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I've recently been given the opportunity to ask the two lead creators of Stargate The Last Stand, Major C4 and Instinct, all about their up coming FPS Stargate game built with the source engine used in Half Life 2.
SGG: How did Stargate The Last Stand come about? What is your back ground when it comes to making mods?
Major C4 & Instinct: Stargate: The Last Stand was, in fact, the original Stargate modifications over all games. It was started in 1999/2000 by a team of developers on the Half-Life engine. After time a lot of people caught on and started their own Stargate mods, which made it harder to get developers on the team. Based on this, SGTLS merged with another popular mod with a French team of developers called Stargate: Total Conversion (SGTC) and kept the name, SGTC. This was and still is the most successful Stargate Mod across all of the modding communities.
As SGTC hit a decline, I (Major C4, also known as Colonel to the SGTC guys) decided to break out with the old SGTLS team. I spent months hunting down the original members of the team, some of which had disappeared for years. After I got them all together in one place at the same time, we talked about ideas for a new Half-Life 1 mod (this was back in early 2004). The talks broke down and people disappeared again for several months. I then spoke with one of my good friends from SGTC, Instinct. We came up with our own plan, meticulously organised down to every last detail. We got a very small team together and started planning a Half-Life 2 mod, and in October 2004, Stargate: The Last Stand, the Half-Life 2 modification was formed.
The original team was just Myself, Instinct, Ancient-Anubis, DaAan and Endolaylith, and so production was slow. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us, a smaller team of French developers had mal-formed from SGTC, and created a mini-mod called Door of Stars. I approached this team and spoke with Or3L, we got along well and decided to have a merge of the two teams, literally completing the team, and low and behold, we have the Stargate: The Last Stand (aka, “Vertical Game Studios”) development team that you all know and worship today.
SGG: Why did you pick Half Life as the underlying game?
Major C4 & Instinct: We chose the Source engine for Stargate: The Last Stand for many reasons, for one familiarity, but more importantly for its stunning visual effects and realism on the screen. The engine allowed us to develop scenarios that pleased the players through both entertainment and visual appearance. Source is an incredibly popular engine that truly taps into the Havok physics that a lot of other games seem to have missed.
SGG: What made you start a mod based on Stargate, especially at a time when MGM was actively forcing mods to close down during the time Alliance was being made?
Major C4 & Instinct: Well for a start, Stargate is a great show. There is not one member of the development team who does not love Stargate, and is the primary reason that we are developing a Stargate game. I suppose you could say that our secondary reason would be the shear popularity and audience that there is for such a product. Every Stargate fan wants to be a part of the Stargate universe, and the easiest way for that to happen is to simulate it on a computer screen. We knew that if we were to make a Stargate mod, half of the work was done for us, all we have to do is make the game, and the audience was pretty much guaranteed.
As far as the legality is concerned, well we have been incredibly careful about the way in which we develop and publicise SGTLS. Instinct and I have spent literally hours sat reading patents and copyrights taken out across the Stargate franchise on both national and international levels, and have been very careful about not breaking any of the rules as it were. As it currently stands, SGTLS has not broken any of these rules and therefore MGM has no reason what so ever to shut us down. However, we obviously do not feel that this is the only reason that we have not been shut down. I personally believe that MGM saw Stargate mods as a threat when they were first brought to attention. I think that, simply put, they did not understand how this community of modders worked, and that on closer inspection they have come to realise that in fact, both people making and playing these Stargate mods are the people who would buy and official game regardless of what was available for free. It is no secret that MGM have got a lot of bad publicity from closing mods down, and I would not be surprised if they had scarred some people for life for doing so.
SGG: Can you talk a little about the game play? What period of the series is the game set?
