Supreme Commander Talk

You may remember that we solicited questions from our readers earlier this month to send to Chris Taylor in the form of an interview. Well, we certainly didn’t forget about the interview, and neither did Chris Taylor, because he’s just sent back his responses. So, without further ado, here’s the exclusive interview.

I’d like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer some questions taken from the community at SupComTalk. Here I have compiled what I think are ten really good questions that you should be able to answer without giving away any secret information.

Maelos asks: Where did you get the ideas for the three factions in SupCom? Were they inspired by any other games, fictional works, or even real life nations?
Chris Taylor: Good question… First I came up with the philosophical backgrounds for each faction, and wanted three in total to create more asymmetry than I have in the past. I was very inspired by earth history and what I was watching on the evening news. Above all else though, I wanted there to be no clear evil, but instead wanted the player to draw their own conclusions about who was evil and who was fighting for good.

Viperion asks: Were there any other experimental units designed or created during the development of SupCom? If so, can you tell us something about them? Why didn’t they make it into the retail release?
CT: Yes, there were a bunch, but due to production constraints at almost every level, testing and balancing included, we decided to narrow it to three each.

Jotto asks: What are your thoughts on the progress mod makers have made so far with SupCom? Faster than you expected? Slower? More innovative, or just plain wacky?
CT: I think the progress on some fronts has been surprisingly fast, and on others not as much, but I think a lot of that is tied to how fast we have been able to release information. It’s a lot tougher now than it was ten years ago to manage this stuff because everything is so much more complicated and expensive to administrate.

Terse asks: How many iterations did ferrying in SupCom go through? It seems like a very complex feature to design, let alone implement.
CT: Like any of the advanced features in SupCom we play tested, changed, tweaked and modified a system until it worked well. In the specific case of ferrying units, I would guess at least five or six iterations.

Hammerhead asks: Do you ever play mods for your previous games and then see ideas that you wish you could have added to your own game? If so, which?
CT: I admit it’s been a long time since I sat down to load a mod up. That’s the challenge with making games, you find yourself very short of time to actually play them.

Yacoub asks: What are the top two or three features you would like to have included in SupCom for release that didn’t make it?
CT: We had this whole design for secondary (or alternative) attacks, and though it seemed really important at the time, and we were sorry to cut it, when I look back it does seem kind of “micro managy”. It really demonstrates for me how designers can get totally wrapped around an idea and lose sight of the big picture.

Baughn asks: If we all had infinitely powerful computers (or close enough), what sort of game would you make?
CT: Ha, that’s a good question. I think I would find out precisely how limited my imagination is, and that wouldn’t be a good day for me. 

Cyde Weys asks: Can you give us some insight into the decision not to carry over the construction planes from Total Annihilation into SupCom?
CT: I always felt that the construction planes eliminated the strategic role that water plays in a typical land, sea and air game. I think we’ve seen some success on that front.

Sylvinus asks: What do you think of SupComTalk? [honestly, it's his question, not mine!]
CT: I think this is a great blog, and not only is it well written, but very funny too. Cyde Weys is a good guy, and I very much appreciate his view on things.

The Samurai asks: What has been your biggest non-monetary pay-off for the years of hard work you’ve poured into your games?
CT: I would have to say that kind words that I get from the community over the years. This is something money can’t buy, and it really does inspire me to keep making games.

A big thank you to Chris Taylor for participating and the readers of SupComTalk for coming up with the interview questions.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 4:07 pm by Cyde Weys and is filed under Interviews, Meta. Keywords: Tags: Chris Taylor, Gas Powered Games, interview, Supreme Commander, Supreme Commander Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.