UFO: Extraterrestrials - An Interview
Brian 'Dhruin' Turner, 2006-02-23

RPGDot: Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about Chaos Concepts.

Michal Dolezal: My name is Michal Dolezal. I come from the Czech Republic. Since January 2002, I've been producing the game UFO:Extraterrestrials. Chaos Concepts is a group of people working on the turn based strategy game UFO:Extraterrestrials. We develop in the Czech Republic.

RPGDot: Can you give our readers an overview of UFO: Extraterrestrials?

Michal Dolezal: UFO:ET is a strategy turn based game. The player controls a squad of soldiers, light and heavy support combat vehicles, robots and air units located in a base on the planet Esperanza. This squad was brought together by the Esperanza government to face a threat that comes from deep space. The player can examine aliens, develop better weapons, armors, grenades, medi-kits, stimpacks, cannons, vehicles - tanks, hovercrafts, energetic shields and interceptors to be able to fight aliens.

RPGDot: Looking at your website, UFO:ET is clearly inspired by games like XCOM: UFO Defence. How closely is the game styled after the X-COM games? What about other influences or even key differences?

Michal Dolezal: In my opinion, turn-based combat is a great mode for strategy games and that was proven in XCOM: UFO Defence. So the turn-based combat is the key feature, which UFO:ET shares with the legendary XCOM: UFO Defence and, of course, also the fully destructable environment. As far as differences are concerned, the player here in UFO:ET operates 2 geoscapes: Esperanza and Earth. There is also a third party -- the police and army are represented in fights with the aliens. However, I'm afraid I can't reveal too much or else the players won't be surprised.

RPGDot: Is the title final? Are you concerned that gamers might confuse UFO:ET with Altar's UFO: Aftermath or UFO: Aftershock?

Michal Dolezal: Yes, people might confuse UFO:ET with UFO:Aftershock despite the fact that these 2 games are quite different. UFO:Extraterrestrials sticks to turn-based combat like X-Com:UFO Defence.

RPGDot: Please describe the setting and some of the background story. How important is the story to the overall gameplay?

Michal Dolezal: The story is quite important. The player gets information mainly from captured aliens. Scientists make the captured aliens speak so that the player gets information on how the aliens conquered Earth, what exactly happened on Earth, why the aliens landed on the Esperanza, why the aliens attack especially Esperanza's mines and refineries, what are the alien's weak points, where is their headquarters, what to do to get into their headquarters, where aliens have built their Starport on Earth and many other questions which I will have to keep secret.

RPGDot: One of the major features is obviously the tactical turn-based combat. Would you mind describing the combat in a little detail? How deep are the strategic options? Are things like terrain and cover important?

Michal Dolezal: Generally, the turn-based mode means that each soldier has a certain number of "time units" which can be spent each turn. Every step the soldier makes, every shot he fires, every grenade he throws eats away at the soldier's allocated time units.

Strategic options are quite numerous. The soldiers can take advantage of terrain topography - hide behind buildings, corners, cars, trees, bushes and even step into buildings. Soldiers can throw grenades into a building before they enter if they suspect resistance to be inside or to destroy whole or part of the building with explosive missiles.

RPGDot: You've said that UFO:ET will feature strong AI. How will you achieve this goal and can you highlight some of the things players might expect out of the AI?

Michal Dolezal: UFO:ET is a single player game, so the stress was laid just on AI. So, I hired skillfull coders specialized in AI. At this time, they are still at work on the AI.

The goals are as follows: Aliens will be able hear, see and cooperate and they will act according to it. Aliens will be able to analyse whether to risk an open fight, retreat or wait hidden for backups. They'll analyze whether to use grenades. The aliens will be able to guess. They'll throw a grenade into a building if they suppose that there is somebody present or hidden inside - just the same abilities as the player. Anyway, if the player hides his soldiers behind some robust indoor equipment,then they'll survive. If an alien spots a group of soldiers in a bunch, then he will consider using grenades or any explosive ammo, retreat or hide.

