Interview with Flatspace 2 developer Mark Sheeky

Interview with Flatspace 2 developer Mark Sheeky

[October 31, 2005]

We were delighted to have the opportunity to have our own Gianfranco Berardi chat with Flatspace 2 developer Mark Sheeky and give us a look into everything we could think of about this great upcoming sequel to one of last year's best games.  If you still have questions after reading through this I think you just didn't read it close enough!

(Gianfranco Berardi) The original Flatspace reviewed well on GameTunnel. What made you want to do a sequel? How have fans taken to the news?
(Mark Sheeky) The first game was moderately successful and I had been updating it regularly for over a year but I had some big ideas for new features, new ships and other big changes that couldn't be incorporated into the first game. There was something of a fan base but also a number of people who tried the game once and would probably never try it again no matter what the version number was, so a sequel seemed ideal. A few of my games in the past have had sequels. Naturally, fans of the game tend to be excited about the sequel.

(Gianfranco Berardi) What differences will be in Flatspace 2? What's new? What did you feel needed to be removed?
(Mark Sheeky) There are big changes and small changes. All of the graphics are new (there are twice as many as before) and every ship has been remodeled. Space stations include schools, farms, hospitals and other things essential for a civilisation as well as the normal trade stations and cities. Weapons (and E.C.M. flare launchers) have ammunition. Some people commented that the best weapon of the first game was the machine gun that you started with! Needless to say, that's no longer the case, and the weapon balancing and the damage system is better than before.

The way the crew works has changed too. Security guards are always on duty and medical staff don't guarantee that your injured passengers or crew will not die on you. Crew wages, which were random in the first game, are now calculated and vary depending on the usefulness of the crew, as well as their medical expenses should they become injured. There are no purely random elements in pricing any more; even assassination rewards are calculated based on the difficulty of the mission, and a new Assassin character makes it easier to try them from the start of the game.

There are Doom-style secrets, and messages for sale in bases. Robot crew can have multiple training (my favourite is a furry Teddybot). There's a new energy system for ships, exploits have been closed, and lots of player suggestions have been implemented. For example, there is a cargo scanner that shows cargo contents which can make a pirate or scavenger's life easier. The E.M.P. devices to stop missiles are all new, and there are new or revamped weapons such as rocket which act more like the sniper rifle in most games; a high damage slow firing weapon. There are engine changes too; save games have backups, more screen modes are supported and sound streaming can be switched between hardware or software based. There's a new intro... I'll stop listing things now, basically there are lots of new things.

Some things have been removed though. Some ship designs like the flimsy Lightlaser and the Dagger have gone, and a few of the less useful upgrades. Rescue missions, and missions to destroy bases have gone.

(Gianfranco Berardi) Any major features that stand out in your mind?
(Mark Sheeky) The biggest changes to the gameplay are probably the new guild system. The general balancing and the way the game is less punishing to players makes a big difference, but guilds, secrets, aliens and more things to discover add new goals for the player. If you score $1,000,000 in the first game you could say you've achieved everything. Now there is a lot more to do, and attaining mastery of all guilds and discovering all of the secrets could take months or years.

(Gianfranco Berardi) Will the AI get as much attention as it did in the original game? Any changes specifically in this area?
(Mark Sheeky) The local A.I. is better at object avoidance and the sensitivity to attack has improved. Gun turret crews will aim ahead to hit their target, and fighters are more effective too. Globally, that is from a perspective of the universe, the ships are still flying about like they did in the other game. This time they will attack bases, so the alien war does have some repercussions. Bases don't respawn by default like before, although it is an optional. Bounty hunters also track people based on their reward. If you have a price on your head you will be pursued, and this time they will tell you why they are after you when they catch up to you.

(Gianfranco Berardi) What interface improvements can we expect?
(Mark Sheeky) The G.U.I. and in-game controls work the same as in the first game. The display in the game is a little different though. A new energy level indicator is very useful, and energy management for the ship has improved much compared to the first game. There is also a hyperdrive recharge bar instead of an old flashing indicator.