Major C4 & Instinct: The game play will be tactical. This is not a game for the trigger happy, it will require skill and cunning to overcome the tasks at hand. For the Multiplayer, I’ll quote, “The Defending Team Have No Reinforcements To Backup Their Position, The Enemy Is Strong, Their Numbers Are Great. Can They Hold Out Until The Gate Shuts Down? This Is, The Last Stand.” In the Stargate: The Last Stand multiplayer games, players will play as a simple base class such as Airman or Jaffa, whilst having the opportunity to play as a higher rank and nominate themselves for a position as a special character. Games will mostly centre around our unique 'The Last Stand' game play and last between 10-20 minutes each round, so longer than a round of Counter-Strike: Source but shorter than a round of Battlefield 2. Players will be able to use a wide array of weapons featured in the television shows from the Goa'uld Staff weapon to the Tau'ri FN P-90.
Stargate: The Last Stand is also one of very few select Half-Life² mods that has successfully mastered the art of flying vehicles, so players will also have the ability to pilot ships in the multiplayer version of the game. As for the Single player, many parts are still being brainstormed and production will not begin until at least the first release of the multiplayer has gone public, but this is basically what we have planned;
“SG-1 has been disbanded. O'Neill, Carter, Jackson, and Teal'c are scattered around the galaxy pursuing goals set out by the powers that be. Unbeknownst to Earth, their greatest enemy are amassing their forces. They are hungry, and have found a new feeding ground. Worse still they have a new ally. Called into action by Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard when the city of Atlantis comes under assault, the men and women of Stargate Command soon find themselves caught up in an epic battle for the fate of Earth, and the entire galaxy. From the Jaffa struggle for freedom to the defence of an Ancient city, our teams from Atlantis and Stargate Command are forced to unite and make their Last Stand against an enemy that threatens to consume us all.”
The game is supposedly set during season 8 of Stargate SG-1 and season 1 of Stargate Atlantis. The idea of this was to maximise the possibility of different enemies making their way into the game, whilst still having the classics, for example, if we were to set the game any later than season 8 then the Goa’uld would no longer be at large, which would be a huge disappointment for some fans. However, essentially the game is not set in any particular season per-say.
SGG: Are you part of SG-1 or are you independent characters?
Major C4 & Instinct: We have not completely decided this aspect for the time being, however the team has been swayed to allowing the player to enter the single player game as a fairly high ranking and yet unknown character, as this allows the player to interact with existing members of both shows, which we feel could be far more beneficial to the player from the point of view of submersing them into the universe. As well as this, we also have to consider getting the player up to speed on the most recent affairs, which we may not have the opportunity to do if the player was to be a key character such as someone from SG-1, as they would not require apprising.
SGG: Does the story follow any particular story arc from the series or are you having it an “unseen episode?”
Major C4 & Instinct: Interesting question. The single player game, in itself, will (as impractical and unbelievable as it seems) be in essence a season in itself. That’s right, a season of Stargate: The Last Stand. The whole game will revolve around a yet unnamed epic event that the player must overcome particular missions and tasks in order to prevent. Alliances will be formed and old characters will come back only to wreak havoc once again. The single player will be released periodically in chapters or episodes if you will, allowing the player to get into the single player and enjoy the game safe in the knowledge that there is more to come.
SGG: How many levels/maps are you hoping to have on release?
Major C4 & Instinct: In release 1, which will be the multiplayer release we are hoping to have around 5 levels, which will be closely followed by an expansion of, once again, unnamed content. The idea is to give the fans what works, then develop more elements and include them in further releases of the game. This method of release allows us to essentially add whatever we want into the game, and with a release out we can get input from the fans, meaning we can change things people don’t like or add things people think are missing. This should be extremely beneficial to game play with the final release.
SGG: Have you been approached to convert this into an official game?
Major C4 & Instinct: Unfortunately know [sic], ha-ha, we have not been approached on any kind of corporate level as of yet, and I doubt we will. I’m not ruling out the possibility, I just doubt that we will. I can assure the fans though, no matter what happens, this game will be released and its sole purpose will remain the entertainment the Stargate fans of the world.
SGG: When is the expected release date?
Major C4 & Instinct: When it is finished. Lol. We hope to make our first multiplayer release by the end of 2006. Please remember that we are not going to be releasing what we have and then running away and abandoning you, the first release is just the beginning of what we hope to be a drawn out and successful project =)
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