AmmoBox Studios QA - The Team Behind Project Combine, An FPS/RTS Hybrid

Recently, I've had the opportunity to have a QA session(in other words, an interview) with someone who is developing a game right here in Malaysia. The project, tentatively titled 'Project Combine', is an FPS/RTS hybrid using the Unreal engine. Jeremy from AmmoBox Studios, the team behind the project, answers a couple of question I sent him regarding the game and the industry here in Malaysia. QA below...



Malaysian Gamer: Hi, thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. Firstly, introduce yourself please

Jeremy: I'd just like to introduce myself as Jeremy from Ammobox. I was brought up in Bukit Mertajam , a small town in mainland Penang. My childhood is pretty much like any other kids back in the 90's where computing power is scarce. Climbing trees, catching fish, cycling and most importantly fighting over the family computer with my other 2 brother. We're all avid gamers; until today we still battle.net together. I consider myself pretty lucky to have my first experience with computers way back in 1990, which is relatively pretty early. Those DOS days. A computer without a Hard Disk, sounds alien to today's 'social network' generation, but that's a story for another day. Because of that, I also have the opportunity to play some of the very early PC games , which up until to today, I consider them to be extremely well designed.






MG: When did you realise you wanted to make games?
 
Jeremy: I first made pen&paper games when I was in primary 2. My brother first introduced me to it from a friend who knows a friend who knows a friend who knows something interesting to do with school exercise books and extra utensils.  (For those who are not aware of what are pen(or pencil) and paper games, you need to check it out http://www.pencilandpapergames.com/). But as I played pen&paper games, I began to think how can I give more depth to these simple games.

As time went by , I took design principles from PC Games and combine them with pen & paper games to give more variety to them. Computer-wise, I first started modding/level designing on a PC game called Heretic, which nobody remembers anymore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heretic_(video_game)).

Apparently, it shared the same level format as Doom 2. Again, my brother's friend knows a friend who knows a friend who got me the Doom-engine level editor.  It got me interested on why these games shared same format and was very interested to cross breed the game ( porting doom level/monsters over to Heretic ) .

Unfortunately none of it actually worked out, I only got to make levels within the same game. Without Internet, it was basically impossible to learn any of these knowledge. There is literally nobody I could ask about how all of this works. It didn't come with a manual, not even a readme. When I first had internet access in 1998, (considerably late), it was the Starcraft craze. That was the game that really got me into modding. It’s the first game that I seriously modded and actually made a fully functional mod (which I attempted to sell to some local cybercafe and resulted in getting laughed at ).

I never actually took games development seriously because like most Malaysians, our parents tell us to do things that contribute to getting a job. Thus, it was all pretty much fun-oriented. I kept modding until Warcraft III.
 




MG: When was Ammobox Studios founded?

Jeremy: Ammobox was founded in 2008 , when me and a few friends of mine decided to pitch for MDec's IPCC programme. We pitched Project Combine and went into finals of 2008 IPCC but didn't get through because IPCC was looking for Casual Games project and ours was very un-casual. Project Combine is the first commercial idea that I partook in seriously . Although I didn't get the grant from IPCC, It was the first time in my life, I had the opportunity to meet with groups of people that are into games development. After much networking, I went on and re-pitched Project Combine to MDec and finally got the Technopreneur Development Grant in which we kick started the project with.



MG: Tell us a bit about Project Combine. Multiplayer shooters is quite a crowded market with many competitors. Was it always supposed to have been a FPS/RTS hybrid? Tell us a bit about the history of the design for this game...
 
Jeremy: Indeed multiplayer shooters is a very very crowded market with many mod(and even AAA Games) being yet-another CS clone. But here's the thing, it still sells really well, especially in the Asias market where it has evolved into MMOFPS.  As for our game, although I play all sorts of game (except sports games) I'm always very inspired with 2 particular  genre, FPS and RTS. I think there's a massive potential in this combined genre.

Battlezone was one of the first game that really did it well. Although it's not a project that was insanely popular, it did gather a massive fanbase and the game is still modded even up till today. That's 13 years. It's a legacy I want to follow. Savage is another FPS/RTS hybrid that did really well, but that's not the exact direction we're heading. Natural Selection is another mod that did really well.

I can'tt deny there are a few games that gathered really bad reviews such as Raven Squad. At the end of the day , I don't think it's about genre, it's about how to bring the fun out of the genre. You can make an FPS that is really fun and you can make another FPS that's really bad. Quite a lot of public speculate it’s like this "Oh, FPS--> good , RTS--> good , MMO --> Good , FPS+RTS ---> never been done, probably bad ."
 


MG: Why did your team pick the Unreal engine/Unreal Dev Kit?

Jeremy: Actually UDK wasn't the first engine this game was developed in, it was first done in Jupiter Ex as we have licensed it for a very good price. Our decision to switch to UDK wasn't easy.
We've gone through many engines previously and had many deciding factors to work on. I won't bore you with the details of why we didn't choose the rest, but I'll tell you some of the plus points. Firstly, Unreal is one of the most modded engine(together with source ) that's available.

The architecture goes back to the first UT and it is time-tested and has a big community base. But that's just the gravy, other important factors are the commercialisation potential. UDK is the only million dollar engine that allows us to publish our game for royalty. To be honest, Unity/Torque was also a strong contender, but at that time, Unity has just been ported to Windows. And Unreal had many more published full-scale mods/games while Unity has mostly Casual Games. (I know Unity fan-boys will probably blast me all over for saying that.)

