ParaWorld Interview

Paraworld Interview (con't)

FiringSquad: What multiplayer modes, if any, will Paraworld have?

Thomas Langhanki: We incorporated three different modes. Deathmatch is, well, what you’d expect Deathmatch to be and it doesn’t really require any further explanation. ;)

In the Defender mode one player has to defend his base against all the other player. Of course, he has an advantage in terms of defence mechanisms and resources in order to compensate for being outnumbered, but it’ll be tricky nevertheless for either side. The Defender has to fight several players – the players again only have a limited amount of time to conquer the base.

Domination is comparable to the standard mode of games like the Battlefield series. Every map features one or several flags that have to be conquered and kept for a certain amount of time by a player or a team.

FiringSquad: What inspired the art style and graphics for the game?

Thomas Langhanki: There were several influences. “Lost World” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle certainly did have an impact on the way we wanted to the player to feel like in the ParaWorld. We visited museums, read tons of books and watched features such as the BBC series on dinosaurs or movies like Jurassic Park to see what could work for the game and how it could work.

We did use a variety of sources for the design of the tribes, taking a closer look at Egyptian, Japanese, or Chinese art and architecture among other things. Funnily enough, the original design of the Norsemen tribe was, to certain extent, influenced by the Asterix comics, which are very popular in Europe.

ParaWorld Interview [ @ 800 x 600 ] > View Full-Size in another window.

ParaWorld Interview [ @ 1200 x 600 ] > View Full-Size in another window.

FiringSquad: Will there be a playable demo and mod tools released for the game?

Thomas Langhanki: Yes and yes. Releasing the demo is the best way to communicate all the ideas and concepts such as the Army Controller to the players. Seriously, I could talk about it for hours, but having people play the game is simply a lot more efficient.

As for tools – the level editor and the sequence editor will be made available. People who love to create movies/cutscenes are going to have fun with the latter since it certainly enables you do do more compared to similar tools for other products. Naturally, we want to encourage community activities like the development of mods and will provide as much support as possible.

FiringSquad: What is the current status of the game's progress and when will it be released?

Thomas Langhanki: ParaWorld’s set for a release in August. We’re launching the beta test of the game as you’re reading these lines. The initial round will be available to players from German-speaking countries only. Not decided yet if we’re also going to cover the English market later on, but we may go for that.

Due to that we’re very busy doing tests, tuning stats and evaluating the feedback we receive. Stressing – but very interesting!

FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Paraworld at this time?

Thomas Langhanki: Also keep an eye on the http://www.paraworld.com official website since we put up new content almost every day. Not to mention the weekly updates on our very own website at http://www.sek-ost.de.