If you thought that Tropico was the only Sim City-style game to have tan lines, then say hello to Spring Break, the newest project from Deep Red Games. This relatively unknown UK developer, whose last two games--Risk II and Monopoly Tycoon--were met with critical acclaim, is hoping for more of the same with Spring Break. As you'd expect, the game involves building and managing a series of island resorts complete with hotels, bars, nightclubs, water sports activities, restaurants, shops, and more. In true spring break fashion, you'll have to deal with drunk guests, food poisoning, and even bad weather along the way. Eidos quietly unveiled the game a few weeks ago, and we took that opportunity to sit down the project leader, Steve Beverley, to discuss some of the details you can expect to find when this game is released in 2002--during spring, naturally.

GameSpot: To our knowledge, spring break is a phenomenon that's pretty much localized within the US. As a UK-based team, what inspired you guys to create such a game?

Steve Beverley: For quite a while, we'd been toying with the idea of creating a "people watching," real-life, funny, sexy sim game, but we hadn't finalized the game setting. We got to talking with Ian Livingstone, the chairman of Eidos, and before long, we'd collectively defined the core of what has now become Spring Break. We wanted worldwide appeal, though, so we've incorporated elements from "party" vacation destinations around the globe. In the UK and Europe, the big party islands are Ibiza in Spain and Aya Napa in Cyprus--these are big influences on the game too. Fortunately though, it seems people around the world all misbehave in similar ways on their vacations!

You'll have to transform a nondescript island into party central.

GS: So, during your initial design process, was there any one game that was most influential to the design of Spring Break?

SB: Not one game especially, though naturally we're influenced by other products that we like. Visually, we've been impressed with Commandos 2 and Desperados, and we're aiming to achieve similar levels of beauty with Spring Break. [In terms of] gameplay, I'd say titles like RollerCoaster Tycoon, The Sims: Hot Date, and even Red Alert 2 have all had some influence on the game that we're building. We've learnt a lot from our own products too (Risk II, Monopoly Tycoon), and those experiences have been applied to Spring Break also.

GS: How many types of islands are there in the game? How much do they vary in size?

SB: We can't reveal the actual shipping number until we get there, though our target is around 12 to 16 different islands at this time. In terms of size, the settings will vary considerably, though more importantly, we want to give each island a unique feel. This will mean each island gets its own weather patterns, music, objectives, guest types, hazards, etc.

GS: Different weather patterns? Does that mean the game will have disaster events like tropical storms? What about shark attacks? How can you ward against those?

SB: We're playing around with this stuff at the moment; things on the menu include shark attacks, jellyfish on the beach, bad weather, mosquitoes, illnesses (through bad water or food), etc., etc. In most cases, you'll be able to only react to these events and sometimes even make money through them. For example, when there's a shark attack, you can instruct your lifeguards to close the beaches--this drives your guests inland for a while, and you'll see your bars and restaurants taking in more money for a while.