Exclusive: Empire Earth II Q&A Feature

As the release date to Empire Earth II draws ever closer, Derek dela Fuente spoke with the amiable Ian Davis who was quick to answer our questions presented in great detail and was eager to make his own introduction. â?“ so onto the man himself...

Hello everyone. Ian Davis here, a.k.a. The Mad Doctor, CEO and Founder of Mad Doc Software and Creative Director on Mad Docâ??s Empire Earth® II, happy to be checking in with you.

TVG: Empire Earth II has been a long time in development, what aspects of the game have changed throughout the development period, and what to date are you most pleased with?

Once we sat down and started thinking about the game, we knew right away that we wanted to make it really elegant. Weâ??ve added a host of innovations in Mad Docâ??s Empire Earth® II that, quite honestly, make for a rich playing experience. Weâ??ve put a great deal of thought behind how the game is played, what fans like, what they dislike and more â?“ all while keeping a keen eye on how to bring core elements together well. Weâ??ve designed the game to appeal to and assist casual gamers in their gameplay, while offering advanced players more depth and strategy to keep them engrossed in the game. I love that weâ??ve kept the game open to a broad range of players, in a game of this size and scope, itâ??s no easy task.

Empire Earth II is different from its predecessor in a lot of ways. It was important to us to keep the things that made Empire Earth a great game (core RTS gameplay and epic scope), while moving the franchise along. Weâ??ve certainly achieved our goal: weâ??ve implemented advanced AI (non-cheating and adaptive), enhanced environmental realism (weather, seasons), revolutionary multiplayer (Crowns, Modes, Territories), improved management systems (Picture-In-Picture, Citizen Manager, Warplan), Territories (divides map up, historically accurate), and more, all while creating a brand new engine.

Itâ??s the sum and depth of all these smart innovations, combined with all those little intangibles, that make a for a truly rich experience (from the detail of how snow falls, to an amazing orchestraâ??s musical masterpiece), weâ??ve implemented a great deal in Mad Docâ??s Empire Earth II that Iâ??m proud of. We set out to create the best historical RTS ever, and I canâ??t wait until fans get their hands on this game â?“ I canâ??t wait until they get a real sense of how these elements come together to create an amazing gameplay experience.

TVG: Making a sequel must be an arduous task, so what do you see as the most essential gameplay aspect that moves it on from the original game, and when you sat down to plan Empire Earth II what were some of your goals?

From the moment we began our planning for the game â?“ and throughout the development process - weâ??ve had our eyes on the prize. To us, the prize has always revolved around this key question: â??What are we doing with Mad Docâ??s Empire Earth II to make fans happy?â? Quite simply, the answer is this: weâ??ve done our best throughout the development cycle - through late night subs and pizzas, through burgers and fries - to always keep the players best interests at heart - to keep the fansâ?? final experience close at hand - to deliver an amazing gameplay experience. And I think our results speak to our loyalty to the fans in volumes.

Iâ??d have to say again that itâ??s not just one essential aspect that moves the game on from the original, but rather the whole of what weâ??ve done in making the game that moves it, and the RTS genre forward. In many ways, weâ??ve created one hell of a game for fans to enjoy. As Iâ??ve said, I love the sheer sum and depth of what weâ??ve done; weâ??ve added innovative features, smart, core streamlining features that really do make the gameplay experience quite exceptional. And again, weâ??ve pushed the envelope with the game delivering non-cheating, cutting-edge AI, weâ??ve rewritten every single line of code, and the features â?“ the Diplomacy System, the Crown System, Territories, the Citizen Manager, the Picture-In-Picture, the War Planner â?“ I canâ??t wait to see the impact they have on the fans.

Territories, Crowns, the Citizen Manager, the Picture-in-Picture, Timed Treaties, Sole Survivor, Quick Start, etc. -- all of these are breakthrough features -- and each one makes the strategy richer and deeper. No other RTS game can claim to push the gameplay forward as much as we have. When fans really get their hands around the Crown System, Tech Tree, Leaders, and Wonders, when players start customizing the bonuses they receive throughout the game, thatâ??s when the fun will really start. When the pieces all come together for them; when they see the sheer numbers of art involved, the graphic scope of the game, the weather and what it means in the game â?“ all those things that really do immerse them in this empire -- and they get to watch them unfold in a truly enjoyable game, Mad Docâ??s Empire Earth II, I think theyâ??re going to be pretty damn happy. And in the end, thatâ??s what itâ??s all about to us.

