The Wargamer

Elven Legacy Interview With The Wargamer

The Wargamer's Jim Zabek just had an opportunity to chat with Maxim Bodrikov, Game Designer and Producer of Elven Legacy.  He joined Ino-Co in 2005 as a designer for Fantasy Wars and is presently working on both Elven Legacy and Majesty 2. 

The Wargamer (WG): Within minutes of posting screenshots of Elven Legacy on our front page, our readers were chatting about it.  Comparisons were being made to Age of Wonder, Master of Magic, Fantasy Wars (which you developed), and Fantasy General, amongst others.  Can you tell us a bit about what inspired you to create Elven Legacy and where you think its roots are?

Maxim Bodrikov (MB): The main source of our inspiration was the great game Fantasy General from SSI. Actually, it was the whole General series, including Panzer General and People’s General. Still, the main source was the magnificent Fantasy General. We are very thankful to the guys from SSI for doing such a great job. They created a game we can still play after almost 13 years and still have fun with. When we started to work on Fantasy Wars we wanted to bring the same enjoyment, not only to the hardcore players who remember Fantasy General, but also to the new players who don’t know that there is such a great genre as the hexagonal turn-based wargame.

WG: Fantasy Wars offered both single-player campaigns as well as LAN and Hotseat multiplayer.  It seems like play-by-email (PBEM) would have been a good fit for a turn-based strategy game.  Are there plans to include a PBEM game in Elven Legacy?

MB: No, we don’t intend to include PBEM in Elven Legacy. For me, the Hotseat is that old-school multiplayer mode which can still be fun even to the “dinosaurs” of gaming like myself. PBEM without the personal interaction is not as fun.

WG: This is a two-part question: 

• Fantasy Wars was hailed as having an intuitive interface and great gameplay, but some have criticized it for the AI being too smart.  Most games are criticized for having a weak AI – how did you manage to create a smart and challenging one?

MB: I was thinking the AI in Fantasy Wars was too kind :) Actually, in Fantasy Wars the enemy often performed silly moves that gave the player a chance to win almost with one correct hit. The players who didn’t notice those moments were the ones that said that the AI is too smart. If a mission seems too hard, the player can always change the level of difficulty and win without using sly tactics.

• How have you responded to the criticism that the AI is too hard, and can you tell us what we can expect from the AI – will it be easier, worse to contend with, or both?

MB: We made lot of improvements to the AI during the course of development on Elven Legacy. The enemy will not make such silly mistakes as in Fantasy Wars (like suicide attacks from rivers, for example). Of course, for new players who don’t have any experience playing turn-based wargames, the AI might seem too hard. That’s why we have included 3 levels of difficulty in Elven Legacy. And, more importantly, a player can choose the level of difficulty at the beginning of each mission. In Elven Legacy, we made the differences between these levels of difficulty even deeper than in Fantasy Wars. The difference between them is not simply in the number of enemy units: on an easy level, the AI will make tactical mistakes to give the player another chance to win.

WG: What did you learn from creating Fantasy Wars and how did you apply those lessons to Elven Legacy?

MB: We realized that our interface had a lot of elements that needed to be improved. Some of the improvements we made were features such as showing the path a unit will travel, as well as the appearance and information of unit banners. We also concentrated more on the storyline. The story in Fantasy Wars was rather cliché. We did not want to repeat this mistake, so the story in Elven Legacy is more detailed. We also paid a lot of attention to the emotional experience of the main characters.

WG: Can you tell our readers what kinds of units to expect in Elven Legacy and the kinds of tactics the game encourages?

MB: Players will command an army of elves. They are not the same elves that you saw in Fantasy Wars; they are a whole new race. They are quick and deadly, but they are also few in number. One of the distinguishing features of the elven army is that there are no scouts, but different units can be used as scouts - if you choose certain special perks during the leveling-up of a unit. Be prepared for long-range shooting and air operations, and lots of magic  :)

WG: Magic played a large role in Fantasy Wars.  How will it work in Elven Legacy?

MB: It actually plays an even bigger role now. Elves are magical beings after all! Not only can their heroes use magic, but even ordinary units can often cast a spell to attack or debuff an enemy or support friends in battle.

WG: How many players will be able to game in Elven Legacy multiplayer games?  Will there be any kind of team-based play or will it be “every man for himself”?

MB: There is a maximum of 4 players in multiplayer. Multiplayer maps in Elven Legacy were made so that it is “every man for himself.” There is a powerful and easy-to-use mission editor in Elven Legacy as well, and those players who want to play “pair-to-pair” or “two against one” can make their own rules for existing missions or even create new ones.