Creature Conflict: The Clan Wars, by the Hungarian developer Mithis Entertainment, is a turn-based combat strategy game, heavy on the humor! The game takes place in a galaxy populated by four different animal clans, each faction battling for control over all the planets.

Creature Conflict: The Clan Wars boasts an extensive single player campaign, where gamers get to chose which clan they are going to control and start the process of total domination – engaging in battles with the other clans and their leaders. Creature Conflict: The Clan Wars also supports a multiplayer mode: team up with friends on a single PC or across a LAN or internet connection and take on all rivals in a last animal standing competition.

Game Chronicles takes a look at this exciting new game with an exclusive interview by John Carswell.

GCM:	Thank you for you time! Could you please start by introducing yourself and telling us a bit about Mithis Entertainment?
Tibor Pongrácz:	My name is Tibor Pongrácz, and I am lead designer for the game Creature Conflict. Our company, Mithis Entertainment is regarded as among the largest within the Hungarian gaming development scene. Currently we have four running projects, each in cooperation with a publisher, in addition a few demo projects, and also a division focused on mobile development.

GCM:

What inspired the creation of Creature Conflict: The Clan Wars? Is it meant to be the spiritual successor of Worms?

Tibor Pongrácz:

The game actually relates very much with Worms – it’s a turn-based action game, which as a genre, is quite lacking in humorous titles. However, our game tries to be much more than that, trying to encompass younger generations by being an easy-to-handle action game, and for the more older audience, offering a game which boasts serious strategic and tactical possibilities with a humorous mood. Technically speaking, the game is more of a turn-based TPS: the basic camera view is the classical TPS camera. The game will be released to both PC and consoles, so the game was designed to offer enjoyable gameplay for both beginners and experienced more professional players. Those who love and need just a quick play can choose it. As well, the player can find many action elements, such as platforms to jump upon, interactive objects (e.g. moving platforms, catapults, geysers that make movement easier). For those who want to get immersed in the game, they can find serious strategic elements, like conquerable strong-points, automatic weapons that can be controlled by your team, you can raise barricades, utilize jetpacks to fortify a high point, and players can receive damage bonuses with expert weapon technics, etc. These features will add cool gameplay experience to all featured players. So I wouldn’t call this a simple Worms clone, but I wouldn’t call this game a hardcore strategy game either.

GCM:	Please give us a feel for the basic of Creature Conflict’s gameplay.
Tibor Pongrácz:	The basics are choosing and using weapons, but heck, even Scorch was about that much. :) Our game will add much more to that: exploring a wonderful 3D environment, completing diverse mission objectives, boss fights, action elements such as flying and using platforms, and beyond all these are the fantastic multiplayer possibilities.

GCM:	With most strategy games going real-time, why was it decided to use a turn-based system?
Tibor Pongrácz:	Creature Conflict is the mixture of real-time and turn-based games. You can plan your following steps during your opponent’s turn, but when actions comes you must concentrate on realization.

GCM:

Please tell us about the creatures found in creature combat.

Tibor Pongrácz:

You can play with 16 (9+7 hidden) characters in the game. They all are unique individuals, and your going to love them if they’re yours, and you’re going to go ballistic if they’re against you. The 3 factions available at start are FRETS, TECHIES and the PACK. The inhabitants of the swamp worlds are the rodents (the FRETS), their evil and venomous weapons will damage you for more rounds. You definitely need to strategically play differently with them, as for example the PACK. Pack players are specialized on „regular” weapons, maybe you will find them to be the easiest faction to play with. If you pick the monkeys, you will need to be extremely dexterous, almost all of their weapons are best used in combination. For example, the laser blaster gives an added advantage with distance, but because of the arcing of the surface you can’t use its advantages from a great height, so you need to plant a platform in mid-air. As for the fourth faction that’s hidden at the beginning, you can build a multi team from them, after having unlocked them in the Scenario mode. I can tell you though, that just looking at them will send you falling to the floor, laughing… :)

GCM:

What options will the player have at his/her disposal when preparing their team for battle?

Tibor Pongrácz:

The first thing the player decides is his team members. Each animal has their own unique hand weapon with a unique effect, and the characters differ in weight, height, etc., it really matters whom you select on your team. Then comes the selection of weapons, based on the briefing as choosing your weaponry is of utmost importance – you can select weapons for each of your characters, one by one. This is a strategic decision as ballistic weapons require different tactics than those that shoot in a single straight trajectory. I mean, what kind of weapon do you want to use – one that damages opponents more or one that damages buildings more?

