So I have been the distinct pleasure to interview Ztormi (Who is currently In the Finnish Defense Force) on his latest source mod! Dogfight will thrust players into raging online multiplayer as they fly planes through the World War One era! If you have a source game I would highly suggest taking a look at it on ModDB!
Gameuter: So, looking at your mods page it seems the popular WW1 Source was the first mod you worked on that was completed for ModDB. Did you have much of a role in that project like you do in your upcoming mod Dogfight?
Ztormi: - Yes WW1 Source was first released mod I took part on creating from scratch. I did most of the codework of the mod, some maps, models and texturework. I was also one of the leaders of the project.
Gameuter:With Dogfight you are currently the only one working on it, do you plan on trying to find a team or doing the entire mod solo?
Ztormi: - It's hard to find good team for a mod. Dogfight started as a "sandbox" mod for pure code learning, testing my limits as a coder and modeller. However mod code worked better than I never expected and creating an airplane mod for source is definetely something unique. Basically I just mod Dogfight for fun and for my own amusement and keeping it as my "portfolio project" for now. Maybe I start looking for other team members after the first release.
Gameuter: Did you have a inspiration on why you wanted to do a mod on Dogfighting?
Ztormi: - I didn't have any specific inspiration for making the mod about Dogfighting, I just wanted to try out making something completely new for Source Engine. I'm not even a huge fan of airplane sims.
Gameuter: Any idea on a single player campaign for Dogfight or maybe bots to use?
Ztormi: - Single player won't happen, atleast not as a campaign. Bots are used just for debugging purposes.
Gameuter: How many people are you going to try to fit into one match? Are we talking something big like 32*32 or 16*16 or something small like 4*4?
Ztormi: - 32 will be max players on a map. However I think the battlefield may get too crowded. Haven't tested the mod with so many players yet
Gameuter: Any possibility on using a first person view in the planes too?
Ztormi: - First person view would indeed be cool but putting all the detail on the cockpit view would take too much time for me. So it's not going to happen atleast not for a while.
Gameuter: How realistic would you say the physics are, I know you commented saying this is not a completely realistic mod but will a airplane enthusiast still enjoy it while anyone can still play?
Ztormi: - I guess the airplane physics will be satisfying for players liking airplane sims aswell as players preferring arcadey style of dogfighting. I'm not an expert of airplanes after all.
Gameuter: The clouds in game look amazing! Yet will they hinder the planes any other way than just how far we can see, or will we be affected by wind or currents?
Ztormi: - Clouds are just a particle effects created by source particle editor. Mapper can't unfortunately decide how clouds act but they can choose the type of clouds for their map (heavy, thin, rain etc. ). Also the clouds don't affect the airplane in any way.
Gameuter: If you do a more arcade like approach are we going to see floating powerups like ammo and different guns? Or is that not what your going to be aiming for?
Ztormi:- Dogfight is sort of a compromise of realism and arcadey approach. There won't be any floating guns or health packs. All the aircrafts in game have their own weapons they had in the time. The 3 properties ( agility, durability, speed ) are also assigned somewhat realistically according to the historical resources but with gameplay and balancing in the mind too.
Gameuter: Thanks, but for one last question. Any new images for us desperate watchers?
Ztormi: - Expect an epic gameplay video soon!
Who knew when the first version of DoTA was released to the map/mod hungry fans of Warcraft 3 that years later it still shines! With a player base larger than some relatively new games you must admit they have accomplished quite a feat. Now with countless spin-offs such as League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth I still have to say I am surprised to see Valve hop on the bandwagon. Or so we assume? Actor Jon St. John, who you'd know as the voice behind Duke Nukem, took to his Twitter account earlier in the week and wrote "Had a great time in Seattle last week recording for DotA. The guys at ValveSoftware are awesome!" So, what did this mysterious tweet mean? Is it true? Is icefrog there now? So many questions... like where the hell is Episode 3 and why are you starting this?!
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