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| DarkStar One Interview with Alan Wild by Jonathan Trevisani by Jonathan Trevisani Jonathan Trevisani presents an interview with Alan Wild, International Product Manager of Ascaron, about the new space title, DarkStar One. The game features a galactic adventure with the ability to customize your spacecraft and choose your own journey. Mr. Wild talks about the various customization options and some of the features players will encounter. Jonathan Trevisani: What is the general storyline for DarkStar One? How do players come into possession of the mysterious ship? Alan Wild: You take up the persona of Kayron Jarvis, a supremely talented young fighter pilot. The game begins with you receiving the DarkStar One, an awesome ship developed around core segments of alien technology. This ship is the life's work of your father. Following his recent murder, the DarkStar One is all that remains of his legacy. During the course of the game, Kayron will discover clues surrounding his father's murder. These clues lead Kayron on a hunt for vengeance? but, of course, that's not all Kayron discovers. Jonathan Trevisani: What was it like working with author Claudia Kern? What influence did Kern have on the overall game? Alan Wild: Claudia is absolutely brilliant to work with. She has a great creative mind for a flowing story, and her linguistic style fitted to the type of game we wanted to create. Claudia integrated easily into the team and suggestions from everyone helped to shape the game's overall development. Jonathan Trevisani: What customization options will be there be for the ship load out? How many weapons can be mounted and how much cargo can the ship hold? Alan Wild: Lasers, turrets, missile launchers, equipment, ship items, plasma cannon specialization? The customization depends entirely upon the player and their preferences. For example, if you concentrate on upgrading the DarkStar One wings, then you will end up with a hugely maneuverable craft, with a good range of fore weapon mounts; expand the hull and turn the DarkStar One into a massively resilient hulking behemoth with plenty of scope for turret mountings; Pile on the engine size and the DarkStar One will not only be more energy efficient, but it will also be able to cart about greater cargo loads with less hindrance. Jonathan Trevisani: How long is the single-player campaign? Is there a linear set of missions or can players roam the universe as long as they like? Alan Wild: In short, the campaign lasts for as long as you like. More experienced space action gamers will obviously pummel through it at a faster rate than novice pilots. As for linearity, well, we have both linearity and freedom. There is a linear set of missions, and these must be completed in order to finish the entire game and conclude the story. With ~300 solar systems to explore there is also a lot of freedom: fly around, obliterate your targets, take more missions, do a little trading, maybe a little smuggling, perhaps some bounty hunting, or even just embark on a career of good old fashioned piracy. Jonathan Trevisani: How many different mission types will be in the game? Anything different from the standard escort, defend, attack missions? Alan Wild: In addition to the main story, you can perform numerous missions, each of which contribute to the dynamic career system within DarkStar One. Perform enough actions associated with a particular career and you will "reap" the bonuses of that career. It's all dynamic and linked to everything else within the universe. Say, for example, your style of play leads you to becoming a full blown pirate? well, in this scenario, certain other pirates will become either neutral or friendly to you, while traders and freighters are likely to shoot on sight. Jonathan Trevisani: What types of enemies will players encounter? Will they face off against an armada of tiny fighters or gargantuan battleships? Alan Wild: There are 6 different races in the game, and each race has its own range of ships, weapons preferences and combat style. Ships include fighters, cruisers, police, pirates, freighters, bounty hunters? Battles can be pretty much anything. Whether between two enemy ships, or one lone ship against a fleet of hostile fighters, or a pirate against a horde of police ships (and cruisers.), or fleet versus fleet, etc. On occasion you may find yourself arriving at a combat scene in the enviable position of neutrality. In this case you have some options: pick a side, or sit back and watch, or leave them all to it and (attempt to) nab the cargo off that nearby freighter before high-tailing it out of there. Jonathan Trevisani: What are some of the unique modules that can be outfitted to the ship? Aside from faster engines and deadlier weapons, what other components can be installed? Alan Wild: Computers, afterburners, energy shield, scanners, cargo drones, and a whole host of the deadlier weapons you mention. Jonathan Trevisani: What is the "Spell Weapon" and how will work? How will this influence game play throughout the campaign? Alan Wild: The "Spell Weapon" is a plasma-based cannon which can be configured by the player. The cannon has certain capabilities that can be unlocked with the right amount of, shall we say, ancient power. As the DarkStar One grows in strength it will become more and more powerful, and the player will be given a number of options for the cannon upgrade. Put simply, the leveling system works like an RPG skill tree and the cannon has near-magical effects. The cannon begins at its most basic level. Once upgraded, further branches become available, allowing you to have either a range of different plasma effects or a few more powerful ones, or a happy medium. Jonathan Trevisani: How big is the game universe? Can the player visit every single world and will they be diverse? Alan Wild: Space is a big place. A very big place. Ok, ~300 systems in total. And yes, you can visit every single world. Some systems are more diverse than others, some systems are more integral to the main story than others, and some systems yield rewards that might not be found by less adventurous pilots. Not all systems are equally rewarding, but that's half the fun of the adventure. Jonathan Trevisani: Which feature are you most proud of? Will all the mysteries of the universe be answered by the end of the game? Alan Wild: The game controls and the way the ship handles. In combat it's a joy to play. The different upgrades contribute to the feeling of the ship being an extension of your preferred play-style represented directly in-game, and the response of the DarkStar One to your control input is great. Blowing dastardly hostiles/neutrals/friendlies to smithereens is a very rewarding and entertaining experience indeed. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Game News :: home page |