(Gianfranco Berardi) Any specific development challenges you care to comment on?
(Mark Sheeky) The new ship designs took longer than expected, but probably the biggest challenge is locating every bug and exploit. The core of the game, 99% of it, was complete by the start of July, but developers know that the last 1% takes most of the time. The play testing phase is still in progress, and changes are being made and features added almost daily. There is no substitute for months of testing and refining. It's something that most large scale commercial titles cannot ever do.

(Gianfranco Berardi) What surprised you as the easiest part of developing the sequel?
(Mark Sheeky) Adding the A.I. for the aliens was easier than I expected. One day they were just ships buzzing around. The next day they were another race with their own game rules.

(Gianfranco Berardi) When does FS2 take place in relation to the original game?
(Mark Sheeky) There's no timeline or linking story. The game is set in the same galaxy with a few aliens thrown in.

(Gianfranco Berardi) You mention on your website about FS2 that there is a new alien race involved. Can you tell us more about the differences between the Humans and Scarrids? Are there tensions? Wars? Can you join the military? Can you be a diplomat?
(Mark Sheeky) The humans and the scarrid are in a state of cold war. Both sides generally keep to themselves. They share technology such as ship upgrades but cannot communicate or trade with each other. On occasions one side or the other will launch an attack and even destroy bases, but no major offensives by either side take place. The main goal of the game is to destroy all of the enemy bases, using advanced ships and technology, so you need money and guild points for those. There is no diplomacy, only combat. Both sides pay a fixed bounty for kills and captures of the opposite species, and alien hunting is a valid career.

As a player you can play a human or a scarrid and each has advantages and disadvantages. The scarrid have no police, they are a lawless society of scavengers, so only bounty hunters keep crime under control. This limits a player's advancement because a bounty can only go up, but scarrid characters can call upon their clan friends for help. The custom universes have several options for human vs. scarrid wars. Players can also turn off the scarrid and play a classic Flatspace game, or turn off the humans and play in a scarrid only universe.

(Gianfranco Berardi) You also mentioned on your website that your Merchant's Guild Rank can increase if you are a trader. Can you tell us more about it? Will there be similar goals and rankings for other careers, such as Police Chief for people who enter the force?
(Mark Sheeky) Yes. One of the new features is a guild system. Each player is ranked in a series of guilds according to what they do and special upgrades are available if they rank highly enough in different guilds. Lowly members of the 'Crime Fighter' guild can buy a police dog for example, high ranking traders can purchase bases, which then offer cheap upgrades and free repairs. There are over twenty special upgrades available to guild members including special weapons and ships.

(Gianfranco Berardi) How will battle be handled differently in FS2?
(Mark Sheeky) The combat has changed a little. The scarrid in particular hunt in clans so if you attack one you will be attacked by other clan members. If you play as a scarrid character then you can call upon your clan friends (even including bases and their stock of fighters) to attack your target or assist you. There used to be a trick to the combat in Flatspace; you could creep close to your target, and he would face away. It made it easy to destroy single enemies by shooting them from behind. The combat is more realistic now, and the A.I. can use tactics.

(Gianfranco Berardi) What specifically did you do to make FS2 friendlier to new players?
(Mark Sheeky) A difficulty level allows players to turn down the damage they take. That is useful because the first game was really difficult sometimes, even unfairly so. The way the game works has be changed in many ways to remove any unfairness. There are no random elements than can adversely affect the player unlike the first game. Everything that can happen to the player is down to the player actions or decisions on some level. For example, high-paying taxi passengers can sometimes be criminals and cause injuries or sabotage. It's a good idea for taxi drivers to carry some security guards to prevent such situations, but that decision is up to the player. Other things that make the game more accessible include starting the game near the entrance of a base, providing ship's status reports to let the player know what's going on, and better pricing so it's easier to afford those upgrades.