Another very strong reason was that we're allowed access to Unreal Tournament 3's full source in UnrealScript. Which really help a lot for referencing. We'll be the first to admit we aren't the most experienced team around, and full sources like that help a lot.




MG: Indie game development has grown in a big way in North America and Europe, do you see a potential for indie teams here in Malaysia?
 
Jeremy: Definitely, modding is not only popular there. I've honestly met more modders in Africa than Malaysia. In Malaysia, there is plenty of potential, but very little initiative. There is hardly any Malaysian initiated mods at all.
 



MG: What are some of the challenges for an indie team here in Malaysia?
 
Jeremy: It is a common mentality that Malaysians are the underdogs in games development and modding world. But I'd like to highlight this many times over, in this 'Google' era, we have the same tools and knowledge as anybody in America or Europe has. There is no segregation. Most modders have no professional experience or certificates/diploma/degree. They're all self-taught. With open source solutions like Blender(3D modeling software), Indie-packaged engines like UDK, Unity , etc. There is no excuse for falling back, really. Modding have always been free. The challenges are merely the lack of foresight and interest. Most Malaysians think modding has no earning capability and thus there is no need to learn such things, they'd rather be playing games all day. But a lot of them don't understand, modding is often the first step to a games development career.
 





MG: What do you wish was better over here(in Malaysia) to cater better to the game development industry?
 
Jeremy: Our government has more than enough grants/policies like MSC to help the digital industry. It's really up to the people. Personally, I'd like to see more programmes like Mdec's GameInc organised by Creative Multimedia Cluster. It is a programme that takes in interested participants and put them in a supervised team to fully complete a playable game. This programme not only gives the participant experience in developing games but also gives them the opportunity to see through the whole process
that's involved from conceptualising the game to packaging it for distribution.

Networking is another important factor. But all in all, what I wish for is more interest and less negative bickering about the games industry. Most gamers take one look and thinks the games industry locally is not lucrative, thus will only play games. Another thing I'd like to see is colleges re-structuring their modules to something that makes sense. I've spoken to many local graduates that have learned everything but mastered nothing. Specialisation is very important when it comes to games development and it saddens me a lot of students graduate with a 'jack of all trades, master of none' mentality.




MG: You probably get this question a lot, but what would be your advice for anyone who is interested in a career in game development?

Jeremy: If you're really young ( e.g still schooling ); take up modding. Pick a game you like with good modding capability, mod it. Make small changes. Find out which part of games development suites you ; scripting/art/level design, etc, then develop that interest. Take it slow;
do what is fun and enjoyable.

When you notice that your are spending more time editing/studying/making games then actually playing it, you probably have a very strong inclination towards games development and I would advice you to seriously look into furthering your talent . If you're a bit older, and have no time to 'take it slow' but you still want to make games, you have to ask yourself how in-tune are you with games development and its process, if you haven't even played games to start with, then you better start. If you have played tonnes of games and have no idea what games development is about, you probably have to do some research.

If you know what it's about, and have no experience to start with, then pick a discipline ( art / programming ), get ( or buy ) a professional tutorial, schedule yourself some time to focus on learning one particular area of games dev and really master it. Then find an indie team to join. Don't aspire to join an indie team with no skill, any indie team who accepts a member with no skill is a sign of a team that's going nowhere. After that, keep making games, then decide if you want to get hired by a big studio or take the indie path; both has its own benefits that's too long to list here. That's the shortest-cut I can tell you .

MG: When do you guys plan to roll out Project Combine? Any plans of a beta?
 
Jeremy: We plan to release a simple playable teaser to demonstrate the game mechanics in a month or two from now. Our inspiration is drawn from Interstellar Marines, an indie team that releases small 'slices' of the game every few months and gets feedback from the community. We want Project Combine to be a project with involvement from community. We have no set release date yet for now. But are working very hard to pump out a prototype by this year. At the same time we are also working on an online game based on the same IP.


MG: Thank you for your time. Good luck with your project





Project Combine

Project Combine is a FPS/RTS game , featuring a unique blend of team-based FPS(first person shooting ) and RTS (Real Time Strategy ) element. Two team squares off in a post apocalyptic environment with a commander on each team. Player will play either as a frontline military officer, wielding powerful battlesuits, or as a commander, with the responsibility to build up bases and support the officers on the frontline. 

Officer Gameplay:

- playing as an officer focuses your gameplay on taking over territories on the battlefront. Capturing strategic points will increase your team's resources. You rely on your commander to assign you with AI infantry and send in mechanized or air support. 

- Command your AI infantry assigned to you with squad commands, set the stance ( defensive, offensive) and give specific commands when necessary ( break cover, retreat ,etc)

- Decide with your team what role to play and equip you and your squads with the necessary weapon at the armory. Play as assault, anti-tank, covert ops, or any combination of role based on what inventory you equip yourself with.

Commander Gameplay :

- Your primary role as a commander is to build up your base, manage economy and decide what tech and army your team needs. 

- Unlock weapons at armory for your officers and give them the tactical advantage they need. Counter enemy troops with the appropriate firepower.

- Send your officers mechanized reinforcements and air support.

- Build up strong defense in your base. And if things get hairy, jump in personally into the battlefield and hand deliver your enemy the true meaning of pain.

Very... very early footage