TVG: Can you give a brief summary of the gamesâ?? backdrop story and the main objective to the game?

As we like to say, Empire Earth II is an: â??Epic. Conquest. Evolved.â? The sequel to GameSpy.comâ??s 2001 â??PC Game of the Year,â? Empire Earth, itâ??s in the final stages of development by the team here at Mad Doc. An RTS game of worldwide conquest on an epic scale â?“ Empire Earth II takes players through the ages as they create and forge a grand empire - progressing through more than 10,000 years of history. To make this come to life, weâ??re creating 15 epochs, spanning 10,000 BC â?“ 2230 AD, 14 different civilizations, and a greater number and variety of buildings and units than any other game on the market. Empire Earth II showcases the complete evolution of military technologies and gives players a chance to experience the many faces of warfare through the ages, from manâ??s past to the future.

TVG: What are some of the new units gamers can look forward to? Also has the combat changed much from the original?

Make no mistake, the development of Empire Earth II is a Herculean task. Weâ??ve been very busy on this one - there are over 40 separate unit types (land, sea, air) in the game, which, given the number of civilizations, translates to over 350 different units alone. Empire Earth IIâ??s 14 different civilizations are spread across four different regions. Each region and civilization has a different look for the units and buildings, as well as some unique units for each civilization. The unique units in the game include: Hoplite, Partisan, Legionnaire, M1-6 Agent, Minuteman, Teutonic Knight, Jagdpanther, Royal Elephant, Dragon Song, Samurai, Ninja, and Quetzal Warrior, among others.

Players should note that weâ??ve simplified and streamlined the RPS relationship between units to make combat more intuitive to the user. We've also made it easy for the player to set different stances on units (such as defensive and aggressive) and also put units into formation. These really help clear up the 'furball' effect that so many games have.

TVG: Can you highlight two of the games main tasks or tactics that you feel are innovative to the game genre?

I think one of the most exciting new features of Empire Earth II is â?“ the â??QuickStartâ? games. In this mode, players can literally jump into a game, starting with forces - units and buildings - already on the map. So, before the game starts, you get to â??Choose Forces,â? choosing an â??Empire Typeâ?? (Balanced [default], Military, Imperial, Economic), and gameplay style (Standard, Aggressive, and Defensive).

In essence, this mode basically allows the player to just â??jump inâ? and play a quick RTS game. Itâ??s great fun, and weâ??ve had a blast playing some QuickStart games during our daily multiplayer tests. To me, itâ??s features like Quick Start, the Citizen Manager, and Territories that make you wonder how you ever played an RTS without them. When players get a real sense for how they all come together in the game, theyâ??re going to be blown away.

Now letâ??s look at one of my favorite new game types â??Sole Survivor.â? Basically, itâ??s a standard â??conquestâ? game, until one of the sets of allies wins. At that moment, the winning team is automatically broken up (subsequent new alliances can be made among subsets of the remaining players, but anytime thereâ??s only one team left, itâ??s broken up). Now hereâ??s the interesting thing: it makes you think long and hard about who you ally with. Dead in your tracks, it stops you from simply choosing the strongest player, because the strongest player - just may be the one that youâ??re playing against later. I find that many RTS games fall back to: â??join the team with the best player, and then win.â? Empire Earth II makes every MP match exciting and dynamic with this mode.

Itâ??s in Sole Survivor mode that the Diplomacy System gets a real workout. Thereâ??s so much more suspense, fear, and thrill in MP games now. No one should make an RTS game from here on out without Sole Survivor.

TVG: You have written a new 3D engine for the game, can you tell us what this involves and a couple of the features within it?

