Elemental: War of Magic - Interview @ Gamespot

Gamespot interviewed Derek Paxton, lead producer and designer on Elemtal: Fallen Enchantress. Here is a snippet from the interview:

GameSpot: War of Magic was a massive strategy game, but it sounds like you're scaling back this project to make it a more focused experience with a deeper story. Can you talk to us about some of the broad changes you're making in Fallen Enchantress?

 

Derek Paxton: Fallen Enchantress adds a lot of depth and options to some systems and reduces or removes others. The result is a more focused game. The systems that we determined were critical to the game have received a lot of designer and developer attention and love. Most notably these are the broad strokes:

 

First up, tactical combat. Units and enemies have more strategic abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Every monster has been reviewed to be as strategically (and conceptually) interesting as possible. Elemental lords are huge multi-tile monsters that are devastating to all but the most powerful champions and armies. Some monsters are unique in the world, setting up boss-type battles that give the game a role-playing-game feel.

 

Second, the world. A lot of time is going into making the world as interesting as possible. It's a dangerous world; many of your early explorers will not make it back. But those who do will have resources, riches, and new recruits that make the risk worthwhile. As important as making the world worth exploring is [making it] interesting to explore. Though it's good to know that there are iron deposits in the next valley, we also want that valley to be filled with wilderness areas, sites, creatures, and opportunities for adventure that are new to even experienced players.

 

Third, magic. Magic should be as effective a path to victory as creating armies. A player that is sitting on a large supply of mana and has invested in magic should be able to change the course of the game, much as a player sitting on a nuclear weapon stockpile can in modern games. Magic should be available earlier, have a larger impact, and do more interesting things.

 

Other systems, such as population storage (aka housing) that used to require that the player find food to build houses to grow cities, have been simplified (less city micromanagement), and systems such as dynasties have been cut entirely. Technology research is a more elaborate system where the player can plan out his future goals and plans. Leveling up your champions and designing units both offer more options and, more importantly, more flavorful options.