by David Simon IMG recently had the pleasure of talking to Glenn Andreas, who is currently developing an RPG for Ambrosia Software entitled Cythera (be sure to check out our preview of Cythera). We also were able to ask Andrew Welch of Ambrosia a few questions. IMG: What made you start work on the Delver engine (which runs the Cythera scenario)? Glenn: I had been playing around with lots of different technologies for role playing games (different views, presentations, user interfaces, etc...) and at one point I decided that if I ever wanted to ship something I should try to pick a model and run with that and see how far I could take it. I've always enjoyed designing that sort of thing - coming up with better models of reality on which a story can be told. IMG: Where did you turn for inspiration when creating the world of Cythera? Glenn: Well, part of it was taking my love of ancient history and building off of that (for example, a variation on ancient Egyptian language is seen in one place). The old "wizard, fighter, orc" stuff has really been done to death, and I wanted something different. I also had a couple of "seed" ideas that I wanted to build into a society. So I decided to throw some survivors of the destruction of Thera into a totally alien world, with its own secrets and see what I could build. I've thrown in some esoteric ideas into it that aren't normally seen in your typical fantasy game world. IMG: How/why did you decided to team up with Ambrosia Software? Glenn: Andrew basically sent me some e-mail shortly after I started the Delver engine, wondering how I was doing with my last experiment (Chimera). I saw this as an opportunity to work with someone that would help me ship my vision, and provide support for those areas where I was weak (such as providing music, sound, and lots of the artwork - I can't do everything yet, nor would I want to). Ambrosia would also take care of all the little details (support, distribution, PR, etc...) and I could focus on what I enjoyed (coding the engine and telling the story). IMG: What has been the most exciting aspect about working on Cythera? Glenn: Seeing the reaction from the testers who get so excited about some parts of the game. I love throwing in obscure (some might say a bit _too_ obscure) ideas and references and seeing if anybody can piece them all together. There some big mysteries in there and watching people trying to figure them out is great - I really look forward to seeing what people come up with to explain some of the more obscure parts... IMG: How long have you been working on the world of Cythera? Glenn: The world itself wasn't developed until the basics of the engine were there and working, so I could design the world around any restrictions in the engine.. For example, the engine didn't support riding mounts or vehicles, so the world lacks any creature that would make a decent mount, and there is this multi-tentacled sea-monster that prevents the use of ships. IMG: How flexible is the delver engine - could it be used for a sci-fi game? Glenn: Depending on what you need, sure it could. It wouldn't support things like flying spaceships, but otherwise it should work. The underlying role-playing rules are fairly generic as well - there are three underlying stats, secondary stats like health and mana (which would probably be used as some sort of psi-power or something) and then a bunch of skills. IMG: Can we expect to see more scenarios created using the Delver engine? Glenn: Yes - I sure hope so, though probably done by others. I also plan on making new, more powerful engines (the sequel to Cythera requires some things that the engine currently doesn't do). There are other deviations using some of the core parts of the Delver engine that could also be done (off the top of my head, perhaps some sort of random dungeon exploration game - like the old Rogue/Hack/Moria/Angbad style games). IMG: Can we expect to see a scenario editor? Glenn: Not at this point. The editor is far from ready for "prime time", and the amount of support that it would require would be way too large (there's lots of undocumented behavior in the engine as well). If somebody has a great idea for a scenario, we'll work with them. One possibility might be to have a scaled down editor that allows the end user to take existing elements and put them together, without needing to do everything from scratch (such as all the scripting for objects, spells, etc...), but nothing is definite at this point (we want to finish and release this thing first). IMG: Is it "Sith"era or "Kith"era? Glenn: You can pronounce it anyway you want. Technically, the "C" needs to be pronounced as a "K" (and some of the older documents you find in the game have it spelled with a "K"). That being said, I refer to it as "sigh-THEAR-uh". IMG: How do you currently see the Mac Gaming Industry? Glenn: As a maze of twisty little passages, all different. IMG: What do you see for its future? Glenn: I think it is safe to say that