Jagged Alliance 3D Interview

E3 Questions & Answers

I had a chance to meet with MiST land at the Game Factory Interactive booth at E3 2006. This should be the first of two articles regarding Jagged Alliance 3D.

Tell me about yourself and MiST land.
I am Elena Melnikova, PR manager of MiST land - South. Our previous titles include ones in the 4th Battalion universe (which may not be familiar outside of Russia but has quite a large fan base) and ALFA:antiterror – a strategy game based on real events taking place in Chechnya and other regions.

What is Jagged Alliance 3D's back story?
The goal is to keep the atmosphere of Jagged Alliance 2 for the fans of the series. As in the previous Jagged Alliance games, the action takes place in a small country, but this time in Africa. The democratic ruler has been forced to flee the country by rebel forces and has hired you to liberate his country. You have a laptop and use that to choose your starting team of mercenaries. The player starts from a buffer zone outside of country’s border and has to get inside either by brute force or by other means. Your goal is to reach the palace where the dictator is located. There is a strong storyline to support the action.

Tell me why Jagged Alliance 3D will be the best game in the Jagged Alliance series.
That is quite a provocative question! We tried to keep the Jagged Alliance atmosphere but update it as much as possible. Of course it has improved graphics. It has a fully destructible environment including the buildings and the characters follow rag doll physics. We are proud of the audio of this game as well as our previous games. MiST land chooses very talented musicians and actors to create our music and record our voice acting. The intent is for the audio to match the atmosphere of the game as closely as possible.

How non-linear is the game? Are there some missions that have to be completed?
Yes, there are main missions that must be completed before you continue the game. The player can choose whether or not to do the side missions. But again, the idea is to stay within the Jagged Alliance universe, not to create a game far outside what fans have loved in the past.

Can we expect new weapons and equipment in the game? How about vehicles? Can vehicles be driven?
As in Jagged Alliance 2, vehicles can not be driven within the tactical game. There are more than 100 weapons in Jagged Alliance 3D as well as new equipment not available in the previous game.

How have you improved the AI compared to Jagged Alliance 2?
Your enemies are more clever. They can hide and use cover better.

Will there be a map or mission editor?
Vitaly Shutov, head of MiST land: No. We will create a special toolset for fans, but you can create levels only in 3DMax. You can export those levels to our format and create special missions for that map.

3DMax is a pretty hardcore program, isn't it?
Vitaly Shutov, head of MiST land: Yes, its a hardcore program but fans of Operation Flashpoint use it to create models and we think our fans are at least as skilled.

Will there be multi-level structures?
Vitaly Shutov, head of MiST land: There will be only two levels like in the previous game.

Can the characters walk upstairs?
Vitaly Shutov, head of MiST land: Of course. All game mechanics are like in the previous game. Our main target is to create Jagged Alliance but in 3D.

Can characters climb a tree?
Vitaly Shutov, head of MiST land: (laughing) No, they can't. But they can knock down a tree with explosives and have it fall on the enemies.

Will there be weather effects like rain?
Yes. It can also be quite windy sometimes. The trees will sway back and forth.

Will there be day & night missions?
Vitaly Shutov, head of MiST land: Night operations? Yes, of course. Some mercs have special skills to use at night like Shadow.

The Jagged Alliance 3D E3 fact sheet states, under the Features section, that there are 12 missions. Are there only 12 missions in the game? This doesn't seem large enough.
There are 21 missions in Jagged Alliance 3D.

Poor voice acting is a very common complaint for games developed outside of English speaking countries. Sometimes the publisher will be responsible for the voice acting, other times the developer. Who is responsible for Jagged Alliance 3D's voice acting?
MiST land's voice actors are quite good and are experienced in recording in other languages. We have made other games in English and it went quite well. You can actually listen to the voice acting in the demo game and judge for yourself. Though we take voices for most characters from the previous game, there will be some new mercs and we will do our best to fit them in Jagged Alliance setting.

What stage is the game in? Alpha, late alpha, beta?
The game is approaching beta-stage of production.

When will Jagged Alliance 3D be released?
Jagged Alliance 3D is going to be released at the beginning of Autumn.

Who will publish the game in the United States?
The license is owned by Strategy First so that's a question for them.

In Western Europe? How about Australia?
It hasn't been settled yet. At this E3, we have had many meetings with European publishers/distributors to find the most suitable partner.

How much would JA3D cost in US dollars?
That is up to Strategy First. All rights are owned by them.

Has Strategy First paid MiST land any advances or covered the development costs? The reason I ask is that SirTech, the company that developed the Jagged Alliance series, was hurt by its European distributer.
MiST land is owned by Game Factory Interactive, so the financial deals are made between GFI and Strategy First. MiST land is not really involved in that side of the business, but has been paid by GFI so we haven't had any problems.

Lastly, what sort of PC games can we expect from MiST land in the future? Could there be a follow-up to Jagged Alliance 3D?
There are many projects that we are developing. Now, our main project is Warfare. After Warfare, 4th Battalion, an action RPG, will be one of our main projects.