Australian developer Strategic Studies Group has created challenging strategy games for years, including the fantasy-themed Warlords series--games that let you conquer a colorful fantasy world with an army of fantastical monsters. The developer surprised everyone in 2000 by bringing the traditionally turn-based Warlords games into real time. Warlords Battlecry was a real-time strategy game that let you gather resources, build a base of operations, amass an army, and trounce your opponents before they could do the same to you, but since it was a Warlords game, it also let you create a hero unit who would gain power with each battle--and you could even carry this unit over between games. The developer subsequently released a solid sequel, then later split into two groups--SSG continues to make wargames, while the new studio, Infinite Interactive, has focused mainly on fantasy-themed games, like the recently released Warlords IV.

Warlords Battlecry III will feature improved heroes, improved multiplayer, new races, new magic spells, and much more.

Warlords Battlecry III will attempt to improve on everything in the previous games and will also attempt to add new features, like a new magic spell system and new playable factions. The new studio has teamed up with publisher Enlight Software to bring this new game to market. We caught up with Infinite Interactive founder and lead designer Steve Fawkner and Enlight executive producer Parrish Rogers for more information.

GameSpot: Thanks to both of you for taking the time for this interview. Could you give us a brief overview of what Warlords Battlecry III is about? Will the new game attempt to evolve the series, or are there plans for revolutionary features that will fundamentally change the game?

Steve Fawkner: Warlords Battlecry III is a mixture of evolutionary and revolutionary features. We are attempting to extend the game in almost every respect without losing the flavor that made it so popular amongst both RPG and strategy gamers. To that end, the game contains more of everything--more spells, more races, more heroes, more terrain. We have also taken the opportunity to completely revamp some areas of the game, such as the hero and magic systems. Our new hero system is fundamentally different than the old one. For instance, one simple change, allowing heroes to level up during play [rather than waiting until the end of a match], has altered the game significantly for the better!

Parrish Rogers: The guys at Infinite Interactive have looked at the features of the Battlecry series that have placed it among the great RTS games and have expanded, refined, and tuned these features to develop Warlords Battlecry III. This next installment will give those familiar with the series something new and exciting while still maintaining the flavor of the original games. It has been a real joy for us at Enlight to be part of this evolution in the series and watch it mature into what we think will be the best Battlecry experience yet!

GS: Could you give us an overview of the game's new playable races and their abilities? How are they being balanced to fit in with the races from the previous games? What new additions and modifications are being made to the existing races to keep them fresh and to keep them competitive with their new rivals?

SF: We have added three entirely new races, as well as splitting the old human side into two different races: knights and empire. Each of these five new races has its own unique style of play. The knights and empire have much more flavor than their predecessor. Playing the knights is all about creating new "orders of knighthood," while the empire has some unique abilities that allow its units to instantly hire mercenaries.

The three new races are the ssrathi (a race of snake- and lizardlike creatures), the swarm (insects and scorpion-men, led by the lord of famine), and the plaguelords (a group of twisted and misshapen monstrosities created by the lord of plague).

We haven't neglected the previous 12 races either. They will each receive at least one new creature with a special ability.

GS: We've heard that heroes will be enhanced in the new game with new abilities and professions--for instance, it seems that elements of Warlords IV's hero magic system might be carried over. Give us an overview of the new professions and the new hero abilities.

SF: Actually, we have a totally new hero system, nothing like the one in Warlords IV. Because you can have many heroes in Warlords IV, we needed to make the system simpler. The new Battlecry III system feels much more like an action RPG, like Diablo.

Warlords Battlecry III will feature improved multiplayer, a new campaign...and it'll even have scorpions! Seriously!

As I previously mentioned, now all heroes can level up within a battle. This means that we've had to change the way the skill systems and magic systems work so that they are not so overwhelming. That's not to say that we've simplified the system itself--we've just simplified the interface for leveling up. If anything, the new system has even more scope for creating unique characters.

For the purposes of consistency, we still have all the old races and professions from Battlecry II, but now they work a little differently. We have also added eight new professions, such as the snakepriest, the sage, and lichelord.