Illusion Softworks - Developer Profile Feature

Illusion Softworks is located in Brno, in the Czech Republic, and was founded by Petr Vochozka who TVG recently had the opportunity to speak with in a quick fire developerâ??s profile.

With a number of superb titles already created by Illusionsoftworks and rapidly expanding personnel the future looks excellent for a developer that appears to be sticking with their formula for success!

TVG: How many people work at Illusionsoftworks and what would you say is your core expertise?

PV: Currently we have more than 150 employees in 4 different locations (Czech and Slovak republics). Our core expertise is definitely a creation of new Ips and development for PC, but we are more and more shifting to consoles.

TVG: What is the companyâ??s mission statement?

PV: Easy - just to develop AAA games for major platforms, itâ??s never changed since the foundation of the company (1997).

TVG: You are very much into the â??actionâ?? genre. Firstly, do you intend to stick within this area and can we expect to see further additions in the Hidden and Dangerous and possibly Mafia branding?

PV: Yes, we will do only action games in the future, but with all touches of strategy, tactics, adventure, and simulation. And yes, great games deserve sequels and we are working on something.

TVG: Illusionsoftworks, it appears, is very PC focused. What are your current thoughts on the PC market and do you see the console market as being the focus to work within, especially the XBOX?

PV: Both Mafia and Vietcong were released on PS2 and Xbox too, but the design was really very much PC focused. Our plan is to focus on consoles more in the future.

TVG: To continue on, do you see Illusionsoftworks games as being very PC designed in a concept sense and does a PC designed game have fewer restrictions than the console one?

PV: No, our current games are designed more for consoles, however will be fine-tuned for every platform separately to offer the best feel possible. Consoles are very restrictive â?“ itâ??s just one piece of unupgradeable HW. But PCs: if the game is slow? No problem, user will buy faster card or switch to lower resolution. Is there lack of memory? No problem, weâ??ll use some harddrive cashing.

TVG: What kind of internal R&D do you have and how important is it for you to create your own tools?

PV: We always used our own engine and tools, but at the moment we are in final negotiation stages to use multiplatform engine used for many console and PC hits. More important for us is to build a game, engine and tools are just... tools.

TVG: What does the Take2/Gathering exclusive agreement mean for gamers in terms of the next 2 years?

PV: Our agreement with Take2 is finished, we signed our last project with them, this will be released during next 2 years (2 games only), but we have already signed with another major publisher and we are developing 2 unsigned games. We are currently discussing with a few publishers.

TVG: Does being a Czech/Slovak based developer present any problems? (Harder to get qualified people, etc?)

PV: Of course, hard to get qualified people, because our company has started the real professional development in this area. But luckily, now we have enough people and are not really hiring many. Besides this, just the standard development problems.

TVG: Could you tell us briefly what games are currently in development at your 5 studios?

PV: Yes, the next Vietcong game is well into production, something with Mafia (I canâ??t tell what), and one game for the new publisher (will be announced within a few months) and 2 unsigned games. All more or less action genres, but exceptional quality and very strong story lines!

TVG would like to thank Petr for taking the time to answer our questions at providing an insight into Illusion Softworks; weâ??ll have more information on their future titles and developments soon.