Michal Dolezal: The gaming engine allows one to destroy everything. Shelter by shelter, wall by wall, building by building. Also cars and combat vehicles can be blown up, so the environment is very interactive. No wall is solid, so neither aliens nor soldiers can ever be too careful. The aliens, thanks to the AI, analyze whether entering a particular building is too risky. And if it is the aliens can fill the building up with grenades.

RPGDot: Would you describe the mission structure for our readers? What sort of missions will they undertake?

Michal Dolezal: The transport carrier takes counter alien forces into tactical missions. When the transport carrier lands, the player discovers that the whole area is blacked out. The only way to uncover the area is to explore it - the "fog of war" feature is presented so the player can see only what his soldiers can see.

Somewhere in the mission sits a UFO full of aliens. Their aim is to abduct, terrorise and invade. The aliens are armed with powerful weapons. Alien soldiers are highly trained so they're accurate, fast and difficult to kill.The player disposes with soldiers, robots, support combat vehicles such as armoured cars, heavy weapon platforms and hovercrafts to stop them. Aliens usually invade hospitals, Scientific laboratories, terrorise cities, but sometimes they do not hesitate to invade barracks or police stations.

RPGDot: What can you tell us about base building and research?

Michel Dolezal: Base building is an important part of this strategy game. There are 9 states on planet Esperanza and in each state the player can build one base. The aliens are also eager to build a base in each state. If the aliens succeed in building this base, that state comes under their control. If the counter alien forces succeed, the state comes under their rule and the counter alien forces get funds from the state.

Usually aliens can build a base in a state if they gain air superiority. So, simply stated: whoever controls the air space of a particular state is able to build on it and then also defend the base. Each base is divided into sections: Energetic section, Hangar, Sam site defences, Surgery, Detection System, Laboratory, Production and the Autopsy room. Without the hangar, the player can't use interceptors, without the laboratory - the player can't research new technologies, and so on.

The research aspect of the game allowes the player to get new weapons, grenades, armours, robots, interceptors, transport carriers, heavy weapon platforms such as tanks and hovercrafts. The player can stun aliens and have them researched. However, only the alien commanders know valuable information, so the commanders can tell the player about attacks on planet Esperanza and lots of other valuable information, which should one day help the player to win.

RPGDot: UFO: ET features a third side - the police, army and civilians. What effect does this have on the gameplay?

Michal Dolezal: Civilians need to be protected, so the missions get a protective character when the player tries to save civilians. Counter alien forces are specialized forces fighting against aliens. They have laboratories and research centers to examine aliens. The examinations help them to understand aliens and to find their weak points. Aliens sometimes invade barracks, army bases or police stations so the Counter alien forces help in this case to cope with aliens.

RPGDot: Players will control a squad on each mission - what sort of choices are there in creating or obtaining units and squads? Do units have specific attributes, skills and experience? What about equipment?

Michal Dolezal: Counter alien forces consists of volunteers. They join the CAF randomly. Soldiers get experience by killing or hitting aliens and by going through missions if he at least once hits an alien per mission. With experience the player can improve burst shooting, snap shooting and aim shooting or other attributes such as: agility, vitality, bravery, strength, reactions and throwing.

The soldiers can also lose their exps when they're treated in hospital. The treatment also means that the soldier is disabled from fighting for some time, however, the player can buy robots, tanks and hovercrafts if there is lack of soldiers, for example.

The player can buy some weapons but most of the weapons need to be researched and produced first. For example, ION cannon, Particle rifle, AKEW pistol, Plasma grenade and many others.

RPGDot: You have created an in-house 3D engine for this project - can you tell us a little about this engine and its capabilities?

Michal Dolezal: We developed a 3D engine called Synoptic. It uses directX9. The engine uses its own script language, which gives the possibility to easily modify how an objects acts. The engine allows entering the buildings, creating "n" floor buildings, creating dynamic light effects and destroying all objects.

RPGDot: Where does the development stand at the moment and when do you expect to release UFO: ET?

The development stands on AI at this moment. UFO:ET will be released this summer.

RPGDot: Is there anything you'd like to add in closing?

No, thank you.