Interview | Onipunks Discuss Post-apocalyptic C-Wars for 3DS, Wii U

Cubed3: Please introduce the team at Onipunks for our readers.
 
Sally Liu: We are a pretty small team, and additional to the core members listed below, we occasionally have 1-3 interns that come and go.

• Loup Zhou, founder, creative director, and lead programmer (flies back and forth between China and Canada).
• Louiky Mu, art director and lead game designer.
• JCN Zhang, senior programmer.
• Sun Chang, art assistant & assistant office manager.
• Eddy Liu, composer & sound specialist (currently resides in New York)
• Sally Liu, Marketing VP & Kickstarter campaign executive producer.
  

Cubed3: What other projects had the team worked on before C-Wars?
 
Sally Liu: We had a project named Crystalides that unfortunately couldn't be continued due to various reasons. The beta version was nominated as the Best Game at Game Connection Asia 2012. C-Wars is our first commercial game.

Cubed3: Please tell us a bit more about the C-Wars plot.
 
Sally Liu: May I quote from our Kickstarter page? I think it gives the best description: A global nuclear war reset humankind, and Luna base became the final outpost of civilization. 150 years later, Alpha, the largest Luna city, was infected by Crystal mutants. Despite all the precautions taken, the infection broke the quarantine barrier and hit Delta City. Luna Council decided to use tactical nuclear weapons to terminate the two cities. The players, as Sector 7's field commander, must enter these infected areas and find out the truth before it's too late.

Cubed3: Please explain briefly how the combat system works in C-Wars.
 
Sally Liu:  If C-Wars is a lady, then roguelike is the soul, and the combat system is the lady's appearance. We can expect people to appreciate a smart and normal-looking girl, but a beautiful-looking girl always has more advantage. This RTS combat system is one of the main reasons that the players would want to stay in the game, explore the secret, and eventually find the soul of the game.

Cubed3: Please explain the different mission types available in C-Wars.
 
Sally Liu: A lot of designs became possible based on this combat system. We can have the beat-em all modes, beat the boss mode, occupy specific case mode, or any other kind of mode. The only thing we need is imagination.
 
Cubed3: Why did you choose to use an apocalyptic setting for C-Wars?
 
Sally Liu: The post-apocalyptic theme is a charming subject. The world view would be more dramatic in this post-end-of-the-world setting. We wanted to set up a feeling of desperation in the game.

Cubed3: Why did you decide to use zombies as one of the enemies in C-Wars?
 
Sally Liu: Zombies in C-Wars are the lowest level mutants, and shouldn't be defined as the zombies in a regular setting. They may bite but don't transfer people into zombies. As the opposite of the uncanny valley theory, people love to beat humanoid enemies in a game. That's why we have zombies instead of giant Scarabs.
 
Cubed3: Out of all the different units available, which would be your favourite?
 
Sally Liu: LDF the machine gunner would be our beloved summoned soldier because of her awesome shooting rate and stopping power. We will test and adjust her statistics, so perhaps we will love her less later.

 
Cubed3: The pixel art in C-Wars and Crystalides looks great! Why did you choose pixel over polygon?
 
Sally Liu: Thank you! We've always loved the warm feeling those old-day games provide. Pixel art gives viewers more room for imagination. It's like when you look at a few red pixel blocks and say "fire!" then those little dots instantly become fire in your eyes. It's pure magic.

Cubed3: The ONI-engine looks and sounds amazing, what aspects of the engine are you most proud of?
 
Sally Liu: It's the powerful animation management functionality that makes it unique. Another strong aspect is the code generation features for multiple platforms.

Cubed3: The music sounds like an interesting blend of retro and modern, how did the compositions come to be?
 
Sally Liu: Back to the Crystalides development period, Eddy Liu, our composer, said the word "8-bit Music" popped up in his head when he first saw the game. We decided to use General Midi instead of other audio formats due to the hardware limitations, because Midi provides a huge applicability for different platforms at that time. The retro style fits C-Wars perfectly.
 
Today we can support more powerful devices such as PC, Nintendo 3DS, PSV, Android, and iPhone which can be applied for audio format with better quality. We have already improved our composition technique and no longer use Midi only, but still maintain the 8-bit style.

Cubed3: Congratulations on the 3DS authorisation! What mechanics would you like to bring to the Nintendo 3DS?
 
Sally Liu: Thanks! We've been very fortunate to obtain the authorization in such short period of time. The game will basically remain the same.  Nintendo 3DS has controller and touch screen functionalities, so the controlling mode will be a mixture of both.
 
Cubed3: Would you use stereoscopic 3D features on the Nintendo 3DS?
 
Sally Liu: We'll see about that. We haven't ordered the actual Nintendo 3DS dev-kits yet. We will do the best on our part to fully support that magnificent device.
 

Cubed3: What other RTS titles have you been inspired by for C-Wars?
 
Sally Liu: StarCraft shows a great example of unit corporations, but at the same time we may see the limitation that a regular player has to face due to the incapability of acquiring the micromanaging skill. In C-Wars, every player can be a master in micromanaging, because we've tried hard to amplify this in the game.
 
Cubed3: If you could work on any Nintendo game, what would it be any why?
 
Sally Liu: Advanced Wars. As an AI developer (Loup Zhou), it would be a pleasure to make some improvements of enemy's AI in that awesome game.

Cubed3: With the Wii U version a possibility, how would you use the GamePad controller?
 
Sally Liu: The control will be very similar to 3DS, but we can't confirm it yet. We need to work on the real device to determinate it, so it's a little early to talk about details.

Cubed3: What are you plans for the future? Will you be developing expansions/sequels for C-Wars?
 
Sally Liu: For now, we just want to do our best to complete C-Wars and deliver it to our fans on time. One thing at a time, and we want to make it good. Indeed we hope C-Wars is just a beginning and we will develop more fun games in the future.
 
Crystalides was a much more complex game we wanted to do but the timing wasn't in our favor. Perhaps someday we will make it happen.