Commandos Fansite.com - Mods & Support for Commandos Games: Commandos Strike Force & Commandos 3, Commandos 2, Commandos BEL and BCD

Feb2005 Interview, (page 2/2)

In the previous Commandos games there were missions that had tons of similarities with certain movies. Are movies/books once again inspiration for some missions in this game? If yes, can you name some?

JM: From the start of our work in the Commandos universe, back in 1996, the movies have been one of our main inspirations. In CSF, we keep this inspiration although we are not recreating movies or giving them the importance that they had in the previous saga. To point out an example of a movie serving as inspiration for a mission, we could name “Enemy at the Gates”, in the mission I have described before.

What engine is the game using? Have you built a new one, or do you use an engine used for other games and what’s the reason for that?

JM: We have used RenderWare, and we are very happy with this decision as it has worked very well for PS2, Xbox and PC. We didn’t want to start from the beginning on different engines for the three platforms and the same time we didn’t want to end up with anything that could be considered average, so what we have done is to work close with Criterion in order to enhance the engine, and also on some aspects we have used RenderWare as a platform on which to build thing like the support of Dolby 5.1, the creation of realistic shadows or the use of streaming technology to name some.

What are the expected system requirements? Will people with a relatively low-end machine be able to play the game properly? And is slanted at all, towards either nVidia or Ati graphic cards?

JM: This is an easy question for the console versions, but for PC is bit too early ;-). Let’s just say that people will not be surprised in a bad way for the requirements. They will not need to buy the latest machine for this game. And the game will run fine in both nVidia and ATI cards. We are working with nVidia and we are really happy with their support and help, but that doesn’t mean that ATI doesn’t have good graphic cards too.

What is the expected release date?

JM: Wait a second. Iñigo???
IV: Summer 2005.

We have heard from one of the developers that Pyro Studios is currently working on 5 games. Can you give us a little sneak preview about the ones we haven’t heard of yet?

IV: We are working on the two games that you already know: Imperial Glory and Commandos Strike Force, on two prototypes, one for PC and another for the next gen consoles (PS3 and Xbox 2) and we are developing the first ideas for a fifth one. The prototypes are not related to Commandos in any aspect. The one for PC will not be a strategy game, but it will belong to a genre that we have not worked on in the past. I would say that it is very original, and again we will try to surprise with something good. The one for next gen will be a very excited action game.

Long time ago we heard some rumours you were working on a game called Heart of Stone. It looked very promising, but unfortunately it landed in the freezer. Any change it will ever hit the shelves? Will you start from scratch, or continue where you ended?

IV: Yes we were working on it, and we had to put it on hold due to other priorities. This happened sometime ago, and was not the first time that we had to stop working on it. Right now we don’t have plans to continue working on it immediately so we cannot say other thing than: yes, unfortunately it continues in the freezer.

What does Pyro Studios aim for in the future?

IV: Our plans are to keep growing in order to make even bigger productions (the ones demanded by the market) and to be among the most respected developers. Things are getting tougher and tougher for the development companies, specially in Europe, and specially for the independent ones like us, but we will continue fighting our way.

Feel free to use the blank space below to add anything you feel our readers should know.

IV: People should know that we do our best to make good and fun games, and that we do care about their opinions and about what they write in e-mails and posts. We may not be able to answer to everything or to make everyone happy, but we never forget that they are the ones that let us do what we like, which is to make videogames. We would also like to thank our fans for their support (and for their critics too, as they allow us to at least try to improve things) and specially to thank the TAFN staff, for their work and for their patience.

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Interviewers : TAFN Staff + Community Questions
Additional Credits : Simon Wells and his Eidos colleagues