As promised, here is the Q&A our very own LunarDuality did with the makers of the recently released Commanders: Attack of the Genos. Both Terry Coleman [TC], Sr. Producer at Sierra Online, and Daniel Jeppsson [DJ], Lead Programmer on Commanders: Attack of the Genos and Technical Director at SouthEnd Interactive were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedules to answer our questions.

[XBLArcade.com] For many reasons (some more obvious than others) Sierra Online has had a very strong presence on XBLA. What drives Sierra to be a strong leader (especially in new IP) on the platform? And what keeps you coming back with more?

[TC] Our philosophy is that we make the best game we can, and put that game on the platforms best suited for it. We felt that Commanders was not only a natural fit for PC download, but that it would also work on Xbox LIVE Arcade, because there wasn’t anything quite like it on that platform. The advantage of XBLA is that you have the power of an Xbox 360, yet the platform lends itself to doing games which are less hardcore and therefore more accessible.

This in turn allows us to do a wide variety of games, and to take some chances. If you look at our portfolio, we’ve done puzzle games (Boogie Bunnies), space games (Battlestar Galactica), casual sports games (3D Ultra Mini-Golf), turn-based strategy games (Commanders), and even a Role-Playing/Adventure game (Arkadian Warriors). We’ve had a number of games which have sold well and some, like Switchball and Assault Heroes, which have even won awards. So, we’re excited to be a leader on XBLA, and we’ll continue to do games which use the platform to its best advantage.

Check out the rest of the Q&A after the break...

[XBLArcade.com] To what degree (if at all) do the various studios working under the Sierra Online banner share tech and help one another with their XBLA titles?

[TC] Without giving away any trade secrets, we do our best to give all of our developers the benefit of our experience on the platform – keep in mind that our first big XBLA hit was Assault Heroes, released over a year ago. We do our best to share information between groups, but we also respect that each developer has its own technology, management structure, etc. What we do is to set up a reasonable timetable that both we as the publisher and the developer can commit to.

There have been specific instances where one group has been able to help another and keep a particular game on schedule. When this happens, we just make sure we’re able to return the favor when that group needs help :--)

[XBLArcade.com] How does Sierra Online manage to support development companies that are so geographically divergent? And how does the global perspective of each development house affect their respective games?

[TC] With Commanders, we had a great developer in Southend, who had a passion for doing strategy games. So, the game was assigned to my production team at Sierra Online, as my producers have experience with strategy games. One of the reasons for our success is that we go out of our way to match producers and developers with the kinds of titles and genres that they are best suited for. It sounds simple, but it’s a critical formula for success – and I’ve worked at other places where this wasn’t always the case.

As far as the geography is concerned, the time difference can be an issue, but that is the responsibility of the producer to manage. Once you form a good working relationship, it’s not difficult to establish a reliable rhythm for communication. In addition to constant emails back and forth, I’m a big believer in phone calls on at least a weekly basis (and more often during critical times). Of course, it’s always best to meet the dev team face-to-face, but that isn’t always easy to do if you have say, one team in Europe, one in Australia, and another in Canada :--)

I’ve personally not noticed much of a difference between UK developers, Swedish developers, Canadian developers, etc. We’ve had success with developers on multiple continents, because we have high standards. We do a thorough check on developers before we sign them to do a game. Also, we have a strict pre-production cycle where we examine all of the technology and game design features, all of which has to be approved before we go into full production on the game. During production, we constantly evaluate each feature for game balance and quite frankly, how fun it is; we work with the developer to make adjustments as needed all throughout the cycle.

While you want to be generally consistent in your behavior, you do need to recognize that each development team and each individual on that team is unique. They need to be treated as individuals if you want to have a productive relationship and get the best performance from the team – and thereby, the best game you can make.

Design Questions

[XBLArcade.com] First off, a comment. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for actually implementing a hotseat multiplayer mode. It has pained me that so many games have no local multiplayer due to their dependence on having "secret" information (like cards in your hand or units on a battlefield). I've always said that a transition screen between player turns is all that you would need, and indeed it works just fine. You know that I like this feature, but tell me, with so many other XBLA titles opting out of local multiplayer for these reasons, why did you choose to invest in creating the mode?

[DJ] You are welcome, I always wanted a hotseat game like this for Xbox. I've been a fan of turn based tactics games such as Warlords, Heroes of Might and Magic and Advance Wars for many years and I wanted to bring something like that to the Xbox 360.

Even though Xbox LIVE is big, many people still prefer to play with friends and other family members using the same console. If people want to play open battles with no fog-of-war they can do that. When we played Warlords 2 back in the day we simply let the other person go out of the room or sit with their back turned. It was a fun way to play and I didn't hesitate on adding it to the Commanders design document.

In addition it was a good way to play-test multiplayer on one console and try out multiplayer maps.