GCM:

Please give us a general idea of how a basic battle will unfold.

Tibor Pongrácz:

Scenario: after assembling your team and allocating weapons to them, those who don’t want to get strategic can simply push a button and get it over with, as your characters arrive to the planet. You will have the possibility to check out the terrain with the planet view. Your own round time does not pass until your first shot, this is the time for decisions! If you selected your first target, choose a weapon aaaand FIRE! With your character you can walk, run, fly, use special abilities, plant mines or covers, shoot rockets, spread bullets. After doing whatever you were doing (or if you reached your time limit) AI follows. During this time you can freely use the games - camera mode, and observe everything going on around. At the end of the round, if something interesting happened, you can watch it again in replay mode, which is, otherwise, skipable or can even be turned off. Multiplayer can be structured in several ways, you and three of your friends hotseat, or you play on a LAN or on the Internet, the same sequence happens: assembling your team, selecting weapons, options, and then the game starts.

GCM:

What can you tell us about the terrains that the creatures will be fighting on? Also, please tell us a bit about the terrain generator.

Tibor Pongrácz:

Everything, absolutely everything can be destroyed in the game, buildings, objects, the terrain itself, down until the liquid (water, swamp, lava) level of the given world. You can make valleys out of hills, with a few friendly bombs, or even lakes if you concentrate hard enough. The various planets are different, such as swamp world, desert world, hi tech world, and forest world. Planets are unique with characteristic scenes and buildings. If you’re in multiplayer and do not want to play on a pre-created level, you can just randomize one. You can set the world style, the type and surface area of the liquid, how many hills you want, what kind of gravitation and wind you need, if you want any dangerous objects on the level. There is even a switch for gravestones, if you want them to heal nearby team members or cause damage to enemies, depending on the type of gravestone.

GCM:

What multi and single player modes will be available?

Tibor Pongrácz:

When playing a scenario in single player mode, you will know almost all multiplayer modes through completing mission objectives. Skirmish - is almost multiplayer, but on one computer only: you can play hotseat or play against the AI. With Multiplayer, you can play on LAN and the Internet, you can host or join a server. Basic multi game modes are the following: Totem Tag, where you steal the enemy totem from their camp and keep it for as long as you can. Hill Mastery, where you keep strategic points with more people than the enemy. Wipeout, a straight forward deathmatch. Pillage, where you grab as many gold boxes as you can! These are only the basic games, game rules can further be enhanced, added or modified, for example: entering a point limit, how many characters can be on a team, can you freely choose from them or do they come round-by-robin, can they actually move at all, does shooting end the round, etc. Then there are the options concerning weapons and other reinforcements. You can set very unique multiplayer game modes with subtle options!

GCM:

Above all else, what do you feel will set Creature Conflict: The Clan Wars apart from other strategy games.

Tibor Pongrácz:

The uniqueness is not only given by the merging of strategic, tactical and action elements, but also the multi-level gameplay system. There is no compulsory management save when you assemble your troops. If you do not want to make a thorough weapon acquisition, press one button and the game will automatically shop for you. If you haven’t practiced the use of ballistic weapons, you can shoot in FPS mode with a crosshair. Creature Conflict can be played by beginners, pro action players and strategic players, ultimately it is a game which will satisfy everyone!

GCM:

Finally, what can you tell us about the graphics and art style found in Creature Conflict?

Tibor Pongrácz:

When we were looking for the graphical style of the game, we – as being extremely lucky – found a graphician who created quite a portfolio of cartoons, comics and animated movies. We generated a variety of ideas and impressions from him, and the lead artists enjoyed the use of the cartoon’s shading, the style of the character animations, and the basic pictorial humor that first hits you when you look at the animals. The graphics are humorous, textures are painted, not digitalized, all the characters move by hand-set animation, not by motion capture.

GCM:	Thank you again for your time. What final thoughts and impressions would you like to leave our readers with?
Tibor Pongrácz:	Try to find all the various combinations in the game – you will seriously be surprised by a few of them! As for my final words: I’d hope all the players to love this game as much as I do! Thanks for the possibility to share all this with you.

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