In making Mad Docâ??s Empire Earth II, we knew early on that we had a certain look in mind for the game, a certain feel â?“ and we knew we were going to create a new engine. And so we did. We built a brand new engine from scratch. Everything is new, every single line of code. After evaluating all of the engine options, we chose to use Gamebryoâ??s core graphics engine and build a brand new Mad Doc® proprietary RTS engine on top of it using our years and years of strategy game experience. It let us make the absolute best RTS experience possible.

At the heart of Empire Earth II are the Mad3Dâ?¢ Game Engine and MadAIâ?¢ Technology. These technologies allow us to create such things as realistic weather and water, as well as smoke and fire special effects. The new engine also enables us to have a feature like the Picture-in-Picture window, which is essentially another fully 3D camera into the world. So you have two views of the game world being rendered at the same time, very cool! Our animation system is also new from the ground up and allows each unit to have a host of different animations.

Developing an all-new engine has given us the stability and the flexibility to make the things we wanted for the game come to fruition. From the high detail shadows - to water ripples and reflections - to advanced special FX for explosions, the new Mad3Dâ?¢ Game Engine is at the very cutting edge of RTS engine technology. Itâ??s these kinds of things, combined with innovative gameplay elements, that add up to a rich gaming experience.

TVG: Picture-In-Picture window is a great feature to keep up with what is going on. Can you expand a little on this and what other help if offers to gamers!

In a game of this size and scope, keeping track of everything can be a bit frenzied, so weâ??ve added a Picture-In-Picture window (PIP), which can have quite an impact on play. With the PIP, players key locations for view in the PIP window and important events will automatically show there. It provides you with another â??cameraâ?? into the game world, allowing you to focus on any location in the world or any unit or building you own.

You have complete control over the cameraâ??s perspective in the PIP and can zoom in and out using the mouse. The PIP also has 6 bookmarks that can be assigned by using the mouse or keyboard. When you assign a bookmark to a mobile unit, the PIP is automatically put into â??Follow Modeâ? -- allowing you to keep track of important units in the game, such as Leaders. Bookmarks can also be assigned to a building or location, and the PIP will automatically jump to it when itâ??s activated. So, you can easily mark important locations in your empire and access them quickly. In addition, the player can select units and give orders in the PIP. All of these can be used across the single player campaigns, historical campaigns, and nine multiplayer modes over Internet and LAN.

In addition, there are buttons for viewing the location of the last mini-map flare (especially useful if you missed something that happened in the world and want to quickly view it in the PIP) and cycling through bookmarks (if you want to keep an eye on all the bookmarks assigned). The mouse or keyboard can also be used to swap the PIP view and the main view, allowing you to quickly jump around the world and focus attention where it needs to be.

Using the PIP in conjunction with the main view, you can also issue a variety of orders (including move, attack, and garrison). For example, you could select a group of units in the main view and then right-click in the PIP window to order the units to move to that location (or vice versa). All in all, this functionality provides you with quite a unique tool to use as you build your empire.

TVG: What resources does the player have to work with, and how much micromanagement will be on offer and crucially how is it handled?

The standard resources in Empire Earth II are: food, stone, wood, and gold. In addition, we have two slots for resources that change over time. As you epoch up, depending on which epoch youâ??re in, they may be: iron, tin, saltpeter, oil, or uranium.

Knowing that the playerâ??s time is one of the most important resources in a game of this size and scope, we wanted to make it easier for fans to manage their empire and keep track of whatâ??s going on in the game. So we have the Citizen Manager, one of my favorite new features in the game. An easy tool set designed to make sure your citizens are working in the right place at the right time, it takes all the monotony out of managing lots of citizens in a big empire - yet leaves all of the strategy in place.

The beauty of what weâ??ve done with the improvements and streamlining weâ??ve made to the economic side of Empire Earth II â?“ notably the Citizen Manager â?“ is that weâ??ve given players a choice. For example, you donâ??t HAVE to use the Citizen Manager. While some people want to oversee hundreds of things from a higher perspective while focusing more on strategy, others may very well want the fun of micromanaging tasks. We havenâ??t taken that away from players at all. In fact, itâ??s up to you, really, how you play the game in a lot of ways. The same holds true for some of the other features weâ??ve added as well. So, while I absolutely LOVE features like the PIP, War Planner and Citizen Manager, I donâ??t have to use them. Yet I must confess, the Citizen Manager was one of those things that as we developed the game â?“ once it came online, I HAD to use it when I played. It saves time and is easy to use â?“ I canâ??t go back to playing without it. Ever.

