First person shooter games have evolved from the sci-fi and horror-heavy games like Doom, Quake and Half-Life to the modern military shooters like the most recent entries in the Battlefield and Call of Duty series. But games like Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 haven"t changed all that much in terms of gameplay from games like Doom; they are mostly just run-and-gun shooters with not much in the way of tactical features.
Other games do have tactical elements such as the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon games. Now a new development team called Serellan wants to make a first person shooter that will be as tactical and as realistic as possible. Indeed, the game currently has the code name "Hardcore Tactical Shooter." The team behind Serellan has worked for a variety of major game developers and publishers including Microsoft, Ubisoft and others.
Serellan is currently trying to raise $200,000 via Kickstarter to fund a prototype. It will also be enough to show investors that there is an audience for such a game. We got a chance to ask some questions to Serellan founder and creative director Christian Allen to find out more about their plans for the game.
First, you have worked on a number of major game titles for some big publishers. Why did you want to break away and form your own development studio?
I have enjoyed my time over the past decade working on quality shooters for the big publishers, but I thought this was an opportunity to make a game that fans have been clamoring for for years, and this Kickstarter campaign is an opportunity to see if there truly is a market for a real hardcore tac shooter.
Why do you believe there is a market for a truly realistic tactical shooter in today"s game industry?
I feel that the majority of the mainstream shooters have been all heading in the same direction over the past few years. Cover systems, regenerating health, etc. I understand why this trend has been emerging, because of the success of a few titles, the big publishers are pushing their dev teams to follow suite. But I think there is room for an old school tac shooter, one that pulls no punches, offers a nonlinear experience, and rewards players who take things slow and think for themselves.
We have seen modern military shooters such as the Battlefield and Call of Duty franchises become huge hits. Do you think there will be a way to make a more realistic game such as the one you want to make while still keeping the kind of fast paced action that fans of those franchises love?
COD has the cinematic experience nailed. Battlefield has the big-battle experience nailed. But I think there is room for a Close-Quarters situation that rewards slow movement, quick thinking, planning, and instant action. Remember those days of creeping down a corridor, not knowing if someone was around the corner waiting to put a bullet in your skull? Those are the days we are looking to recreate.
We have also seen a sharp increase in the mass media on the real life missions of the US military special forces. Will it be hard to make a game that is both entertaining and that also respects the kinds of real life events that have happened to the real military personnel in the past decade or so?
Yes, I think we can. It was challenging for me in ’03, as a designer on Ghost Recon games, when my friends were getting deployed to Iraq, and I had my own bags packed as part of the ANG. Not that I’m complaining, I didn’t end up getting deployed (although family and friends did). Choosing a storyline and settings that a respectful to the sacrifice that our men and women in service make is important, one that doesn’t turn their work into a Hollywood movie or a joke is crucial. That’s why we have retained a US Army Ranger with combat experience (while I served in the US Marines, I didn’t see combat) is important. We want to provide realistic and awesome scenarios while not detracting from the real work that our men and women do overseas and domestically.
How far along in the design process are you and Serellan in the making of the game?
The design has been in development for over a decade. Currently, the development team members are evaluating technology and pipelines. We are currently looking at Crytek and Unity, although Unreal is not off the table.
The PC will be the lead platform for the game. Are there any concerns about piracy that might impact the game"s sales when it is released?
Piracy is always a concern, but as a team we met and decided, basically, “f*** it.” We could try and come up with some draconian DRM or some s***, but it is just not worth it, in our eyes. Torchlight has really been a model for us, and if they can be successful, we can.
Will there be any beta testing of the game before it is launched?
Yes. We plan a closed Alpha for our KS members, and a Beta release, although we are still looking at whether it will be open or closed. Many publishers look at Beta’s as marketing campaigns, where as we look at it as a real way to gather feedback and data to tweak the game and make it better. Transparency is a huge part of this project.
The Kickstarter campaign is offering participants a way to help fund the game and at the higher levels even participate in the game"s development. First, why did you want to go through Kickstarter to fund the game?
For years I have been pitching this game to the big publishers, but they don’t feel like the market is there for it. They want to pursue COD in their success, and feel that tactical shooters have gone the way of flight sims. I see the KS campaign as an experiment, to see if what I have been telling the publishers for years about the viability of this kind of game is actually true. The results will truly show us…
You are also offering people a chance to actually submit content that might be included in the game at the $100 or higher level. When the game is finally released, is it possible that those people could also get some kind of royalty as well?
No. That is clearly stated in Kickstarter rules, and it comes down to US Law. If we tried to offer some kind of royalty for content or idea submission, then the SECC would come down on us like a hammer, because then we would become some kind of investment vehicle, and as we all know, only super rich dudes are allowed to do that in the US, where you pay off your Congressman buddies to cover your ass so you can screw over everyone else. Sad, but true. But what we can offer is credit. I know that when I was a modder for Rainbow Six: RS and was making content, I would have cleaned Red Storm’s bathrooms if it would have given me the chance to have my content included in the main game and get credit for it. I would have broken your knees happily. This option is a bit less crazy, and lets people do that. Very similar to Microsoft’s XNA program.
The Kickstarter campaign has raised about $50,000 as of this writing. If it fails to reach the $200,000 goal what will Serellan"s next tactic be for launching the game?
We’ll see. The whole idea around this project was that it was an experiment to see if this genre was a viable market. If it fails horribly, oh well, no one is out any money (except for us), so no harm done. If it doesn’t make it, there are a few options, based on the scale on which it doesn’t make it. If it’s $180k, I have investors that will see that and be happy to invest in the game. If it’s a complete flop, than maybe we were wrong and the publishers were right, and real hardcore tac shooters are dead. That’s always a possibility!
Finally is there anything else you wish to say about the game and the Kickstarter project?
I just want to say that it is really up to the gamers. If they want this game, this lethal game, this hardcore game, this unforgiving bada** experience, then they gotta step up. They need to use their networks to get their clanmates and buddies to support this. There is a reason that all shooters feel alike these days, it’s because that what publishers think you want. Feel differently? STEP UP!