Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy Q&A

Ground Control was one of this year's most technically impressive PC games. Developed by the upstart Massive Entertainment out of Sweden, the game employed a beautiful 3D graphics engine that was capable of rendering gorgeous open terrain and highly-detailed units without sacrificing any performance. But Ground Control wasn't just a visual tour-de-force, as its real-time gameplay and tactical combat elements were both challenging and rewarding. It's no surprise that publisher Sierra Studios announced the development of an expansion pack, titled Dark Conspiracy, from the show floor of ECTS a few weeks ago. We sat down with Tom Smith, the lead designer at High Voltage Software, the company developing the expansion pack, to talk about Dark Conspiracy's new units and features.

GameSpot: How long has Dark Conspiracy been in development? Was it originally planned to be part of the original Ground Control?

Tom Smith: It was always in the back of everyone's minds, but the actual plans for the expansion pack didn't start until just before Ground Control was released. Massive did a great job of building a flexible engine with a lot of possibilities, which allowed us to focus on design issues rather than reworking their code. Without tools like GenEd and the frequent assistance of Massive, there is no way we would have gotten so far so fast.

GS: Can you tell us about the new playable faction in Dark Conspiracy? How will it be different from the Crayven Corporation's conventional arsenal and the Order of the New Dawn's high-tech energy weapons?

TS: Both the Crayven and the Order are very "clean" views of sci-fi. Their units are all built to exacting military precision. They're the sorts of armies that take their terradynes to the car wash every week. The new faction is a darker, dirtier view of the Ground Control universe. They don't have the immense resources of the megacorporations, so they have to scrape together what they can from spare parts and leftovers. They're also more willing to take gambles with highly experimental technologies.

GS: One of the most distinctive units in the recently released screenshots is a chaingun-equipped mech. Are all the units of the new faction based on a mech design?

TS: The mech does seem to be getting a lot of attention, but it's not an all-mech expansion. The mechs are a new type of unit that all factions will have access to, including three radically different schools of mech design. The chaingun mech is a Crayven unit. The new faction will have the regular assortment of tanks, infantry, and aircraft, all with their own unique design style. Some of the other screenshots show examples of these new vehicles.

GS: Will you play exclusively as the new faction, or will you have the chance to command the original two forces as well?

TS: The campaign focuses primarily on the new faction, since the other two factions already have campaigns of their own. There will be some opportunities to play one of the old factions within the campaign, and all three are always available in multiplayer. There will be multiplayer maps included with the expansion that Massive has created.

GS: How will the campaign in Dark Conspiracy play out? How many missions will be available in this campaign?

TS: The campaign picks up right where the original game left off. Sarah and Jarred have done their jobs, but now they're stuck in the middle of nowhere with hostile armies surrounding them. From there, the story will be bouncing around the galaxy, showing off more of the Ground Control universe - including lunar missions, urban missions, and other interesting new locations. There are a total of 15 new missions in the campaign.

GS: Will the returning factions have any new additions to their units or arsenal?

TS: Two new units each. The Crayven mime layer drops street performers on the battlefield to annoy the enemy forces. OK, not really. The details on the new units are a closely guarded secret.

GS: Very funny. Other than the new playable faction, what's your favorite part of the game?

TS: The variety of new missions. We've tried very hard to introduce some new concepts into Ground Control mission design, ranging from search-and-destroy missions to stealth missions to all-aerodyne missions. They've generally worked out very well, adding a bit more variety to the campaign and rewarding different play styles. Of course, we still have "blow everything up" missions as well.

GS: And what other new features does Dark Conspiracy introduce to Ground Control?

TS: Let's see... The special equipment for the new faction has some new functionality that allows it to do things people haven't seen before. Our terrains take the game to new worlds with new geography and textures. All our units, buildings, textures, and everything else will be available in the level editor for all the world to play with. The cinematics will be prerendered rather than in-engine movies. We will incorporate all changes and levels that Massive has come out with since the game was released.

GS: Ground Control was criticized for lacking the ability to let players save in the middle of a mission. Have you addressed this issue in Dark Conspiracy?

TS: Unfortunately, since adding in-game saves would involve retooling a lot of Ground Control's base code, we aren't able to add that feature. We have sat down with Massive to discuss this issue, and we all agreed that High Voltage should focus its efforts on creating as much new content as possible rather than rewriting code.

GS: You've announced that Dark Conspiracy will rebalance some of the units from Ground Control, like the highly vulnerable flying units. Can you elaborate more on these sorts of changes? Are you making the artillery weaker?

TS: A number of these changes have already been made in the 1.0.1.0 patch, and we're going to keep an eye on how these changes are received before making any further changes. Our goal is to try to address balance issues by adding the new units that solve the problem, but if we can't fix things this way, we will consider making stat changes to existing units. For example, the new faction has a new style of aerodyne that should be able to survive a bit longer than the rest.

Artillery is very powerful, but in my opinion, it is balanced. The weak armor and slow movement and fire rates make it very easy to destroy if you're aware of it, and you learn very quickly to be aware of it. It can be very devastating at first, but learning to deal with artillery is one of the first steps in the long road of Ground Control tactics. One of our goals in our campaign missions was to show the weaknesses of artillery more clearly, with more missions that require stealth or speed, which artillery is no good at.

GS: What kinds of new multiplayer features will Dark Conspiracy have?

TS: In addition to the new faction? We will be including a number of new multiplayer maps designed by Massive. They aren't just new terrains; they're entirely new games. I can't reveal exactly how they work, but I think people will really enjoy the new dimensions they add to the multiplayer.

GS: When will Dark Conspiracy be available?

TS: November 2000

GS: Thanks, Tom.