TVG: How good do you believe the AI is and does it adapt and challenge the strategies of player?

Designed to be the pinnacle of AI in games, the AI in Empire Earth® II is going to make for some pretty interesting gameplay. Itâ??s our hope that players wonâ??t know whether theyâ??re playing against a human opponent, or whether theyâ??re playing against the AI in any given game!

So, letâ??s look at whatâ??s going on here. Within the context of the game currently being played (the AI doesnâ??t store info regarding specific players for future games, that would give it an unfair advantage!), the AI in Empire Earth II is playing fair and square. This cutting-edge AI doesnâ??t cheat -- and by that I mean that the AI plays the game by the same rules you play by, and the results are fantastic. I can tell you from experience that skirmish games against the AI are unbelievably fun.

Hereâ??s an example of how the AI in Empire Earth II adapts to a playerâ??s individual strategic play: like many of us the AI will watch play unfolding, and it will adapt to a playerâ??s individual strategic play, avoiding dangerous areas on the map, steering clear of trouble, etc. So letâ??s say it comes upon a killing field. Well, just as you and I might do, it will go â??aha!,â? and after that it will try to sneak around -- instead of going through your massive forces. It will take a look at the strategic choices a player makes and adapt accordingly. Essentially, it evaluates play and makes decisions just as the player might. It will adapt to dangers, threats, etc., just like you or I would when playing the game. And it doesnâ??t pull the annoying â??miraculous cheat from out of thin airâ? to beat the player. Iâ??ve never liked that, and I donâ??t think most players out there like it either. It evaluates and makes decisions just as the player does. And I love this part: all the basic strategies that you use against a player, you can use against the AI â?“ and it can use against you! Itâ??s this kind of fair play that keeps the game fresh. I hope fans are ready, because this will be the best AI opponent youâ??ve ever experienced in gaming!

One more interesting note: we actually had to introduce a new easier AI difficulty setting in Empire Earth II because the â??Normalâ?? setting â?“ which doesnâ??t cheat at all â?“ was far too hard for most players. We put in a new â??Normalâ?? that is actually handicapped, and made the old normal â??Hardâ??, giving us 6 difficulty settings now.

TVG: Would you say this game is more for the hardcore strategy fan and do you feel there is lots of life and innovation still open to eventually move on to Empire Earth III?

As Iâ??ve said, Empire Earth II is definitely a game designed to appeal to and assist casual gamers in their gameplay, while offering advanced players more depth and strategy to keep them enthralled. Our goal really is to give all our players more, while making it easier to digest and control the game. Essentially, weâ??ve made the game more elegant.

Also, with Empire Earth II, there will be bigger battles over many ages, and hardcore gamers can expect "non-cheating," adaptive, more dynamic AI to give them challenges that seem more human. Ambient weather like fog and snowfall will affect gameplay as well and force players to adapt to changing environments. To keep things interesting, maps will be divided into territories which players must claim and compete for (these become economically important and are also important for military strength). So, thereâ??s a lot more depth of strategy and play, and with the introduction of the Crown System (which will temporarily reward players who achieve military, economic, imperialistic or cultural dominance, diplomacy), hardcore gamers will have a great gameplay experience. Weâ??ve also added in the new Diplomacy Screen, which fans have been eagerly anticipating, allowing players to offer treaties, barter for land passage rights, trade offers, and more. All in all, we think there will be more than enough innovative gameplay to keep any strategist happily occupied for quite a while.

Do I think thereâ??s lots of life and innovation still open to move on to Empire Earth III? Wellâ?¦the world is always changing after all, isnâ??t it? 

Many thanks Ian, we really look forward to seeing more on Empire Earth II...

Thank you for the opportunity. And by the way, please tell your readers to fasten their seatbelts, because Mad Docâ??s Empire Earth II is coming soon, and itâ??s gonna be a fun ride!

Empire Earth II is scheduled for a European release on April 29th; look out for an extensive preview soon...