(Gianfranco Berardi) While the open-ended nature of the game was a key strength of the original game, some people were turned off by the lack of direction, especially when starting a new game. Will FS2 still try to provide a sense of depth and freedom? How will it take into account the concerns described?
(Mark Sheeky) The freedom aspect of the game is an important one. There will be more things for the player to do, but essentially the player is not pushed in any direction. There tend to be two types of Flatspace players. The hardcore, Rogue-like crowd play with permadeath and random characters. They like a quick game in a random universe every now and again and enjoy the game experience. They enjoy the ride as much as attaining a goal. The second type of player has a goal in mind and prefers to set targets and move towards them. The first Flatspace game was much more aimed towards the first type of person, but the sequel, with it's removal of purely random elements, difficulty levels and progress indicators such as money, guild levels, secrets allow the second type of player to choose and play their sort of game too.

(Gianfranco Berardi) The original FS was more like NetHack where there wasn't a game-driven story except what the player experiences. Have you added specific story elements for FS2?
(Mark Sheeky) There are more goals for the player in Flatspace II but the game has no global story. The aliens and humans do fight and attack bases every now and again and, ultimately, the game will end when one side or the other wins, but that (by my calculation) would take weeks or months of constant play, so if that is a story then it's an epic saga.

(Gianfranco Berardi) In our last interview, you mentioned that FS was inspired by games such as Elite and Starscape as well as television shows such as Battlestar Galactica. What inspired any FS2-specific features?
(Mark Sheeky) The new miners' villages were partly inspired by Elite because the manual mentioned "rock hermits", which were people living in hollowed-out asteroids. They didn't appear in any version of Elite to my knowledge. Actually, I didn't think of the 'link' until after the idea so they are not exactly inspired!

(Gianfranco Berardi) How many people have worked on the sequel? What roles did they play?
(Mark Sheeky) I'm the lone developer, although Andrew Williams helped me when I needed design advice. The play testers, Steve Blanch and Mark Fassett, also supplied ideas and made useful suggestions.

(Gianfranco Berardi) How long would you say it takes to make a sequel to FS? Do you have a release date in mind? How much will it cost?
(Mark Sheeky) Flatspace II has been in development since April 2005. I hope to release the game in November 7th, but I'm still making changes almost daily so no release date can be guaranteed. The game will cost $24 (US), 21 euro or £14. A bonus music pack will ship with the CD version (a few people commented on the soundtrack to the original game). The music pack will also come free to those who register the game within the first 14 days of running the demo.

(Gianfranco Berardi) What games do you find yourself playing these days? Your favorites? Also, what's your favorite science fiction book? Movie? Game?
(Mark Sheeky) Apart from the review games for Bytten I don't have much time for games and haven't played one for leisure in over a year. My favourites are generally strategy games or action games that involve a bit of thought, including FPS games and simulations. My all-time favourites are Airbourne Ranger and Project Stealth Fighter on the C64, UFO: Enemy Unknown and Elite II Frontier on the Amiga, and Half Life on PC.

I haven't read a sci-fi book since the Dragonfall Five books when I was around ten years old; Nineteen Eighty Four is a predictable choice for my favourite book.

My favourite film is a tricky one because so many sci-fi films age badly, I'll say Slipstream because I've only seen it once and liked it with perhaps Silent Running coming up second. Sci-fi films that involve action or horror tend to be predictable and poor, but everyone likes Alien 2, sorry "Aliens".

(Gianfranco Berardi) With regard to games in general, do you see consistent problems? What specifically would you like to see improved in games?
(Mark Sheeky) Consistent problems to games in general? No I don't see any.

(Gianfranco Berardi) Complete this sentence: I will be perfectly happy with Flatspace 2 if ...
(Mark Sheeky) it's well received by the public and press, and it sells.

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A big thanks to Mark Sheeky for taking the time to chat with us.  If you can wait, or even if you can't, Flatspace II will likely launch near the beginning of November, you can expect a review from Game Tunnel in January 06 and some opinions from the monthly round-up group in December 05.