<b>Exclusive</b> Evil Genius Feature Feature

<I>Evil Genius - it’s colourful, it's stylish and it's fun’, was one razor edged quote from the development team in what looks like a stylish game in the making.</I><br><br>Work is well underway at Elixir Studios on their second title, Evil Genius, which is pencilled in for release on the PC at the end of the year from Vivendi. You would not expect anything formulaic from Elixir but something slightly different from the norm. Evil Genius is a tongue-in-cheek take on the spy thrillers of the '60s, offering you the unique opportunity to play the villain as you control a secret island fortress complete with powerful henchmen, loyal minions, ice-cold beauty queens, and a host of hilarious gizmos. Although it is very early in the development cycle of the title many of the leading medias are already naming this as one highly anticipated, must have, titles for the year. Early screenshots already conjure up many thoughts and mental images and as always 'unique' would be top of the list.<br><br>With this intriguing plotline, where the player assumes the role of a malevolent mastermind bent on achieving global domination through the construction of the ultimate doomsday device in mind, we were delighted to be offered the opportunity in being able to collectively speak to three of the Elixir team - Peter Gilbert, Evil’s Producer, Sandy Sammarco, Evil’s Lead Designer, and Alex Thomson, Evil’s Lead Programmer, to get a fuller insight into the mental process and dastardly creation trial that are being conjured up and worked on to create Evil Genius.<br> <br>Briefly touching on the numerous awards that are already stacking up, Evil Genius must give the team good heart regarding this project but did it mean much to the team, so early into the project - could much significance be paid to them? “We were quite overwhelmed by the response that we got at E3 this year. The awards that we received were generally for innovation and originality of design, which I think can be awarded early in development, what remains to be seen, however, is whether the game that we deliver lives up to the promise. While it is nice to receive these awards, we will pay far more attention to the feedback that we get during focus testing and ultimately from those who play the game."<br><br>After Republic, with its deep, heavy and serious approach, perhaps something completely different in terms of concept and visuals could be the order of the day. On the surface Evil Genius appears to be full of ideas, any of which could take the game into new gaming areas. Reading through the press spec the gamers must master all five evil gameplay elements, which are: base building (build your secret base and defend it against attacks by obnoxious action heroes and government agents), real-time combat, minion training (manage your minions as you train them to develop evil technology and super-weapons), techno-research, and mission deployment.<br><br>You will be required to find and recruit talented henchmen from a variety of exotic locations. Dispatch agents to war zones in search of talent...scour universities for ideologies...launch prison breaks to free captured henchmen. So with this already enticing list of ideas ready to be fleshed out, the team collectively spoke as one pertaining to the inspiration behind it. “There are some very obvious sources of inspiration for the game: the Bond films, Our Man Flint, Austin Powers, etc. The look of the game is completely different from Republic, although this was the product of the concept design process rather than a conscious effort to look different. Our Evil lead artist, Brian Gillies, wanted a shiny ‘atomic age’ sixties style for the game and that's exactly what we are producing. Ideally we want Elixir studios to be known to gamers as a leading independent developer of original products, with the emphasis most definitely on original." <br><br>Before Elixir expanded more on Evil Genius it was interesting to note that here is a dev team that has not taken the easy option in monetary terms in cashing in on the booming console scene. “Currently we are focused on the PC, however we are keeping an eye on the development of the next wave of consoles. There are obviously different challenges to overcome but if we have a concept that we want to develop we are confident that we would do it justice regardless of platform. A lot of developers are now being forced to produce formulaic and derivative products, usually due to pressure from their publishers, and without doubt this is creatively stifling. At Elixir we consider ourselves very fortunate that we have the freedom to develop the games we want to."<br><br>Evil Genius can best be described as a strategy simulation game where the player’s aim is for world domination. In order to take over the world, the player must build, manage, and defend their evil lair, send out minions and henchmen to complete daring missions around the globe, whilst simultaneously researching a diabolical master plan. The game doesn't have a linear path, it’s quite freeform, although there will be some plot points where the player must specialise in their evil career. The five elements of gameplay, mentioned at the start, are all inherently interlinked. Once your training rooms are built you can begin training your minions and henchmen and once trained you can send them on missions. Completing missions brings you more resources and unique items, which can then be researched to develop your evil master plan. Completing more missions around the world also means that more agents will start to try to infiltrate your base, which means that base defence becomes extremely important. <br><br>Nothing is straightforward and there are many strategic elements being deployed.