[XBLArcade.com] Other games have been criticized for not having a completely free camera. Commanders caps the camera rotation under 180 degrees but allows the player to freely move in that range and also zoom freely. Why stop the player at 180 degrees of vision and how was that decision made?

[DJ] We actually started out with a 360 degree almost free camera but opted to restrict it since there was no perfect way to keep the simple control-scheme of moving the cursor around. Even now if you have a 45 degree tilt it isn't really clear which way the cursor will move if you pull to the left for example. Other games, like Fire Emblem, have a solution for this but I don't really think it is that good. If we got another go at making a game like this (Commanders 2?), we might try out some ideas I had but were considered too time consuming. You have to remember that it is an Arcade game after all and we had to concentrate on many other things to ship the title on time and budget. That said, I actually like the control scheme we ended up with. I've never been a fan of free moving cameras in turn based games such as this or even RTS games.

[XBLArcade.com] [Connected to the previous question] Unit producing buildings have only one orientation which makes it impossible to have truly symmetrical maps. This can create distinct advantages and disadvantages for each army (especially on the nearly symmetrical battlemaps). Why not allow unit building from any of the four squares or have four different orientations for the buildings?

[DJ] This was a hotly debated issue. Indeed we wanted to make buildings in different directions but people were confused as that made the buildings look different and sometimes it obscured the capturing spot. Definitively something we want to take another look at if we make a sequel.

[XBLArcade.com] One of the most powerful franchises in turn-based strategy is the Advance Wars series which has enjoyed success on Nintendo handhelds for quite some time. Most recently, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin has reinvented the setting for the game by making it darker and grittier garnering much attention in the process. How and why did you develop a more colorful and light-hearted look and feel for Commanders?

[DJ] First of all I must say I am a huge fan of Advance Wars. I haven't had the time to play their latest game yet but I must say that one of the things I loved with their older games is the bright graphics and fun happy-go-lucky mood of their story. That said one of our key design points was to have very bright and clear graphics with colorful units and backgrounds. There are so many gritty realistic war games out there, why make another one? In the end it is a matter of taste I suppose.

[XBLArcade.com] Each army has a unique look for each unit type but was there ever discussion of adding units that were specific to each army and had unique abilities?

[DJ] Yes. It was another budget/time decision. We wanted many more unique looks but had to choose some key units and spent our time polishing those instead.

Inspiration Questions

[XBLArcade.com] What inspired the story behind Commanders? And why place it in an "alternate history" instead of just making it modern (considering gene manipulation is actually happening as we speak)?

[DJ] We wanted a unique look for the game and we actually experimented with futuristic looking units first but decided we wanted something new. Why not combine a little bit futuristic style with art deco? It was fun and people here loved the jazzy music we added to the first internal demo we had. I know some people dislike our choice there but we feel it just fit the quirky story and art style.

[XBLArcade.com] Why choose to make a turn-based strategy game when the genre itself is not the largest or most popular anymore? And furthermore, where do you think the genre is headed and do you think Commanders helps advance and improve the genre? How so?

[DJ] Like I mentioned above, turn based games are one of my favorite genres and I would hate for it to die out. Everything needs to be simplified and streamlined these days but I still believe there is room for turn based games in today's market. Prove me right pleeeease. :)

Commanders is a bit of an experiment in a way. We wanted to make a turn based game that was simple enough for the most casual crowd to handle but still had enough depth for turn based fans to enjoy. I am a big fan of games like Disgaea with thousands of stats but I don't think that game is right for XBLA, at least not right now.

Burning Questions

[XBLArcade.com] Our readers will kill me if I don't ask the following: Are there plans for DLC? And if so, please tell me everything about them now. (^_^)

[TC] And my bosses will kill me if I talk about things before we officially announce them :--)

So, unfortunately, I can’t give you a straight answer on whether we are doing DLC for Commanders or our other games…

What I can say is that, when we feel it’s appropriate, we add Downloadable Content – Carcassonne is a good example of how we feel DLC should be done for XBLA games. If you don’t want the add-ons, the core game is very good. But the additional content really enhances that game, especially for experienced players.

[XBLArcade.com] Can you tell me how each of the star ratings are calculated and perhaps provide some tips for maximizing my chances at getting 5 stars?

[DJ] First of all, you don't need to get 5 stars in all three ratings at the same time. You can play once to maximize speed, another time to maximize tactics for example. To get a high speed rating, just finish the mission as quickly as possible. Power is simply how many units you destroy on a map. Tactics is calculated by taking the total damage you make divided by damage you take. Using the correct unit to destroy an enemy with, will automatically give you a good tactics rating.
Of course, maximizing all three ratings at the same time will give you a better score.
Good luck!

[XBLArcade.com] Thanks again for being kind enough to answer our questions.