Rebell.at: Would you please introduce yourself to our community?
J.R.: My name is Jiri Rydl and I am public relation manager for ALTAR interactive.
Rebell.at: Did you have any problems with Atari concerning the XCOM License they got from Microprose? UFO: Aftermath can be seen as a clone and as an inofficial sequel but it’s damn close to the original in features and gameplay.
J.R.: No, we didn’t.
Rebell.at: Are you trying to get an ‚official‘ License from Atari for a Sequel? Do you plan any Sequel or Addon?
J.R.: No, we are not. We work hard to patch all possible hardware problems, so we don’t have time to think about anything new now.
Rebell.at: How are your sales going?
J.R.: Thank you for asking :-].
Rebell.at: It’s really great you’ve done a new game, which runs on older PC’s, too. Were there any thoughts about some 3D-1st Person Mode?
J.R.: Yes, we thought about 1st person view for a while, but it’s not suitable for this kind of game.
Rebell.at: Why didn’t you implement any vehicles?
J.R.: The tactical maps are designed for men vs. aliens battles, not for tanks. You don’t need car to drive yourself to other corner of the map.
Rebell.at: Why doesn’t the game have any financial elements?
J.R.: You don’t need money in post-catastrophic world, but there is still resource management. You have to choose what technology has to be researched first, what resources focus on manufacture, what missions are more important for your base defense etc. It’s not easier without money.
Rebell.at: How much time did it take to make UFO: Aftermath reality?
J.R.: About two years.
Rebell.at: Why do my fighters lose nearly always against these damn UFO’s ? :)
J.R.: You have to upgrade them :-].
Rebell.at: The game development becomes very strong in eastern European countries, even in Russia. Why this massive increase? (You can’t really know but i’d like to read your thoughts)
J.R.: I believe that there are many perspective game studios in Eastern Europe as in any other part of the world where are enough players. The reason why the Eastern Europe is more visible now is, in my opinion that we are in the same position as Western Europe 10 years ago was.
Rebell.at: Have you ever thought about multiplayer functionality?
J.R.: No, we didn’t.
Rebell.at: Music is a little weakness of the game. There aren’t many songs in the game. Have you been under time pressure?
J.R.: No, the music is great! The problem you speak about is probably sound effects? Unfortunately we didn’t make enough sounds to have perfect game.
Rebell.at: What would you have done if you had had all the time you ever wanted to do UFO: Aftermath?
J.R.: Oh, you never have enough time, remember that :-].
Rebell.at: Do you know any games from Austrian Developers (such as JoWood with Der Industrie Gigant) ?
J.R.: Yes, I know this title, I believe I know more of them, but I don’t know, which are from Germany and which are from Austria. Aquanox maybe?
Rebell.at: What do you play in your spare time?
J.R.: XBOX – Halo, RalliSport Challenge, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, PC – UFO: Aftermath, HalfLife – Poke646 modification, TABLE – Czech Proroctvi (German: Die Siedler von Catan) and Carcassonne.
Rebell.at: Where could I meet you to challenge you in a multiplayer game?
J.R.: You can challenge some people from our team in Original War through MSN Zone or GameSpy Arcade. Look at this website http://owar.wz.cz/en/ to find more players.
Rebell.at: There are some RPG-Elements included in your game. Do you think it gets generally necessary to include such parts in every game?
J.R.: Not necessarily in every game, but I think they fit in UFO: Aftermath.
Rebell.at: Have you ever heard of Rebell.at ? :)
J.R.: I know the website for some time, but I don’t read well in German.
Rebell.at: What’s your favorite movie?
J.R.: It’s changing, but let’s say Leaving Las Vegas with Nicolas Cage.
Rebell.at: Did you ever play the ‚prequels‘ to UFO: Aftermath ? [XCOM: Terror from the Deep / UFO: Enemy Unknown]
J.R.: Sure I did, I finished Enemy Unknown ten years ago.
Rebell.at: What hardware/software did you use for creating the game?
J.R.: Normal player PC’s.
Rebell.at: I shall tell you greetings from my girlfriend Johanna! Want to respond? Here’s your chance :)
J.R.: Really? Why don’t you come to Brno for a while, Johanna? But without him :-].
Rebell.at: In the intro video I can see some people infected by the alien spores. Are these people working at ALTAR Interactive?
J.R.: Not any more. They are all dead now.
Rebell.at: Why did you choose Cenega as your Publisher?
J.R.: They offered us a good deal.
Rebell.at: Have you ever been in Austria? What do you think of Austria?
J.R.: Yes, I lived in Vienna for five years, so I know the city little bit. It’s nice, similar to Prague in some ways and Austrians are nice people in general.
Rebell.at: How did you get to this Company?
J.R.: Sent CV :-].
Rebell.at: How was Altar Interactive born?
J.R.: ALTAR Interactive was born together with our first game – Fish Fillets (1997), which you can download for free now at FilePlanet. After Fish Fillets we developed Original War (2001) for Virgin Interactive and now we have finished UFO: Aftermath.
Rebell.at: Thank you for the interview, Jiri. It is great that you always try to keep in touch with the community around your games.
The interview was done by Bertold Schauer. If you have any questions regarding the interview or my other work @ Rebell.at just leave me a message <a href="mailto: [email protected]" target="_blank">by clicking here.</a>