<br>Traps are very important to the defence of your base. As your minions and henchmen begin to complete missions around the world, your base will begin to come under attack from the forces of justice. Judicious use of distraction traps will keep some agents at bay, while more curious agents will be dealt with in a more terminal manner. Traps and triggers are placed independently and the player can assign multiple traps to a single trigger. This allows the player to really work on their evil creativity.<br><br>Sandy Sammarco, Evil’s Lead Designer, explained the importance of generating more money in the game to be able to achieve the end results. “Generating money in Evil Genius is important, but only as a means to an end and not the end itself. Money is used to purchase lots of megalomaniac trinkets and gadgetry, as well as to hire more sycophantic lackeys to do your bidding. Running out of cash will leave you vulnerable, but you cannot lose the game by being penniless. One of the more obvious ways of obtaining money is to go and steal it from somebody else. Robbing federal reserves and international banks is part and parcel of being an evil genius." <br><br>Already there appears to be an immense amount of depth to Evil Genius and, as we have seen from Republic, drip-feeding the media as ideas turn into code as the game comes together is the right approach.<br><br>Elixir’s overall thoughts are that innovative game design will always be more important than innovative technology. The simplest games on the most basic technology can be just as engaging as a multi-million pound blockbuster. “Many people at Elixir are still playing Angband! The heat, suspicion and evidence systems are quite innovative, but ultimately we think the team would settle for a game that is lots of fun to play over one that has lots of unique selling points.”<br><br>Evil Genius uses a range of AI techniques to solve the different AI challenges presented by this sort of game. Elixir has a modular scripting language to let the designers add objects and traps to the game quickly. There is also some very optimised path-finding and general behaviour code for all the characters. On top of that, the 'enemy' characters use a specialised goal-based behavioural system, so they can quickly adapt to changing circumstances (for instance, discovering one of their friends in a cage, or worse, a body bag). Republic, itself, has a wealth of AI talent behind it, and several of the AI systems in Evil Genius are deeply indebted to it. The scripting system in particular was used extensively on Republic and has proved invaluable again on EG. “Having said that, we've been careful to tune everything to our particular AI requirements.” Alex Thomson, Evil’s Lead Programmer: “The AI is in many ways the key to the game, and it's important for us that the requirements match the system exactly. We think you'll be pleased with the results."<br><br>Being told it is not all about base buildings, and with five areas on the world as settings, how pertinent will they be to events and storyline, was answered by Sandy.<br> “The different territories are important to the player for several reasons. Each area roughly corresponds to a geo-political alliance active around the ‘60s (like the Communist states), and contains missions that can net the player vital equipment, cash, and notoriety. Notoriety is especially useful - the player will not be taken as a credible threat to the world unless enough of this resource has been harvested from all the territories. However, the more nefarious activities the player carries out in a territory, the more ‘heat’ they generate there, and each area has its own set of agents to send to the player's island, all of them more than capable of causing problems."<br><br>There are 12 different types of minions, who are trained in one of three fields: military, social and science, and a large variety of unique henchmen who each have special skills. Nurturing your own character’s skills and using them wisely against the forces of justice is incredibly important in the game.<br><br>At this stage having got more information than we have hoped and being told I would be dangled over a large pool of killer robotic cuttlefish if I probed any more, I parted with the final words and summary from the team. “We want Evil Genius to be a fun, entertaining game. That means it needs to have solid mechanics, and lots of diverse, comprehensible tactics. The best part of these types of games is when, as a player, you get to recognise and then successfully employ a particular strategy. Evil Genius isn't an RTS in the conventional sense though, it's a strategy game based on a simulation, where the player influences events based on his actions, rather than issue direct commands. Just because we have ‘serious’ mechanics doesn't mean we have to have a dark and brooding setting - there are plenty of other games for that. Evil Genius is all about over the top fun, and the style reflects that."