Forget the Old World, for you're now in the land of boundless opportunity.

America is yours for the taking: from colonizing the East to settling the Wild West - give it your best shot! Step into the role of a Spanish conqueror, Englishman, Native American, patriot, or settler and experience six thrilling adventures where you'll encounter countless eccentric personalities determined to put a bullet through your head. … Show them who's boss: use special forces or bounty hunters, or rely on your wits alone to get your enemies before they get you. This game tests your mettle. In No Man's Land you need the true spirit of America to brave the dangers of the New World, whether fighting the War of Independence or building a transcontinental railroad.

Become a pioneer and live your very own American Dream!

• Thrilling 3D real time strategy game
• Discover the New World, from establishing the first Colonies to settling the Wild West
• 6 exciting stories in 3 campaigns
• 6 cultures with individual strengths and weaknesses: Spanish, English, forest and prairie Native Americans, patriots, and settlers
• Heroes and elite units: snipers, conjurers, assassins, and more
• Hire bounty hunters to bring down your opponents
• Detailed and colorful settings across the American continent
• Enthralling naval and land battles
• Technological progress from canoes to frigates and from stage coaches to steam trains
• Action-packed missions with surprising story twists
• Good tactics improve units' statistics
• Use unconventional 'weapons' such as plagues and bark beetles to eliminate foes
• A brand-new multiplayer game: the railroad construction challenge
• Richly detailed animal life, including bears, mountain goats, and prairie dogs

Game Chronicles goes inside this exciting new game with an exclusive interview by John Carswell.

GCM:	Thanks for your time! Please start us off by introducing yourself and telling us about the team behind No Man’s Land.
Burkhard Ratheiser:	My name is Burkhard Ratheiser, I’m the Managing Director of Related Designs, a game development company based in Germany. Before working on No Man’s Land we developed the real-time strategy game called ‘America – No Peace beyond the Line’, which was very successful in Germany. Currently we are working on Castle Strike, a 3D real-time strategy game based in the medieval ages.

GCM:	Kindly give us a brief summary of No Man’s Land’s setting and story.
Burkhard Ratheiser:	No Man’s Land is a modern 3D real-time strategy game where the player experiences 300 years of American history separated into three different campaigns. With No Man’s Land we tried a Hollywood style approach by building a strong storyline for each campaign and by building a dense atmosphere. We only use the historic background as our setting while the story is fictitious.

GCM:

Please tell us about No Man’s Land mission and campaign layout.

Burkhard Ratheiser:

In No Man’s Land we have 30 missions that are separated into 3 campaigns plus 2 tutorials missions. The tutorial missions are also integrated into the story line – so it isn’t necessary to play them. In NML the player will experience 300 years of American history from 1600 to 1900, separated into 6 exciting storylines. In the first campaign the player must play the role of captain Carvinez who must investigate into why no more gold is coming from the Spanish colonies. The second campaign will let you control a tribe from the Woodland Indians which has to battle against the English and later on you play as the Prairie Indians defending itself against the Settlers and their railroad. The last campaign is about a fictitious chronicle of the Sanders family which arrive in the midst of the 17th in New England. From there they move on to the Southern States experiencing the War of Independence and later go westwards to take part in the building of the railroad.

GCM:	What can you tell us about the buildings and units accessible to all Nations?
Burkhard Ratheiser:	Many of the buildings and units in No Man’s Land were accurately researched. But of course you’ll also find the typical clichés that you’ll expect when thinking of cowboys and Indians. Since we have a fictitious storyline and since we don’t want to give the players a lesson in history, you’ll also find some fantasy like units and buildings (especially the Woodland Indians).

GCM:

What Nation-exclusive units will there be and can you please describe a few for us in detail?

Burkhard Ratheiser:

The natives tend to units with mystic power; for example, the Native American Shaman, who can summon bears, wolves, or wildcats; or the Prairie Indian Medicine Man, who can cast mighty magic spells. The Patriots, on the other hand, have e.g. a Military Advisor, who strengthens artillery, and a flag bearer, who increases the fighting spirit (and hence power) of his troops. The Spanish Governor can accelerate construction and collect taxes, among other things. The Settlers’ Undertaker is especially sneaky – he steals gold from dead units! In addition to the various elite units, every nation has unit types unavailable to the others. As well as the Native American assassins, there are the Patriot military surgeons, the powerful warships of the Spanish and English, and more.

GCM:

How pivotal a role will Heroes play in No Man’s Land?

Burkhard Ratheiser:

The heroes play a very important role in No Man’s Land. The storyline is very much focused on the heroes and the player must accompany them through the 3 different campaigns. Each of them has a range of special capabilities that must be used wisely to proceed. We hope that you’ll be able to identify with them as much as with the heroes in the movies. You’ll find the good and the bad guys and also some shape shifters.

GCM:

Please tell us about the Railroad system in No Man’s Land and how it will affect gameplay.

Burkhard Ratheiser:

The railroad plays an important role both in single and multiplayer modes. In one campaign, for example, the Prairie Indians must prevent the railroad from being built across their land. The Settlers have to build it! We have two different railroad multiplayer modes: in one mode you compete against the other players in building the tracks, while in the other mode, one must build the tracks while the others must prevent him from doing so. The railroad can also be used for transport, or to gather reinforcements: the train rolls off the map and returns some time later with fresh troops.

GCM:	Above all else, what do you feel will make No Man’s Land standout from the current wave of RTS’s?
Burkhard Ratheiser:	Cutting edge technology, very dense atmosphere, fantastic music, cool story line and many features – especially the very unique multiplayer modes (railroad building, bounty hunter and counter upgrades).

GCM:

What will No Man’s Land offer in the way of multiplayer options?

Burkhard Ratheiser:

As well as the standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes, we have included the following classics: Domination (hold a point for a specified length of time), Capture the Flags, and Hero’s Demise (kill the opponent’s hero). We are also the first RTS to introduce „Railroad Building / Obstruction” and „Struggle for the Railroad” modes. In the first, whoever can lay track from one end of the map to the other is the winner (in such games, every nation, even Natives and the Spanish, can lay rail). This is especially interesting, when the players’ chosen routes cross each other.... Furthermore the players can hire Bounty Hunters to kill particular enemy units and counter-upgrades, which harm your opponent.

GCM:

In terms of graphics, what can you tell us about No Man’s Land from both a technical and artistic standpoint?

Burkhard Ratheiser:

We use our own state of the art 3D engine. Our engine is able to smoothly render huge amounts of 3D objects and handles real-time shadows for ALL objects. It has an advanced particle effects system (big explosions, fire, surf, etc.), uses weather effects and displays very detailed buildings. We are especially proud of our terrain system which enables us to use very detailed ground textures that can be seamlessly blended between each other. Of course we also use and support the capabilities of modern graphics cards (T&L, vertex shaders, motion blending, etc.). It’s also important to note that the users are able to configure our engine to the processor and graphics performance of his computer.

GCM:	Thank you again for your time. Would you care to leave our readers with any final thoughts or impressions?
Burkhard Ratheiser:	We are very proud with what we have accomplished with No Man’s Land and we hope that all the gamers out there will enjoy playing the game.