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Chewin' the Fat with FORCE Design
By Chris "Mighty Frog" Donaldson, Chris_Engineer@excite.com
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After Battlesphere and Songbird's recent games, the future of the Atari Jaguar
is very uncertain. There are few developers left, and none who have released
any sort of commercial game in the past (except Songbird, but Carl has not yet
announced any new games in the works). It seems to be anyone's guess exactly
who will finish their games. One of the better guesses would be Terance
Williams of FORCE Design. Terance has shown that he has the talent to program
some nice looking games for the Jaguar, but has yet to complete any of his
games. I wanted to ask Terance a few questions about what games he has in the
works, and when we might be able to get our hands on them.
Mighty Frog: Let me start off by asking what have you been doing lately? The
Graphics Man: Well, I have been busy coding in a few things into LFJ since I
got back from JagFest 2K1.
MF: LFJ stands for Legion Force Jidai, a 2D side-scrolling shooter you're
programming for the Jaguar, right?
GM: Yes, that's correct!
MF: There's not too much information on your web page about your progress in
coding this game... how much do you have done?
GM: LFJ is in it's early development stage right now, so it is not even close
to completion as CRAZE and GORF Pluz are. At the moment, I'm working on the the
first stage of the game.
MF: What type of features will LFJ feature? Such as- will it be 2 player, will
there be unlimited continues, how many stages, different weapons, etc ?
GM: Well, it will feature the following : in-game cinemas with voices, Mad
Bosses, 5 stages, 1 or 2 players, 5 different weapons, Metal Slug-ish Graphics,
rockin' soundtrack and gameplay. And 5 credits only for a player to continue
with.
MF: At the rate you're working on it now, when do you think it'll be close
to completion?
GM: LOL, Let FD get CRAZE and Gp finished first then I will tell you next year.
MF: Alright, let's talk about those two games then... first of all, about Gorf
Pluz. Gp was originally supposed to be a part of Gorf 2000, which would have
been similar to the other 2K series' on the Jaguar. It was supposed to have a
classic mode, you were doing the plus mode, and Krunch was doing the 2000 mode.
Since then I read in an issue of JEO the Krunch is no longer working on the
2000 mode. Is this true? Will Gp be released on it's own ?
GM: Well, I'll let Steven answer that first part of the question. But Gp is
aWeSoMe enough to hold a cart on it's own if it comes down to that! Hahaha...
believe me bro, there won't be a 2D shooter like it on the Jaguar, and FD will
complete it!
MF: How close is GP to being completed? How soon do you think it could be
released?
GM: Here's a hint for ya, I won't be coding on it anymore before the end of the
year! And that goes for CRAZE too.
MF: Sounds sweet, could you give us an overview of CRAZE? I know nothing about
this game.
GM: Just think of Berzerk, that's all I will say about that game.
MF: Which game will be released first? Or will both come out at the same time ?
GM: I don't know which one will be release first; I'll just be happy when they
are released for anyone with a Jaguar to enjoy.
MF: That brings up the issue of how you'll be releasing your games? Will you be
using the CD bypass technology that Songbird is putting in Protector SE and
release your games on CD? Or will they be carts?
GM: Carl will be happy to hear, CRAZE will be CD for sure. So you fools have
another reason to buy the Protector SE. Gp is another story...
MF: Hey I was going to buy it anyway, I love Protector ! Will Gp be on cart ?
Aren't there legal issues involved with using the name "Gorf", and especially
if you put a classic mode in?
GM: It's GORF pluz Earth GOD's Troopers, not GORF! GpEGT will most likely be on
cart.
MF: What exactly does the name mean? What are Earth GOD's Troopers?
GM: First, the Earth part of the title means Earth. Second, the GOD's part
of the title reflects that each trooper rules it's realm, which is in this
case Earth, Wind, Space ! Last, the Troopers part of the title comes from
the three different troopers you choose from.
MF: Wow, that's deep :). I'm really looking forward to GpEGT. In the video of
CRAZE, the graphics are black and white... I know the game is supposed to have
an old-school feel, which is cool, but will it be that old school?
GM: Nope... it looks nothing like that, hahaha... That's a video clip from
Colecovision Frenzy, LOL! CRAZE will rock!
MF: Hmmm I'll take your word for it! Now that JUGS is out and more Jag owners
have access to online games, will you release demos of either game before they
come out ?
GM: Why? The only people that's gonna play the games before they come out
are the beta testers.
MF: Well some gamers would like to give the games a try before putting the
money down to purchase them. How much will your games cost?
GM: I'll make some video tape those people, hehehe... I never gave prices for
the games that much thought. I'll think about prices after FD complete them.
MF: Who's doing the soundtracks for GpEGT and CRAZE?
GM: GpEGT has no music at the moment. CRAZE MUSIC CREDITS: WES POWELL,
ROCKY ROCKEFELLER
MF: So CRAZE will have a techno style soundtrack? What sort of music would you
like for GpEGT? Do you have any possibilities for musicians?
GM: CRAZE will feature a techno style soundtrack. GpEGT will not have techno
tracks, that's for sure. I have no musician in mind at this time, but I'm open
to music artists sending me samples of their work!
MF: Good luck with that. So to wrap everything up, we can expect CRAZE and
GpEGT to be released before the end of 2001, and then in 2002 FORCE Design
will focus on finishing Legion Force Jidai?
GM: Release dates are N/A, but look forward to the games soon enough! And yes,
my focus is LFJ in 2002!
MF: Sounds great Terance, I can't wait to get my hands on all three games.
Any last words?
GM: I will be looking for voice actors for Gp and LFJ soon ! Thank you for the
interview, Mighty Frog! I'd like to give shout outs to Scott W. and Steven S.!
We rule!
Terance Williams (The Graphics Man)
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