the darkest days are over - and at least I'm willing to bet on its future being good. IMG: Why Shareware? Glenn: At this point, it is almost "why not". There really isn't a whole lot of difference between the current model and releasing a demo and being able to buy the real version online. IMG: Andrew, In the earlier days of Ambrosia, your products were released 'as-is'. Registering a game would not unlock anything, it simply gave one good karma and helped you to create your next game. What made you decide to cripple (for want of a better expression) your games so that certain features or levels are inaccessible without registration? Andrew: We looked at the model that other successful electronic distribution software companies are using (mostly on the PC side), and noted that they were using this method. We also looked at some studies which showed nearly a 5 fold increase in registrations if parts of the program were crippled. It seems Apple has joined the shareware fray with their distribution of QuickTime 3. :) It boils down to economics. We put quite a bit of hard work into our products, and we'd like to be paid for it -- that's pretty reasonable, isn't it? If people pay for our products, we have more money, with more money we can invest in making bigger and cooler games. It's a healthy cycle. But beyond that, people are used to *getting* something in return when they pay for a product. The number one question we used to get was "What do I get if I pay for XXXX?" Telling them that they will be able to get to higher levels, for example, provides them with a compelling reason to register -- and they feel it is a reciprocal transaction. Perception is everything. Of course, like everyone else in the software industry, we get ripped off regularly. We're probably the only major Mac-only game company left in the world, yet some Mac users seem to have no problem "eating their own." Here's a sadly amusing example: In our game Mars Rising, David decided to put checks in for some of the most common "hacks" -- so we'd know when someone was trying to use a pirated license code. What will happen is a dialog box pops up saying "Your drivers are outdated, Mars Rising won't run" or some such. We regularly get e-mail from people who say they love us, they love our games, keep up the great work, and "oh, by the way, why does Mars Rising say my drivers are outdated?" It's all rather depressing, really. You work very hard on something, then people say to your face "I'm going to steal it from you." IMG: Besides Cythera, what other games are Ambrosia working on? Andrew: Oh, we have plenty of projects on our plate: Pop-Pop -- a highly addicted, networkable action game from Andrew Campbell, the author of Battle Girl. I can't say *too* much about this game right now (a girl has to have her secrets, you know), but imagine the talent that made Battle Girl fused with Ambrosia. Rock. Cool stuff. The game isn't in beta yet, but when it is, you'll find some preview screenshots up at http://www.pop-pop.com/ Ferazel's Wand -- ah, what to say about Ferazel's Wand? This game has got to be the coolest platform (Mario-style) game I've ever played with. I'm rather jaded about games, because I play them every day as part of my job --but I get really jazzed about Ferazel's Wand. I love the platformer genre, and Ferazel has some awesome twists and surprises. Of course it has many layers of parallax, dynamic lighting, full screen scrolling, particle effects, and all of the buzzwords -- but more importantly, it remembers that a game is supposed to be *fun*. Ben Spees (the author of Harry the Handsome Executive) has really done a bang-up job on this puppy -- Ferazel's scotching fireballs will turn Jazz Jackrabbit into so much glazed Hasenpfeffer. The latest screenshots and movies previewing Ferazel are up at http://www.Ferazel.com/ Deimos Rising -- So you're almost recovered from the injuries you sustained while attempting to beat Mars Rising, eh? Well, it's time to take a little cortisone and get back in the game! David Wareing has been working on a spiff sequel to Mars Rising, entitled Deimos Rising. This isn't just a repackaged version of Mars Rising, either -- the engine has been completely revamped with better graphics, explosions, and a whole host of other surprised. All in all, it's enough to make game controller companies smile. Check out the progress at http://www.DeimosRising.com/ Snapz Pro -- while not truly a *game*, per se, our screen capture utility does let you take screenshots of your games. The update to Snapz Pro 2 will offer the ability to grab screen captures in games that use Input Sprocket, a cool new frame-based selection tool, the ability to record movies (with both video and sound), and a host of other cool new features. Of course, the required URL: http://www.SnapzPro.com/ We also have a top-secret, super-cool in-house project that we're working on, code-named "IGB". I can't tell you any more about it right now, perhaps another time...