing time for the main thing – war.
Supreme Commander 2 outraged fans of the first part with annoying simplifications. However, even convinced opponents of the sequel are forced to admit that it is extremely convenient to play it. Kings and Castles relies on proven achievements. The fighters themselves line up in neat lines, and the already familiar Flowfield Pathfinding system allows them to move around the crossed terrain without interfering with each other (we hope programmers will bring algorithms to mind: easily managing dozens of tanks, Supreme Commander 2 sometimes could not calculate the path for one builder ).
The last bastion
It is amazing to observe how enthusiastically Chris tells about his brainchild. It would seem that GPG squeezed the strategic leisure genre. Epochial Supreme Commander, rapid demigod, democratic Supreme Commander 2 – if you, in principle, do not hate strategies, you will certainly find at least one game among Chris's projects. But the head of the GPG still sees unoccupied niches.
“I had nothing to do with Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, this is my first experience in creating a strategy about the Middle Ages,” it turns out that the main reason for Chris’s interest is lies. He has not yet played out in the knights ..
Supreme Commander is perfectly implemented shooting. Kings and Castles pays special attention to hand -to -hand combat. Details are hidden in the fog, but the lack of division into detachments should protect from the Total War curse, when only the front row of warriors fights, and the rest hesitantly shift from foot to foot. The game is in the initial stages of development, and many questions simply have no answers. Is a global card planned? "Absolutely". What will be the plot? "Interesting".
It’s too early to judge the schedule, but what we managed to see, inspires optimism. Tiny figures of warriors are lost against the background of stone citizens; Despite the fact that at any moment you can "fly up" to the ground and admire the duel of the two swordsmen. Demigod demonstrated that GPG artists do not occupy talent, in Kings and Castles they laid out in full. How you like the castle, which is freely located on the back of a huge fish? Sexy archer with a long snake tail? Balllista, looking like a dinosaur strewn with spikes? The authors really want to know the opinion of the players regarding certain aspects. If you say, write on Crackedout@gaspowered.com – it is possible that it is your ideas that will help make the game better.
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Before the release is at least a year and a half. Surely something will change, but today the Supreme https://freshbet-gb-casino.co.uk/ Commander in fantasy antules looks very appetizing. The crisis of the genre? Chris did not hear about him: “There are so many things. "Dynamic zoom" allowed the use of giant units along with ordinary ones, which forever changed the gaming process of strategies. We have a lot of ideas that we would like to implement!"
And not a word about the revolution. Remaining the classic RTS with the collection of resources, construction and other cute hearts, Kings and Castles promises a scope inherent in a series Total War (and then taking into account the fact that The Creative Assembly Never forced knights to fight with monsters high with a five -story house). There is no way to cross their swords, we offer to cross your fingers – for good luck.
We will wait? The usual game of Chris Taylor: thousands of units, huge monsters, a bottomless abyss of tactical opportunities. But now – in medieval setting and with assaults of giant bases!
Percentage of readiness: 20%
